Amsterdam Day One and Two

Amsterdam: Day One.

We both arrived on Friday. Rebecca flew into Eindhoven, a small airport about two hours away from Amsterdam. I flew in to Schipol Airport, which is Amsterdam’s main airport. It is so large, that we landed, and then had to drive for 15 minutes to get to the gate. I thought I wasn’t going to be allowed off the plane! I took the train in to Amsterdam and then the tram to the hotel. Luckily they had let Rebecca go up to the room because she had arrived much earlier than me. I got there and we were both starving. We decided to walk into the city center and get some food. Of course, we saw an Indian Restaurant and were like “OH YES!” The Indian food was the first small step in to our “culinary tourism.”

Walking back to the hotel, we got very lost and kept seeing this one church, which I learned when I walked back there on Tuesday was really a horse stable. After dinner we bought some wine (unfortunately with a screw top – we had no corkscrew!) And went back to the hotel and had a glass of wine. What sophisticates we are. It was plonk. But not terrible plonk, just a proletariat wine.

Amsterdam: Day Two.

Saturday was raining. We decided it would be a good idea to walk around the city to get an idea of how it worked. It’s fairly easy to get around, since there are canals. If you go too long without seeing a canal, you are far away from where you want to be. Well, that happenned to us. We walked around, and found an amazing cheese shop and bakery. Rebecca and I are in love with cheese. You may think you are dating us, or in a relationship, but really, if we had to choose between you and the cheese, it would be the cheese. It is always the cheese. So we got some goat cheese and some Edam. The goat cheese had herbs in it and was a texture somewhere between cheddar and jarlsburg. At the bakery we got some pastries for breakfast.

We continued our epic walk to the old center, with winding alleys and tilted buildings. We attempted to go to the Royal Palace and the Town Hall, but they were closed “due to circumstances.” It sounds like and act of God “Due to an act of God, we are unable to open the Royal Palace.” So, since we had nothing to do, we decided to go to the Red Light District. There were prostitutes in the windows! Some were not very attractive. Then we wanted to go to the “Prostitution Information Centre” because we thought that it would have interesting info on being a prostitute in Amsterdam and how to become one! (Don’t worry Mom, you have to be an EU resident to become a legal prostitute in Amsterdam.)

On Saturday somehow we found ourself at the “Sex Museum” and the “Hemp, Hash and Marijuana Museum.” We figured if we were not partaking in sex or drugs we might as well go to the museums. Post museums geared towards young males, we went back to the bakery to get a loaf of bread for our cheese and breakfast for Sunday, because the bakery was closed.

Exhausted from our walking and museum going (I say that with my tongue in my cheek) we went back to the hotel for a nap and bread and cheese. Post nap and picnic, we went to the fair. This is where and when our culinary tourism began. It is about halfway between Centraal Station and our hotel, easy walking distance. It has different booths selling different delicious delicacies. On Saturday night we got profiterijs. They are like mini pancakes but SO MUCH BETTER. You watch him make them and then they are sprinked with powdered sugar. We ate them standing on a corner.

We then decided that we would walk away from the City Center and go to a local bar. We found one on this side street. We walked in and there were two teenage boys playing cards, two girls and the bartender. We sat by the window and people watched. This is when our illegal activity started. We decided that we should collect the coasters from all the bars we went to. I’m not fully convinced it’s stealing. They have like hundreds and they throw them out anyway. So, this was coaster acquistion number 1.

Coaster acquistion number 2 occurred later, at the “Salo n.” No, I didn’t type that wrong, the light was out in the second “o.” There we had m. It was like a beer, but cloudier and definatly had a fruity taste. I got a little adept at pointing at the tap and saying “two please.” We finished our third drink of the night at the salo n and were sitting there debating whether we wanted to have another one. Then the bartender was like “Let me help you.” And then he took our glasses and got us another drink. We went from sober/tipsy to tipsy/drunk. Alert! Alert! The beer in Amsterdam is MUCH stronger than anywhere else I’ve been. I would say about twice as strong.

So after the “extra beer” as we took to calling it, we went home. It had been a long day!”