Exploring Amsterdam

After having fun on Friday at the wedding, Mike and I had one day left to explore the city of Amsterdam.  So we decided to make the most of it.

Our day started at the Houseboat Museum, which was pretty neat.  You see them all the time on the canals, so getting to go inside one was pretty cool.  I was thinking about renting one for our time in Amsterdam and I'm glad I didn't because I didn't realize how much they rock when other boats pass by.

After we finished our little tour, we decided to head over to the Anne Frank House to see how long the line was.  We severely underestimated the wait time and when we got there, it looked like it was going to be a couple of hours, so we decided to skip it.

I am glad that I was at least able to see the house.  We also did see the Westerkerk, which Anne wrote about in her diary.  I have read her journal twice and seeing all these places was incredibly surreal to me.

We decided that our next stop should be the Amsterdam Museum.  We both really enjoyed that museum, especially the exhibit on the first map of the city.  The exhibit on the more recent eras was also very interesting.  I liked learning about the Olympics that were held in Amsterdam in the 1920s.

Since our feet started to hurt, we decided to leave and hit up the beer bar we passed by earlier, BeerTemple.  I had read about it (it is owned by the same people who own the bar I mentioned earlier) and I wanted to skip it because it said it was American themed.  Why go somewhere overseas that spealizes in stuff you can get at home, right?

Well so much for that train of thought because we ended up spending quite a bit of time there before we went to dinner.  While they bill themselves as an American beer bar, there was also a lot of stuff there from Europe, so we drank off of that menu.   And then we came back for one more drink before leaving the city center for the night.

Although we didn't hit up the major attractions in Amsterdam, we had fun seeing the less crowded areas.  Fighting crowds isn't my thing, so by avoiding that our trip was much more enjoyable.

Coming up next, Paris!  And the very pleasant surprise that was awaiting us at the Gare du Nord.

Eat, Drink, and Be Married

The main reason Mike and I came to Amsterdam wasn't for the fresh Amstel, or for the tulips, or for the Van Gogh's.  While those are just some of many good reasons to visit here, our main reason for coming was for the wedding of Mike's friend, Matt, to his Dutch wife, Ellen.

Mike actually knew Matt from his early high school days in Massachusetts, and Ellen from his senior year when she studied abroad at their high school.  All three of them were on the math team together, where Ellen apparently kicked some butt (you go girl!).  In college, Mike and Matt lived together for three years. Needless to say, they all have ties that go way back.

When we were invited to Matt and Ellen's wedding celebration in Amsterdam, we knew it would be a good time.  And it was.  Their ceremony and reception was held at a beach front property called Blijburg and was wonderful in every way.  We are beyond happy that we were able to celebrate their beautiful day with them.

And the most exciting news is that they have a baby on the way who is due in August!  Next week they find out the gender and Mike and I couldn't be happier for them.  After spending so long flying over the Atlantic to be with each other, it is so nice to see that they finally get to be together and have a family.  Cheers to all three of you! :)

Tired in Amsterdam

Amsterdam.  A city known for its canals, tulips, and, well...other things.  While I can say that I haven't been partaking in those "other things," I have been exploring different aspects of the city and having a good time doing it.

We landed Thursday morning and decided to do as much as possible before we crashed.  Our adventure began with buying train tickets to the city from the airport (which was waaay harder for us than it should have been) and then getting the keys to our apartment.  The woman who we are renting our apartment from suggested that we get an I Amsterdam card, which I highly suggest you do if you plan on taking public transit in this city.  You also get free and discounted admission into a lot of the museums and other attractions.

After purchasing our card, we took the tram to our apartment.  We decided to go on a canal cruise that afternoon, which seemed like a great idea in theory but in reality, I ended up falling asleep half way through it. Whoops.

Since I could barely keep my eyes open, Mike and I went back to take a short nap.   After we got up, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed on to our evening's destination - Arendsnest.

Ardensnest is a beer bar that only serves Dutch beer, of which there are 30 on tap and many more in bottles.  Needless to say, we were in heaven.  The rest of the evening was spent discovering new flavors and sipping on many different Dutch beers.

The next day, we had grand plans of waking up early so that we could do all these great things.  And guess what?  It didn't happen. Sleep won out in the end.  But that's okay. We ate lunch outside near the museums and then headed over to a house museum on one of the canals.  It was beautiful and I'm glad we got away from the crowds.  We also took a stroll through the flower market, which was considerably more packed, but I'm glad we went.  Then, we came back and got ready for the wedding, which will be the subject of my next post!