The main canals, bike paths, and coffee shops of Amsterdam
Jeff and I took the train to Amsterdam in mid-November. It was just about a 3-hour journey, which makes it a shame it took us so long to get there.
Amsterdam is a colorful city in many ways: the flower markets and tulips, the streets and street signs, the doorways and bikes, and the people themselves. It is also a fast-paced city, with danger seeming to lurk at every corner, especially for those with a limited attention span and deficient ability to focus. Fortunately, I am still alive to tell the tale.
In stark comparison to the orderly ways of German drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists, the Amsterdam motto just seems to be “Accelerate when you can and go where you fit.” So, yes, you may be on a sidewalk, but beware — cars will go there. Also, like here in Cologne, the trains/”trams” ride alongside traffic in the streets but in places you don’t always expect. So, watch out!
Similar to Venice and Bruges (two of my favorite places), Amsterdam is a city with an elaborate canal system, built up with beautiful, narrow homes that are essentially soldered together one after the other. The city is also known more for its museums, art, and history than its huge buildings and monuments of architectural grandeur. But we all know what it’s most notorious for…and, while we obviously did not indulge in that, its presence was known to anyone with their olfactory senses in tact.
And a tour of the Red Light district was definitely in the top half of my list, along with Van Gogh museum (forgot the exact name) and the Anne Frank house (how cultural we are!). What wasn’t on my list, but that we greatly enjoyed included: a comedy show (in English), Indian food (the #2 restaurant in Amsterdam), and the Sex Museum. Yes, I’ll admit it, we went to the Sex Museum. But, it is an actual museum with educational significance, not a novelty shop. There were plenty of the latter elsewhere.
Here are some photos from the trip, more or less summarizing the experience.
Bikes, Bikes, Bikes
Here is a parking garage … for bikes!
Oh, so very Dutch.
Standing on the back of dad’s bike while talking on a cell phone. How very safe, indeed.
Canal Houses and House Boats
Canal homes and a houseboat.
Canal shot
Canal homes. These really beg for captions, don’t they?
And another…how cool.
And another one…
Houseboat and potted plants. Are you beginning to feel like you’re reading a children’s book?
Canal homes and a houseboat.
Coffee Shops
Seeds on every corner.
Oooh, dying for a reservation!
In case you had any questions.
Love the signage.
Self-explanatory.
Self-explanatory.
Street of temptation.
I love the guy who has caught a glimpse of me from inside the window.
Pancakes and cheese wheels! Oh, and Dutch apple pie.
That is a pancake with bacon!
Buying in bulk?
Cheese wheels bigger than your head.
Opened the trip with some Dutch apple pie!
Last day of pancakes. We had one a day.
So, this is not a pancake, but it is really amazing local food. Peas, bacon and an assortment of pickled items. Strange how amazingly delicious this was.
Cool Doorways and entrances
I want this door on my next home.
I almost fell into about a dozen of these.
Interesting church entrance.
The Anne Frank House
Waiting in the 1+ hour line. I love the expressions on people’s faces.
An amazing and somber place. In walking the floors of the home, you realize how absolutely impossible it must have been to keep quiet.
A view across the canal, opposite the Anne Frank House.
A view of Anne Frank’s house at night. Notice the blackened windows. This was required to help avoid/prevent air strikes at night.
And on a more positive note: flower shops!
Colorful flower markets right outside of our rented apartment. We purchased some bulbs. I’ll update you on the progress of actually turning them into flowers.
In short, Amsterdam was fantastic. Go there — explore, visit museums, eat pancakes.
Frohes Weinachten und Gutes neues Jahr!
New Year’s resolution number one: start blogging again. It’s amazing how awful we’ve been at this. Truly.
So many things have happened since we last blogged. We visited Munich, Nuremberg, and Amsterdam, experienced our first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s in Germany, and had quite a bit of fun in the process. I will post pictures from our trips this week. Promise.
In the meantime, some commentary on the holidays.
Thanksgiving
Obviously, this is not a German holiday. I’m surprised they haven’t adopted it here, however, in the spirit of working less, closing grocery stores, and as an additional excuse for slacking in customer service. Fortunately, this is not the case because planning is not my forte. I was able to successfully purchase last-minute items on Thanksgiving DAY for my garlic mashed potatoes and bacon-grease infused green beans I took with me to our neighborhood Thanksgiving (with friends and a family of Jeff’s colleagues, of course). Despite missing my family greatly, this was one of the tastier Turkey Days I’ve experienced in recent history — likely because everyone brought their culinary A-game to one or two dishes! And who knew that pilots and their spouses were such a culinary bunch.
Following Thanksgiving, we had a smaller, more intimate German-style Thanksgiving, at which our half-German couple friends (Emily and Nick) cooked goose, with a side of purple cabbage and apples and dumplings. Quite Deutsch! Oh, I must not forget the chestnuts they added to the gravy (I love them; Jeff doesn’t). Mmm. mmm. We hosted. They did most of the work. I’m generally OK with that arrangement.
Thanksgiving with goose!
Goose, cabbage, dumplings — oh my!
Christmas
The Christmas traditions of the U.S. are pretty much German traditions, so being here is pretty awesome. To summarize things quite simply — Germans love and wholeheartedly embrace this holiday, so it’s quite festive! The best part, Christmas markets and Glühwein. Christmas markets (or, Weinachtsmarktes) are essentially these mini craft fairs, where local craftsman set up shop and sell ornaments, art, food, knick-knacks, etc., all while people walk around sloshed on warm, mulled vino. It’s pretty amazing.
On Christmas Day, Jeff and I enjoyed being together — with the dogs — for the first time, ever, I think. We indulged in a feast with friends on both Christmas day and New Year’s.
The New Year’s tradition in Köln, and all of Germany (I think), is to light off as many fireworks and other explosives as possible (unfortunately for us, this terrifies our dog Kaya and leads to explosive something else). In fact, commercial-grade fireworks are even sold in grocery stores the week leading up to Jan. 1.
We witnessed children blowing off smaller fireworks in the street in front of moving cars, and we saw one local almost blow off a hand (and maybe a face) by closely inspecting what he thought was a dud (it wasn’t). I think this article sums up the Germany holiday nicely: “New Year in Germany is full of suicidal charm.”
(For whatever reason, WordPress is not letting me upload photos and then text, so here are a random selection of shots from what I just described.) Happy new year! Hopefully I will blog again before next year…
Market at the Kölner Dom.
The markets are exceptionally crowded. Especially on weekends. I might have some permanently Glühwein-stained clothing.
Enjoying the markets with friends
Enjoying their new Christmas dog toy.
Attempting to get dogs in the photo! FAIL.
Jeff modeling his new sweater and PJ pants on our little Christmas “picnic” blanket.
Kaya and tree.
Christmas table “scape” — minus the food. I was really impressed with the layout.
Holiday party at the Pullman.
New Year’s — the aftermath.
Happy 2013!
A European Adventure 