Amsterdam(age)

Amsterdam…  you’ll probably not be shocked to hear that our general preconception of Amsterdam largely revolved around drugs, porn and windmills.  There was that, yes, but so much more besides.

Gorgeous

We paid the city a visit with Cherie and Veronica at the end of May and in the middle of a European heat wave… Brilliant sunshine and NO wind.  The locals assured us this was not normal and we were very fortunate.  Um, yup!  I’d say so!  Because it was so beautiful, we couldn’t even contemplate doing indoorsy things (like museums and galleries etc) so we spent as much time as we could out in the fresh air (sometimes tainted as we strolled past the numerous "coffee houses") with no need for jackets or cares.  Instead, we…

Mike the tour guide - don't grope her

Rode bikes!
See a pattern forming here?  You should…  We had yet another interesting tour guide too.  This one told us about how she gave up smoking pot at 15 (gave up!!!) and was groped at one of our checkpoints by a guy who she sent away with a mighty flea in his ear! Anyway, to not ride a bike here would be completely irresponsible as Amsterdam is completely overrun with bikes.  By the train station there was a bike storage facility that I swear was four levels high.  I have no idea how you’re meant to remember where you put your particular bike, but I guess they do, somehow.

BEER!

Drank beer and ate!
Even me!!!  Cherie and Veronica introduced me to the wonder and the glory of Belgian fruit beer – so good and it doesn’t taste like beer at all…  WIN!  Liefman’s is good and so is Kriek.  That’s two types of beer!  Kyle was also keen on Belgian beers, but tended to stick to the fruitless and what he would call “manly” variety, particularly La Chouffe.  Sounds like a sneeze, but he liked it.

Mmm, croquettes...

Food wise - we tucked into Dutch delights like croquettes, raw ground beef, asparagus (including the white kind, which we hadn’t had before and doesn’t seem to have the same side effect as the smelly green kind), cheese, stroop waffles, bitterballen (meatballs) and, randomly, some pasta.  If you go, go to Seasons for dinner.  Nom.

Why sail a boat when you can sail a clog?

Rode in a Canal Boat!
This was meant to be a tour as well, but our guide wasn’t overly talkative.  Still he managed to point out the wonky houses (due to either dodgy, swampy ground or dodgy, cowboy builders depending on who you talk to) including Rembrandt’s house.  Apart from being water-bombed by a couple of urchins, we spent a relaxing hour or so drifting down the canals and (miraculously) not hitting any of the other canal boats. 

Went to Anne Frank’s House!

The apartment she and her family hid in above the factory during WWII.  This was interesting, sad, surreal and moving.  We walked through the bookcase hiding the secret opening to the attic and explored.  While sad, I enjoyed the more minimalist approach to the museum (and lack of bronze arrow heads) and the interview footage of the surviving members of the group and those that helped them.  Hearing her Dad talk about how he realised how little he knew his daughter after reading her diary was pretty sad.  Waiting for over an hour to get in was definitely worth it.

And, yes, to the Red Light District…

This was… illuminating…  depressing… and silly.  Kyle learned very quickly not to walk too far ahead lest the women in the windows think he was looking to get lucky.  He had a couple of busty lasses crook their fingers at him, wink and invite him inside!  If I can speak frankly for a moment, I had kind of expected these women to “tout” a bit more…  But, mostly, they just stood or sat there in their underwear looking really bored and texting.  Still, we had fun looking out for the different coloured lights.  Our bike tour guide told us the difference between a red light and a blue light.  A red light is a lady who you can spend some time with, while a blue light is a lady with an optional extra appendage…

So there you go.  There’s still other adventures to update you on…  The Queen waved to us twice and we’ve been spending a significant portion of our spare time around horses.

Until next time,

M&K