Or anywhere near the Netherlands, apparently, do not ask for a coffee shop if you actually want coffee. I made that mistake this morning, when I woke up at 10AM in jetlag hell (story of my life recently) with one thing on my mind . . . So I went down to the front desk at my hotel to ask where I could find the nearest coffee shop; after all, I had arrived late-night last night and didn’t have much sense of my surroundings.
When the lady at the front desk responded to my inquiry by saying, “That’s not allowed here. Coffee shops are illegal in Antwerp,” I just figured that I had missed a coffee shop next door in the dark last night, and that she was poking fun of my really obvious question. So I laughed, but then we went over the same thing two or three times, and she kept insisting that “it” was not allowed here . . . And then she explained to her co-worker that I was looking for a coffee shop.
Eventually they told me that I “would have to go to Amsterdam for this.” And I realized that they were talking about the kind of “coffee shop” that Snoop frequents on the Father Hood episode (one of my favorite shows–I just can’t get enough of Snoop Dogg) where he visits Amsterdam, and is frequently quoted as saying, “I love the coffee shop . . . ” We all know what Snoop loves. And it isn’t coffee.
“Aaaah, you think I want to smoke . . .” I then felt compelled to explain to front-desk lady that I have in fact never smoked pot in my entire life, and that I was just looking for a caffeinated beverage. Finally she directed me to the city centre, where I enjoyed three coffees (It would probably take five to make one of my American-sized takeaways.) at a “tea room.”
I am looking forward to finding some legs tomorrow afternoon (12Pm race start–I am still not used to these Euro start times, but at this point I won’t complain about a sleep-in.), and then to finding my way back to Germany. I had just two days at “home” when I returned from Japan, and I am more than ready to have a couple consecutive weeks there.
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I think the desk people were just being difficult. Glad you finally got your coffee-coffee.
Wow! A triathlete that has never smoked pot. Why am I so completely non-shocked?