Burkarskis Do Europe 2023 - Canal Hash
Overview
| Rating |
🚤🚤🚤🚤🚤 |
|---|---|
| Year Traveled |
2023 |
| Length of Trip |
2 Weeks |
| Locations Visited |
Amsterdam, Netherlands |
Wednesday - Canal Hash!
Several of us need to operate on “Idiot Time.” We need to think we need to be at a place WAY earlier than we really need to or else we won’t get there on time. Our plan is to be the first group to check-in for the Canal Hash to ensure that we’re in boats together. Initially, we thought we’d need to find two suckers to pilot our boats, but we lucked out that the suckers were with us all along. Kicky and Pink volunteer to drive the boats! So we start with an early brunch so we’ll have time to visit a grocery store and still arrive early.
The brunch restaurant is also a hotel and was very accommodating for our large group of not-so-classily dressed people. I’d just had an avocado toast the day before so I went with some overnight oats this day. The grocery store feels overwhelming and we keep losing each other in the shop. We need snacks, maybe lunch?, and beer? But no one has a cooler. Do we buy cooler beer now and hope for the best? Do we just accept our tepid fate with the room temperature drinks? I was excited to see bottled Aperol Spritz for the 1st time so Michael and I get a 3 pack of those, then each pick out one choice single. Despite having several disappointing Dutch IPAs the previous day, I pick yet another.
We arrive at the Canal Hash check in SO early they send us away. Go find a beer from somewhere else. We find a bar with a big canalside patio. And they have a ton of pride tee shirts leftover which they were giving away for free. MORE FREE TEE SHIRTS!
We return to check-in but it’s still too early. We wander a bit but the crowd at the start beings to grow so we wait there some more. But we have to stand significantly far away from the check in tent. And we have to stand far away from the boat captians’ instruction session. When the time to board arrives we scramble to board with our two volunteer pilots. Success! Let the hash begin! Our hab for the event is a cute mini cooler with some Dutch snacks like weird salt licorice lollipops. But also a bar of Tony’s Chocolonely which has already begun melting in the hot sun.
I’m in Kicky’s boat and we get the jump on the group. In addition to our SOH4 hashers, our boat has a pair of local Amsterdam hashers who won’t be at EuroHash. I was glad for the opportunity to talk with these locals. We get a good museum tip from them for Thursday.
The canals were busy, especially with big tour boat traffic, and our little rentals were underpowered. Nevertheless, we squeezed through a lot of tunnels without creating a terrible traffic jam for the other boats and without hitting another boat or a wall. Same cannot be said for some of the pilots behind us. But we did make a grave error by getting to the head of the pack and spending most of the afternoon there: The cooler with beer was in the sweeper boat. We were left to our own supply: the grocery store purchases getting warmer and warmer in the hot sun.
I’m really glad we got to do this event. Never in a million years would I have thought to rent a boat and traverse the canals on my own. It was a really unique perspective to see the city. And we have to thank the people of pancake restaurant with its own dock for not being annoyed when we pulled over to used their bathrooms. We showed our appreciation by buying whatever beers they had in bottles.
After arguably too much fun on the boats and at closing circle in a very busy public park, we had a relatively quiet evening with dinner at the hostel bar and a visit to the Irish bar next door. Lucky for me, I successfully avoided the Jagerbomb portion of the evening.