Last full day in Amsterdam... :) and :(. I'm sad that my vacation is over and that I'll be leaving such a beautiful and fun city, but so excited to go back home to my own house, my own bed, my own kitchen, etc. :p
We started out the day just by having oatmeal in our room. And then we had a gevulde koek (almond filled cookie) with coffee :) yummm. Next... we went to our favorite store again, de Bijenkorf, but we didn't really buy anything. We had more coffee there and a sauzijebroodje (sausage croissant type thing) which was pretty good. We walked up and down the shopping street a bit--and actually tried on some clothes, which didn't really look quite right on us. Skirts are wayyyyy too long, for example--cuz we're not as tall as dutch ladies. More people getting in our way, but I was good and didn't push down anyone riding their bicycles or anything :p. Then, we met our friend for a late tosti. We then went to FEBO where they have the food in little doors, and got some kroketten and fries (with mayonnaise of course). I guess it was a day of eating a lot of typical dutch goodies. We then had an early dinner at the Chinese restaurant near our hotel again--Oriental City, and it was really nice and warm and filling.
Now, that's the end of all my Amsterdam 2007 entries... I'm signing out and packing. See you all when I get back!! :)
Showing posts with label amsterdam 2007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amsterdam 2007. Show all posts
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
Amsterdam 2007: Day 7, Shopping
Hallo! This is Brandy, again, and still in Amsterdam :). Today was essentially a shopping day. :) After having a nice breakfast from the bakery, sis and I went to a souvenir shop and Chimera, which is this neat fantasy shop (coolest I have ever seen). Then, of course, we went to de Bijenkorf where I got a hat and we looked at lots of clothes (which we didn't buy). We had a couple of cappuccinos at de Bikenkorf cafe, La Ruche, and a slice of appel pie ... well, I think it is an apple cake or tart :).
After shopping, sis and I headed to get some Vlamise frites (Belgian style fries), and I had mine with fritesaus (mayonaisse essentially), while my sis had ketchup. Mmmmm. Later in the afternoon, we went to O'Reilly's Irish Pub to have a late lunch with our friend. Then, we did more shopping at the Magna Plaza, which is a nice shopping center right next to our hotel. We went to Albert Heijn again, mostly because we wanted to eat a little something healthy--so we brought fruit. I was just going to have fruit for dinner, but we ended up at Oriental City--our favorite Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. My sister meant to order pipa tofu--which is fried tofu balls with diced shrimp in it... but we ended up with half a duck instead. It was still very yummy though... but I guess ordering in Cantonese in Holland isn't the same as Cantonese in the US :). After dinner, we ate the fruit that we got as well as some gevulde koek (filled cookie--with almonds). And then, we watched Hollow Man on TV... we're pretty good at picking out crappy movies to watch on tv.
Okay--side note about the whole Amsterdam trip... I swear people just walk into you here. In the department store today, sis was walking and then someone just walked into her from behind. I saw the whole thing... and it was very strange... how can you just walk into someone from behind while looking forward? This other time, I was between two small shoe display rows, and there was a wall at the end... so I was essentially standing in the middle of a U. So, this lady comes there and blocks my exit while looking at shoes, and I move towards her... and she doesn't move. I have to say "excuse me" to get her to move out of the way. Helllooo? Why would you just block someone's exit. Then, I was getting onto the escalator, and someone with a ladder wants to put it right in front of the escalator (and block half of the escalator entrance)... of course--I'm in the way and he almost hits me. But really, what's the deal with people getting in your way all the time. It is the strangest thing.. but on a sidewalk, if I am walking on the right, someone coming towards me will just walk right towards me and collide with me if I don't move (even though they could walk on the left). Argggggh. Hehe, time to go home before I start beating up tourists and crazy Dutch ladies.
After shopping, sis and I headed to get some Vlamise frites (Belgian style fries), and I had mine with fritesaus (mayonaisse essentially), while my sis had ketchup. Mmmmm. Later in the afternoon, we went to O'Reilly's Irish Pub to have a late lunch with our friend. Then, we did more shopping at the Magna Plaza, which is a nice shopping center right next to our hotel. We went to Albert Heijn again, mostly because we wanted to eat a little something healthy--so we brought fruit. I was just going to have fruit for dinner, but we ended up at Oriental City--our favorite Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. My sister meant to order pipa tofu--which is fried tofu balls with diced shrimp in it... but we ended up with half a duck instead. It was still very yummy though... but I guess ordering in Cantonese in Holland isn't the same as Cantonese in the US :). After dinner, we ate the fruit that we got as well as some gevulde koek (filled cookie--with almonds). And then, we watched Hollow Man on TV... we're pretty good at picking out crappy movies to watch on tv.
Okay--side note about the whole Amsterdam trip... I swear people just walk into you here. In the department store today, sis was walking and then someone just walked into her from behind. I saw the whole thing... and it was very strange... how can you just walk into someone from behind while looking forward? This other time, I was between two small shoe display rows, and there was a wall at the end... so I was essentially standing in the middle of a U. So, this lady comes there and blocks my exit while looking at shoes, and I move towards her... and she doesn't move. I have to say "excuse me" to get her to move out of the way. Helllooo? Why would you just block someone's exit. Then, I was getting onto the escalator, and someone with a ladder wants to put it right in front of the escalator (and block half of the escalator entrance)... of course--I'm in the way and he almost hits me. But really, what's the deal with people getting in your way all the time. It is the strangest thing.. but on a sidewalk, if I am walking on the right, someone coming towards me will just walk right towards me and collide with me if I don't move (even though they could walk on the left). Argggggh. Hehe, time to go home before I start beating up tourists and crazy Dutch ladies.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Amsterdam 2007: Day 6, Vondelpark, Movie
Another day in Amsterdam filled with shopping and food. We started out searching for breakfast at McDonald's--but they only have egg McMuffin here and nothing else. So, we went to the bakery instead, where we got ham and cheese croissants and apple beignets.
Then, we went to do our massive shopping at the Albert Heijn supermarket--stroopwafels, chocolates, curry ketchup... even sauce for the boerenkool stampot that I make every Thanksgiving. My sister didn't let me get the typical sausage that you put on top, which is a pretty good idea since it probably wouldn't get through customs. Then, after we dropped off goodies at the hotel, we did some more shopping on Kalverstraat and de Bijenkorf. It is just SOOOO awesome being right across the street from the de Bijenkorf and across the square from Kalverstraat. :) I got mini-stroopwafels from the HEMA. I also got few accessories at this store, Bijou Brigette--which is completely overwhelming, but because there was no one that early int he morning, it was manageable and I was able to find a couple of things.
In the afternoon, we went to the Three Sisters, which is a typical Dutch Bruincafe--a brown cafe known for it's nice brown walls of wood. Then, we headed to Van Dobben, which is essentially this Dutch fast food place where I had Van Dobbin kroket (their specific brand of kroket) and pea soup. It was really good :). We then took a walk to Vondelpark (kind of like Amsterdam's mini Central Park) and watched a movie. This is funny... the movie in America is called "War", but here it is "Rogue Assassin", which I think is a much better name than "War". I thought the movie would just be an okay thing to kill some time, but it was actually an excellent movie where action films go. I highly recommend that everyone see it. It was kind of wierd with the Dutch subtitles on the bottom--but it was cool. Also, I was pretty confused when the movie began, since I'm used to seeing a screen, "Now, for your Feature Presentation...". But, it was my first movie in Amsterdam, and really nice.
After the movie, we had Indonesian rijstafel (rice table) at Sahid Jaya (I have to doublecheck on the name) which is rice and a lot of little dishes, salads, and sides. It was soooo yummy, and we had tis great "iced coffee", which was a scoop of cappucino and vanilla ice cream with coffee poured on top. Mmmmm. Another amazing day and a very full tummy.
Then, we went to do our massive shopping at the Albert Heijn supermarket--stroopwafels, chocolates, curry ketchup... even sauce for the boerenkool stampot that I make every Thanksgiving. My sister didn't let me get the typical sausage that you put on top, which is a pretty good idea since it probably wouldn't get through customs. Then, after we dropped off goodies at the hotel, we did some more shopping on Kalverstraat and de Bijenkorf. It is just SOOOO awesome being right across the street from the de Bijenkorf and across the square from Kalverstraat. :) I got mini-stroopwafels from the HEMA. I also got few accessories at this store, Bijou Brigette--which is completely overwhelming, but because there was no one that early int he morning, it was manageable and I was able to find a couple of things.
In the afternoon, we went to the Three Sisters, which is a typical Dutch Bruincafe--a brown cafe known for it's nice brown walls of wood. Then, we headed to Van Dobben, which is essentially this Dutch fast food place where I had Van Dobbin kroket (their specific brand of kroket) and pea soup. It was really good :). We then took a walk to Vondelpark (kind of like Amsterdam's mini Central Park) and watched a movie. This is funny... the movie in America is called "War", but here it is "Rogue Assassin", which I think is a much better name than "War". I thought the movie would just be an okay thing to kill some time, but it was actually an excellent movie where action films go. I highly recommend that everyone see it. It was kind of wierd with the Dutch subtitles on the bottom--but it was cool. Also, I was pretty confused when the movie began, since I'm used to seeing a screen, "Now, for your Feature Presentation...". But, it was my first movie in Amsterdam, and really nice.
After the movie, we had Indonesian rijstafel (rice table) at Sahid Jaya (I have to doublecheck on the name) which is rice and a lot of little dishes, salads, and sides. It was soooo yummy, and we had tis great "iced coffee", which was a scoop of cappucino and vanilla ice cream with coffee poured on top. Mmmmm. Another amazing day and a very full tummy.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Amsterdam 2007 - Day 5, Utrecht
This was another great day of holiday. In the morning, I had a little bit of oatmeal because I felt that I had been eating too much stuff. Then, sis and I went out shopping, and we were feeling in need of a snack after a little bit, so we got apple beignets (apple doughnuts essentially). We just got some small stuff here and there, nothing big.
Around noon, we took the train to this town outside of Amsterdam, called Utrecht. Coming out of the Utrecht Centraal train station, you are right inside a mall--the first mall I've ever seen in Europe I suppose. So we did a little walking around and shopping in weird mall shops.
Utrecht was a really nice old town--pretty typically Dutch, I would say. There were a lot of small shopping streets and nice houses. The canals were interesting because, unlike Amsterdam, the street is much higher than the canal, so that there is a lot of lower groung right next to the canel (between the street and the canal), where there are many terraces for restaurants and such. However, these are closed right now because it is just much too cold to sit outside and right on the canal.
After we walked around for a bit, we had a typical dutch lunch of broodje gezond -- a "healthy" sandwich of bread, ha, cheese, and hardboiled sliced egg. It was really yummy. After lunch and some coffee, we walked around some of the shopping streets in Utrecht, and low and behold--what do we find? My favorite Dutch department store, de Bijenkof! :) But, it was awesome because this de Bijenkorf had the bag that I wanted in the perfect style AND color! It's this faux-crocodile handbag that they make in several sizes and a few colors--but the de Bijenkorf that was right by my hotel didn't have it in exactly the right size and color, so I was really happy to get this one! After walking around some more, we stopped for another coffee, of course. :)
Then, we headed back to Amsterdam among the rush hour working people--which was pretty interesting. We relaxed a bit at the hotel before heading to Lucius, a Dutch seafood restaurant for dinner. It was absolutely fantastic! We had a Muscadet wine, which was really quite nice to go with the fish. As our starters, we all ordered the same thing--mussels in a cream sauce. Where I'm used to getting mussels int he shell, they removed all the mussels from the shell (except one for decoration), and the sauce was wonderful. Then, as my main course--I had a fish stew in tomato stock with cilantro pesto. It was sooo yummy (I'm still full from dinner). For dessert, I had this pina colada mousse with pineapple ice cream. Mmm, so yummy :). Then, we relaxed in the hotel and watched one of the stupidest movies ever. :p
Side note: in the business center, when someone walks in--why do they say hello to me? I don't know them. So, I just ignore them :).
Around noon, we took the train to this town outside of Amsterdam, called Utrecht. Coming out of the Utrecht Centraal train station, you are right inside a mall--the first mall I've ever seen in Europe I suppose. So we did a little walking around and shopping in weird mall shops.
Utrecht was a really nice old town--pretty typically Dutch, I would say. There were a lot of small shopping streets and nice houses. The canals were interesting because, unlike Amsterdam, the street is much higher than the canal, so that there is a lot of lower groung right next to the canel (between the street and the canal), where there are many terraces for restaurants and such. However, these are closed right now because it is just much too cold to sit outside and right on the canal.
After we walked around for a bit, we had a typical dutch lunch of broodje gezond -- a "healthy" sandwich of bread, ha, cheese, and hardboiled sliced egg. It was really yummy. After lunch and some coffee, we walked around some of the shopping streets in Utrecht, and low and behold--what do we find? My favorite Dutch department store, de Bijenkof! :) But, it was awesome because this de Bijenkorf had the bag that I wanted in the perfect style AND color! It's this faux-crocodile handbag that they make in several sizes and a few colors--but the de Bijenkorf that was right by my hotel didn't have it in exactly the right size and color, so I was really happy to get this one! After walking around some more, we stopped for another coffee, of course. :)
Then, we headed back to Amsterdam among the rush hour working people--which was pretty interesting. We relaxed a bit at the hotel before heading to Lucius, a Dutch seafood restaurant for dinner. It was absolutely fantastic! We had a Muscadet wine, which was really quite nice to go with the fish. As our starters, we all ordered the same thing--mussels in a cream sauce. Where I'm used to getting mussels int he shell, they removed all the mussels from the shell (except one for decoration), and the sauce was wonderful. Then, as my main course--I had a fish stew in tomato stock with cilantro pesto. It was sooo yummy (I'm still full from dinner). For dessert, I had this pina colada mousse with pineapple ice cream. Mmm, so yummy :). Then, we relaxed in the hotel and watched one of the stupidest movies ever. :p
Side note: in the business center, when someone walks in--why do they say hello to me? I don't know them. So, I just ignore them :).
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Amsterdam 2007 - Day 4, Jordaan
Hallo! Today was a very relaxing day in Amsterdam. First, I got up late... again :p. But then I went to the Bakkerij de Waal and got ham and kaas croissants and an appleflap (apple turnover croissant) for Candy and I. Then, we did a little bit of light shopping at Xenos, which is this dollar store like place. We got some koffie cups (they say "koffie" on them), and the handles have these little slots of a little ceramic spoon that comes with it, so it is rather cute. We also go other little random goodies there. Next, we went to the HEMA which is another department store-like place, and we had to just get some more random gifts quickly since we had to meet our friend.
In the afternoon, we took a stroll in Jordaan, which is this nice and typically Dutch neighborhood near our hotel. There were a lot of canal houses and a nice big church (big for Amsterdam, I think--nothing like Westminster Alley or anything). Then, we went to a typical cafe/brasserie, I believe it was the Cafe de Jordaan, where we had a light lunch. I had bitterballen, which translates to "meatball", but it is essentially exactly like a kroket but shaped into little balls. I also had some tea and coffee and talked to friends there.
After walking around a bit more, we headed to de Bijenkorf... well, to the cafe for more coffee and some tiramisu. It was more like a marcapone cake instead of real tiramisu (didn't taste like coffee or anything), but it was still good. I wasn't really finding much too much stuff that I wanted to buy, but coming downstairs and out of the department store, I saw in the corner of my eye a display of Oilily bags that were on sale! Why were they not with the other bags in the front of the department store? Well, obviously, they were hiding them for me so that I could buy them. :) Now, I am super happy that there was a bag that I wanted to buy and that I got it--perfect style and shape for me.
After de Bijenkorf, we relaxed for a little with some wine from the hotel (see Amsterdam - Day 1), and then went to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant here, Oriental City.
In the afternoon, we took a stroll in Jordaan, which is this nice and typically Dutch neighborhood near our hotel. There were a lot of canal houses and a nice big church (big for Amsterdam, I think--nothing like Westminster Alley or anything). Then, we went to a typical cafe/brasserie, I believe it was the Cafe de Jordaan, where we had a light lunch. I had bitterballen, which translates to "meatball", but it is essentially exactly like a kroket but shaped into little balls. I also had some tea and coffee and talked to friends there.
After walking around a bit more, we headed to de Bijenkorf... well, to the cafe for more coffee and some tiramisu. It was more like a marcapone cake instead of real tiramisu (didn't taste like coffee or anything), but it was still good. I wasn't really finding much too much stuff that I wanted to buy, but coming downstairs and out of the department store, I saw in the corner of my eye a display of Oilily bags that were on sale! Why were they not with the other bags in the front of the department store? Well, obviously, they were hiding them for me so that I could buy them. :) Now, I am super happy that there was a bag that I wanted to buy and that I got it--perfect style and shape for me.
After de Bijenkorf, we relaxed for a little with some wine from the hotel (see Amsterdam - Day 1), and then went to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant here, Oriental City.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Amsterdam 2007 - Day 3, Hoorn
This morning, I went to the Bakkerij by my hotel and got a couple of croissants for breakfast. It's where I went last time, and very familiar and comforting for me. We had an easy morning (didn't wake up until 9:30am).
We took the train to Hoorn, this little port tow outside of Amsterdam to visit a friend of ours. We didn't end up doing much because it was a little rainy, but that's just fine for vacation. We had pannenkoeken met speck (pancakes with bacon) for lunch along with some capuccinos. Then, we walked around the shopping street--making stops at stumpel, a bookshop to get some cards (I have to stock up on greeting cards and note paper).
We then hung out more, wanting to grab an early dinner since our friend had to leave for a guitar lesson--and everything was closed! So, we got frites (fries) and broodje kroket (kroket on bread) for dinner. Yay junk food! Well, at least it's special Dutch junk food :). Then, Candy and I headed back to Amsterdam to have an early evening. I think I'll take a bubble bath tonight.
We took the train to Hoorn, this little port tow outside of Amsterdam to visit a friend of ours. We didn't end up doing much because it was a little rainy, but that's just fine for vacation. We had pannenkoeken met speck (pancakes with bacon) for lunch along with some capuccinos. Then, we walked around the shopping street--making stops at stumpel, a bookshop to get some cards (I have to stock up on greeting cards and note paper).
We then hung out more, wanting to grab an early dinner since our friend had to leave for a guitar lesson--and everything was closed! So, we got frites (fries) and broodje kroket (kroket on bread) for dinner. Yay junk food! Well, at least it's special Dutch junk food :). Then, Candy and I headed back to Amsterdam to have an early evening. I think I'll take a bubble bath tonight.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Amsterdam 2007 - Day 2, Getting Situated
Hallo, from Holland! :) This was a great day today in Holland, since my sister and I were getting situated. First, there was the time change for the winter solstice, so we got an "extra hour" of sleep. I fell asleep a little after midnight and woke up at 9:30am--so that was definitely enough, and felt like a whole new person compared to yesterday. Sis and I ate a little bit of oatmeal in the room (yes we brought it with us, as we did a little ramen and granola bars... we just like to be prepared and have some "comforts" of home"). That way, we could just get ready at our own pace and get ready slowly.
Then, C and I went to Albert Heijn grocery store to get some water, chocolate, and chips for the room. They have weird flavors here like "heinz ketchup", balsamic (we got that because it's the closest to salt and vinegar), and I think something like barbecue chicken. I can't remember... they were weird. Oh yeah, and a "vegetable" flavored potato chip... so, a potato flavored potato chip? Heheh, I dunno. :) We dropped off the stuff in the hotel room before we headed out for "pre-shopping".
So, our pre-shopping for me is a mental cataloging of the things we would buy. Of course, we would be going to museums and such, so we also didn't want to carry anything around. We went to Peet & Cloppenburg, a pretty large clothing store in Dam Square next to Madame Tussaud's wax museum (which I do not plan ever on going to) where they sold Mexx clothes. There was also a sale and some possibly cute kiddie clothes.
I then went on the hunt for my usual cheap postcards that I send. Yes, I get the cheap ones (you are lucky if you get anything--so no complaining! :P). It is essentially 3.50 euro for a pack of 14. I usually bring scissors because I need to cut the cards separately--but there is a new design... they are perforated!! Now, this is quite excellent except there is a lot of little paper flecks when I tear the cards apart. And, you still have to cut cards 1 & 2 away from the pack... so it's still not the best design.
Then we made our way down one of the major shopping streets, Kalverstraat, on the search for the English department store, Marks and Spencer, which we were not able to find. After browsing in a few shoppes, we went to lunch in the Kalvertoren (Kalver Tower), where I had two kroketten. For anyone who doesn't know... kroketten is like... fried breaded gravy with meat inside. It's rather yummy and just a typical dutch thing that I only eat when in Amsterdam, so it makes it kind of special. I am even on the hunt for a special store that sells a special brand of kroket, Van Dobbin.
After lunch, we took a walk to the movie theater because we wanted to see what was playing and perhaps catch a movie. I've heard the theaters in Amsterdam are really nice (used to be old classical theaters I believe), but there was not a single movie that we wanted to see!
So, we made our way to the museum of the day, the Van Gogh museum, and it was rather fabulous. Van Gogh is actually my favorite painter, but we usually go to the larger Rijksmuseum (but it is still under construction... it's been on construction ever since my first time in Amsterdam in 2003). I highly recommend the Van Gogh museum because I would say that 75% of the art in there is fantastic, and it tells a very cohesive story. You can see the art laid out with the perspective of Van Gogh's life. I addition, there are works by other impressionist artists like Monet and Van Gogh's friends at the time, and you can compare works and styles side by side. You can see how even though Van Gogh and one of his collegues used the same strokes, the works are very different. Unlike other bigger museums that have lots and lots of works, and you like only 10% of everything, this was a great focused display are art. It's realy a plus if you like Van Gogh and his style of painting... yeah, so if you don't--you should probably skip the museum :p.
As we often do, we stopped in the museum cafe for some coffee. We made our way to the Leidesplein and there was an awesome set of street performers. It was kind of soft electronic-y techno-y stuff, but it was really good and had a great beat. It was at that moment that the feeling of vacation really sunk in on me... being in a nice little crowd (not overwhelming at all) with other people, Dutch and tourist alike, and just being on vacation! Then, time for more coffee, we went to the Three Sisters on the Leidesplein for more coffee until it was dinnertime. This was not the Three Sisters on my map, but another one :p.
After a long coffee, we went to Wagamama for dinner, yay!!! Love Wagamama. It's one of the few non-smoking restaurants, which I just love. However, the had no sake and their coffee machine was broken... so it was pretty disappointing. So, I had iki beer (made from green tea and other japanese fruits), which I pronounced "icky" :p. We also had duck gyoza and shrimp katsu as our side dishes. I had the chili beef ramen, of course :p. For dessert, I had banana katsu (so, breaded fried bananas) with yuzu ice cream... super yummy!
Then, C and I went to Albert Heijn grocery store to get some water, chocolate, and chips for the room. They have weird flavors here like "heinz ketchup", balsamic (we got that because it's the closest to salt and vinegar), and I think something like barbecue chicken. I can't remember... they were weird. Oh yeah, and a "vegetable" flavored potato chip... so, a potato flavored potato chip? Heheh, I dunno. :) We dropped off the stuff in the hotel room before we headed out for "pre-shopping".
So, our pre-shopping for me is a mental cataloging of the things we would buy. Of course, we would be going to museums and such, so we also didn't want to carry anything around. We went to Peet & Cloppenburg, a pretty large clothing store in Dam Square next to Madame Tussaud's wax museum (which I do not plan ever on going to) where they sold Mexx clothes. There was also a sale and some possibly cute kiddie clothes.
I then went on the hunt for my usual cheap postcards that I send. Yes, I get the cheap ones (you are lucky if you get anything--so no complaining! :P). It is essentially 3.50 euro for a pack of 14. I usually bring scissors because I need to cut the cards separately--but there is a new design... they are perforated!! Now, this is quite excellent except there is a lot of little paper flecks when I tear the cards apart. And, you still have to cut cards 1 & 2 away from the pack... so it's still not the best design.
Then we made our way down one of the major shopping streets, Kalverstraat, on the search for the English department store, Marks and Spencer, which we were not able to find. After browsing in a few shoppes, we went to lunch in the Kalvertoren (Kalver Tower), where I had two kroketten. For anyone who doesn't know... kroketten is like... fried breaded gravy with meat inside. It's rather yummy and just a typical dutch thing that I only eat when in Amsterdam, so it makes it kind of special. I am even on the hunt for a special store that sells a special brand of kroket, Van Dobbin.
After lunch, we took a walk to the movie theater because we wanted to see what was playing and perhaps catch a movie. I've heard the theaters in Amsterdam are really nice (used to be old classical theaters I believe), but there was not a single movie that we wanted to see!
So, we made our way to the museum of the day, the Van Gogh museum, and it was rather fabulous. Van Gogh is actually my favorite painter, but we usually go to the larger Rijksmuseum (but it is still under construction... it's been on construction ever since my first time in Amsterdam in 2003). I highly recommend the Van Gogh museum because I would say that 75% of the art in there is fantastic, and it tells a very cohesive story. You can see the art laid out with the perspective of Van Gogh's life. I addition, there are works by other impressionist artists like Monet and Van Gogh's friends at the time, and you can compare works and styles side by side. You can see how even though Van Gogh and one of his collegues used the same strokes, the works are very different. Unlike other bigger museums that have lots and lots of works, and you like only 10% of everything, this was a great focused display are art. It's realy a plus if you like Van Gogh and his style of painting... yeah, so if you don't--you should probably skip the museum :p.
As we often do, we stopped in the museum cafe for some coffee. We made our way to the Leidesplein and there was an awesome set of street performers. It was kind of soft electronic-y techno-y stuff, but it was really good and had a great beat. It was at that moment that the feeling of vacation really sunk in on me... being in a nice little crowd (not overwhelming at all) with other people, Dutch and tourist alike, and just being on vacation! Then, time for more coffee, we went to the Three Sisters on the Leidesplein for more coffee until it was dinnertime. This was not the Three Sisters on my map, but another one :p.
After a long coffee, we went to Wagamama for dinner, yay!!! Love Wagamama. It's one of the few non-smoking restaurants, which I just love. However, the had no sake and their coffee machine was broken... so it was pretty disappointing. So, I had iki beer (made from green tea and other japanese fruits), which I pronounced "icky" :p. We also had duck gyoza and shrimp katsu as our side dishes. I had the chili beef ramen, of course :p. For dessert, I had banana katsu (so, breaded fried bananas) with yuzu ice cream... super yummy!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Amsterdam 2007 - Day 1, Arrival
Hey all, greetings from Amsterdam and Happy Birthday to me! :)
The flight on the way to Amsterdam was pretty fast and good, though the plane was a little small. We got here before I expected, so it was really nice. The we took the longest an dmost interesting hotel shuttle to our hotel. We didn't want to tell the nice shuttle driver that we had already been to Amsterdam, so he told us where the Anne Frank museum was, to eat at Wok Away or something, and a bunch of other random stuff. He was super nice, but a crazy driver. It's good we didn't hit any bicyclists.
When we arrived at our hotel, our room wouldn't be available until 2pm. So, we went to the department store across from our hotel, de Bijenkorf where we had a light lunch. We proceeded to walk around de Bijenkorf, but it was a madhouse and people were cutting me off. I was pretty tired and probably a little slower than normal, so they kept on cutting me off, which just annoyed me. But alas, it was disappointing since there wasn't any Mandarina Duck item that I wanted to buy. But, I did see a de Bijenkorf collection of a purple patent crocodile handbag that I might get. Wheeee!
At 1:30pm, my sister and I couldn't take it anymore--so we went back to the hotel to ask if the room was ready. And if it wasn't ready, we ould just camp out in the lobby, hehe :). But, it was all ready and clean, and my sister and I both crashed. Though, people knocked on the door 3 times... once for some type of housekeeping, once to give us a bottle of wine (eh? is it because it's my birthday or something?--no idea), and another to give us some "i amsterdam" pamphlet. Okay--note to self: put the do not disturb on the door. Maybe the hotel people were being nice, trying to keep us up :p.
After sis and I woke up from our 3.5 hr "nap", we got ready to go to dinner at Luden. I had tuna carpaccio, fried shrimp and coquilles (I had to ask what coquilles were--they are scallops), and creme brulee for dessert. However, I wasn't doing so well when the main course arrived, so I had to take a breather outside. I think it was because there is smoking allowed in the restaurant and it really messed with me. But, after a little air break, I was ok and able to have a little of my dessert (it was way too huge for me to finish the whole thing). Dinner took about three hours... ahhhh I remember what it's like to be on vacation now :).
Though, I did tell my sis before we even got on the plane that while I can't wait to get to Amsterdam, I also couldn't wait to get back home. Because, then I'd be home with a bunch of cool memories and nice goodies for all my friends and family. :) See you all soon!
PS It's daylight savings tomorrow Oct 28 here, so I'll have a 5 hr difference only until I get back, when it is daylight savings in the US.
The flight on the way to Amsterdam was pretty fast and good, though the plane was a little small. We got here before I expected, so it was really nice. The we took the longest an dmost interesting hotel shuttle to our hotel. We didn't want to tell the nice shuttle driver that we had already been to Amsterdam, so he told us where the Anne Frank museum was, to eat at Wok Away or something, and a bunch of other random stuff. He was super nice, but a crazy driver. It's good we didn't hit any bicyclists.
When we arrived at our hotel, our room wouldn't be available until 2pm. So, we went to the department store across from our hotel, de Bijenkorf where we had a light lunch. We proceeded to walk around de Bijenkorf, but it was a madhouse and people were cutting me off. I was pretty tired and probably a little slower than normal, so they kept on cutting me off, which just annoyed me. But alas, it was disappointing since there wasn't any Mandarina Duck item that I wanted to buy. But, I did see a de Bijenkorf collection of a purple patent crocodile handbag that I might get. Wheeee!
At 1:30pm, my sister and I couldn't take it anymore--so we went back to the hotel to ask if the room was ready. And if it wasn't ready, we ould just camp out in the lobby, hehe :). But, it was all ready and clean, and my sister and I both crashed. Though, people knocked on the door 3 times... once for some type of housekeeping, once to give us a bottle of wine (eh? is it because it's my birthday or something?--no idea), and another to give us some "i amsterdam" pamphlet. Okay--note to self: put the do not disturb on the door. Maybe the hotel people were being nice, trying to keep us up :p.
After sis and I woke up from our 3.5 hr "nap", we got ready to go to dinner at Luden. I had tuna carpaccio, fried shrimp and coquilles (I had to ask what coquilles were--they are scallops), and creme brulee for dessert. However, I wasn't doing so well when the main course arrived, so I had to take a breather outside. I think it was because there is smoking allowed in the restaurant and it really messed with me. But, after a little air break, I was ok and able to have a little of my dessert (it was way too huge for me to finish the whole thing). Dinner took about three hours... ahhhh I remember what it's like to be on vacation now :).
Though, I did tell my sis before we even got on the plane that while I can't wait to get to Amsterdam, I also couldn't wait to get back home. Because, then I'd be home with a bunch of cool memories and nice goodies for all my friends and family. :) See you all soon!
PS It's daylight savings tomorrow Oct 28 here, so I'll have a 5 hr difference only until I get back, when it is daylight savings in the US.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Travel Technology
I haven't blogged much recently since I'm planning my trip. However, I am having a lot of fun using technology to plan my travels.
Specifically, I created an Amsterdam 2007 Google Map and putting all of the places I want to go on it. (And, even updating little icons with which places are food, shopping, etc. :)). If you have Google Earth--you can download the map and see it in Google Earth and pictures of all the places I am going. It is really awesome!
Specifically, I created an Amsterdam 2007 Google Map and putting all of the places I want to go on it. (And, even updating little icons with which places are food, shopping, etc. :)). If you have Google Earth--you can download the map and see it in Google Earth and pictures of all the places I am going. It is really awesome!
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