We arrived to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport at about 7:45 am, grabbed our bags from the carousel and then bought our train tickets to Amsterdam Central station. Schiphol is an incredible transportation hub that is both an airport and what appeared to be a major train station. It certainly helped to make our commute very easy.
After a 25 minute train ride we arrived Amsterdam Central station at 9am to a mix of tourists arriving or leaving and locals getting to work. The walk from the station dumps you off into the middle of the very touristy section, but with the early morning light and excitement of being in a new city, we could see some of Amsterdam's charm poking out.
We had about two hours until we could drop our bags at the AirBnB, so we planned to hunker down and get some breakfast. We made it to Dam Square (Times Square of Amsterdam?) in about 10-15 minutes and the hunger started to kick in. We had been up since 4am and had a banana each (Ashely may or may not have had a cinnamon sugar bun too).
We walked a bit further and found a Le Pain Quitoden on the corner before we had to cross our first canal. Yes it's a chain, but we were hungry. The decision could not have worked out better. The staff was beyond kind and the large coffee/ delicious food was welcomed. We even overheard several tourists talking to the staff as if it were there local breakfast spot. For breakfast I had toast with an Avacado spread on top which was topped with Chia seeds and Cumin. Delicious. Ashley went with scramble eggs, Avacado and salsa. Another winner.
The clock struck 10:52 (not sure that time is worthy of a strike, but go with it) and we made the trip over 4 canals to arrive at Prinsengracht canal. With each bridge crossing Amsterdam began to show us more and more. Beautiful row houses with gabled roofs leaning this way and that line the canals. Well aged brick with enormous bay windows easily paint a picture of Amsterdam past.
It was also on this walk that I realized it easy to tell when Ashley likes a city we are in... and it only took me seven weeks to figure it out. If you have been following along and catching the Snapchat videos, the longer videos are from the places she really enjoyed. Her need to document can't be contained and our first walk across the canals were getting some solid coverage. It really seemed as if the each canal was outdoing the next. The brisk air, leaves beginning to change color, locals whipping around on their bicycles, all added to the scene. We finally made it to the AirBnB houseboat and checked in.
(Royal Palace Amsterdam)
(De Nieuwe Kerk - 15th century church)
(Magna Plaza - former main post office, currently a shopping mall)
(Public urinal)
(Westerkerk- Dutch Protestant church)
(Sunflower gear and souvenirs at the gift store)
We walked a bit further and found a Le Pain Quitoden on the corner before we had to cross our first canal. Yes it's a chain, but we were hungry. The decision could not have worked out better. The staff was beyond kind and the large coffee/ delicious food was welcomed. We even overheard several tourists talking to the staff as if it were there local breakfast spot. For breakfast I had toast with an Avacado spread on top which was topped with Chia seeds and Cumin. Delicious. Ashley went with scramble eggs, Avacado and salsa. Another winner.
The clock struck 10:52 (not sure that time is worthy of a strike, but go with it) and we made the trip over 4 canals to arrive at Prinsengracht canal. With each bridge crossing Amsterdam began to show us more and more. Beautiful row houses with gabled roofs leaning this way and that line the canals. Well aged brick with enormous bay windows easily paint a picture of Amsterdam past.
It was also on this walk that I realized it easy to tell when Ashley likes a city we are in... and it only took me seven weeks to figure it out. If you have been following along and catching the Snapchat videos, the longer videos are from the places she really enjoyed. Her need to document can't be contained and our first walk across the canals were getting some solid coverage. It really seemed as if the each canal was outdoing the next. The brisk air, leaves beginning to change color, locals whipping around on their bicycles, all added to the scene. We finally made it to the AirBnB houseboat and checked in.
After exploring the boat we decided to take a Rick Steves walking tour before we went to the Van Gough Museum. We opted for the Tour of the Jordaan and Rick guided us through the non touristy area of the city over the course of an hour and a half. We saw plenty of sites and got some good inside knowledge.
(Similar to how Charleston, SC homes were built, property tax was based on the street side square footage. Resulting in narrow but deep homes.)
I even tried the herring with onions and pickles. I opted for the sandwich as I didn't think I could stomach the flavor without the bread. I was correct but did manage to get half the sandwich down. The instantly salty fish takes over all other flavors, but the pickles and onions act to mellow the flavor as you continue to chew. Glad I checked that off the list, but I didn't run around town trying to find another one.
We had enough time after the Jordaan tour to stop back at the boat before the trek to the Van Gough Museum. We refilled the water dropped off a few things and we were off again.
The walk to the museum took about 20 minutes in total and took us through some busier parts of town and it was interesting to see all these different areas in motion throughout the day. As we made our way along we eventually came to the I Amsterdam sign and the Museumplein area. We had a scheduled entrance of 3p so we opted to take a look at these areas after we toured the museum.
With the scheduled entrance we were into the museum with audio guides in about 15-20 minutes. The audio guide provided a few different options of how to take in the museum. We opted for a self guided program and tried to focus on the highlights. There were so many works to take in and there was even a floor dedicated solely to letters that Van Gough has written to his family. We even saw the painting I did for my final piece back in Mrs. Duncan's class.
After touring the permanent wing we ventured over to the exhibition wing to see some collections of Van Gough and Edvard Munch. It was interstting to see the two artists works side by side. The main draw was on the top floor that had some of their more famous works, Sunflowers included.
(Line to see Sunflowers)
After the museum we went to take our picture with the IAMSTERDAM sign, allowing with everyone else. It took some direction by Ashley but eventually I got the shot she wanted. We even managed to get yelled at by a nice homeless man finishing his bottle of wine.
Pictures complete we retraced our steps back to the boat and relaxed for an hour or two with some appetizers before heading to Tomaz for dinner.
Tomaz was a comfortable neighborhood feeling place that offered simple Danish dishes. We enjoyed some mussels and a mashpot over some of the best Heinekens we have ever tasted. During desert we started a conversation with two elderly men from South Africa. It turned out they owned a place in Paris, so they offered up some great suggestions for our stay next weekend. Wrapping up the conversation proved more difficult than expected but there were such nice guys we were ok with that chat.
Bellies full we walked over the canals to get to our boat.
A very solid first day in this incredible town.
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