I feel like it’s important to start this post by saying I’m not anti drugs, I’m anti breaking the law. So I’ve never tried anything, at all, in this country. When I said I was going to Amsterdam everyone (including my mother!) asked if I was going to smoke weed. I said no, mainly because I tried to smoke a cigarette when I was younger and nearly threw up-never again! I did say though that I’d try Space Cake, if the girls wanted to. And they did. I knew I’d be writing this post to talk about trying space cake in Amsterdam.
It’s not actually legal to buy weed in Amsterdam, it’s just that it’s so popular with tourists the authorities turn a blind eye. You’ll find that the places calling themselves ‘Coffee Shop’ actually sell weed-if you want a cup of coffee you’re best looking for a Cafe-so we chose one on one of the main streets and grabbed a table outside. We ordered a Cola each and went inside to buy Space Cake.
I’m pretty naive to be fair, I had no idea how much I’d be paying-so I was pleasantly surprised to find one muffin was seven euros. We decided to have half each and so I split mine with Tamzin-we didn’t know how much it would affect us, if at all, and planned to go out drinking that night. Sensible heads, us! The cake actually tasted very gingery, and was pretty nice-and within about twenty minutes of eating my half I felt really relaxed and calm. For someone with anxiety, that’s a feeling I’m not at all used to.
We wandered around more that afternoon before going back to our hotel to get ready to go out. We all sat around, I ate SO MUCH FOOD (turns out the munchies is actually a thing!) and we spent about three hours failing to move at all. Eventually we did get ready and go out, at about 10pm, and when we arrived at the Irish Pub to get tea we found they’d stopped serving food. D’oh.
An hour in I started to feel really on edge and anxious, and that quickly turned into a panic attack. I told the girls I wanted to go back to the hotel and that they should stay out, and after a bit of concern they agreed to stay. I walked through the city back to the train station and got the train back, mid panic attack, as well as taking some night time photos of the canals-trying to distract myself, really. Then I had a long conversation with a friend when I got back, and slept.
I don’t really think space cake agrees with me, with hindsight. I LOVED feeling so relaxed and I can really see why people like it, especially those with chronic pain, but I really didn’t enjoy the mega panic attack as it was coming out of my system. I’m actually back in Amsterdam in a couple of weeks, and as for whether I’d try it again-well, maybe. My anxiety on a whole has been far better recently (see my mental health update!) so potentially I may try some again if my parents want to. Otherwise, I won’t bother.
Have you tried space cake in Amsterdam? Would you?
I have tried a space brownie in Copenhagen. It was so random, I was attending an Ethiopian jazz concert in Christiania, the hippie neighborhood, and kept on drinking the free coffee to stay awake (I was doing a white night, to catch a plane at 6am). I’ve made friends with the people next to me and they offered me a cake, all of a sudden. I didn’t notice any effects but I can tell you that when the customs officer asked me where I was coming from, at 8am in the morning, my mind was blank and I couldn’t answer the question :))
This shouldn’t be funny but it really is-whoops!
I haven’t had space cakes but used to smoke weed as a teen and loved the relaxed feeling. I’ve not smoked for years now and I don’t miss it. I don’t think I’d be tempted by space cakes etc if I ever went to Amsterdam x