Yesterday we woke up extremely early since we were still adjusting to the time change. We went to bed early and thus woke up at about 7. (I know this is not early for some of you folks but for us that is extremely early when we are on vacation.)
The wonderful flat we are staying in provides us with basics to make breakfast. So I made us scrambled eggs with swiss cheese, and toast for breakfast. We ate this with yogurt and orange juice that was provided. It it nice that we have this available to us for when we need it. We headed out to sight see and did a LOT of walking. Along our journey we went to an organic farmers market and browsed the wonderful selection food there and came up with the following snack: organic apple pear juice, french baguette, lemon chevre (goat cheese) fromage, mixed berries of lignon berry, blackberries, raspberries, and gooseberries, and a mini fruit pie. Below are some pictures from the walk as well as the market we went to.
Next we went back to the flat and took a little nap. We were still needing a little time to adjust to the time change and wanted to be able to stay up late. After our nap we went shopping at H&M. Cole and I LOVE H&M. It is cheap like Forever 21 but better organized. After shopping we spent more time perusing the canals. I told Cole I would have loved to have brought a pedometer just so I could see how much we walked. As most of you know we LOVE food. So we stumbled upon another place to get a snack along our walk. Below are deep fried chunks of meat called 'Oma Balls Bitterballen.' They were absolutely amazing! The best way to describe them is deep fried balls of gravy. Maybe sounds gross but I love gravy and I love things that are deep fried and so when you put the two together you have a bit of artery clogging heaven. I particularly enjoyed that we were mistaken for locals at this cafe/bar when someone walked up to us and asked us a question in Dutch. We love finding local hangouts and that is what this place was.
One main reason we walked so much is as some of you know I have an art experiment in progress. I am taking pictures of different pieces in Europe that look like letters so that I can make words like 'Harper' when I get back home. I won't post the alphabet pictures, but we took TONS today. It forces you to look at the architecture, buildings, and iron from a different point of view which I really liked.
After our snack you guessed it....we walked some more! We were looking for a place to eat dinner. For those of you who have been to Europe you know that eating is a long process. Even when all we had were the deep fried gravy balls we were at the cafe for well over an hour. So by the time we left and had walked we were hungry for some real dinner. We window shopped along the way and found some quirky little shops that we meandered into. We had heard about a traditional Amsterdam experience called Riijsttafel which is Indonesian food. Our host of the flat recommended a place to us and we sought it out along our journey. Unfortunately when we got there there was a huge waitlist. So we made reservations for the next day and went out to seek other food.
We were able to find what looked like a hole in the wall in some alley called Zeppos that we decided to try. The alleyway looked cute and Cole and I are always up for something different. What we thought was a hole in the wall happened to be a very happening place with food the quality that I was dreaming about when coming to Europe. I had a cut of beef with a bearnaise sauce which came with asparagus, carrots, and potatoes. Cole had a vegetable risotto. Both were absolutely amazing. For dessert we had a honey vanilla ice cream with a saffron sauce. This looked so tasty when it was brought to us that we forgot to take a picture of it before we dug in. But trust me it was just as beautiful as the other dishes. We left feeling very satisfied and it was a relatively affordable meal for the quality.
After dinner we wondered into the Red Light district. This was a bit of a disappointment to us actually. We were expecting to see much more scantily clad women then what you could get in Boise. However this was not the case. All of the women in the windows basically just looked like your average every day stripper that you could find back home - complete with the clothes. No, they were not naked. The area was packed with people and we walked around. Probably the most interesting thing was that they do have live sex shows that you can watch. Aside from that the district is just filled with bars, coffee shops, and sex stores with the women scattered throughout. So all and all we were surprised by what it held. I guess this goes to show the desensitization to sex and skin that has occurred over the years, particularly in the states. Way back when I'm sure the district was a huge shocker for visitors. Now the only thing you couldn't get back home is the live sex show (which we did not go see by the way). We wandered around the red light district for a while and bar hopped along the way.
After this we called it a night. We wandered home around 1 in the morning. A great thing about staying in a flat in downtown Amsterdam is the convenience of food. We have a wonderful croissanterie called 'Jennifer' right at the bottom of our stairs to our entry way. We were able to get a late night snack from them before we headed up to bed.
More to come probably tomorrow, if I get a chance to post. We did much more of the typical tourist stuff today- canal bus, Anne Frank, Van Gogh museum, etc. Pics and experiences on those to come. So far it has been a great trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment