Drugs are Bad, mmmk?

Getting a fake carriage ride at the Heiny Museum
(and yes, David and Chuck did coordinate their outfits)

We met up with a few guys that Allie knew from high school who just happened to be in Amsterdam at the same time we were. We spent the early part of the day wandering the infamous Red Light District then we made our way to the Heineken Museum for some fun. We thought is was going to be a really boring tour where you might get to look at some guys making beer. Wrong! It was probably the coolest "museum" we've ever been to! What other museum do you get three free beers and a sweet souvenir! None that I can remember. Plus you get to make silly videos to send to your friends and family, hopefully you guys got a laugh out of those. Charles is a really great dancer and singer and not stiff in front of the camera at all! So after the museum we got a quick bite for lunch and decided to go to the Van Gogh museum since we were in the vicinity.

David, Allie, and Bryan goofing off at the Heineken Museum

What a let down the Van Gogh museum was after the Heineken museum. I know what your thinking, Van Gogh is among the greats...blah blah. Stylistically he is good though he borrowed heavily from a number of his "influences" but his subject matter is what I find to be quite awful. He painted peasants and farm scenes because that is what everyone was doing at the time, not because he was inspired by it. Instead of his paintings being uplifting, they are a testimate to failure. But enough of that boring stuff...on to the drugs!

So after the Van Gogh museum we decided to part ways with the guys to get a little rest and before we met up with them for dinner at night. We rested, they didn't. One of the guys ate some "magic mushrooms" before we met up with them and one of the first things he said to Charles was that "These mushrooms are starting to kick in." Well, two hours later, the shrooms had fully kicked in.

The mushrooms were just starting to take effect

The four of us were having dinner in a Thai restaurant near the Red Light District and our friend was tripping out really hard. Not in a bad or scary way but in a hilarious, out of this world kind of way. We thought for sure we would get kicked out of the restaurant or other people would get pissed off at us because our friend was out of his mind doing all kinds of hilarious stuff. I don't know if I can do justice and provide a clear picture of what he was doing but I'll try. Think of a grown man, sitting in a chair, with his head completely thrown back, his eyes just slits but barely open and his hands in something of a prayer position near his throat. At random moments he would shout "yeah!" or smile so wide you wished you knew what he was seeing. Then would he suddenly come back to earth and do some Kung Fu type moves with his hands. Then just as quickly, change to position of exaltation by throwing his hands up to the sky and then back to cover his cheeks. Then back to the prayer position with his head fully thrown backwards. But in the true spirit of Amsterdam, no one cared. People across from us would look at us and mouth "Magic mushrooms?" and we would nod accordingly and then they would just smile knowingly and return to their conversation.

We were so embarrassed the whole time but we couldn't stop laughing after dinner was over. Being close to the Red Light District, I'm sure that all of those people especially the restaurant employees and locals had seen much worse going on in front of them. After a dinner like that we decided to call it a night.

Just a little fun in a wooden shoe!