Amsterdam

After a slow trip from Ghent to Amsterdam because of an accident, we decided to return the car  at Schiphol on the way and train in - it was a total fools scramble trying to get all our gear, which was spread out across the car, into transportable form....But all of a sudden we had said goodbye to our wheels & found ourselves trudging through Schiphol and then Centraal station, hauling bags onto train and tram and finally along cobbled streets to the Bloemgracht...

 

We arrived to stroopwaffels at the apartment thanks to our host - happy days!  and then went out for bitteballen and dinner. This time, even Zoe got hooked on the bitteballen...a clean sweep which made subsequent division of bitteballen servings more complex.

  

We woke up the next morning to snow on the ground! - quite unusual for Amsterdam apparently. After a run around the canal all the way to our old road Elandsgracht - we were still struggling to get our bearings around the Jordaan and Westermarkt but maanged to find our way home in the end. 

Later we got everyone wrapped up and after a few false starts on the tram we made it to Leidseplein and into the good old Vondel Park, which brought back memories of all the running we did around it while training for the Budapest marathon. 

We left the park through our old exit to Jacob Obrechtsraat in Oud Zuid, then to Van Breestraat which was the first place we lived - such a beautiful part of the city, with large stately houses and gorgeous boutiques and restaurants.

  Van Breestraat!

Then it was time for more bitteballen of course, but this time pour old Zoe burnt her thumbs when she broke into them!  A lesson in bitteballen management followed ..  Next we  wandered up to the Museumplein and the beautiful Rijksmuseum, then had a stroll down the Pieter Cornelius Hooftstraat past all the stunning designer shops which I remember from ogling them in the Van Breestraat days when we were jobless and poor. The street was much flasher now than it was even back then. Bill was very keen to keep me moving... 

 

After lunch, we split up, with Harv and I going to Moco, the contemporary art museum to a Banksy and Warhol exhibition. It was awesome and the building itself was absolutely stunning too. We stayed for ages watching the documentary about Banksy - it's an amazing story.

 

Where's Wally?

Meanwhile just across the way, the girls and Bill went ice-skating in front of the Rijksmuseum - not a bad spot for a winter skate...

 

   

 

Then it was getting dark so we trammed home, via the supermarket to set the kids up with chips and a movie (so easily pleased....) while we went out for more beer and bitteballen (also easily pleased).

  

We managed to fit in 3 different local corner pubs around the Bloemgracht and the Prinsengracht and surrounding streets, including the good old tweedeleliedwarstraat - the pubs were just how we remembered them, on corners of canals and nestled in along residential streets, with their red velvet curtains at the entrance, their old-fashioned timber and their fits out which haven't changed for decades. So full of character. We even managed to convince one of them to give us some takeaway bitteballen to bring home to the kids... they thought we were very odd.

Jase calling in for an update...

 

The next morning it was much milder - we went for a family  run around the canals via a playground before breakfast.

   

Then we did the hop on hop off canal boats to take in the wider picture, out past the Centraal station and then back around the Amstel river, where we suddenly recognised some of our favourite spots from the visitors tour we used to roll out to people who came to stay, including the bar on the Amstel river which was a good place to watch the mayhem on the water.

  

 

 We had lunch near the Albert Cuypmarket in a turkish/north african restaurant and then rolled out of there to get the Canal boat home.

 

On the way home we were first on the scene of a motorcycle accident - not too bad but the poor guy had smashed up his mouth and teeth. We were relieved not to have been the cause of it because a lot of our road crossing and traffic/bike/tram hazard management in Amsterdam was poor to say the least...

Later we packed up for an early start to the airport the next day, went out for some final bitteballen and then to the Anne Frank Huis which was just around the corner. The kids had always been fascinated by the story of Anne Frank so it was great for them to see it. A very sobering place, but they enjoyed finding out more about her story and seeing the details of her hiding place, including the posters she had put on her bedroom wall.

 

Harv's shots :

 

 

 

 

 

Amelia says: Amsterdam was an amazing place to spend  our last few days of europe.  My favourite food there was the stroop waffles they are T.D.F ( to die for). We went to the anne frank muesum  

it was so sad. Amsterdam was so great -  it was awesome to ditch our tiny car. I love amsterdam  

Harvey says: Amsterdam was awesome. When I grow up I'm gonna live there on a canal boat, cruising around and painting pictures of the city. I loved Anne Frank's House which was 5 minutes walk away from where we were staying. I read every single caption in the whole place. I can't wait to start reading her diary. It was great to get back into bitteballen again and, this time, a new food was introduced: STROOPWAFFELS. They are so good - they are basically waffle biscuits glued together with toffee. For anyone travelling around Europe I think Amsterdam is a key stop as it is a great place for sightseeing, food and history. 

Zoe says: I love Amsterdam because we went to the Anne Frank House and it was so sad because Anne Frank died in the war and wrote a journal. We also got lots and lots of bitteballen, but one of the times it was quite annoying because I was trying to open a bitteballen and I cracked it open but dropped it and spilt it everywhere. I had burns on my thumbs. We also had stroopwaffels - they were TDF.