When in Rome, errrr . . . Amsterdam

After having pancakes for breakfast, we rented some bikes and rode out of the center of the city and to a place called Amstel Park. It was a pretty relaxing ride considering the chaos that we saw yesterday. After about 25 mins, we arrived at the park and decided to explore.

The main reason I made Nicole do this with me is because I did extensive research on the locations of windmills in the area. If I'm going to go to the Netherlands, I expect to see windmills! If I'm going to be deprived of seeing people wearing wooden shoes, so help me, I will find that windmill. After breathing a sigh of relief when it came in to view, we walked in to the rest of the park.

There definitely weren't as many tourists here as in the city. I got some falafel from a stand. Nicole (and her stomach) cringed at the large amount of hummus dumped on my plate. Despite passing a stand that sold ONLY ham, she opted for a granola bar to snack on.

Nicole had done some research last night and saw there was a place in the park called "Midget Golf." This was clearly something we had to try. Apparently it's just a politically incorrect way to describe putt putt, but do you see that windmill?! Two in one day! I narrowly edged out Nicole by a couple strokes. There was a sand trap that did her in.

We had to return our bikes by 5, so we headed out. Now we face the daunting task of finding a place to eat. It is, however, the last time we will have to do this. I thought Nicole might fancy a nice ham, but it seems she is now on a kosher diet.

Location:Nieuwe Looiersdwarsstraat,Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Touring Amsterdam

We spent the afternoon seeing the sights. Our first main stop was Anne Frank's house. It wasn't really what I expected. I personally felt that too much of the original building had been changed to accommodate the museum. It was, however, interesting to see the original bookcase that hid the stairwell to the annex where they hid. And I was surprised to see that they had her actual diary on display, so that was neat.

Amsterdam itself is a little different than I expected. I think perhaps because we just came from Bruges, Amsterdam doesn't really have that quaint feel to it. There seems to be chaos everywhere with pedestrians, cars, and cyclists flooding all crosswalks and intersections. And who would have thought that nobody here wears wooden shoes?

Then we paid a visit to the Heineken Experience. It's no longer an actual brewery, so they decided to make it an overpriced interactive tour. Nicole and I had our picture taken in their green screen section. Of course we are supposed to pay for a copy, but that just seemed silly, so I took a picture of the picture.

During the actual beer sampling, one of the workers was trying to explain how to best serve and drink Heineken. First he said to smell it. Nicole thought it smelled like a skunk. Then he explained how to drink it to better enjoy the taste. I thought it tasted like moldy water. So there you go. Heineken: the Miller Lite of Europe.

We had dinner at a pub near one of the canals. It was probably the best dinner we've had thus far. At least it had some variety. The only downside was that it was freezing out. As soon as the sun begins to go down, the temperature seems to plummet. I was shaking. The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that everyone in Europe seems to smoke, so I got caught in a cloud every few seconds. Other than that though, . . . it was a decent meal. Losing feeling in our bodies, and dripping from our noses, we elected to head back to the hotel to try and warm up and plot out our activities for tomorrow.

Location:Nieuwe Looiersdwarsstraat,Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Gosh, what a morning . . .

Our first train was at 9 this morning, and we had to catch two others -- one in Antwerp and the other in Rotterdam -- before ultimately arriving at Amsterdam's Centraal Station. We had close connections each time, but it all went off without a hitch (other than being busted for sitting in first class while holding 2nd class tickets, but we were able to feign ignorance as we are just simple tourists). In our defense, the train cars aren't labeled clearly and first and second class basically look the same. It's not like there was a piano bar in there.
Anyway, the trouble began once we actually got to Amsterdam. Our hotel is in the southern part of the city, which would have been about a 1.5 mile walk through crowded streets while carrying our luggage. We opted to take a tram, but the maps at the station were useless, so we didn't know which one to board. The ticket machines were also not working, so we had to take a number just to wait to buy a single fare ticket. After about 20 mins of mulling, we got out tickets and the man told us the best way to get to out hotel was to take a bus. Having an aversion to this mode of transportation, I still figured we'd chance the tram. Ultimately, we boarded basically the first tram we saw, not knowing where it was even headed, but since the water is to the north, and we had to go south, we felt it was a fairly safe bet.
So here we are at our hotel . . . finally. We plan to walk to Anne Frank's house and explore the area. It's much more congested here than Bruges, so it will take some adjusting. Since I haven't taken any pictures yet today, here's a collection of shots of Bricole!

Location:Nieuwe Looiersdwarsstraat,Amsterdam,The Netherlands

Last Night in Bruges

We spent the rest of the day roaming the streets and exploring some of the less traveled areas of town. We went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which claims to have drops of Jesus' blood. We walked in as they were putting the canister of "blood" away.




We bought some chocolates and snacked on those before heading out for dinner. We ate overlooking one of the canals. I tried something called Flemish Beef Stew. It was alright. None of the food here has wowed me, but at least it was something different. Both of us avoided ham for at least one meal.




Later on, we walked around at night, which doesn't really begin here until 11 since the sun never seems to set. The temperature also plummets as soon as the sun goes down. It felt like winter. Tomorrow we take multiple trains to get to Amsterdam. It will take us a total of 4 hours, which I'm not excited about, but such is the life of the budget traveler. Hopefully we board the correct ones.

Location:Bruges,Belgium

Bruges Encore

Our day began with some delicious waffles that we bought from a pickup place. Belgium confuses me because I can't really work out what language people are speaking. In any event, I ordered in French, but the man was confused as to why I spoke it. Apparently, people up here speak Flemish, and French, and Dutch, amongst others. Confusing indeed.

We then walked up the steps to the top of the belfry in the center of town. Having scaled the Eiffel Tower already, this was child's play. Then we decided to go on a brewery tour called De Halve Maan. It was entertaining since our guide had a good sense of humor. We had lunch and drinks afterward.

Nicole got real excited that they had salad on the menu as an alternative to all the ham we've been eating, but to order it, she had to get generous portions of cold cuts aka HAM. I had some fries. Now we are about to do some more exploring, so stay tuned.

Location:Bruges,Belgium

Would you like ham with that waffle?

We are now in Bruges. After walking around to orient ourselves, we got hungry and looked for a place to eat. This became a two hour stroll from hell because not only was everything overpriced, but nothing looked appealing. One can only have so much ham before they tire of it. There were numerous places that specialized in authentic Belgian or Flemish cuisine. The problem is that neither Nicole or I were keen on having a plate of mussels, and for whatever reason, everything has ham on it.




Eventually, we settled on an "Italian" cafe near our hotel. We both had pizzas. Nicole's had ham on it. Mine had chicken, but it too, tasted kind of like ham. I think tomorrow we will be making meals out of chocolates, waffles, and fries. Perhaps this is why there are no Belgian restaurants back home.

Location:Bruges,Belgium

Bruxelles pitstop

Our Thalys train ticket fare included our trip to Bruges, but didn't specify a time to go there, so we could take any train to get there as long as it was some time today. Therefore, we decided to do lunch in Brussels. The weather was pretty ridiculous. It's entirely possible that I could return to LA and people will ask if I was on vacation in Mexico. I think I got a tan in . . . Belgium.

We had a lunch of waffles. I personally had two. I washed it down with a beer called Kwak. It is served in a special glass with a round bottom, so it needs its own holder or it would fall over. I'm sure this is all just marketing nonsense like the laser etchings in Sam Adams glasses, but it made me feel classy.

For being a Thursday in the middle of the day, it was chaos. Nobody works. In fact, there was some sort of massive union protest going on, but all I can gather is that they wanted the day off to hang out in central Brussels and enjoy a beer. Our time in Brussels was fairly short. I feel like we made a wise decision to stay in Bruges instead.



We were able to see all of the main Brussels sights like a statue of a child urinating in public. Nicole and I didn't really understand what all the fuss about the Mannekin Pis is about. After a few hours, we felt we'd seen it all and hopped on another train (filled with union protesters) for an hour trip to Bruges. So far, we've just been relaxing and it seems to be much calmer than what we've been used to thus far this trip. More to follow this evening.

Location:Oude Gentweg,Bruges,Belgium