I have just realized that I have never posted anything on our trip to Amsterdam for a long weekend in October. In spite of rain and rain we had a great time and highly recommend as a destination with kids. Had a great hotel - very basic but excellent location, very friendly and we had a room that managed to fit all five of us in it (mind you, it was tight).
We visited both Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum, which was a great rain break. I swear by those audio tours for kids - they give us at least an hour happily for both older girls in whatever art museum we visit, but we had to drag Chloe out of both museums as Mia and Libby were done done.
As most of you know, we travel for food and we were not disappointed with this trip - we enjoyed the usual Dutch fare: fries, pancakes, but were delighted with surprises like Indonesian (thanks to Dutch colonization) and proper Dutch cooking. It's nice to revisit places of our youth with a little money in our pockets! For the Dutch cooking, we had the best split pea super ever, garbanzo beans in some sort of mustard-vinegar sauce, smoked sausages and a sauerkraut/mashed potato dish. Mmmmm. The only down side about the restaurants is that at least half did not have high chairs, but they were very child friendly - playing with Libby, stuffing mints in the girls pockets, and just general friendliness.
I'm not sure if we were so overwhelmed by their friendliness due to our living in London, but we really liked the Dutch people. The Dutch people were amazing - really kind, friendly and helpful and as a whole, relaxed. It's not a surprise that they aren't the ones needing to smoke the ganja!
Don't get me wrong - traveling in the cold rain with three children -esp an 11 month old who just wants to get down and walk - is not what we'd call "relaxing." However, it was definitely an adventure and loved the experience. Euge and I would like to come back for a weekend on our own someday....
We visited both Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum, which was a great rain break. I swear by those audio tours for kids - they give us at least an hour happily for both older girls in whatever art museum we visit, but we had to drag Chloe out of both museums as Mia and Libby were done done.
As most of you know, we travel for food and we were not disappointed with this trip - we enjoyed the usual Dutch fare: fries, pancakes, but were delighted with surprises like Indonesian (thanks to Dutch colonization) and proper Dutch cooking. It's nice to revisit places of our youth with a little money in our pockets! For the Dutch cooking, we had the best split pea super ever, garbanzo beans in some sort of mustard-vinegar sauce, smoked sausages and a sauerkraut/mashed potato dish. Mmmmm. The only down side about the restaurants is that at least half did not have high chairs, but they were very child friendly - playing with Libby, stuffing mints in the girls pockets, and just general friendliness.
I'm not sure if we were so overwhelmed by their friendliness due to our living in London, but we really liked the Dutch people. The Dutch people were amazing - really kind, friendly and helpful and as a whole, relaxed. It's not a surprise that they aren't the ones needing to smoke the ganja!
Don't get me wrong - traveling in the cold rain with three children -esp an 11 month old who just wants to get down and walk - is not what we'd call "relaxing." However, it was definitely an adventure and loved the experience. Euge and I would like to come back for a weekend on our own someday....
Relaxing Budda statue in airport on arrival.
Libby loved her sized chair in Van Gogh museum shop.
Playground well-situated near museums.
This little girl wanted to join ours.
I knew Amsterdam did bikes, but it really was overwhelming. I don't know if you can see from this photo, but it was a 3 story parking garages for bikes. There must be zillions in Amsterdam. Bikes are the dominant form or transport - shocking how few cars there were - with the tram next and then pedestrians. They have their own bike lanes. And bike configurations you don't see anywhere else. Also interesting was that of the hundreds, or probably thousand bikes we saw, no one wore a helmet.
Famous patate place. Can you see the heaps behind the workers?
And these were smalls! No, I didn't let them eat it all....
See how we managed? Yum....
Apple and cinnamon sugar pancake.
Ham and cheese pancake.
For breakfast, they have special chocolate sprinkles they put on toast with butter. Sprinkles different than the standard ice cream kind, don't have the waxy coating, so they melt. Girls of course loved and we brought back about three years supply.
We, of course, wanted to rent bikes. But since I don't know the rules of the road, they didn't recommend I take Libby. Funny really, as it is much safer to bike in Amsterdam than in London, where I DO bike with her. So Euge had the pleasure of biking the girls around while I hoped on the tram with Libster.
Trucks full of Heineken visit restaurants and bars in morning and "pump" beer in with the hose.
But of course - sun and blue sky the day we leave!!
Another couple shot thanks to Mia.
4 comments:
All that biking and walking is necessary for that diet. Sheesh! The food looks and sounds SO GOOD. What a fun trip. Did I understand correctly that you had been there when you were young?
Yes, in my early 20s - but who is "Christmas?"
I'm just reading this today and the funny thing is that as I was sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast, I found myself gazing at the picture that we bought in Amsterdam of the wavy bridge. You know the one. It definitely IS nice to go back to a fun place when you can afford to do more stuff, though I don't remember being prevented from doing much of what we wanted on that trip...
love,
Rebecca
Vanessa, I'm "Christmas." I don't have any idea why it put that name there. I certainly didn't change it. SO weird. I didn't realize it said that until it posted. I actually wrote somewhere on your blog that I was "Christmas" but it's nowhere to be found... Mysteries abound! (PS--It's Laurel in case this says Christmas again)
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