Amsterdam, again.

We went to Amsterdam again this past weekend. This was partly because we didn't get off our asses fast enough to make other travel arrangements and partly because we really enjoy it. It's such a small city - you can walk from one end to the other in about an hour and look at lots of pretty/interesting things and that's about our favorite thing to do in any city. That's why we're the kind of people who've been to Paris a few times, but have never been to the Louvre: I'd rather just walk around.

Anyway, we decided to drive to an arena just outside of Amsterdam and use the Park and Ride service to take the train into the city center. Never. Again.
It worked out ok and everything, but it was such a pain to be on a train for more than an hour when we had just driven into the city 2 weeks before and knew how quick driving was. Anyway, once we got past the train madness and checked into our hotel (very nice, inexpensive, and highly recommended), we were on our way.

The weather was absolutely perfect - high 60's and loads of sunshine. We hit every shopping street we missed the first time and we also hit an open air market in the middle of the city. I got a kicky little black scarf and Dave got food, lots and lots of food.....

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We found a great wood-block print at a gallery and bought it for the living room. Now, I wish we could go back yet again because I realized too late that both Dave's father and his wife, Alaine, would have really liked something from there too. They have each lived in Amsterdam for extended periods. Oh well.

We walked all the way into the center of the city, had a great snack at a Mexican restaurant (what? we miss Mexican food), and walked all the way back to the hotel.

Dave looks much happier after a margarita and a beer....

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That evening we had reservations at Sama Sebo so we could try the real rijtaffel dinner (you can read more about that from our first trip there here). The dinner was crazy. Nuts. Let's just say that they have to bring an additional table to hold all the food.

See all those plates? That was all just for us. That's actually only about two-thirds of the food that was brought out. Bananas.




But the best part of the trip for me might have been the drive. It took a little while to get used to it, but now I love the Autobahn. It's amazing how polite and careful everyone is when they're driving 110 miles an hour. We've yet to see an accident and I've only seen one total jerk. Because everything is happening so fast, you have to pay attention the whole time. It might be a little more tiring, but you never have those moments where you just zone out. I think that makes the time go by a lot faster.

When perusing the following pictures, please disregard the fact that I may or may not have been taking pictures while driving at very high speeds. Really, I might not have been - Dave took some pictures too!

Au revoir Amsterdam.

(Did you get that? See, we'll be in Paris this weekend and I said goodbye in French!)

:)