Amsterdam - I'm here!

Stephanie and Trace by the locks for the canal. They flush them out five times a week. Had to take a picture next to a cannon!


I got to Amsterdam! After some confusion on where I needed to go (I had to find internet and look at where we had planned to meet), I walked into the hostel (with very tall and narrow steps) to find Trace and Stephanie getting settled after their Egypt excursion.

Amsterdam has architecture and canals. Walked through the back ways (on the ever-present Rick Steves tour!) and bought some good Dutch cheese from the cherry cheese lady (she really was!).



Lots of cannabis smoke in areas, but only in certain areas (and we did not go in). Amazing that they sell plants everywhere, even along with all the tulips and bulbs. Very narrow houses along all the canals, with different gables (bell, step and, yes Trace, even "Clark"!). They had to pay for canal frontage for access so narrow, but tall houses, that go back quite a bit, were built (with a VERY narrowest of them all). But then they have to then and now get things from bottom to top, so virtually every place has a piece that juts from the top of the roof with a pulley system to lift things to other stories of the building. I even saw them lifting some lumber to the top floor.


I was pretty tired, but had to get through the day so I could get used to the time zone (at this point it was 7 hours ahead of EST - they had already "sprung forward"). Toured to the Anne Frank House - phenomenal! Very simple, but powerful. You got to walk behind the bookcase to the hidden rooms and see how they would have lived. Even little things like Otto Frank's height measurements of Margot and Anne when they were in hiding.
After a short nap (I was dead on my feet), walked through the Red Light district (interesting)- we think Trace got knocked on the window for... Ate great garlic soup and goat at a Peruvian restaurant (lots of international-little local).

-View from the hostel we stayed at in the city.




DAY TWO

Rented bikes for a little bikey-bikey. Excellent city to get a bike in. They have these cool back tire locks that are amazing (Steph and I both bought one for the island) and they were just nice bikes - we know bikes! Rode through the city, crossed the Ij behind the train station (where we saw the massive public bike parking ramp).



Got lost there north of the city, but found our way along the Ijsselmer, also called the Zuiderzee. Saw the reclaimed land (polders) and upcoming projects, through Durgemdam and Uitdam. The wind was amazing and it actually pushed us along as we went north. Got really windy so ate our cheese, fruit and bread and decided to cut the trip short and headed back, right into the wind. That's when it got really, really windy. Had to walk our bikes most of the time on the way back. We were exhausted really, but it was neat to see.
Went back to rest and eat! After all this we got to the Pancake Bakery (thanks to John and Meg for suggesting this and other places!). Okay, this is where the obsession begins with Stephanie and I and the very wonderful little pancakes called proffertjes. One plate was all we got and we were sad when it was done. But then we got the pancakes (pannekoken), me the lemon, Stephanie the apple/banana and Trace the cheese/bacon. We were very satisfied with that for sure! Well, maybe not quite so sure since we ended up going to an Italian place for more food later on on the Leidsplein and hanging out at a pub.


DAY THREE

Saw the flowermarket on the canal. Unfortunately, you can only take certain bulbs to USA, but the tulips were amazing! Stephanie and I split three plates of proffertjes (our new favorite) for breakfast.


Headed to the Heinken Experience, and it was an experience. Kind of like a regular museum at first, but then they start getting interactive with video screens, stops for beer (at 11:00 a.m.!), hydraulics based "rides" where you were a bottle of the beer getting filled at the factory or on a carriage going through Amsterdam, watching commercials in a recliner and, our favorite, sending video and picture messages. Couldn't down the other two beers at the end.

Then to the Van Gogh Museum - fabulous! Probably one of the best art museums, especially since it was on one person, I've been to. I liked some of the lesser known paintings more than the known sunflowers, starry night, etc.


On to Zaans Schans - the touristy place (like Holland, MI), but loads of fun. Went into a working old-fashioned windmill which was working on peanut oil. You could stand pretty close to the "fans" of the outer windmill - felt like you could get hit by one at any moment. Bought a lot of cheese (although no cheery cheese lady)and played around with the shops (how many wooden shoes can you try on?) and giant wooden shoe.
On to Haarlam that night!