Roy and Jules in Amsterdam

The first thing we did was find a cafe, drink coffee, eat pastries and get stoned.

We wanted to make the most of the limited couple of days we were going to spend in the Dam. Our first mission was to find some art and inspiration. After a bit of investigation, we discovered that there was a fluorescent museum within walking distance.

We set off, cruising along canals, dodging cyclists who politely rang their bells if we strayed into their path. Most of our walk was though treelined streets with small townhouses standing shoulder to shoulder.

The fluorescent museum was a complete fraud. It turns out that if you run a  "museum" from your front room you get a tax kickback from the local government. The fluoro museum was a collection of ratty 1970s blacklight posters and a display of crystals and minerals that glowed under a UV light.

The guy who ran it was a classic old Dutch hippy and was happy to have some young freaks in his home. He asked us where we were from and what we were up to. We told him we were kiwi’s and, on a mission, to find psychedelic art. He said he had some friends from New Zealand who lived nearby and gave us unintelligible directions to a shop a couple of neighbourhoods away.

Resigned to spending the rest of the day getting stoned and ambling aimlessly around Amsterdam, we set off, trying to find our way back to the city centre. We took random streets because they looked nice and drifted from corner to corner. Our day was directionless.

We passed a house with a huge glass window. Set within the window was a painting of a woman swimming naked underwater in a stony stream. It was awesome, the viewer’s perspective was from above, from out of the water, as if standing on a riverbank looking down into the water.

We knocked on the door, hoping that behind it there was a treasure of art just waiting to be discovered. No one answered. We walked away.

We got about 20 metres down the road when the door opened behind us. A woman stuck her head out and yelled “Hello? Can I help you?" in a muted kiwi accent.

Leon who was closest took a couple of steps towards her and stopped.

‘Jules?'

‘Yes?’

We all started walking back towards her, following Leon.

‘Is that Jules, as in Roy and Jules?’

‘I think it is’

‘What the fuck? No way…’

We knocked on one door. One door. In the whole of Amsterdam. And it was opened by a friend? How does that happen?