Amsterdam

Amsterdam was definitely interesting. I have to admit it wasn't one of the places on my "must see" list, but Brandon's folks were going while they were visiting, and we thought it would be a good time to see a new place, and get to spend a little more time with family. I was pleasantly surprised by this city. The buildings were pretty darn cool, and each one was a little different, so you didn't have block after block of the exact same building. Plus I really liked all the canals throughout the city.


We spent 3 days in Amsterdam, which was just about the right amount of time for us. If I hadn't been pregnant and worn out we probably could have done it in 2 days, but I struggled with all the walking while there and just got so tired plus lucky me I ate something the first day there and got sick! Go me! Being sick aside, it was a good trip. Brandon found the hotel we all stayed in online and it ended up being a good find. One funny...or not so funny at times, part of out hotel was the stairway to get to the entrance. In the travel book they mentioned steep stairs...I guess I didn't take this warning as serious as I should of because the picture below is of the stairway to get to our place!





This is a shot of the front of the building with our hotel in it, and below is our room. It was a very clean room, but definitely didn't have any frills to it, but as I said it was clean which is the most important part in my opinion!



Yeah that's right we had some Rick and Lucy beds in our room! But at least you don't have to fight for the covers this way!

The bathroom we had was SMALL, but not as small as Phil and LeAnn's! You can't see the shower in this picture, but it was tiny, little ole me could barely turn around in it, and I was constantly banging my arms on the soap tray...I laughed just thinking of my day trying to use that shower! The interesting thing we found in the "affordable" hotels, a lot of them didn't offer private bathrooms, which was kinda important to me, so again not complaints on this one, at least it was in our room, and not shared!!!

One crazy thing about Amsterdam was the bikes, they were EVERYWHERE I though Brandon's parents were going to ran over a few times. The hard part of walking around...and not getting hit is that there are side walks, then right next to the sidewalks, was the bike lane, which you had to cross to get across the road, plus the bikes have the right of way and wont hesitate to run you over! OUI luckily we all made it through the stay there and Lord only knows how, but no one got hit by a bike! Below is a picture of a bike parking lot near central station...


This picture doesn't do it justice, there were just thousand upon thousands of bikes parked here, I don't know how anyone could find there bike in there, let alone get it untangled enough to get it out! Below is a shot of the outside of Central Station, we flew into the airport in Amsterdam, but took the train out of Central Station to get to Paris!



On our second day there we walked through the Red Light District (which I didn't get many pictures of because you are not supposed to take pics of the working girls in the windows!) We walked through the Red Light District during the late afternoon, which we had been warned that the "A" team didn't come out till 10-11pm, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake that late, so we chose to just walk it in the day...and I have to say I think we were seeing the "C" team or something! Also something that you noticed walking around was the smell of weed everywhere, we walked by a couple places and I felt like I should hold my breath so my baby didn't get high :) Anywho on with day 2 in Amsterdam. We decided to do a bus tour thought the countryside. Now before I get to what we saw and did on the trip, I do have to share the story of my little stalker...So we were waiting for the bus to arrive (it was 45 minutes late) and I had found a stool to sit on in the travel place. I looked up at one point and noticed this little asian man pointing his camera at me. I had a weird feeling he was taking pictures of me, so I shifted a little in my seat so I wasn't facing him, and sure enough he side steped a bit so he could get a more straight on shot of me. So this time I turned away from him completely, but of course there was a mirror behind the counter so he could see me and I him, he started to walk up to me, luckily at that time Brandon walked up to me as well to see how I was feeling. I told him some creep was taking pics of me, and sure enough the guy walked past us, stopped in front of me and gave me a creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy smile. After he walked past Brandon just cracked up, and said "wow that was quite the look you got!" Brandon stayed by me for a few minutes then headed to the counter to buy a drink and snack before the tour. As soon as I was alone, the guy comes up to the tour guide hands his camera to him, and says "I want a picture with her" and points to me! I looked at him and just shook my head. To this he nodded his head and pointed to himself then me, then the camera. The tour guide thinking I didn't understand the request explained that this man wanted to get a picture of me. By this time I was getting fed up and said "No, he can not take a picture with me, he has already taken enough of my without my permission!" Ok I feel like I should point out at this point, although he annoyed me and creeped my out a bit, I didn't feel threathened by him, he was probably shorter than me, decked out in Amsterdam gear and a very oriental looking hat! Brandon told me I was a jerk and should have taken a picture so when I told this story I could post a picture of my admirer...I have to admit I do regret it a LITTLE now because it would have been pretty funny, but I couldn't stand the thought of him getting too close to me! Oh well he got one of the female tour guides to pose with him, and he proceeded to rub her arm, touch her jacket and follow her around! I guess he wasn't feeling too picky! Oh side story over, here are a few shots from the bus tour. First we went to a small village and got to see a cheese making demonstration.


Also at this stop we got to look around at the traditional housing and the windmills used to pump water from the land keeping it from flooding.







Then we drove to a fishing village, where you could get fresh fish and eel their specialty...of course being allergic to seafood I passed on the food but below is a few shot from the village.


From here we got on a ferry and went to what used to be an island (not connected to the mainland by a long bridge)

The village we stopped at from the ferry, was a small village with lots of shops, unfortunately due to the tour being almost an hour late, all the shops were closed. Oh well the other reason for going to the island was to watch a wood shoe making demonstration. It was pretty cool, but I didn't believe the girl when she said they were really very comfy...I will keep my soft tennis shoes and boots with fur!

The island village as we floated up to the dock, below is the building/grounds with the shoe demonstration in it.



After the demonstration we got back on the bus and drove back to the mainland.

That night I got to choose where we ate, I chose the Hard Rock Cafe, I had never been to one, and after eating at a local place and getting sick wanted American food...I'm sure my meal choice disappointed the others a bit, but I LOVED my meal!



On our last day we did a canal tour through the city, it was so nice to get to park my backside in a seat and just enjoy seeing the sites without getting worn out walking! I know I sound soooo lazy!


The last touristy thing we did was go to a small castle outside the city. It was nice, but small, and it was so cold that day it was a little hard to really enjoy it.


That night everyone (ok...maybe not everyone) wanted to try some authentic Dutch cuisine! I won't lie I wasn't thrilled with the choice, but I know people had bared with me and ate food that I liked the night before so I said sure lets eat here. I looked at the menu which was mostly seafood which I can't eat...or meats that I don't eat! I was going to just order bread and butter and stop at McDonalds on the way back to our room, but I decided to order a kids meal of chicken, applesauce, fries, and salad. Ok the applesauce was a hit, the fries were good, but not great, the salad was gross and the chicken was pretty awful. None of this was helped by the table behind us who had 3 big pots of muscles and clams...ugh it reaked! Then Brandon got Lard pork...gross and mashed potatoes with sourkraut mixed in...lets see phil got eel soup, and LeAnn a giant meatball. Just take a moment folks and just think of the mixture of smells in this place! It was all I could do not to toss my cookies! I know my pregnant nose is a bit sensitive...as is my stomach, but Brandon with vouch for me, it smelled in that place! I was so happy to get out of that place, but at least now I can say I have eaten in a Dutch restaurant!

Well that about does it for our Amsterdam adventure! Next on to Paris!