Bridges, Canals, and Pringles

After landing in Geneva from JFK on Monday morning, Travers and I took a couple hours nap, before I had to get up and get to work. Travers on the other hand, got to sleep another hour or so before getting up, re-packing, and going back to the airport for a work trip to Kiev!  With both of us being jetlagged, it was not an easy week for either of us, but by Friday, we were very excited to be going on another vacation to Amsterdam, Brussels, and Bruges!

We took a mid-day flight to Amsterdam, and trained it to our hotel, The Manor Hotel Amsterdam. After checking in, we immediately went back out to find a drink and a snack and to soak in some sun before it went down. We chose a restaurant down the street from our hotel that we could tell immediately was filled with locals, not tourists. We were staying in Amsterdam Oost, which is just east of the main city center, and only a short tram ride away. So we were out of the super-touristy area, mixing in with the locals, which is something Travers and I love to do on vacations.

A few hours later, after returning to the hotel to change and get ready for the evening, we decided to tram to the city center and just wander the streets, hoping to see some beautiful canals, find something tasty for dinner, and just explore Amsterdam.  We had heard about this popular burger joint called Burger Bar that was supposed to have the best burgers in town. We have an on-going search in Geneva for the best burgers (which we think we found one the other day actually, but that's another story), so the opportunity to have a tasty burger was something we weren't going to pass up. And we were glad we didn't because these burgers were huge, so tasty, with a great bun (which is one of the most important parts of a good burger), and yummy fries on the side.

T's bacon cheddar burger

My blue cheese burger

After filling up on good food, we just started walking around town and seeing whatever we could. We wandered down some small alleyways, crossed some beautiful canals, and saw some really cool architecture.

We then found ourselves in the Nieuwmarkt square, surrounded by bars and restaurants, and a huge building that used to be one of the city gates and former city walls. Its now occupied by the Waag society, and the Nieuwmarkt was built around it and the weighing scales were placed inside it. Not really sure what the weigh scales do now, but it was a really cool building to look at. So we chose a bar that faced the square and grabbed some Amstel's and just people-watched for awhile. And while we were sitting there, I noticed this amazing machine next to us. I don't know why I like it so much, but what's not to like about mini-cans of Pringles in a bubble-gum machine!?

We then decided to walk towards the infamous Red-Light District.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and it was certainly a surprise to see such a lively area. There were several bars and restaurants interspersed with all the "windows" of ladies, and hundreds of people pouring out of bars, walking up and down the street, with the canal in between. With the amount of people drinking, I was surprised there wasn't more of a railing between the canal and the sidewalk, but seemed like no one was going to fall in. We stopped at a pub called The Old Sailor and got a great seat by the window so we could watch all the passersby.  After getting our fill of people-watching, and strolling the crowded streets, we headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest so we could do it all again and more the next day.


The next morning, we got up and found a cute local coffee shop called Coffee Bru. After ordering two coffees, a muffin, and banana bread, we sat on a bench they had outside and soaked in the sun. As we were finishing our breakfast we noticed a cheese and bread shop next door. The large rounds of cheese and the fresh baked bread looked delicious, so we decided to get some, along with some salami they had, and have a picnic in a few hours once in the city center.

So we hopped on the tram and got closer to the museum quarter of Amsterdam. We strolled past the Rijks Museum, some lovely canals, and found ourselves in a huge park called Museumplein. We saw the I Am Amsterdam sign, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum.  We then found ourselves a nice place to sit in the park under a tree and have some local cheese, bread and salami for lunch!









We continued our walk back towards the center of town. We saw some beautiful canals and walked down some quaint streets. There were a lot of bicycles out and we managed not to get in their way too much. And we passed by tons of people enjoying the weather sitting outside at cafes all along the canals. After a few hours of walking around, we decided to join all these people and stopped for an ice cold beer, at a cafe right on a canal.


















The rest of the day was much of the same, walking through small streets, past lovely canals and wonderful architecture. There were lots of people in their boats cruising down the canals, and we crossed many bridges on our stroll through the city. One bridge in particular was the famous wooden bridge that is one of the most beautiful bridges in Amsterdam.

The Wooden Bridge

us at the wooden bridge

After a long day of walking the entire city of Amsterdam, we went back to the hotel to rest up and get ready for the evening.  Heading back out for a pre-dinner drink, we chose a spot in the Rembrandtplein where we could watch a soccer match on the tv.  We also had a great view of the square so we could watch all the people going by as well.  We then chose a nearby restaurant called Coco's Outback, who's slogan is "Lousy Food, Warm Beer", which was anything but. We had delicious bbq chicken and fries before heading across the street to a bar that happened to have a live band playing some of our favorite songs! We listened to some great music, then made our way around the corner to Club Smokey where we danced for the next few hours to some of the best dance music in Europe.

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel, and headed towards the city center to grab some breakfast before hopping on a train to our next destination, Brussels.  Amsterdam was amazing to see and we definitely saw a lot of it. Its amazing thinking back that we were only there for a day and a half but were able to see so much of the city and really enjoy the culture, the people, and the lovely canals.  Its definitely somewhere we will go back someday.