Benelux – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg
We managed to get to our hotel in Amsterdam by winding through a maze of tiny streets some blocked off to auto traffic. Our hotel had one of the narrowest, tiniest spiral staircases I've ever seen. It was quite a trick getting our suitcases up those stairs.
We had dinner at a great Indonesian restaurant and will be visiting sites all over the city tomorrow by bicycle. By the way, since Indonesia was once a Dutch colony, there are a ton of Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands. As for transportation, the trams here are much like San Francisco's Muni system. We still find it tricky to get around using public transportation here in Europe though.
Bicycling
We rent two bikes from our hotel and cruise thru Amsterdam's streets. Though I'm having a blast, Locke is having a challenge negotiating all the traffic, people and other bicyclists on the street. We make our first stop just south of the center of town and decide to have some coffee at an outdoor cafe.
Cafes
For those of you who know me, one of my favorite pastimes is sipping coffee at a local coffee shop, enjoying one another's conversation and people-watching. This is exactly what we got to do in Amsterdam. The best part was watching the numerous tour buses go by and quite a few folks motioning that we did the right thing. Yes, even in a chaotic city such as this, one can enjoy life's fun moments...
Flower Market/Bloemenmarkt
We stop by the flower market and are amazed at what's for sale. Since this is tulip season, there's just about everything tulips – even wooden ones! After browsing for a while, we head for an interesting part of the city...the Red Light District.
Red Light District
Obviously, many of you are aware of the reputation of Amsterdam's district. Yes, it gives the term "window shopping" a whole new paradigm! Unfortunately, since it was midday, the curtains were closed with not much going on. Also, the coffee shops were selling not "coffee", but selections of the 5-pointed leaf plant to smoke...I'm sure a bunch of folks have already tried them out. Locke wasn't impressed, so we head out of the city center.
Anne Frank'sHouse/ Frankhuis
A long line was awaiting us, so we decided to come back first-thing tomorrow morning to try and beat the crowd. From her world-renown diary, she documents an inspiring journey of a young Jewish girl and her family's attempt to evade the Nazis...
Royal Museum/Rijksmuseum
Undergoing a renovation thru 2008, the curators fortunately left one wing open that included all of the "best of" Dutch art – we definitely were not disappointed. The first museum on our stop, we got to see many of the great Dutch paintings that I had studied in my Art History class in college. The Dutch were especailly noted for their Realism period (1700s), in which images (people, fruits, etc) were captured as if it were a still life image. Truly capativating.
Queen's Birthday
While we were in Amsterdam, we found out that there was an upcoming celebration – the Queen's birthday on April 30th. Actually, it was the Queen's mother who started this trend, and since it was so successful her daughter, Queen Beatrix, decided to keep the festivities on this day. Further, it was the golden celebration (25th anniversary) of Beatrix's coronation so everything was "orange" for the week. In a store front, I saw a mannequin dressed in orange with a crown on his head and the quote "You too can be Queen for a day". That picture is dedicated to all the Renegade rainbow children out there... ;)
Amsterdam's Canals
Amsterdam – along with Venice – is unique among the major cities in that the canals are a major part of the city environment and thus an integral element of the transportation infrastructure. The canals form successive rings around the downtown core and many people live in the "house boats" that are docked along the sides.
Also, had to handwash our first load of laundry. Pants didn't dry, so we had to opt out of a good Dutch place to eat.
-- Al & Locke
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