I got back yesterday after a wonderful 3 nights in Amsterdam with my friend, Louisa. We had a great time -- filled with TONS of walking, lots of amazing food, and some interesting museums!
We left on Wednesday afternoon and took the train to Amsterdam (via Bruxelles, Antwerp, and Rotterdam). We arrived to some pretty icky weather -- it was raining and windy and chilly, but we made the trek out to find our hostel -- which wasn't just any old building in the city, but it was a houseboat! So we had about a 15 minute walk until we found the dock where the boat was and were greeted by a long-haired hippy-ish guy who, luckily for us, spoke pretty good English.
We deposited our luggage in our "cabin" - which was fairly cozy, but had bunk beds, a sink, a little cabinet, its own porthole, and a lock! There were probably about 15 cabins on the boat and we shared the bathrooms at the end of the hall -- which were actually pretty clean. But it was a heck of a deal at 20 euros per person per night which included quite the breakfast buffet each morning.
From there, at the recommendation of Louisa's parents, we headed off in search of a restaurant called Le Zinc...et Les Autres (http://www.lezinc.nl/) , which was a charming little place right on one of the canals. We sat upstairs and were soon greeted with a small amuse buche of a shrimp mixture in a little breaded patty. Bad description, but it was delicious. We also got a small bowl of warmed mixed nuts and marinated olives for the table which were equally as delicious. Louisa ordered the pumpkin vegetarian entree and I ordered the "Young Beef" which was a tender piece of meat on top of some leafy vegetables and had a little potato cake on the side. Very yummy! For dessert, we split what they called the "Chocolate Caviar" which was this little tin (which the waiter actually opened in front of us...it only took him about 5 minutes) with a layer of chocolate mousse topped with little chocolate crunchy things -- think Dip 'n Dots. On the side was a small scoop of milky ice cream which was a nice balance to the chocolate! We left extremely satisfied -- the food, atmosphere, service, and presentation were all wonderful.
Thursday, we woke up around 8:30 and had breakfast in the main cabin upstairs. We decided to go to the Anne Frank House to meet our cultural activity quota for the day, and so we set off to find it! The weather still wasn't cooperating (and continued to be unpleasant through most of our visit), but we finally found it and paid the whole 9 euros to go in. It was an incredibly interesting and moving museum -- and it was laid out very well. It was amazing to see the house where the Frank family actually hid for 2 years, and to learn all the history around it as well. It's hard to even imagine being that type of situation, though. Very difficult indeed.
From there, we headed off in search of a cafe called Winkel (again, courtesy of Louisa's parents) -- http://www.winkel43.nl/ -- which we were told had the best apple pie in Amsterdam -- so of course, we had to check it out. We each ordered a piece of the apple pie and some hot chocolate (which was actually just warmed chocolate milk, but oh well). The pie was soooo good. It was a bit different than the "traditional" apple pie in that it had a full layer of crust on the top, and overall, it was much more cake-like than what we would think of a pie being. But nevertheless, it was delicious.
After Winkel, we wandered around for a bit and then we split up for a bit and I got in a quick swim while Louisa headed back to the boat. It was interesting to see the Dutch and how they interact with pools -- it only reaffirmed that the French are ridiculous when it comes to all of the rules they impose at les piscines.
For dinner, we chose a vegetarian restaurant called De Bolhoed (again, thanks Mr. & Mrs. Savage!) -- http://www.vegguide.org/entry/1036. Although, I'm not a vegetarian, I was interested to see what a Dutch vegetarian meal would entail. It didn't disappoint. Louisa ordered the vegan platter which came with about 7 different things on it. I had the casserole which was a dish filled with tons of vegetables mixed in a tomato-like sauce and then baked with cheese on top and came topped with a mound of basil. There was also a nice side salad and the grain of the day which was couscous of some kind. All of it was absolutely incredible. So so good.
Let's see -- Friday we headed down south to the Van Gogh museum which, in my opinion, lived up to expectations. Despite it costing a whopping 14 euros per person (with no student discount), the museum was very cool and the lay out was really interesting. It really gives you the opportunity to follow Van Gogh's career as a painter and watch how his style evolves through the decade (or not even) that he was an artist.
With the yucky weather, we weren't inclined to keep wandering around outside, but we had heard about fresh made stroopwafel at the Albert Cuyp Market which wasn't too far, so we went! It was quite the market with everything from candy to dish soap to clothing. It definitely gives the one that's close to chez moi a run for its money! But we did find the lone fresh stroopwafel maker and each ordered one. Stroopwafel is two very thin pieces of waffle that have melted caramel in the middle. And I got mine with chocolate on it. Yum. Yum. Yum.
We then went off in search of real food (what a novel idea) and found a wonderful little place called Letting Cafe (http://www.letting.nl/) which had great soups and homemade bread which was exactly what we had been looking for. I had the potato and leek soup while Louisa had the sweet potato (I think -- or was it pumpkin? I can only remember it being very orange and having cilantro!). And for dessert, we each got a cookie that was called a "Lady Kiss" which was these two thick almond cookies with a chocolate filling. Again -- yum on all accounts.
That afternoon we walked around some more -- Louisa wanted to stop back by this particular shop, I wanted to go to the Starbucks to get my souvenir mugs, and then we went by this incredible fine food grocery store (think Whole Foods but BETTER) and got some fixings for a picnic dinner back at the boat. We got some fresh bread, cheese, pears, cherry tomatoes, etc. I'm not able to remember the name of this grocery store at this moment, but I'm hoping it will come back to me! It was right by Rembrandt Square.
We made our way back to the boat (we had had quite the tour in trying to find this grocery store which we had found the day earlier) and decided to watch the movie Crazy, Stupid Love (which is one of my new favorites -- I highly recommend it), and had our picnic dinner which was delightful after a day of chilly and rainy weather!
Yesterday morning, before we left, we met up with one of Louisa's friends, Gloria, at a cafe called Screaming Beans (http://www.screamingbeans.nl/) which is where Gloria works a few days a week. It was a great little place -- great mocha, and we also got sandwiches to go -- a wonderful goat cheese, walnut and honey on this crunchy multigrain roll. Absolutely delicious!
The train ride back was mostly uneventful minus the fact that there was a 1 hour delay due to an accident somewhere on the tracks! So it ended up being almost 4.5 hours instead of just under 3.5. Oh well!
Alrighty - bedtime for me! We had a really great trip though -- we both loved the architecture and the style of houses in the city -- and yes, we did take a stroll through the Red Light District and saw stores like the "Condomerie"...but that's an entirely other story...
Hard to pick pictures for this -- but here are a few!
Apple Pie at Winkel:
The Amicitia -- our hostel houseboat (or houseboat hostel?):
A deee-lish veggie dinner:
I definitely recommend Amsterdam as a place to visit -- just a very cool vibe and feel to the whole place. Much smaller than Paris which was also a nice change of pace. Just make sure that if you go into a "Coffee Shop" -- that it actually sells coffee! Because lots of them don't....
A bientot!
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