Sleep Deprived in Amsterdam

March 18

We arrive at Schiphol and haven’t slept much. We’ve been to the airport but have never left it. Finding our way around here isn’t terribly difficult as things are signed well. Immigration lines are short and take us about 10 minutes. Customs is just a walkthrough as we have nothing to declare. We find the IAmsterdam booth easily and get our 72 hour passes. Next up ATM, then train ticket to town. It’s funny that they offer 1st and 2nd class tickets into town as the train ride is only 20 minutes. Of course we get “klasse 2”. 

When we arrive at Central station, we orient ourselves quickly and walk to the hotel. I’m really glad I used the points on a close by hotel. It’s less than a 10 minutes walk. It’s sunny but literally freezing cold. The high is 34 today. So cold I’m not taking pictures yet. 

We’ve been upgraded to the club level which is nice but at the moment I’m more excited that the room is ready. We are also offered the breakfast buffet as it’s 10 am and it closes at 11 am. I turn it down since we ate a few hours ago on the plane but she gives me a voucher anyway since worse case we don’t use it. The room is nice and we quickly unpack. 

It’s quite spacious as far European hotels go. 

We decide to do brunch at the hotel. I’m glad we took it. It’s a pretty good spread with what you would expect in Europe. 

We head out to the Tulip Museum. 

Stubbe Haring is close by but it must not be herring season as it’s closed. 

Some shots along the way. 

The Tulip Museum is small but I did learn a few things. Stairs in old Amsterdam are steep. 

Tulips are originally from the mountains in Asia so you dig them up in the summer to dry them out to mimic the arid summer climate. That seems like a lot of work to me. Lastly, there are way more petal shapes than I thought. 

From here we head to the houseboat museum. Again small but interesting to see. This style houseboat is much different than what you see in Seattle. 

Cromhouthuis - Biblical Museum. I know what you are thinking me going to a Biblical museum but it’s about seeing the canal house. However it’s not your typical canal house as it was for a wealthy family.  

 Grand stair case.

Ceiling painting.

View of the garden from the second floor.

Next up is the Amsterdam Museum. While interesting my brain is fried from lack of sleep and I probably won’t retain much of the history of Amsterdam. 

We decide to head Oude Kerk. 

We finally use some transit as it’s included in our pass. There is some strange exhibit going on here. The special flyer is all in Dutch so that doesn’t help. There are huge blocks covered in black tarp and black coats laid out everywhere. It obscures some views of the church. 

Museum Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder which is actually three houses that has a Catholic Church in the attic. This is more what I was thinking when we went to the first canal house. While these people weren’t poor they weren’t wealthy like the other house. Pocket bed

Actual church

We are very tired now. My feet are killing me and my back aches. I’ve marked a bar nearby but I can’t remember why. It turns out it’s the smallest pub on town. 

We chat with a couple from the UK while we drink. The bartenders change and we get a nice gal Kate. We get a recommendation on a genever bar that is close by. 

Genever will have to wait as we are starving. Dinner is at a nearby restaurant - Adam & Siam. It’s a fusion place but none of the fusion stuff seems interesting to order so we just order 3 appetizers and a side of fried rice. The crab and chicken dim had a really good crab flavor. Aparna thought they could have been warmer like they may have been sitting awhile. The dipping sauce went well. 

The ribs while good are very similar to what I make at home. 

The steak tartare has really nice Asian flavors but the texture isn’t smooth. This is not filet. It’s grainy (?) and fibrous but not unchewable. 

The fried rice is good and rounds out the meal. 

We hoof it back in the cold though we probably could have taken a tram part of the way. We try to stream the end of the MSU game but I can’t. Aparna is falling asleep but it’s under 2 minutes to go and I fight to stay awake. I’m gone as soon as the game ends.