Amsterdam with the Fam

Amsterdam was an interesting place, to say the least! The city itself was just amazing- adorable little buildings lining every street, canals running through the whole town (very similar to Venice in that respect), hardly any cars to be seen...picture perfect, really.

But it was also crazy - hordes of bikers ready to run over you practically everywhere because half the sidewalks are actually bike lanes; pornography and prostitution everywhere in the Red Light District; the smell of marijuana in the air as you pass every corner - talk about sin city!

Our first night there we walked around forever trying to find a place to eat. We read in a tour book that you can easily be scammed there into eating at a touristy place where the food is really overpriced and tasteless, so we were trying to find a place our book recommended. Turns out the map in it was wrong (and no, it was not a Rick Steves book!), so we wandered around forever in the wrong place, for a restaurant that may or may not even still be open. We finally ended up at a restaurant in the Dam Square. The food was decent and the food prices were decent- then Ben and I realized with the bill that we paid 9 euro for a 1 liter bottle of water- yes, I said 9 euro! Ben about had a heart attack right there.

Saturday we slept in so we wouldn't be exhausted going into our full day of walking - and sleeping in was easy since we were staying at a Marriott...oh how we love American hotels with amazing beds and an ice machine at the end of the hall! We went all over Amsterdam that day - had a great lunch, walked (quickly) through the Red Light District (it's famous for that, figured we at least had to see it!), saw the Anne Frank house from the outside (line was too long and we didn't care to wait), did some shopping, did a beer tasting of 6 different Dutch beers - and walked, walked, walked! We stopped in at a little place for a snack...at least, Ben and I had a snack...

Ben's birthday was Sunday, but since we were planning on leaving Sunday night, Jenn and Scott offered to buy us dinner Saturday night for his birthday present. We went to an Indonesian restaurant that was just fabulous! They brought out 14 dishes for all of us to share, and they were all just out of this world. That was one of the best dinners I've had the whole time I've been in Europe! Thanks, Jenn and Scott!

Sunday we had another great meal for lunch, which included Dutch pancakes - yummy! They are really thin and huge, covering the whole plate, and you can get them with lots of different stuff like chocolate or apples or bacon or ice cream. I got one with cheese, and Scott tried one with currants and raisins. Ben made the decision at lunch that day, his birthday, to stop drinking sodas and to stop eating fried food! Something about being around healthy eaters...it starts rubbing off on you! We finished off our afternoon by walking to the park, then to a cheese and wine shop, then sitting on a bench in front of a canal enjoying our cheese and wine.

Ben and I had to leave around 6 to catch our 7 o'clock train. We got to the station around 6:25, and then Ben stood in line for 15 minutes for a döner (basically a chicken wrap), and then we went to see what platform our train left from. Turns out, there is no 7 o'clock train, and the last train to Düsseldorf had left at 6:34...and it was about 6:40 when we figured that out...pretty frustrating! Luckily our ticket was just a generic ticket from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf that was good for any time until September, so we figured out we could take a 7AM train back in the morning.

So we made our way back to the hotel, only to find (as we already knew) that Jenn and Scott had already gone out for the evening, and we had no way of contacting them! So, we went out and bought a bottle of wine, some pizza, and some white chocolate-covered oreos (since Ben didn't get a birthday cake) and brought them back to the room and ate them while watching a Conan O'Brien re-run. Ben and I have really come to appreciate wine lately, and it's great here and really inexpensive - great wine for only 2 or 3 euro! All in moderation, of course, but it's fun to try to pick out the smells and flavors of the wine, plus it just adds to the ambiance of any setting.

Luckily, Jenn and Scott came back not too much later, and we got to spend another night just chatting and hanging out. I wasn't too upset about missing that train after all. :) We left early the next morning, and Jenn and Scott left that afternoon and headed to Paris for the week. We met up with them Saturday in London...talk about a long week waiting for the weekend!

Just thought I'd add this last picture for fun...Jenn and I had practically the same outfit and wore it on the same day on accident...plus our purses are made by the same person, so we look like twins!