the netherlands

Back to Amsterdam

Share Button

Back to Amsterdam

We took the train back to Amsterdam, again going through the track works and arriving late. We checked into room 11 (back at Seven Bridges Hotel).  I loved our little room.  Skylights and textiles and bright colors made it feel bigger.  The old sewing machine table with the marble top was our dresser and breakfast table.  Breakfast was brought to the room on trays…coffee pots and the best bread (with sunflower seeds!) with cheese and sliced meats.  Nice way to start the day.  And of course, we had dinner at the steak place where dogs sat tucked into the arms of their people getting a few bites too!

Pink Tulips Holland
Tulips at the market in Amsterdam

We took a train to Keukenhof one day to see the flower fields. Hyacinths and Tulips were blooming–long wide fields of them. Unique new varieties of flowers were on display, though the bulbs wouldn’t be available for a few years.

Massive smells of flowers and dirt. The red of the tulips burned the film it was so red.

We spent the final few days of our trip wandering the canals, watching the people and the dogs and the bicyclists, eating pancakes and enjoying the Irish bar and/or Cafe Otten in the evenings.

Fields of flowers at Keukenhof, Holland
Fields of flowers at Keukenhof, Holland

Keukenhof fields and canals
Holland’s Keukenhof area, rows and rows of flowers

 

 

Amsterdam Days

Share Button

Amsterdam crooked houses
Amsterdam’s canal-side houses look like crooked teeth.

Amsterdam Days

We spent 5 days in Amsterdam and became somewhat disappointed–though we eventually got over it. This was the first trip NOT Ireland or Great Britain. We didn’t speak the language and we missed the familiarity of Dublin. So, we found an Irish bar–Mulligans. We spent a few nights there listening to music. My favorite was the drummer who tied wood chunks to his feet so the stomping was louder. Later in the week we found the Cafe Otten–a Dutch bar–where we pieced together a conversation with Burt the bartender, Marian, Henk and Rudy. Good fun–and finally feeling better about our decision to spend precious vacation time in an unknown place. (I’m writing this in 2008…this sounds so strange to me now. Thank goodness we got over that feeling–we’ve had so many amazing experiences traveling since this!)

Bryan on an Amsterdam canal ride
Bryan on an Amsterdam canal ride

Our week in Amsterdam was perhaps too long. We yearned to roam. We walked the canals…into old churches, through the Red Light district (where we saw ladies in their underwear displayed “for sale” behind glass windows and Bryan was propositioned with “longer the hair, bigger the discount”) and past little shops of trinkets, flowers and antiques (where they stand over you while you look). I bought a small compass with St. Christopher on the back, silver rosaries, a Delft christmas ornament and a wooden doorknob. We bought gloves for our cold hands as we wandered the flower markets. It snowed and hailed even as the sun was out one day.

Carry your dog: Holland Train station escalator sign
Holland: The civilized dog rides the escalator in his/her person’s arms!

I loved watching the bicyclists…everywhere. Old bikes ridden by all ages–whether dressed in skirts, suits or jeans–and bikes in every color, bouncing along the cobblestone streets, parked against steps and canals…some with baskets full of flowers or small dogs riding along. We tried various bars and restaurants–and kept going back for the buttered pancakes with powdered sugar in Rembrandtplein. One night, we ate at a nice restaurant…a splurge steak and potatoes dinner with bisque/scampi starters. In the candlelight of the cute little place, I noticed several dogs tucked into their owners laps or seated beside them. I could love this place with a dog by my side!

 

Amsterdam's sidewalk sign for the dogs
Amsterdam’s sidewalk sign for the dogs

 

 

 

 

 

We took a canal cruise late one afternoon. The 18 year old girl who was our tour guide asked in 6 languages where we were all from so that she could give the tour in those languages. I yearned for more languages so that I too could shift between them like gears on a car. In one canal, there was a houseboat parked called the Poezenboat–it was filled with old cats who had been strays but now lived there. We discovered another red light district where there were Jamaican storefronts offering the legal sale of hash. And we sat under an old tree by a canal to change film one day. We sat there for an hour watching people and enjoying the sunlight on our faces. We saw a movie one night, “The Devil’s Own” with Brad Pitt. It was in English, with Dutch subtitles. Beautiful old theater with opera boxes, balconies and curtains…and a 15 minute intermission (“PAUSZE”) after only 30 minutes.

Amsterdam canal at night
Canal at night, Amsterdam Holland, The Netherlands

On another day, we took the train to Zaans Schans village. We passed windmills, community gardens and sweet little houses. We walked in the rain/cold to the village–looking at goats, crooked trees, pewter shops, and shoemakers (yes, the wooden ones). The most fascinating things there were the big blocks of cheese at the cheese makers and the windmill. The windmill keeper told us that windmill was his hobby and his work. Bryan liked the guy’s look–green jacket, fishercap and round small glasses. The guy sold yo-yos and booze too. He stirred up the windmill while we were inside–the building shook as the wind whipped through.

We would leave for Bruges and Paris and return 10 days later for another few days in Amsterdam before our flight back to Chicago.

Oude Kirk pews - Amsterdam
Oude Kirk pews – Amsterdam