Amsterdam!

Part two of Eurotrip 2014:

We left London early the next morning to catch a train to Brussels and then switch trains to Amsterdam. After accidentally getting off in the middle of no where France....we jumped on a different train {thank you understanding conductor!} and made it just in time to Brussels to catch our correct train to Amsterdam.

We arrived mid-afternoon and went straight to the hotel, Boutique Hotel View, to check-in.  The lady that owned the hotel was SO nice!  Her other job is to work as a stage hand for all the concerts that come through the city.  Apparently Beyonce was performing while we were there, and she was looking for additional hands.  Maybe next time. Ha.  She showed us pics from past performances with Lady Gaga, Madonna...you name it, she's probably met them.  After refreshing in our third floor room, with the steepest stairs I've ever seen and no elevator, we refreshed and decided to get familiar with the city.

Amsterdam was definitely not what I expected it to be.  I loved it, but the whole feel of the city was so different than anywhere else I had been in Europe.  The architecture was so different and it was a much more quiet.  The overcast skies and weather in the 40's probably didn't help much, but it felt as if we were transported back to the 1940s.  We stopped at a pub for a quick snack and some drinks.  I had my first rose beer and it was quite tasty!  The pub owner was so great and brought us some authentic dutch food to try.  It was a winner!  

While walking around the Jordaan neighborhood, we came across  one of those touristy canal tours - clearly, that was our next stop!  The guide showed us some landmarks around the city and we got to admire the city from the water.  Boats and bicycles are the way to travel in that city -- although there are cars, but definitely not quite as many as you'd expect in a city.  

The tour ended near the Anne Frank house -- which we heard has a long line each day.  Since it was an hour before it closed, and there was no line, we decided we'd take advantage of that!  It was sooooo surreal being there.  The bottom floors, where her father's shop was, is now the museum entrance/gift shop/etc.  Then you climb some steep stairs to enter the living quarters.  The bookshelf is still there...the photos on Anne's wall are still there...the height chart for Anne and her sister is still on the wall.  Her father was happy to turn the house into a museum, under the condition it wasn't staged like it originally was.  All the rooms are empty but there are photos of how the rooms looked while they lived there.  There are also videos from different documentaries playing that go along with where you are in the house. 

{I took this later in the week while it was light out.  The top 3 floors is where they lived and still have the blackout curtains on the windows.}

 By the time we finished the tour, it was dark and time for dinner!  We weren't really familiar with the area still so we found a restaurant, Spanjer van Twist, that was filled with people -- we knew the food would be good and we were right!  We had some red wine, mint and lemon infused water to start.  I ended up getting homemade cheese ravioli and Scott had an amazing dutch steak with frites (and garlic mayo to dip!) 

{we had a dinner guest!  Cats are everywhere in this city...}

After stuffing ourselves, we decided it was time to call it an early night and rest up for the next day!

The next morning we woke and walked around the corner to the Starbucks to grab some coffee and use the free wi-fi for a bit.  Next thing we knew, it was lunch time and we walked over to the Pancake Bakery.  It was incredible.  It was such a tiny place, you walk down some stairs and it's all underground and dark.  We decided to split a crepe -- ham, cheese & onion and a bowl of french onion soup.  The crepes were bigger than the plate and it was probably my favorite meal of the entire trip!  On their menu, there was an entire section of crepes from different countries.  I laughed out loud when I saw what they created for the American crepe...

We decided to spend the afternoon out of the city and attempt to see the tulip fields.  Unfortunately, we missed the opening of tulip season by a couple of days, but took the train out to Leiden and give it a try!  The towns outside of the city are so quaint and adorable!  We found a nice cab driver who tried to get us a sneak peek into the tulip garden, but without any luck, we drove around to some of the private fields again with no luck.  We had barely missed it!  We did see some gorgeous daffodil fields though.  Before we headed back to the city, we walked around Leiden -- saw some windmills, did a little shopping.  

When we arrived back into the city, there was a torrential downpour.  The train station was on the complete opposite side of the city from where we were staying -- and we had no umbrella!  We made a run for it, and ended up stumbling upon the restaurant, Winkel, I wanted to go to for dinner that night!  We popped in and enjoyed happy hour and dinner.  It was a great break from the rain and got to enjoy some great fish and dutch apps! 

While walking back towards our hotel, we finally found where people hang out at night!  And itw as only a couple blocks behind our hotel!  We found several bars/restaurants with the typical European outdoor seating.  We chose a wine bar and sat outside under the heaters, and they brought us some blankets to wrap up in.

The last day we had to check out of the hotel around 11 although our train to Munich wasn't leaving until that evening.  The lady was kind enough to let us store our luggage in the lobby until it was time to leave.  We hit up Starbucks again and then attempted to find a deli for lunch before our cheese tasting class.  After getting lost (the streets are circular...you think you're going straight but then you aren't and are on the other side of the city!) we just headed over to where the cheese tasting class was being held.  Turns out it was in the city centre and there was even more of Amsterdam we had yet to explore!  

We picked a little cafe and quickly ate a sandwich before walking over to Reypenaer for our class.  This was SO fun!  If you're ever in Amsterdam, you have to go here!  The class was about 20 people and our teacher was young and hilarious. Cheese tasting is similar to wine tasting -- smell it, taste it, try to figure out what flavors are in it. We tried all kinds of cheese -- the white ones were my favorite.  I'd like to think I was the best student in the class because I answered correctly first most of the time. :)  We left with 4 blocks of cheese and the "guillotine" cheese cutter.  It was pretty awesome, and now that we're back, we've already used it a number of times!  

{with our teacher!  he loved the fact we were from Texas.  When we told him specifically Austin, he said he heard that's like the Europe of Texas and he wants to visit sometime!}

While over in that area of the city, we took advantage of some souvenir shopping and walked around the rest of the city we hadn't seen yet, including the famous red light district.  It wasn't that exciting during the day time hours.  Before heading to the train station, we headed to the Wagamama near our hotel to grab an early dinner.  Wagamama was one of my favorite places to eat when I was in London during college and we didn't have enough time to eat there earlier in the week. I was thrilled when there was one in Amsterdam right by our hotel and Scott loved it, too!  

We then collected our things and headed to the train station to catch the overnight {and unforgettable} train to Munich!

Part 3 coming soon!