Last time I had a plan for a few relaxing months, I ended up living out of a suitcase. I start suspecting it’s a bit similar to the effect of my ‘I’ll get home early today’ mantra… Except when I made a wish for a ‘relaxing’ 2013, I didn’t expect the universe to start working on it from day 1 of the new year!
The universe, apparently, takes me very seriously though, so right on January the 1st, after the official city New Year’s eve fireworks, I got an invitation to come spend a few party days in Amsterdam… An offer I could, of course, refuse, but the people involved were hard to say ‘no’ to :P. Therefore, doing my best not to disappoint my fate by refusing her very first generous offer of the new arbitrarily assigned time segment, on the 2nd I bought the ticket, on the 3d I bought a small suitcase that would fit free cabin luggage dimensions for Wizzair and at 6 in the morning on the 4th I was on the plane to Eindhoven…
Aline picked me up at the airport and less than an hour later I was finally able to catch up on the sleep I missed from the night before. In the evening we set off to Amsterdam for the Zouk party at BraSa and, of course, an after-party at Candela. And this was the quiet night of the weekend…
On the 5th we began by ‘ambushing’ my host in Amsterdam: we asked if Aline could also stay there for the night to avoid driving back and forth. He was nice enough to agree :). After we sorted everything out, we dropped in for Gert’s b-day party for a little while. It was unplanned – we only got invited the night before, but it was lovely to catch up off the dance floor. Then we picked up DJ Shing and DJ Nyx and drove to Katwijk for the Zouk aan Zee party at Johnny’s Mambo. The party there was nice, we especially enjoyed watching the faces Shana was making while dancing with Fabiano :). But it ended, unfortunately, at 1am – way too early for the party crew, so we dropped Shana off at the house and proceeded to El Punto Latino (the nickname we gave it was a version without the first ‘n’…). When we closed the place, we still didn’t have enough. Fortunately, the afterparty spot right next door to Candela – The News – was open, so we proceeded there. At first it was totally packed, but we were able to charm our way inside. Then eventually some more space cleared out and we burned the floor :). Next time we checked the ticker, it was around 8 in the morning… We closed that spot as well, dropped Fabiano off and finally came back to sleep around 9:30am, to great amusement of our host who expected us back closer to 5am :).
On the 6th we woke up late – no surprises there :). Our host suggested us a very good restaurant right across the street – Buuf, not expensive and with tasty food. We opted for steaks :).
Despite a very ‘democratic’ price, the steak was very nice and juicy and potatoes were delicious, so don’t hesitate to drop in if you’re in the area! (Keep in mind it gets pretty full around dinner time and lunch time)
Then we went to the Zouk party at Sao Paolo. Not the one in Brazil (maybe next time ;)) – the one about 400 meters down the street from the restaurant :).
The ‘normal’ group picture after the workshop… (Disclaimer: copyright for the images from Sao Paolo belongs to their respective authors)
The ‘crazy’ group picture 🙂
The slightly less crazy picture by the time Fabiano managed to actually get on his head 🙂
Dancing with Roger is usually fun (unless he breaks my nose 😀 )
This is the best picture of the night! Fabiano and Shana rule!!!
Officially, the party ended at 1am, but 8 of us kind of hung out a bit longer because Nyx started playing some badass club music… Somehow this organically grew into a sort of a private afterparty right there at the bar, behind the closed roller-blinds, with talking, dancing and even some food that was served in the middle of the night!
Paul is trying out a PIMP persona 🙂
Having funnnnnn!!!!
I see you winding and grinding…
Chicken, potatoes and salad 🙂
Yumm yummm
We wrapped up past 4am :). Aline dropped me off and went back to Eindhoven and I went to sleep.
On the 7th I woke up very late, took a bath and was about to text my host when he came back. He was nice enough to make a dinner and for the rest of the evening I just chilled at the house, catching up on some blogging. I’m still going through Barcelona pictures – I have just over 200 to upload from the last trip plus another few hundred from my first time in the city a couple of years ago…
The 8th was also relaxing. It turned meteorologically annoying towards the evening when it got colder and it began to drizzle (didn’t stop until the late morning!), but the brave party musketeers faced that challenge and ventured into the cold night. This time we went to Brasil. Again, not the one across the ocean, but the one near Leidseplein. Other places were empty, but Brasil had quite some life in it right until the closing time :). Apparently you can’t get in unless there is a Brazilian person with you, but at 3am no one asked…
Secret identity…
Disclosed!
Party people
A more in-focus picture from Brasil bar :). (c) belongs to the author of the picture
In the early pre-dawn hours of the 9th we dropped Fabiano off to rest and pack and went on to chill a bit ourselves. Not without some fooling around.
Shiiiit… Amster-daaayym…
We ARE the afterparty!
Ha! A bit of sandwich-packaging wisdom :).
Later we came back to take him to the airport (hello there again, Schipol!) and finally, one hot panini per person later, it was time to say goodbye…
What a week! We enjoyed well-deserved lazy couch-potato movie and series-watching couple of days and summoned our remaining strength by Friday the 11th to go to Utrecht for the Zouk party at De Dreef.
I also got a Nokia N95 to play with (my dear Aline gave me her old one), so I’m officially among the smartphone owners now :D. Feel free to WhatsApp me (if you have my number) :D.
Originally we were thinking about going to one of the two parties on Saturday slightly further off, but in the end we decided instead to go to Santiago de Cuba (Yaaay, I’ve actually been there! I mean the real one!) bar in Eindhoven. It was a nice, chill night, although we both even got to dance a bit. We got home, had a snack, watched a couple of more episodes of ‘Heroes’, rested for a couple of hours and headed to Eindhoven airport. Now it was my time to leave Holland and get back to Prague, see if anything more ‘relaxing’ is in store for me that I know not of so far :)…
If all or even any of the projects and plans that have emerged as possibilities for the 2013 in its very first days, this should be one hell of a year :).
A cocktail of personality traits hard to digest for some but ultimately soothing for those who can. I observe, enjoy, travel, interact, photograph, dance, contemplate, write and love my way through this life's countless occurrences. This blog is a way to share with the world and its people some of the treasures they give me every day.
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