IAMsterdam part 2
Waking up day 2 in Amsterdam the plan was to head to Paris in the morning. That was not a plan I liked, I mean I absolutely fell in love with the city, from the canals every other street to the uneven townhouses and apartments. I fell in love with the amount of people who bike everywhere, even if they get mad when you are in the way. I love that I can understand and communicate with the entire population, which makes everything so much better. Anyways, it took some convincing but I finally managed to get my mom agree to booking a hotel for the night, and let me tell you it was a great deal. Again we managed to get the best deal last minute, so we packed up and headed to our new place, Hotel City Garden. This one was not near the red light district thankfully, it was actually near the park we were at the day before, the Vondelpark. And again we tried the whole sneaking one person in but they happened to have about 5 cameras around the entrance, so when we checked in he asked if we had another person, so we said yes and he told us that if another person had come in with us they would not have appreciated it, but for the night it was okay. Our room wasn't ready yet so we put our bags with the receptionist and went outside to meet with an old friend of my mother.
Hank was a friend from when my mom was a teenager, and he runs a tour business, so of course he told us he would give us the run around of Amsterdam! We went down the street to the Black Bike rental, they have a ton of locations around the city and the price is very reasonable, and rented some bikes. After renting, we took the bikes down the street to a small fish stand. They served only the freshest fish, herring, and the smallest shrimp you will ever see, but all very delicious. I ordered the shrimp and a salmon salad on bread.
After our small snack we headed down the small streets next to a canal. We stopped and Hank explained how the canal houses and boats work. That the houses all have a connection to a sewer and water and electricity, and if you can find a deal it is much better to live in a house boat then in an apartment, because they are much, much smaller.
We moved on to the old Amsterdam, where all of the older houses were, and original houses that have been standing for hundreds of years. The houses in Amsterdam were built on trees, because before the city was built there was only swamp, so they used the trees that were there to build a city. And because of that all of the houses and buildings are beginning to sag and become uneven and lopsided. If any of the support or trees loose moisture for more than a week, that is when the problems begin and the buildings begin to sag.
After that we headed off to the other side of Amsterdam. At the ferry station (which we would take across the river) the dutch have their own bike parking. It is really something to see because there are over 3,000 bikes that are locked up there during the day, and then some. So we took a ferry across the river with our bikes instead of locking them up, and were greeted by a completely different scene. Instead of tall town homes and apartments, and canals, there were small country homes, great stretches or farmland, cows, sheep, and also basins with fishing boats. Biking down the path, you had farmland on one side and on the other docks with boats that were for fishing and also the homes of the Dutch ‘hippies’.
"house" boats
We were going to stop by a small bar in town but Hank thought that we would enjoy the view from a restaurant a little bit farther up the road. So we continued, a ride that ended up being a little over 15 minutes, and by that time my behind was beginning to be a little bit sore, as we had already ridden for about 2 hours, and about 10 miles. The restaurant was on the water, water that was fresh because of the dam that was built years ago, and was a very quaint place. We ordered a cheese platter (as the dutch are known for their cheese of course) and some salad as well. I mean I was famished after such a long ride, so that small snack went very quick. It was nice though that they served olives at every meal, it was a light dish, so instead of bread you were given olives. Over lunch we were told many stories of my moms past and all that, and then we headed off again. It was already starting to get late but we decided to stop by the small bar we were planning to go to before. Here the adults were served a local beer, and also some local meat and cheese. By that time we were all so exaughsted that it was time to head back to the hotel. On our way back my mom was having some trouble, it was funny because the entire ride her bike was making a funny noise, which we discovered was her break working against her. So the entire time her break was on, making for a great workout thats for sure.
After a wonderful day of biking and exploring and learning we plopped down on our beds. Ready for the next day, and our continuation on to Paris!
The next morning, before our train at 3 pm, we decided to take the bikes around to a cute little cafe, that was recommended to us. We sat right on the canal, with all of the little boats going past, and not the tour boats, because those wouldn't fit in these canals. Anyways we order the "Klein ombeit" or the small breakfast and an order of Poofertjies!! I love poofertjies, and when I say these are the best I have ever had, they are the best I have ever had, practically melted in my mouth.
It was definitely a wonderful send off meal. Because as soon as we were finished we had to return our bikes, take our bags and get on a subway to the train station, to PARIS!
