Mussels But Not From Brussels: Amsterdam Days 1 – 2

We left London Tuesday morning via train headed for Amsterdam. Changing trains would be necessary at Brussels. Since we were leaving London from King’s Cross station, I along with many Harry Potter fans around the world know King’s Cross as the station Harry and friends used to get to Hogwarts School. Sure enough, there’s a commemorative sign for Platform 9 3/4. It’s near the real platform 9. I think there used to be a permanent luggage cart going ‘into’ the wall, but when we got there it was gone. Bummer about the cart.

This muggle can’t get in!

The bad news for the morning was that we missed our train by 5 minutes. Catching the next train would have us getting into Brussels as planned but about an hour later. From Brussels we had to take alternate trains than originally planned. All in all, we got into Amsterdam about 2 hours late.

The best chocolate in the world is from Belgium, so I had to buy some from the Belgian chocolate store in the train station.

View of the countryside from the train.

Two hours later than planned and after a lot of walking (since we didn’t want to wait for the bus), we finally arrived at our apartment!

After a good day of traveling, we were dirty, sweaty, and spent. We all settled in and headed back to town to find dinner. There wasn’t going to be much sightseeing today, just a good meal, and going to bed.

We probably walked a good 4 miles until we landed on a Dutch restaurant thanks to Ship (Jennifer’s boyfriend) who suggested it. It was a classic Dutch restaurant that would be able to seat our party of 8. Some of us wanted to eat the Dutch specialty mussels and fries. I wanted a bottle of wine; we got a great reisling. The service was amazing and the restaurant had a real local feel. All in all, a great way to cap an exhaustive day.

<Insert group photo here>

The next morning, me and my cousin Kevin went out for a short 3 mile jog in the nearby neighborhoods. Before heading back, Kevin went to the grocery store to buy some stuff to make breakfast. Most of the items weren’t labeled in English, so we had to take our chances.

Turns out this harmless meat was horse! (Thanks Google Translate). It wasn’t really that bad.

First thing on the itinerary was to go into the city to rent some bikes. It’s by far, the most common mode of transportation, and there are bikes lanes almost everywhere. Renting bikes for 2 full days would only be 17 euro. And we could get anywhere!

Armed with bikes and some quick learning on Amsterdam traffic laws, we set out for the floating flower market. The market was a great place to buy tulip bulbs, other flowers, wooden Dutch shoes, and all sorts of souvenirs.

While at the flower market, we stopped into a cheese shop. Lots of yummy samples!

We left the flower market prematurely because we had plans to have lunch at a popular pancake house that my sister found during her research. Supposedly one of the smallest restaurants in Europe, it only has seating for 11! We got there a few minutes before it opened at noon but a small family was already waiting ahead of us. The owner recommended we come back in an hour and he’ll save a table for us.

Me, Kristine, and Will in front of the pancake house.

View of the restaurant above its ground floor entrance.

We killed an hour taking pictures by the canals and walking the cobblestone paths. A small book and antiques sale nearby was a nice diversion too!

The hour wait flew by and we rushed back to get seated for our pancakes! This joint is tiny but with lots of old school charm. Teapots hung from the ceiling. The small restaurant was staffed by just two people: the owner/chef and his helper.

Jennifer and Ship in the pancake house.

I ordered one of the pancake specials: fresh Dutch strawberries and cream!!!

After lunch, we headed to the museum district, specifically to see the Van Gogh Museum. I like art museums, but I’m not one to spend hours to linger at each piece. I recognized some of the more popular Van Goghs and was glad to have visited the place.

Dinner was at Indonesian place for a quick bite. Apparently there are many Indonesian in Amsterdam.

The rest of the evening was spent checking out Amsterdam’s red light district.

Such detail has been redacted from this blog =).