Amsterdam: Day 1

We arrived late in Amsterdam and were so knackered that we decided to take a taxi to the rental apartment, rather than the train. It was a top floor apartment in an old, skinny, 5 story house. The stairs got more and more narrow as we hiked up to our floor and by the time we got to our front door, the stairs were mere ladders! Quaint is the word I will choose to describe it, rather than inconvenient or dangerous. While I put the kids to bed, Josh went looking for a store or restaurant that would do take-away and came back bearing noodles and chopsticks. Hooray!

The next day dawned and the sky was blue so we hit the streets to see what we could see. We were up a bit early so the street cleaners were still out tidying up from the night before but I didn't care. I was fascinated by how beautiful everything was! We walked past the main harbor and fancy train station. We strolled through sweet little streets that lined the gently winding canals. I loved how the houses looked like fancy milk cartons, all squished up together and took numerous pictures of the different, ornate rooftops. The houses seem to lean this way and that, sometimes the opposite way from the house next door! It has something to do with Amsterdam being built on a deep layer of sand...the effect is a bit 'diagon-alley'.

I was brought back down from my revelry by an old, fat prostitute in lingerie, knocking on her window from the inside, trying to get my kid's attention to wave at them. Not something you often see at 9:00am on a Thursday morning.

We walked on to the famous flower market. I was not particularly looking forward to seeing it as I imagined it was nothing fabulous but oh how wrong I was. Stall after stall of bulbs and flowers of every colour of the rainbow ran along one side of the canal and shops/cafes were opposite. Isla had fallen asleep at this point so we parked ourselves outside in front of a cafe and watched the world go by.

We attempted to go on a canal cruise twice but both times the sun was too strong and the captain of the boat recommended we come back in the evening as the boat was too hot for children (and probably us too:-) We went for dinner and came back around 7pm, by which time the sky had clouded over nicely and we had a lovely cruise through the city. Max stole Isla's headscarf in order to transform into Captain Max, most feared pirate in Holland....Aaaarggghhh! One point: stay away from the floating Chinese restaurant near the train station. It is mentioned in the tour recording but is a big disappointment. Mediocre food and WAY overpriced. Also, our driver asked for a tip but didn't give the tour. It was a recorded voice, while he drove. I thought that was kind of cheeky...anyone else?