Hallo from Amsterdam!
When we arrived Sunday night, we were the only people in the customs line…cannot get much quicker than that! Our first order of business the next morning was a Canal Cruise. We saw beautiful architecture, so many leaning buildings (because of the high water table marshlands) and some really expensive row houses. Boat houses are far more affordable (only 700K Euro)! We found a cute little lunch spot down a (tight) alley where we ate savory pancakes, that look like crepes, filled with apple and bacon/cheese. It has sprinkled on us each day in Amsterdam but we haven’t melted yet! We walked the canal route this afternoon and enjoyed a stroll through the flea market. We also have been amazed at all the cyclists; you have never seen so many bikes at one time! We also decided we must walk through the Red Light District. The afternoon here is much milder…thank goodness! 😉 We have done a lot of walking today; our hotel is very centrally located!
Saturday morning we grabbed (free) breakfast at the hotel…a huge perk to Cory’s status with Marriott. We pretended to be locals today when we rented bikes and visited many playgrounds! Our first park was an urban one that included trikes to ride on. It also had some chickens and a rabbit. Thanks to my friend’s uncle for most of our day’s activities! We hit a second park before going to the highlight of the day…Groot Melkhuis! It was a cafe that had a playground and a bounce house. What could be better for kids! This is located in Vondelpark which was a sprawling park full of people. Teddy missed playground #4 as he was out cold. All in all it was a day we felt we would’ve had if we lived here! We also were exhausted from all the biking and slept really well!
This morning we ventured out for breakfast for Dutch pancakes (another recommendation from a colleague of Cory’s) and they were so yummy! We proceeded to bike around more finding an art market to walk through. It has been the most relaxing weekend!
More pictures are below from this long weekend’s fun!
Now on a train to Frankfurt…
Cory, Millie, Bea & Teddy