Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Arriving: 1:15 PM
Cloudy - 73 Degrees
The flight from Reykjavik to Amsterdam was a little late, but otherwise uneventful. We picket up our bags, and followed the yellow arrows in the floor to the official taxi stand. The driver managed to fit our four large bags into the trunk of his sedan, and we were off. There are traffic lanes and bicycle lanes, and tram tracks running down the medians of most major streets, but any flat surface oriented in the direction of travel is apparently fair game to all conveyances. We weaved in and out of traffic, jumping curbs, and driving down medians on the tram tracks. These maneuvers seamed effortless, and almost normal, but they require the precision and dexterity of a Formula 1 driver.
We checked-in to the Marriott Amsterdam in a roomy room, with a bit of a view, newly renovated, but not to good effect.
Sorry to disappoint, but we needed the afternoon to catch our breath, We took a nap, and had dinner at the hotel steakhouse. It was actually well reviewed, and pretty good. We sat next to, and enjoyed a conversation with, a couple of Brits. Linda and Trevor are Tories, and nervously awaiting election results tonight. Will Theresa May and her Conservative party increase their majority, or will the youth vote carry the Labour party and Jeremy Corbyn (a Marxist according to our friends) into power?
Friday, June 9th
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rain Turning to Mostly Sunny - 64 Degrees
We got a late start this morning, but finally made it out the doors of the hotel and onto the sidewalk, and that, my friends, was a harrowing journey. Before you even have the opportunity to be run over by a car in the street, you've had a dozen near misses with bicycles. All manner of people, wearing all manner of clothing, zip in and out, to and fro, riding all manner of bicycles, sitting straight up in their seats. And they are fast.
We survived the bikes, and the scooters, and cars and cobblestones, we dodged the raindrops, and made it across the street and over the canal to the Leidesplein. There is open space, nice little shops, and outdoor cafes under umbrellas, but the most notable landmark is Burger King.
We boarded the tram on the Blue Line, and headed for Dam Square. We intended to buy day passes, but couldn't figure out how to pay. Free ride.
Dam Square, known as The Dam, is the heart of the city, where the Amstel river was dammed in the 13th century. I had no idea that the name Amsterdam was so literal. We wandered the square, basked in the occasional sunshine, and listened to the peel of the bells from the Koninklijk, built as the town hall in the 17th century. Other highlights of the square include the Nieuwe Kerk, no longer a kerk, but still the site of Dutch monarch coronations; De Bijenkorf, or the Beehive, Amsterdam's signature department store; the National Monument, an obelisk dedicated to the Dutch lost in the Second World War; and the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.
On Sunday, we will be boarding a Dam ship docked in this Dam city, so it was fun to see our first Dam pun.
We stopped at the hotel for some refreshment, and then moved on to the Oude Kerk, the site of a wooden chapel dating to the 13th century, a stone church in the 14th century, and many successor venues culminating in the Gothic cathedral here today. Ironically, it's right in the middle of the Red Light District.
We saw the ladies in the windows, and smelled the pot smoke billowing from the cafes, but we partook of neither. We took pictures of neither either. The ladies are not modest, but they do value their privacy. This bronze casting among the cobblestones is proof we were there.
We strolled over the bridges and along the canals in the Red Light District, admiring the views of all kinds, even watching the gentlemen come and go in the open-air urinal.
When it's snack time in Amsterdam, you can't go wrong with Henk's Haring, but you better get your own, 'cause I aint sharing.
For dinner tonight, we walked down the street from the hotel to Momo, highly recommended by Michelin, Google, and the concierge who knows the owner. It's one of the hottest reservations in the city, and launched a culinary empire that now includes multiple destination restaurants. The room is all white, and the people are all beautiful. It looks like a place from 1980s LA or Miami where people snorted lines of coke off the toilet paper dispensers in the bathrooms, but in a good way.
This is the Dutch take on Asian fusion. Impeccable ingredients, lovely presentations, excellent service. Not everything was perfect. The salad was strange, the white asparagus was overcooked, and the sushi rice wouldn't pass muster in Seattle. But everything was very good, and much of it was outstanding. We must have had ten servers throughout the night, all charming. And the people watching was over the top. Dinner and a show!!!
Momo Menu:
- Crunchy Green Salad with Sesame Dressing
Asparagus, Spinach, Peas, Edamame - Crispy Prawns with Creamy Curry Sauce
Pineapple & Pink Peppercorns - Wagyu Aburi Sushi with Yuzu Kosho
Sun-Dried Tomato &Fried Leaks - Octopus & Dutch White Asparagus with Roasted Corn Sauce
Pea Vines & Cherry Tomatoes - Black Cod with Spicy Miso
Marinated Three Days - Spring Chicken, Enoki Mushroom Tempura, with Truffle Teriyaki
Pickled Daikon & Peppers - Manjari - Matcha - Sesame
Chocolate Hot Pot with Matcha Ice Cream & Sesame Crunch
Saturday, June 10th
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Partly Sunny - 74 Degrees
There are 75 kilometers of canals in Amsterdam, bridged by 1,703 bridges. We can't swim or cross them all, so we are going to take a canal cruise. Funny that two of the things the Dutch are most proud of are their canals and their pea soup, and they are both the same color.
The boat ride itself was pleasant enough, but the recorded narration was terrible, all cheesy banter with very little information, and even that was largely drown out by the outdoor voices of the children on board. The boats are covered so they can operate rain or shine, but taking pictures through dirty windows is not worth the effort, and there was too little fresh air to dilute the cologne of the Londoner across from us. Still, there was lots to see, especially the iconic modern Scandinavian architecture.
The entrance to Vondelpark is just around the corner from the hotel, and the perfect place for an afternoon stroll. It is well loved, and well used, especially on a nice spring Saturday.
Great recap! Bon Voyage!!!
ReplyDelete