dutch – Forestfire4's Blog

Yesterday afternoon my daughter and I boarded the Ama Mora in preparation for our river cruise south into Germany. Ama Mora is a beautiful ship, the dinner was very good, and the crew is so friendly. My cabin is gorgeous and a comfortable spot. Since they had a few open cabins, we were able to get a separate one for Tanya, so I have one all to myself! Which is good since lately I have started to snore a bit, unfortunately one that is a new development and I keep thinking if I lose some of this extra weight it will help? Thankfully I am single. LOL

Central Amsterdam was a warren of narrow sidewalks, narrow one-way streets ringed with little shops, cafes, businesses, lawyers, and residential homes all mixed together on street after street. I walked more steps in the past 9 days than I can ever remember doing. Unfortunately, the food was so good my weight didn’t budge at all. I blame it on the burger bars all over, a great stop for quick takeout. I hit two of them!

For the end of week I walked, a lot. I love the canals and looking at all the houseboats. The tippy looking buildings and the bridges. If I had more time….

I did choose one day tour, out to Giethoorn Village. I chose this one as they picked you up at your hotel, rather than having to figure out how to get up to the north end for the windmill tour pickup. I am glad I did; it was a relaxing day, and the tour guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. He was originally from Tibet but has been living in Amsterdam for over 20 years now. The tour company is his own business so was eager to make sure we relaxed and had an enjoyable day. I have my raincoat on, but it only drizzled a little bit in the late afternoon. I found the tour on Viator.

To get to your home, you have to go over a bridge

On Thursday night I did an evening canal tour. I was not impressed; I didn’t read the description close enough. No tour guide (just prerecorded radio messages!) to help out. And it would just randomly switch to Dutch now and then. Also sketchy in that it was hard to hear, ear bud only (I have hearing aids). Often, I missed the place I was supposed to look at as there were no directions, just “out there” in the dark somewhere. The captain never said a word, perhaps he did not speak any English? Also, no way to purchase snacks or drinks on a two-hour cruise! Definitely didn’t understand what I was getting.

My last day was meeting up with my daughter, Tanya, as she arrived in Amsterdam to prepare for our cruise down the Rhine River. We walked, a lot, and had some good food during her short visit. She did get me into may small shops that I typically would just walk on by. We also went to the Albert Cuyp Street Market. A tourist trap in some ways, but we found a couple nice deals. I found a cute ring as a souvenir too. Plus, the stroopwaffel was awesome! Although I still think Tanya should have gotten the chocolate sauce on half.

I will save my favorite stop, the Rijksmuseum, for later. Then onto the river cruise! I am finishing this post up as I sit here on my balcony enjoying the evening on the river!

Here I am, relaxing in Amsterdam. This is definitely a curious city with all the canals and narrow streets. And the traffic! Pedestrians have to fend for themselves, they definitely don’t have the right of way here. So you are constantly on the watch whenever you walk. In fact, if there is a traffic blockage they even skip up onto the sidewalk and don’t like it when you don’t move out of the way. This free for all is the first thing my taxi driver warned me about when he picked me up at the airport even. The previous week he saw a bicyclist hit a pedestrian, pick himself up and ride off! So the driver stopped and gave her a ride to the hospital, where she found out she had a broken ankle. Unfortunately, it meant she had to miss her river cruise, so sad! I don’t want to do the same, so I trying to be careful.

Day one saw some serious exhaustion as I slept very little on the airplane, big surprise. I liken it to being in a hospital as the stewards roam the aisles to see if you would like a drink, or maybe a snack, periodically. Plus, the calls for assistance from fellow passengers, or those trying to find the bathroom. Fun times!

Above are some pictures of my hotel room, really more of a small apartment. Once I unpacked I did some walking around to stay awake. The sun was shining, and I put in quite a few steps around the inner canal rings. I had a nice pasta with chicken for dinner before heading back to my hotel room to try and sleep.

On Monday I slowed down, my legs developed quite a “rash” after all the walking the State Fair last week and the airplane ride and walking yesterday. The “rash” is really a bunch of burst small capillaries according to my dermatologist. I get it almost every year for the last 10 years or so during the fair unfortunately. It can be sore but is usually just tingly and hot feeling. Not comfortable at all, so I slept in and didn’t go out except for lunch and then dinner.

Lunch was at Cafe George, I had the Croque Monsieur. It was very good and I had a nice view of a canal. Dinner was at Red, which is just a few doors down, a great steak with the wonderful Dutch french fries (frites) out along the canal. It was great, until a bee decided to try and fly up my skirt which made me jump and spill half a glass of a wonderful rose on myself. Of course!

Here are a few shots from my walk and eating out.