Tulips, Windmills and Coffee Shops

Like Paris, it rained hard on our first night so we didn’t do much exploring. Luckily, as we traveled further North the days got longer. By the time we got to Amsterdam the sun set at 10pm so we’d have a lot of time to explore.

We didn’t have much on the agenda to see in Amsterdam and planned to roam around the city and stop by anything that looked interesting. We first stopped by a Tulip market along one of the canals that was pretty busy. Next, we stumbled upon the Royal Palace. It wasn’t anything too special, but the square was busy with people and loud street organ.

Royal Palace

Street organ

I had forgotten that the Anne Frank house was in Amsterdam and when I went to buy tickets online they were already sold out for the days we would be visiting. We decided to stop by anyway and see the Westerkerk church where Rembrandt is buried. Also, this is where the Westertoren bell tower is that Anne Frank said she could hear from her building. There was no chance of us getting into Anne Frank’s house when we stopped by. The line was already 200 people long.

Westertoren and Anne Frank’s house

As we continued down the canals we stumbled upon a cheese museum with the widest variety of gouda I’d ever seen. Like I said in an earlier post, Shelley and I aren’t big art enthusiasts, but we do love food.

After stopping by the central train station we walked through the red light district. I felt like I had been dropped into a mix between the Castro and Folsom Street Fair. Despite it being light out, we still saw some girls in the windows along the side streets and guys were still going in. It was stark dichotomy to see these prostitutes in windows with The Oude Church in the background.

Red light district during the day

After taking a short break, we continued to the Heineken Experience which was right behind our hotel. The beginning of the tour was like any other brewery tour. You get to see the history of how their beer was made, the advertising and usually some horses. After that, the Heineken Experience goes for a hip and modern feel to cater to a younger generation.

At one point there’s a beer tasting portion. Who the hell does a beer tasting? It’s not like this is some high quality wine or whisky.

The second half of the tour was all about new age branding. There were rooms with all their soccer promotions, light shows, and I even had an opportunity to do a bit of DJing.

DJ Ango on the turntables

While getting my free drink I was speaking to a couple who said that if I wanted a low key brewery experience that we should check out Brouwerij ‘t IJ. It was located only a short tram ride from our hotel and was connected to an old windmill. I wanted to try a beer flight, but it was so popular that all their glasses were in use. Instead, I settle for an ale the bartender recommended. We also grabbed an order of ossenworst, which is a raw beef sausage originating in Amsterdam. Once you get past the fact you’re eating raw beef, it’s pretty good.

Ossenworst and ale

For the rest of the day we hung out near Rembrandt square and had some drinks while we watched people pass by. I had to grab a Guinness because it tastes so much better in Europe.

If Amsterdam is known for anything else other than tulips, windmills and the red light district it’s the coffee shops. These coffee shops aren’t your typical Philz Coffee or Starbucks. They specialize in a different kind of drug that’s hard to miss. With names like Coffee Shop Smokey and Coffee Shop Reefer, I think you get the idea.The last site we wanted to see for sure was the I Amsterdam sign outside the Rijksmuseum. It was definitely a tourist desitination, but there were plenty of locals hanging out on the quad. We met a couple traveling from Maryland who had been in Amsterdam all week. I felt a lot better when we started discussing museums and they were on the same page with us about not caring about visiting the art museums. I guess there are other uncultured people out there as well.

On our last day we wanted to visit some of the outdoor markets. On the way I stopped by a cafe with a bunch of vending machines filled with hot food. I had been wanting to try a croquette the entire trip, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. It was pretty much a fried stick filled with beef gravy and it was delicious.

The first market we visited was the Waterlooplein Market. It was pretty much a huge flea market with some souvenir shops. We spent a few hours looking at the dutch antiques and I almost walked away with some old wooden ice skates that you tether to the bottom of your shows.

Waterlooplein market

One thing that caught my eye was this stand where a man was making mini dutch pancakes called poffertjes. It was apparently a family run business that the man’s grandfather had started. The pancakes were topped with a huge slick of butter and powdered sugar. Needless to say, my mouth is watering just thinking about them.

Preparing poffertjes

Finished product

The last market we stopped by was Albert Cuyp Market, which was behind our hotel. This market was more centered around produce and food items than commodities. We grabbed some Belgian style fries with peanut sauce and mayo for our last meal before heading to the airport.