Amsterdam!

When Ben and I knew we would be moving to Europe for sure, we made a list of all the cities we wanted to visit. The list was impossibly long, especially since traveling costs money that neither of us has. But, Amsterdam was high on the list, so when we saw there was a sale on train tickets between Paris and Amsterdam this summer, we jumped at the opportunity. We arrived early on July 31st and left late on August 2nd, so we had three full days in the city. I hope you enjoy hearing about our adventures!

We arrived at the magnificent Centraal Station only to find that it was rainy and very cold. 

Centraal Station, Amsterdam

We had prepared for the rain, but not for the cold (in the 50s in late July!), unfortunately. After buying a three-day transportation pass, we took the bus to the apartment we had rented for the three days we would be in town (through www.airbnb.com - great site!). In addition to buses and trams that run throughout the city, Amsterdam also has water taxis and something called a “Snelboot” - we never found out what that was.

When we got off the bus, we discovered that we hadn’t printed out a very good map and didn’t know how to find our street. I had heard that the Dutch are very friendly, so Ben asked a woman walking her dog where to find the street we were looking for. She didn’t know, but did her best to advise us. Further down the street, she came up to us again and said that she had been mistaken and ducked into a butcher next door to confirm and to borrow a map. While she was inside, another man came up and offered to help us. This first encounter with Amsterdamers proved to be the theme of our trip: everyone we met was incredibly friendly and helpful and always happy to talk to us. And even though everyone, of course, speaks Dutch, everyone we met spoke English perfectly and weren’t at all annoyed that we didn’t speak any Dutch.

When we finally found our apartment, our host, Max talked to us for about 30 minutes about all of his favorite things to do and places to go in Amsterdam, giving us an impromptu multimedia slideshow, complete with maps and pictures, on his iPad. He would be a great commercial for Apple! After compiling Max’s suggestions with the places we had planned to see, we made a plan for the day and left for lunch. Max had suggested walking down Haarlemmerstraat because of all the interesting little shops and cafes. Since it was so cold out, we decided this would be a good first excursion after lunch so we could find some warmer clothes to buy. Two of the restaurants we had read about online were close to Haarlemmerstraat, so we set off for our first Dutch meal. Unfortunately, neither restaurant was open for lunch.

Hungry and cold, we wandered around in the Red Light District, which is right next to the Centraal Station and near Haarlemmerstraat, trying to find a place to eat. As a big fan of John Irving, I’ve always been curious to visit the Red Light District because it is the setting for so many of his novels, at least in part. I was surprised that it was in such a central location in the city and that, much like Pigalle in Paris, there are many normal businesses and restaurants in this area. Most of the curtains were drawn, but there were a few girls standing in their windows, many talking on their cell phones or holding conversations with someone else inside.

We finally happened upon a restaurant in an old medieval castle (built in 1488!). Having no idea if it would be any good, we decided that at least, we would get to eat in a castle!

The Cafe in de Waag - the Castle where we had lunch

Inside looked just as ancient as the outside, with huge iron circles supporting dozens of candles hanging from the ceilings. And then a flat screen TV playing the Olympics. Our meal was amazing – I highly recommend Café in de Waag if you’re ever in Amsterdam. It was simple food, but very well prepared. Ben had a soup and salad (Vichyssoise and ham with beet greens, goat cheese, and mustard) and I had a salad with the thickest and most delicious smoked salmon and two poached eggs that were the creamiest and best-cooked eggs I’ve ever eaten. I don’t love salads, but this salad was incredible. Plus, it was very reasonably priced, as ended up being the case for everything in Amsterdam.

On to Haarlemmerstraat to find a sweater or a scarf or something! As Max promised, this street was full of little shops of all sorts, including many stores with unique and interesting clothing. One had a bunch of painted cows:

For six weeks at the end of June and all of July, all stores in Europe have huge sales. So every store we passed was having a sale, but unfortunately, since it was July 31st, nobody was selling sweaters or scarves. However, we did find an absolutely incredibly ice cream place (ice cream – exactly the right thing to warm you up on a cold, rainy day!). There was a woman happily eating an ice cream cone on the bench outside the front door and since the shopkeeper inside was helping a family, we asked her if the ice cream was good. “Oh yes,” she said. “I think this is the best ice cream in town.” She proceeded to tell us about all her favorite flavors and also which of the chocolates she liked best.

Tomato balsamic chocolates!

Chocolates with rosemary sea salt!

Best ice cream in Amsterdam!

We ended up talking with her and the shopkeeper about the different flavors, what we were doing in Amsterdam, and what we should see while we were there. The Dutch are hands down the friendliest people I’ve met so far in my life. Literally everyone we met was so friendly and interested in talking to us. And at restaurants, the wait staff is happy to give you their own personal recommendation. Asking for a recommendation in Switzerland or especially France seems to baffle the servers, but not in Amsterdam. Anyway, I ended up getting a scoop of strawberry and pink peppercorn sorbet and a scoop of lemon and basil sorbet. The lemon and basil sorbet was absolutely fantastic. Ben and I decided on the spot to come back each day (unfortunately, we never made it back). But you should go if you're in Amsterdam. It's called Unlimited Delicious, which is a funny name, but true! :)

Despite the rain and cold, we ended up spending most of that first day just walking around the central part of the city, admiring all the canals and houseboats, and marveling at how crooked many of the buildings were. Ben took about a million pictures of the canals and buildings along side (how could he not?), so here are some of our favorites:

We also made our way to Dam Square, the central square of Amsterdam. We saw some interesting street performers:

Batman in Amsterdam

Fish man, or something...

A lion:

A really cool looking, old building that turned out just to be a shopping mall:

Fancy shopping mall

And a huge wooden shoe!

Although we had come to Amsterdam with a list of restaurants we wanted to try, Max had recommended we eat at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. As fans of his shows, especially Food Revolution, we were really excited to learn that one of his restaurants was in Amsterdam, so we decided to go there that first night. It didn’t disappoint. The atmosphere inside was very laid back (not surprisingly) and the décor had a gritty, warehouse feel to it. The walls were made of corrugated metal, spray-painted with different images having to do with food and cooking.

Dinner at Fifteen Amsterdam, Jamie Oliver's restaurant

The concept of this restaurant, Fifteen Amsterdam, is the same as his restaurant in London: he chose 15 at-risk young adults and taught them to cook and work in a commercial kitchen, while providing counseling, life skills, etc. (although they told us that this year, there are 32 at the restaurant in Amsterdam). The food was fantastic (and extremely reasonably priced). I had some kind of white fish (I don’t remember what it was called) with tomatoes, capers, and fennel in a butter sauce and Ben had ravioli with egg yoke, duck, and black truffle. We also got sides of fresh vegetables, grown on site. For dessert, Ben got a sort of trifle with all sorts of fruit on the bottom and a delicious lemon cream on top. Amazing food!

Day Two

We were exhausted when we went to bed at the end of our first day (we had also had to get up at 5pm to catch our 6:30am train out of Paris!), but we awoke to a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky the next morning. The weather forecast also said it would get up to 80 degrees! First stop: the Concertgebouw, home of the world-famous Concertgebouw Orchestra, one of the best in the world.

Since it’s summer, they weren’t doing any concerts, but we were able to take a tour of the hall. Our tour guide was excellent: knowledgeable, funny, engaging. I highly recommend the Concertgebouw tour if you’re ever in Amsterdam. Here’s the view of the famous hall from onstage:

View from the stage at the Concertgebouw

And the organ close up:

We saw Mariss Jansons' (the principal conductor) private dressing room (just the door, not inside):

Mariss Jansons' door, with a huge doorbell in the middle

And the vast room on top of the stage where all the lights and pullies and other mechanical things live:

After the tour, we got a quick bite to eat and then set off to another tour: one of the famous canal boat tours! But first, we had to stop to take my picture on one of the cool mosaic benches the runs along the street outside the Concertgebouw:

The canal boat tour took us all over Amsterdam. We passed the Cinema Museum (called the Eye):

The new, modern concert hall:

The Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, the new concert hall in Amsterdam

And Nemo, the science museum (which has a cool, slopping roof deck!):

We also passed a replica of the ships used by the Dutch East India Trading Company, back when the Dutch ruled the high seas. This ship (well, not this one, but the original one) would sail back and forth to Asia, returning loaded with spices, fabric, and other good to sell and trade:

Ahoy, matey!

After the tour, we decided to see if we could make it to the Anne Frank House before it closed. We had heard it was less crowded late in the day, so we hoped that we could get in relatively easily. We had a nice walk over through the canals and getting more adept at not getting run over by the ubiquitous bicyclers. When we got there, the line was long and we were hungry, but it said that in July and August, it stays open until 10pm. So, dinner first, then the Anne Frank House.

Our dinner tonight was at one of the place we had tried to go to lunch the first day: Het Melkmeisje ("The Milkmaid" in English). It was very old-fashioned Dutch inside, with fishing-inspired décor. I had salmon and vegetables, but Ben had a delicious ostrich steak with red wine sauce and purple cabbage that tasted like cloves. Who knew the Dutch ate ostrich!

When we got back to the Anne Frank House, there was no line and hardly anyone inside. Perfect! If you’re ever in Amsterdam in the summer, definitely go here at night. I had read her diary, of course, many years ago, but it was amazing to see the actual Annexe where they lived. You can’t take pictures inside, unfortunately, so we only got a picture of the outside:

Anne Frank House

The stairs up to the Annexe are almost vertical and the original bookcase that hid the door is still there. Anne’s room is very narrow and the pictures she pasted to the wallpaper to cheer up the room are still mostly intact. On one wall in her parent’s room (I think) are marks on the wall like any family makes to show how tall the children are at different ages. Anne grew a lot while she was up there. It was amazing to think about how quiet they had to be and that they couldn’t run the water or flush the toilet during the day for two years (the toilet is very fancy, incidentally, porcelain with the traditional Dutch painting in blue ink). Once you leave the house and Annexe, there are several display rooms, one of which has her actual diaries on display, in addition to the book of short stories she started, the book of quotes she started, and the individual sheets on which she made a copy of her diary. It really brings her to life as a real person to see how her handwriting changed from the uneven printing of a little girl in the first diary to the elegant cursive of a mature young woman in the later writings. It was also interesting to see where she made mistakes or changed things, crossing out words and replacing them with others. Now that I’ve visited, I want to read the book again (as I’m sure many people do: not surprisingly, the bookstore stays open until 10pm as well in the summer).

Walking back to the tram afterwards, Ben took some beautiful pictures of the canal at night:

Day Three

Our last day. :(  There had been a terrific thunderstorm during the night and it was still raining when we woke up. Perfect time to spend in a museum, so we headed over to the Van Gogh Museum. This is a wonderfully curated museum. All of the writings on the walls and captions accompanying some of the paintings were very informative and interesting (unlike many museums in which the written material is either boring, uninformative, or both). I also liked how the permanent collection is organized in chronological order so you can really see the development of Van Gogh’s style. The most striking juxtaposition of paintings was two still-lifes he did of apples. One was very Dutch: very dark with muted colors. Next door was one that was very French Impressionist: bright colors with large dabs of paint. I also found his Japanese inspired paintings very interesting. I had never seen these before and they were simultaneously very unlike Van Gogh and very characteristic of his style. Here is a painting called "The Courtesan":

In addition to the works by Van Gogh, they also have a large collection of prints (including the famous Chat Noir print by Steinlen) and other impressionistic paintings from the same era by Monet, Manet, and other contemporaries.

After the Van Gogh museum was the culinary highlight of our trip and maybe our lives so far: Visaanderschade, a seafood restaurant we had read about online. For lunch, they serve a 3 course menu for 35€ per person, which by Paris and Zurich prices is very reasonable (although for Amsterdam, it seems to be the high end). Each course was a piece of art on a plate. I wish I had pictures, but it was such a fancy restaurant (and we were the only tourists and by far the youngest and poorest people there), so we felt funny taking pictures of our food. Here's a picture taken from their website, which shows how artistic the presentation of each course was:

Each course was designed to encourage the eater to play with combining different flavors so that each bite tasted different. Even when everything was eaten, the "mess" left on the plate looked beautiful!

Before the first course, they brought us an amuse bouche that had a sweet corn cream on the bottom, a piece of crayfish in the middle, and a lemon buttermilk cream on top, finished with a piece of popcorn. This little shot glass of flavor was absolutely delicious – I could’ve easily eaten a dozen of them and not gotten tired of the amazing flavors! Then the first course arrived and blew us away. It was all about the cucumber (which was too bad for Ben because he hates cucumbers. Apparently some people have a genetic difference that causes cucumbers to taste unbearably bitter). There was a perfectly cooked piece of fish surrounded by a beautifully arranged assortment of pickled cucumber rolled up in tight coils, some sort of vegetable that looked like the back of a green beetle, a quenelle of cucumber ice cream (which was amazing), a quenelle of lemon-infused yogurt (one of the best parts of the whole meal), toasted quinoa, and several other delicate components. The second course was more varied. In the center of the plate was another perfectly cooked piece of fish plus a curl of squid that had the most amazing dense but soft-as-butter texture. On the side was a deconstructed ratatouille: a coil of zucchini, a coil of summer squash, a roasted tomato, and a piece of artichoke heart. Below the fish was a quenelle of squid-ink dyed rice with bits of shellfish in it, which had been roasted on the barbeque. All over the plate were little dots of both eggplant mousse and red pepper mousse and finally, a little fish, which looked like it was smoked salmon, but was actually made of the red pepper mousse. Another stunning and delicious course (after each course, I asked Ben, jokingly, if it would be uncivilized to lick my plate). Finally came dessert: a long thin, rectangle of chocolate walnut brownie, a quenelle of chocolate mousse on a bed of crumbled chocolate, a quenelle of elderberry sorbet on a bed of crumbled gold chocolate (in honor of the Olympics), a scoop of some interesting fruit ice cream (I’m not sure what), a long tube of cherry jelly (which looked like licorice), cherry halves, and a thin chocolate cookie. On top of the ice cream was a small sprig of mint, whereas the top of the sorbet had a small sprig of something that tasted like licorice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat most of this dessert because of the gluten, but the parts I ate, especially the elderberry sorbet, were incredible. Ben got double dessert (since he got to eat most of mine) and he looked like he was in heaven the whole time.  I would go back to Amsterdam just to go to this restaurant again. If you’re anywhere even close to Amsterdam, make sure you go to this restaurant. You won’t be disappointed. We were lucky to get in without reservations perhaps because we were very early for lunch, but make sure you call ahead if you go. You don’t want to miss this place.

After lunch, we decided to head up to the famous Flower Market. There was an enormous variety of flowers, especially tulip bulbs, including many varieties of carnivorous plants at one stall. We didn’t buy anything, but it was nice to see all the beautiful colors and types of flowers.

Carnivorous plants - "No finger in the plants"

Next, we went to a little toy store that sells handmade traditional Dutch wooden shoes in the basement. Unfortunately, the basement was closed to patrons and nobody was working shoes when we were there, which was very disappointing, but we were able to see the workshop and the shoes:

When we left, it was time to head home to pick up our bags before our train. On the way, we passed a shop with lots of funny t-shirts. Ben got this one:

Our last meal in Amsterdam was Indian food (which was nothing special) and then we boarded our train to head back to Paris. We had a wonderful time, saw and ate many amazing things, and hope to come back someday to see all the things we didn’t have time for. Next week: Barcelona!