Amsterdamsterdamsterdam!

May 28, 2008 11:56 AM

When is the next Amsterdam meetup scheduled?

I don't see anything in the sidebar, so thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. I will be in Sofia starting tomorrow, and will fly in for any weekend meetup within the next month or so.

Let's do this, people. If you don't want to drink beer with me, you can sit on the roof and poop dimes.

posted by Meatbomb to MetaFilter gatherings at 11:56 AM (84 comments total)

Damn, I'm not gonna poop a dime; I'll gladly smoke one for ya, though. Albeit from across the Atlantic.
posted by not_on_display at 12:21 PM on May 28, 2008

Even if no one else is there I want photographs of massive joints.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 1:28 PM on May 28, 2008 [3 favorites]

I'm afraid I don't know when the next Amsterdam meetup is scheduled for.
posted by shmegegge at 1:28 PM on May 28, 2008

Hey, I wondered about that too.
What a coincidence.
posted by jouke at 1:39 PM on May 28, 2008

In case it was an honest question: they're pretty infrequent. As in once every year or less.
Maybe it just depends on how frequently you fly in.
posted by jouke at 1:41 PM on May 28, 2008

Yeah, the correct answer should've been "whenever you get here, Bomb."
posted by Burhanistan at 1:46 PM on May 28, 2008

Do you speak Dutch?
Otherwise it will never work.
posted by jouke at 1:54 PM on May 28, 2008

The next Amsterdam meetup is shortly after someone buys me a ticket there. Back again is optional.
posted by loquacious at 2:09 PM on May 28, 2008

Ok, then let me try this: is the next Amsterdam meetup scheduled for the weekend of June 14th?

I would like to point out that there will be FREE BEER. Unlimited free beer. What was that Dutch word, jouke, "embarrased on someone's behalf"? That's how I will feel for the entire Duth userbase of MeFi if we don't make this happen.

Depending on your capacity for beer, loquacious, this offer might work out even better than airfare.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:23 PM on May 28, 2008

We'll adopt you loq.
posted by jouke at 2:23 PM on May 28, 2008

Dutch, even. But I'll feel sorry for the Duth people too.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:25 PM on May 28, 2008

Hmm, beer.

Uh, what were we talking about?

Yeah, plaatsvervangende schaamte. I'm surprised you remember.
posted by jouke at 2:26 PM on May 28, 2008

Mind like a steel trap, jouke.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:27 PM on May 28, 2008

I could do june 14th.
If we put it off for one more week we could have a summer solstice party.
In Finland that involves going out to a dacha, roasting sausages and such and getting blindingly drunk through the night while the sun doesn't set.
posted by jouke at 2:31 PM on May 28, 2008 [1 favorite]

I could do the 21st, jouke, and maybe more advance warning would give loq time to scrape up airfare. Let's call it.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:00 PM on May 28, 2008

I moved 800 km and 100 Euro away from Amsterdam. I'm not sure why anymore.
posted by snownoid at 4:16 PM on May 28, 2008

Mrs Mutant & I have to be in Flevoland the week commencing June 16th (we keep a second flat there and have things to do); are you folks fixed on a weekend only meetup? We could do Friday, June 20th pretty much any place within a tram ride of Centraal Station. Usually its pretty nice watching the sun set over the canals that time of year. If we're particularly lucky, a drunken Englishman will fall in and flop about excitedly in the water, for our amusement.

We may even bring along others with us; strange Dutch-type creatures who don't even lurk on MeFi ...beware.
posted by Mutant at 4:35 PM on May 28, 2008

Snownoid, I am flying in from the Balkans. The extreme southeast corner of the Balkans. It won't be right without you, please come? I will bring picks of our joint defacement of the Berliner Mauer!
posted by Meatbomb at 4:53 PM on May 28, 2008

Mutant: I would love to meet you, and Friday 20th works for me... I will defer to jouke and others. What say you guys?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:54 PM on May 28, 2008

We'll adopt you loq.

Awesome. It should be fairly easy. I have Dutch-American family not far back in my family tree.

Depending on your capacity for beer, loquacious, this offer might work out even better than airfare.

That's a lot of beer. It might take me a few days to drink that much beer, but I'll give it my best shot!
posted by loquacious at 5:52 PM on May 28, 2008

Friday 20 is fine by me.

Snownoid, I'll find an excuse to visit München and then we'll have a meetup there.
posted by jouke at 4:25 AM on May 29, 2008

Tempting....
posted by chillmost at 5:52 AM on May 29, 2008

Yeah, chillmost, you're welcome.
It will be the first european continental mefi meetup. Yay.
Who's going to send a mefi mail to all mefites on the european continent?
before you do please consider whether you want incur the wrath of metatalk and are ready to spend 5$ on a new account
posted by jouke at 9:02 AM on May 29, 2008

I'm sad I'm not behind the dikes that demarcate civilization. Groetjes, get crunk on my behalf meatbomb.
posted by phrontist at 10:01 AM on May 29, 2008

OK, I will call this for Friday June 20, late afternoon / evening. As to exact location, I defer to the local expert.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:48 PM on May 29, 2008

Tempting indeed.
posted by cmonkey at 7:11 AM on May 30, 2008

Großartig, Seeaffe wird auch dabei sein!
posted by jouke at 12:03 AM on May 31, 2008

The sun will go down at 22:04 on june 20th. So that's the perfect time of year to be outside on a terrace.
I suggest going to the Westergasfabriek place we went to previously. It has a nice terrace were we hopefully can reserve a table.
posted by jouke at 12:34 PM on June 3, 2008

There's a chance I may attend.
Westergasfabriek? Really? Where is it?
posted by Rash at 2:24 PM on June 3, 2008

I'll add more info about how to get there (bus lines etc) as the date approaches. this map gives you a sense where it is.
posted by jouke at 9:47 PM on June 3, 2008

Aw, I must change my solid commitment to a flaky one: I remembered I have a wedding that day. I may turn up for having a bite around 17:30-18:00 ish. But quite likely I'll encounter old friends and decide to have dinner with them.

I'll still make reservations for you and look up directions etc if you guys want to...
posted by jouke at 6:57 AM on June 8, 2008

How massively lame! So, who else is still interested? Mutant was fixed for Friday, would you or others be interested in Saturday instead?
posted by Meatbomb at 8:40 AM on June 8, 2008

Saturday is fine as far as I'm concerned.
posted by jouke at 10:52 AM on June 8, 2008

Mrs Mutant and I are still planning for Friday afternoon / early evening, so at least two MeFites will be wandering about "mokum" (Mrs Mutant typed it and assures me it means Amsterdam) just looking for a meet up.

Hey jouke bring your friends to the meetup! We'll be taking the train in from Flevoland, so I'm planning to trawl Centraal Station myself, looking for interesting characters with odd smells, who might add excitement to our gathering.

Wow maybe there will be two days of meetups in Amseterdam, with meatbomb officiating at each.
posted by Mutant at 11:01 AM on June 8, 2008

Ok, I just booked our tickets (yeh I know) and we couldn't get a Friday flight over. So we're good for Saturday afternoon as well.

So what say folks - same place, same time, different day?

Y'all better attend, 'cause for the last meet up in London I made MeFi Blue Carrot Cake which provided all in attendance with an excellent sugar rush. But I'm prolly gonna make brownies for this meetup.

You see, contrary to convention wisdom, you can bring brownies into Amsterdam. But those official types of folks get all inquisitive when you try to leave Amsterdam with brownies. Bastards!
posted by Mutant at 11:32 AM on June 8, 2008

Mutant, as I said: I may join you for late afternoon and early evening.
These are people from my university days I haven't seen for 10-15 years. So my taking part in this meetup is tentative. Sorry.
posted by jouke at 11:33 AM on June 8, 2008

Should have previewed.

Ok. I'll make reservations with Pacific Parc.

How to get to Pacific Parc?
Google Map of the location.

If you'd like to walk there from the Centraal Station it's 2.9 km according to Google. The Haarlemmerdijk is a rather nice street with off-beat shops and nice bars etc.

There are a few buses that will get you there from the central station. Go to 9292ov.nl and
select "treinstation"
enter "amsterdam centraal"
select "adres"
enter "polonceaukade", "23", "amsterdam"
enter date and time that you want to be there
enter "aankomst"

You'll get a few options to get there. I think bus lines 18, 21 and 22 are suitable. Make sure you take the bus in the right direction though! :-)

Instead of "station" you can also select "adres" and enter the addres of your hotel or the Leidseplein for instance.
posted by jouke at 11:48 AM on June 8, 2008

Ooh, hooray, so do I understand we are on for Saturday then? How very cool, I am looking forward to it peoples.
posted by Meatbomb at 3:20 PM on June 8, 2008

Alright, I'm trying to make this happen. Does anybody know of any websites similar to http://amsterdam.citymundo.com/ ?

Or experience using them?
posted by chillmost at 2:45 PM on June 9, 2008

I'll be there!
posted by chillmost at 3:48 PM on June 11, 2008

5 days until meetup!

I have the following people as attending:
Meatbomb
Mr & Mrs Mutant
Mr & Mrs chillmost
me

rash did not respond to my memail.
cmonkey told me that he'll be working that weekend

I'll make reservations and send all attendees an email with my mobile telephone nr just in case.
posted by jouke at 4:08 AM on June 16, 2008

Excellent, my tickets are in my hands and I am totally there jouke. I would like it if we could make that the theme song of MetaFilter Europe, and have it played at all meetups.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:25 PM on June 16, 2008

That's a deal Meatbomb.
I'll do the tricks. I mean illusions.
posted by jouke at 10:02 PM on June 16, 2008

Don't you mean...?
posted by chillmost at 5:42 AM on June 17, 2008

What time would you people like to meet up?

My suggestion is that we meet up around 18:00 and eat something.
posted by jouke at 6:56 AM on June 17, 2008

It seems they have wifi so maybe I'll take my laptop with me for shout outs...
posted by jouke at 10:56 AM on June 17, 2008

Hey there Jouke!

18:00 is fine - Mrs Mutant & I are eager to meet you folks.

She's a footie fan (and since she's got a great talent for picking winners, I'm enjoying this sport I know absolutely nothing about since I bet her tips) and as Nederlands is playing Saturday evening will will be able to catch the game at Pacific Parc?
posted by Mutant at 11:17 AM on June 17, 2008

Mutant, that's a good one. I can't reach them now. I'll ask them tomorrow.
If they don't I suggest we still meet up at pacific parc, don't wait to long with having dinner and make sure we're at a café that does have a screen when it's 20:45.
More tomorrow.
posted by jouke at 12:59 PM on June 17, 2008

The good news:
yes, they have a screen that shows Netherland - Sweden/Russia.
The bad news:
they don't take reservations for dinner because of the expected throngs

Options:
- find a different venue for dinner
- everybody arranges dinner by themselves and we meetup for drinks at Pacific Parc among the Orange hords
posted by jouke at 6:21 AM on June 18, 2008

the Netherlands I propose that the anglophones drop the plural just like the Dutch themselves did. You guys have had since 1795 to get accustomed to our unity after all.
posted by jouke at 6:44 AM on June 18, 2008

Different venue for dinner may be the best option. That way we'll have some time to converse. If we get together afterwards while the crowds are getting loud and rowdy, we won't be able to hear ourselves talk.
posted by chillmost at 9:22 AM on June 18, 2008

Sorry I didn't respond; been away from computers.

Friday the 20th is fine for me, but by Saturday night, I'll be gone.
posted by Rash at 6:06 PM on June 18, 2008

change of location!
We'll have dinner at Restaurant 11.
It's on walking distance from the Amsterdam Centraal Station.
location
When you stand in front of the central station with your back towards the station you go left. You'll walk along a big construction site.

The restaurant is a temporary one on the top floor of a high-rise that's about to be demolished. here's a foto so that you'll be able to recognise the building.
The entrance is on the back of the building. On the way up the elevator is covered in graffiti and everything looks a bit derelict. Don't worry, the restaurant itself is very nice. If you're having difficulty getting into the restaurant you can call me on my mobile phone.

They only have a 40 euro 6 course italian dinner that night since the place will be disbanded in 11 days.
The game will be showed in the next room. We can see whether we want to see it there or whether we want to head into town.

I'll send an email to everybody who indicated to be coming with my mobile nr and the name under which the table has been reserved by me.

I'll be wearing my orange jacket and I'm rather tall.

Yay! I'll be proud to show you the orange craziness in Amsterdam.
posted by jouke at 4:35 AM on June 19, 2008

Hey jouke!

Got your MeMail - many thanks!

Fantastic news about the restaurant as we'll be taking the train in from Flevoland. I'm hoping this place is laid back, as I tend to wear the same clothes most weekends (most folks think of me as a cartoon character).

Also, hopefully it won't be a problem with the reservation if we be bring one/two of Mrs Mutant's kin with us for the evening (and game).
posted by Mutant at 5:02 AM on June 19, 2008

Sounds like my kind of place, and spitting distance from my hotel.

Rock on guys, see you there.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:40 AM on June 19, 2008

There was a scene in a William Gibson novel where the club was a squat in an abandoned building...
posted by Meatbomb at 5:45 AM on June 19, 2008

Great. I changed the reservation to 8 people.

The place used to change around 23:00 into a club. And this is Amsterdam after all. So I imagine there's no problem with dresscode.
posted by jouke at 7:56 AM on June 19, 2008

I see the photo link of the building doesn't work as intended.
this is the building
posted by jouke at 8:03 AM on June 19, 2008

What time is it starting?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:49 AM on June 21, 2008

18:00?
posted by Meatbomb at 4:50 AM on June 21, 2008

Ja, 18:00. See you there.
posted by jouke at 6:47 AM on June 21, 2008

"What time is it starting?"

Hey there Meatbomb - we're taking the train in from Almere, and plan to arrive at Centraal Station between 1800 and 18:30 CET. Not sure about the others, but we can always have a get acquainted drink if they're fashionably later than us. The Flevoland Crew this evening consists of myself, Mrs Mutant, her Paw and her Brother (the plus two mentioned earlier).
posted by Mutant at 6:55 AM on June 21, 2008

Mutant, look for the guy in front of Central Station in the white shalwar-kameez.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:01 AM on June 21, 2008

Sure, not a prob but as I don't know what a shalwar-kameez is I'll look for someone in white. I've seen your pic as well. Hey isn't white the Russian team colour?
posted by Mutant at 7:10 AM on June 21, 2008

Booo! Down with the russian guy. Let's put him into the fountain.

I'll try to be there right on time. Since I'm kind of a host and we Dutch like to be punctual.
Yeah, of course we'll get drink if others are fashionably late.
I'll be off the internet pretty soon. Don't hesitate to use the mobile nr I gave you.
posted by jouke at 7:20 AM on June 21, 2008

Btw I suggest we meet up at the restaurant, not in front of the station. That way we can have a drink and look out across Amsterdam while we wait for the others.
posted by jouke at 7:24 AM on June 21, 2008

OK, I will only be momentarily waiting at Central Station, and then immediately to restaurant. See you shortly jouke.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:57 AM on June 21, 2008

Owgh! We got slaughtered by the Russians. Ignoble defeat.
I had a lot of fun though; meatbomb, mutant, chillmost and the people you brought with you, it was a pleasure meeting up with you.
posted by jouke at 3:58 PM on June 21, 2008

jouke, many thanks for your hospitality this evening, and especially for a memorable meetup venue.

Meatbomb, chillmost, Mieke (sp?), Roel & de Dawg it was all good. Oh! Moos Bear was great fun as well even thought he was cheering for the other team. Wonderful meeting new faces and chatting with all. Count us in for the European 2008 meetup if that ever comes to fruition.

Our pix wil follow sometime tomorrow as we've just gotten in and we're gonna crash hard now.

Take care guys!!
posted by Mutant at 4:10 PM on June 21, 2008

Yes, we need a Euro 2008 meetup, maybe late August? Advance promo is everything.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:19 PM on June 21, 2008

Dudes, I was promised photos. Where are the photos, I demand my human rights.
posted by Meatbomb at 2:03 PM on June 22, 2008

Dude, Amsterdam.



Pictures are coming soon.

It was awesome to meet you all. We had a great time.
posted by chillmost at 1:26 AM on June 23, 2008

Apologies for the delay in pix posted ... we went to see Joe Jackson last night in London and he did a two hour set ... In any case, it wsa great meeting all you folks!!
posted by Mutant at 5:08 PM on June 23, 2008

Yes, I hope we can do it again folks, thank you.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:33 AM on June 28, 2008

Me: "You don't look like a banker."
Mutant: "You're going to the wrong banks."

Indeed.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:36 AM on June 28, 2008

Hey, Mutant, didn't you promise a magic trick right after we met? I feel vaguely ripped off...
posted by Meatbomb at 2:16 PM on July 3, 2008

Why yes of course I did! But the trick I was planning to show, the very sleight of hand that causes Mrs Mutant to hide her face in the palm of her hand while grimly muttering Oh Lord! is best performed while well lubricated by alcohol. Alcohol gives me options regarding the aftermath of such public performances. Later I can either later deny the incident ever took place, blame booze or bask in adulation (well, the last has never happened but I am an indefatigable optimist).

And although we did indeed have alcohol our attention wandered off to the spectacle of Netherlands being utterly humiliated by The Russians. A testament to the good will of The Dutch that the local crowd didn't turn on any and all foreigners in their rage, much as my countryman would have done. So unfortunately I guess the trick will have to wait until our Euro 2008 meetup.

Hey any thoughts on when and where? Munich right after Ocktoberfest when the streets are still slippery from vomit might be fun. Maybe two weeks later, hotels would be much cheaper and only the professionals would still be out in force boozing heavily.

Has there ever been a Munich meetup? I can't find any evidence that one has taken place in Munich before. Ideally we'd meetup in a place that is both central but also where few MeFites reside.

If I'm not mistaken, cmonkey in Nurenmberg, and moonbiter in Koblenz are the closest. But not in Munich.

So Munich could be considered largely neutral. I'm open to suggestion regarding location & date though.
posted by Mutant at 3:20 AM on July 4, 2008

As a tourist you can't readily buy doobies and magic mushrooms in Munich, Mutant. What have you got against Amsterdam? It is a transit hub, really easy to get there from London, Paris, Berlin, hell even NYC...
posted by Meatbomb at 4:22 AM on July 4, 2008

All good points! I've got nothing against Amsterdam, it would be a fine city for the Euro 2008 gathering. This time around we could even have a night out along one of the canals...while the view was very nice from that (by now demolished) skyscraper we did miss that aspect of the evening.
posted by Mutant at 4:31 AM on July 4, 2008

Mutant, let's think about a good time. We want cheap / off season hotel rates, we want something far enough in advance so people can plan, we want a date that won't conflict with some local event or room-sucking convention... any ideas?
posted by Meatbomb at 11:24 PM on July 4, 2008

Ok, prioritising the solution towards sufficient advance time seems to indicate a horizon of 90 days, meaning we'd be smack dab in the middle of October if we chose a date today.

But a secondary (and very critical) criteria would be to insure that, as you've correctly pointed out, no huge convention is underway. There were times when I've gone over for business and simply no rooms are available, at least in city centre.

RAI is one of the largest, if not the largest convention centres in Amsterdam, and while looking for their schedule I came across this, which, curiously enough, seems to indicate October is one of the better times (I realise this schedule is dated, but let's consider it indicative and see where we end up).

Also, while October is getting dicey if the weather hasn't totally shifted to perma-grim then, we might luck out and actually get a sunny weekend!! Seems like the autumns have been getting milder there (and the summers hotter) so that might be a good time of the year.

Ok, hotels. Amsterdam city centre will be pricey, no matter when booked. But if folks are willing to get out to Amstelveen, where the RAI convention centre is - tram number 5, local, or 51, express, roughly thirty minutes worst case - then roughly one hundred Euros / night, perhaps less, is doable.

When I was courting Mrs Mutant I sometimes stayed at the Novotel in Amstelveen. Not a bad place, easy to get into city centre by tram. Another, slightly cheaper alternative would be The Grand Hotel Amstelveen, a little further out on the tram (maybe five minutes from RAI).

I think we should probably get jouke's input on this. My knowledge of hotels in Amsterdam is fairly limited (I usually stay at The Krasnopolsky when I'm there on biz as someone else is paying, and when I was a-courtin' only stayed in Amstelveen as my wife-to-be lived in Almere, and Amstelveen was a good midpoint between the two cities), and there may very likely be cheaper alternatives that I'm just not familiar with.

But just to take one deliverable away from our exchange - are we agreed that a three month horizon is roughly our target? Seems like that would give folks adequate time to plan, especially so if some North Americans were planning to head over for the event.

Amsterdam is one seriously grim place in the winter, and November is pushing it, so if we don't like the 90 day horizon, we'd best pull it forward - but there is an increased risk of issues with hotels, particularly for folks that book / plan late.
posted by Mutant at 3:59 AM on July 5, 2008

I would say we could work on 90 days or slightly less, so we aren't pushing it too far into the winter.

Your suggestion of Amstelveen made me think - there is no reason it has to be Amsterdam, what with all of Holland a super-easy train ride away. Maybe Haarlem or similar would work? I say this because although I haven't been to Amstelveen I am guessing it lacks old-world charm, whereas we could be right in the centre somewhere in a second-tier town.

Yes, I agree we need to get jouke onboard for the planning, I think he is in the middle of his US trip so he might now be super attentive to this thread...
posted by Meatbomb at 8:56 AM on July 5, 2008

(might not be)
posted by Meatbomb at 8:57 AM on July 5, 2008

Ok, timing: Seems like we're tentatively discussing weekends of October 3rd or October 10th.

Location: Although I've spent a lot of time there, my knowledge of Netherlands is limited to Amsterdam and the eastern suburbs such as Almere, Dronten, and a few other places.

Amstelveen is a suburb of Amsterdam, easily accessible by tram. It seems to be mostly constructed after WWII - at least you don't see the nice older buildings you see in the centre of the city. Lots of glass and steel, not really what I moved to Europe to see but some folks like it so ok.

The RAI convention centre is out that way, as is the bank I used to work for (ABN AMRO), that's pretty much the only reason I'm familiar with it - that and the fact that it was closer to Mrs Mutant's residence (Almere) than a city centre hotel. I only suggested it as I know the hotels are both more plentiful and cheaper than in Amsterdam proper, and its very, very easy to get into city centre.

So yeh, good idea about holding it outside of Amsterdam. Would give folks who perhaps have never been to The Netherlands another reason to visit. Organised properly, could be a one day Amsterdam, one day in den Haag (The Hague), Rotterdam, or some other wonderful Dutch city. Perhaps even a day at a small town on the shore of The North Sea. Lots of options.

I've emailed Jouke about our query, so hopefully we'll hear from him in a day or two.
posted by Mutant at 5:04 AM on July 8, 2008