One of my favorite layovers in Europe is Amsterdam. It is a city that is rich in culture with the Van Gogh and Rijk Museum as well as the Torture, Sex and Pot Museums. Known for its beautiful tulips, Holland is also noted for its wonderful Gouda and Edam cheeses and of course Dutch wooden shoes. The city always has something to intrique you either in just people watching or a festival of some sort. One of the big squares, Leidesplein offers lots of out door cafes for a meal or nice beer during the summer months ( it gets cold early there so the fall is iffy). Bicycles along with the tram are the major mode of transportation in the city, watch out for those bikes as they don't stop for pedestrians and they have the right of way.
Amsterdam has a series of canals throughout the city. Years ago there was a catastrophic flood, such as that of Katrina, and the Dutch came up with new measures to prevent this in the future. It is fun to stand on one of the many bridges and watch the boats along the canals, many are open top in the summer. You can take a tour cruise, lunch, dinner or sunset cruise through the city
The BULLDOG one of the most visited coffee houses in Amsterdam, not for the coffee that is for sure ( use your imagination)
One can see bicyces of all shapes and sizes, ones that carry groceries and toddlers in little compartments attached to the front of the bike and ones that are used for deliveries to the shops. It is fun to see the unique ways that bicycles are configured for everyday use here
No, it wasn't Halloween!! This is an everyday kind of sight through out the city, especially in Leidesplein and Dams Square. Almost makes Nurse Ratchet look nice...
ONLY IN AMSTERDAM
Not one's usual window box herbs, at least not here in the U.S.
Beautiful Giant Amaryllis at the flower market.They had loads of loose amaryllis bulbs but they cannot be brought into the U.S., well, I won't try it that's for sure
Lots of colorful flowers at the floating flower market. The best part is that you can bring them back to the states, yes, cut flowers are allowed the officials in Immigrations just shake them to make sure that there are no bugs on them. I love to bring assorted tulips back in the springtime
Bulbs anyone? The colors and varieties of tulips, lilies , daffodils, etc is just amazing here. They have bulbs that are pre-packaged as well as loose like all of these. One can bring pre-packaged ones with the U.S. Immigrations Stamp on the package back to the states. Cannot wait until spring to see them bloom.
Wooden shoes for all!! I picked this one for little Hailey, the little cow ones in the middle caught my eye. You can even get ones that are unfinished and make your own designs on them. In the spring you can go outside the city to a little town near the tulip fields and actually see men and women wearing them like in all the storybooks.
Dutch Edam and Gouda (actually pronounced as how-da) is the best. They have wheels and wheels of it at the grocery store and it comes in ornate shapes too. The cheeseman was slicing some cheese that was in the shape of a pig (couldn't get a shot of that though).
Off to Dams Square where the Royal Palace is located. It is not as ornate as one might imagine though a pretty square in the warm months. Madame Tousseau's Wax Museum is another of the fun sites to see here ( I've saved that for when it is too cold to walk around the market or have a beer outside)
I have been to Amsterdam many times but this was the first trip that I saw the horse drawn carriages in the old part of the city. Malcolm longs to return to Amsterdam sometime, maybe we can take a little romantic ride in one of these carriages, complete of course with a nice hot beverage.
Bulbs anyone? The colors and varieties of tulips, lilies , daffodils, etc is just amazing here. They have bulbs that are pre-packaged as well as loose like all of these. One can bring pre-packaged ones with the U.S. Immigrations Stamp on the package back to the states. Cannot wait until spring to see them bloom.
Wooden shoes for all!! I picked this one for little Hailey, the little cow ones in the middle caught my eye. You can even get ones that are unfinished and make your own designs on them. In the spring you can go outside the city to a little town near the tulip fields and actually see men and women wearing them like in all the storybooks.
Dutch Edam and Gouda (actually pronounced as how-da) is the best. They have wheels and wheels of it at the grocery store and it comes in ornate shapes too. The cheeseman was slicing some cheese that was in the shape of a pig (couldn't get a shot of that though).Off to Dams Square where the Royal Palace is located. It is not as ornate as one might imagine though a pretty square in the warm months. Madame Tousseau's Wax Museum is another of the fun sites to see here ( I've saved that for when it is too cold to walk around the market or have a beer outside)
I have been to Amsterdam many times but this was the first trip that I saw the horse drawn carriages in the old part of the city. Malcolm longs to return to Amsterdam sometime, maybe we can take a little romantic ride in one of these carriages, complete of course with a nice hot beverage. The city has so much history to it as well; the Anne Frank house, from which she wrote her famed diary is here and I have heard that the tour is very sobering, the little rooms where her family lived, hid and she survived. I walked to the site on this trip hoping just to see the exterior of the house ( I did find the house but the front was enclosed in a modern day glass). Another thing to do when the weather is not sunny and warm ( I'll take the tram to the museum then, it is quite the walk).
Next spring I hope to go out to the tulip fields and see the beautiful gardens where windmills and tulip farms adorn the countryside. I have heard that it is unbelievable to see the variety and size of the tulips grown in Holland.
One must not overlook the Heineken Brewery, but that I'll definitely save for the warmth of the summer.
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