Sat Sept 21
Arrived in Amsterdam around 3PM. Long flight via Nairobi (2hr stop). Did manage to sleep a bit but…..
Customs line ups at Schiphol were crazy! Took almost 2 hours to get thru. Got our luggage and decided to just bite the bullet and grab a cab to our airbnb (85E!!!). Andrea got in touch with Madelaine, our host, but a bit of a mix up with the address….we waited and waited at what we thought was the apartment. The bakery next door brought us coffee and pastries….how nice was that! M finally found us and led us to the right place….just around the corner luckily.
Was well after 7 by the time we got settled. Out for some groceries….big market just around the corner. Everybody was just bagged so we just stayed in, put together some dinner, played cards and to bed!
Can’t wait to explore Amsterdam tomorrow.
Sun Sept 22
Slept great! I took the futon in the living room….only a 2bdrm apartment. I’m usually the first one up anyway, so no problem for me.
Was up around 5:30. Updated my journal, had coffee etc. waiting for everyone to get up around 8. Had a big breakfast…….thanks Russ!
Out the door around 10. The house is in the “Noord” area. Good location. About a 5-10 minute walk to the free ferry to cross the river to Central Station. Definitely worth staying in this area as opposed to Amsterdam centrum….cost quite a bit less to rent here.
Beautiful day! The ferry takes about 5 minutes to cross and runs every 15 minutes until midnight. Lots of river traffic……barges, tour boats, river cruise ships etc. Pretty waterfront.
Central Station is huge…..lots of restaurants and shops. Walked and walked today. Just mostly wandered in the direction of the Van Gogh Museum. Started our trek thru the red light district…..not much to see during the day.
What a beautiful city!! The canals are so pretty…..lots of boats, treelined and very pretty buildings some leaning quite precariously! Besides leaning sideways, some also lean out trying to maximize all the square footage possible. Tons of cafes, including the “coffee shops”…..got lots of whiffs of pot! There are so many bicycles. Crossing the street can be quite the challenge. You have to watch for cars, but also have to watch for the bikes in the bike lanes and the motorbikes that also use the bike lanes.
Cheese shops galore! Fantastic pastry shops. Nice plazas full of cafes and restaurants. Walked thru the flower market. Tulip bulbs by the thousands. Many other kinds of bulbs and seeds along with knickknack type stuff. Bought some xmas ornaments for Linds, Donna, myself and the kids. It’s so bright and colourful….very crowded but very nice to walk thru.
The streets, the canals, boats, bikes, trees, great architecture……just a great place!
Love the carts that many people have attached to their bikes….saw them used for groceries, pets, kids and big packages. No one wears helmets…..not unusual to see a Mom/Dad with a kid carrier on both the front and the back of the bike and the odd one with the cart thing too.
Lots of street musicians…. one group was almost an orchestra. Really good acoustics in the alcoves under buildings.
Got our tickets for the Van Gogh…..must by them from the kiosks outside, which assigns a time to your ticket. We got 2:30 so only had an hour to kill…grabbed a coffee. Excellent museum. 
The entry is fairly modern with lots of glass and the usual gift shop. No photos allowed! Assigning times limits the number of people in the museum at any given time, which I think is a very good idea (the Vatican Museum could take a hint from them!!). Along with all the art, it also tells the story of Van Goghs life……start on the top floor! Lots of art by his contemporaries too. Took just over an hour to go thru the whole thing. It’s laid out very nicely so easy to follow thru the rooms. We started at the top and worked out way down the 4 floors.
Left the museum, working our way to a place for lunch that Cheri had read about, “The Pancake Bakery”. https://pancake.nl/ Was good, have tried both sweet and savory, but just not one of my favorite foods…..everyone else raved about it and the place was packed so will just have to take their word for it. The “strop” is sooooo cloyingly sweet….it almost hurts!!
Spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering the streets and canals, in and out of some shops, and a stop or two for beverages.
The number of bikes parked at Central Stations is incredible! How on earth do people ever find theirs??
Took the other ferry back across….this one runs 24/7 and is just at the other end of the station. Took us a bit further down but still only a few more minutes walk home. Crossed one of the locks on the canal…no boats going thru tho. Home for dinner….buns, meat, cheese tomatoes etc. Did think about going to a restaurant down the street but decided to just stay in. Long day, lots of walking. Cards and reading. Managed to stay up until almost midnight!
Mon Sept 23
Lazy morning. Russ and I made breakfast. Bit of rain last night and spits this morning….but also blue sky peeking thru.
Our Anne Frank tickets aren’t until 6PM so decided to do a later start this morning. Out the door around 11. Our first destination is the CUYP street market.
Walked thru Chinatown and up and down and across the canals. Russ and I bought some pickled herring….not quite what I was expecting….2 herring, whole, sliced up and served with diced onion and pickles…..was OK but gave most of mine to Russ. The market was big, it went on for blocks and blocks…..quite typical. Food, cheese, flowers, clothes, bikes and bike supplies, lots of kitsch….wallets, purses, shoes, places to eat, pastry shops. Lots of fun to wander thru….and it smelled really good!
Had a great pub lunch a busy pedestrian only street. Good food and people watching. Some very well put together and some not so much! Many have rather eclectic styles, some dress in layers of different types of clothes, some look like they got dressed in the dark….looks like 2 different shoes (including type and size of heel!) might be a new fashion trend! Started to sprinkle a bit so good thing we were under cover. Still pleasantly warm though.
Did a bit of last minute shopping and started our walk to Anne Frank house on the other side of town. It’s really quite lovely here. After a bit of a downpour it started to clear up quite nicely.
Didn’t take as long as we thought so had plenty of time to stop at a cafe on the canal for a drink. Many right on the canal don’t have railings!! The one we stopped at did so we couldn’t tumble into the canal if you moved your chair the wrong way or a little too much. Chatted with a couple and their 2 kids from Illinois. They’re just starting their 3 week trip through Europe. First time for them and they had some concerns about being Americans…..how sad really. Told them not too worry at all, everyone is really friendly and helpful…..it’s not really the people (with the odd exception….) they aren’t keen on.
We had bought our AF tickets online a month ago and 6 was the best time we could get. Tickets can only be bought at the museum between 9-10AM for the same day. Again, only so many people go thru at a time. No photos! You get audio guides, which you just tap on the markers as you go along. You follow a well laid out route. Excellent museum and a very moving experience. Definitely brought a tear or two to my eye a number of times. Just cannot even phathom what she and so many others went thru. Just horrid!! Took just over an hour. So glad we went…..definitely a must when visiting here.
Dinner was at “t’Zwaantje” http://zwaantje-restaurant.nl/?lang=en #1 rated restaurant on some top 10 list. Cheri had found it so thought we’d give it a try. Only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table. The owner seemed pretty miserable when we first sat down…..just kind of slapped down menus and walked away. A gal came and took our drink orders and he came back to take our dinner orders…..after chatting with him for a bit, miserable though he was, he was also quite a character. The meals were huge!! Could easily have shared 2 between the 4 of us. All was good….not sure about the “#1” thing though.
After dinner we did the red light district…..a must do a night. Definitely where all the fun and excitement is at nighttime. Tried to discreetly snap a few pics but they came out too blurry. Lots of groups of men….very noisy men!! But also just lots of tourists including families. 
Laughed at one Mom trying to cover her teenagers eyes as they went along. Many “services” on offer…..singles or groups, couples “cabins” and goodness knows what else. Shows too of course. Some of the girls in the glassed in cubicles were just beautiful!! How on earth and why did they end up here?? You just have to wonder. Very busy and crowded on both sides of the canal for blocks. Certainly a fun and interesting walk! Apparently there is also a “blue” light district….didn’t see it so not sure where it would be.
Back home to pack up. I cannot believe it’s time to go home. Where has the time gone?? Hard to believe 4 weeks passed so quickly! Just an amazing trip from beginning to end……so lucky to have been able to do gorilla trekking in Uganda and 4 fantastic safaris in Zambia…..definitely the trip of a lifetime!
Tues Sept 24
Finished packing and finished off just about all the rest of the food we’d bought. Madelaine arranged an UBER for us to get to the airport. 40E so half the price of a taxi.
Picked up at 9AM on the dot. Half hour to 45 min to the airport…..lots of road construction and tons of traffic.
Flight was on time. No problem with our connection in Toronto. Landed in Vanc at 8PM.
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