#Icesterlin Day 7

May 29th

Another day in Amsterdam and we were so excited to get out there. We had a lot to tackle so we grabbed breakfast pastries at Bakker Jongejans for the road. And then quickly made our way to the Centraal Station to get on a bus to check out a windmill, Molen De Otter, outside the central area of the city. It wasn't the picturique settling you think of when you are looking for windmills in Holland but it was still pretty cool.

So many bikes! We weren't brave enough to rent them.

Molen De Otter

Molen De Otter

We had to hustle back into the heart of the city to meet a friend of Audrey's, Sonya, at  Dwaze Zaken coffee shop. I loved this coffee shop. One of my favorites. It was adorable, people were so great and I  absolutely loved their tea. I would definitely be a regular here if I lived in Amsterdam or had the opportunity to spend long stints here. It is also right outside of my favorite view of the city. I couldn't capture the area very well so you will just have to come here yourselves to see but there was something so mesmerizing about this area, the craziness of the city, the peaceful water, the architecture, just all of it was perfect to me. Most people won't see it, but that made it all the more perfect to me.

My favorite spot

After my moment at my new favorite spot, Sonya toured up around the city for a bit. We started with shopping in the Nine Streets area. The shops were great, adorable, fun boutiques to check out but the highlight was meeting on of the Boutique artist, Mark Raven.

Sonya wanted to show us this hidden area in the city call Begijnhof. It is one of the oldest inner courts in Amsterdam and it was so neat to walk through it. You want through a nondescript archway and it feels like you have stepped back in time. It was hard to believe we were in the middle of a huge, bustling city. It was so quiet and relaxing.

The archway leading into Begjinhof

Outside Begijnhof there was a street art market, Art Plein Spui Market that was opened as we walked by, we couldn't help but walk through and do a little shopping. It was so cute.

Our next inside tour stop was to walk through Schuttergalerij Amsterdam Museum Pedestrian walkway, if it wasn't for Sonya, we won't have any idea these were available to us and we would spend hours wandering alley to find these things. She was such a great guide and we had a great time getting to know her.

After the museum, it was time to part ways with Sonya and head to our boat tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. If we didn't love Amsterdam before we got on the boat we all definitely were when we got off the boat. If you ever find yourself in Amsterdam and want to take a boat tour, do yourself a favor and skip the big touristy, glass covered dinner boat tours and ride with these guys. THEY ARE GREAT! Our boat guide was Alec and he was from Santa Cruz, CA. He came to Amsterdam on vacation, fell in love with it and move out for good a few months after he got back to the US. He had such a great insight and cool perspective of the city, the people, the country, the social norms and its vibe.

We learned lots about house boats on the tour.

VOC Ship

Back side of the Flower Market

Can you spot the smallest house in Amsterdam?

THANKS ALEC!

After our tour, we took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing in the area of where we hopped off the boat tour. Right around the corner were the Tulip museum, Cheese museum, and Cow museum. These museums were pretty much glorified gift shops with tulips, cheese and cow figurines with and option to take a some kind of a tour. We stuck to the gift shop areas and enjoyed all the sights.

HOKIE TULIPS!!

Who doesn't love graffiti

Shopping, walking and exploring let to a need for an afternoon snack and we knew just the place,  Pannenkoekenhuis.

We were shocked when we got there and there wasn't a line wrapped around the building. We quickly learned that even though they were not closed, they were no longer seating people and that we would have to try another day. We were bummed but we had a backup plan. We weren't going to let these guys prevent us from eating Amsterdam pancakes! So we headed to Happy Pig and they did not disappoint.

The evening ended like all vacation evenings should go. We followed Alec's recommendation for a place to grab a beer, picked up famous apple pie at Villa Zeezicht for later that evening, ate dinner at Ramen Ya, wanted around the city until we were so tired all we could do was make it back to our house, eat pie and fall asleep.

#Icesterlin Day 6

May 28th

Jed & I got up and out early to make a grocery store trip while Eric & Audrey got ready. We figured it would be pretty quick and easy. It took a a lot longer to find the type of grocery store we were looking for. After a quick stop at a random hotel to ask for directions, we put us on the right path. We loved our time walking around the city first thing in the morning and to kind of feel like a local shopping a the local grocery store.

Once we made it back to our house, we were all ready to set off to explore for the day. Our first stop was a breakfast/strooplwafel place called, Lanskroon.

You knew the place was going to be good when there was already a small line to get in even before the place opened! And it did not disappoint. It was great. Now we were ready to head to the Bloemenmarkt (Floating Tulip Market). I LOVE tulips and we were super bummed that we were about 2 weeks too late for their harvest season. But I was sure the Tulip Market won't disappoint.

It was much smaller then we expected but there were tons of beautiful tulips and tulip buds that I have never seen before. If only I had a green thumb I would send some back. We had a fantastic time walking around and even ran into a friend from back home!!

After our time exploring and buying tulip merchandise, we went to check out the Tuschinski Theatre lobby. This is a beautiful history lobby that was really impressive to just see. We were there as a tour or a show was about to start so we didn't stay long but long enough to take it all in.

The rest of the morning, we systematically found picturesque bridges and canals all over the city. A few of the places we found were Groenburgwal, Blauwbrug Bridge, and the Amstel River Magere Brug.

Groenburgwal

Blauwbrug

Magere Brug

I can not say it enough, we just feel in love with the vibe of the city. It is beautiful. It just felt some how magically. Just.loved.it. The other thing that we loved about the city were the buildings. You felt like you were walking through a Dr. Suess town with all the shapes, designs and colors that we saw all around.

This city just gets me

By lunch time we had found ourselves at the Albert Cuypstr Market. This is a fun street market with all kinds of finds including great local food place. After a little shopping, we settled on lunch at The Butcher.

This place was a great tiny lunch place that felt like you were with locals and tourists. It was a great choice for lunch.

After lunch, we headed towards the IAMSTERDAM Sign on Museumplein. Much to no one's surprise, there were a million people there climbing all over the letters. We stayed around, checked out the gift shop, took a few pictures and then had to stay good bye to Kevin so he could catch his flight home.

Before we knew it, it was time for us to head to our Red Light District Tour. I know what you must be thinking when you read that but it so different then you would expect. We really wanted to take this opportunity to learn and understand this culture so we found PIC (Prostitution Information Center). This organization was created to help and inform. We spent an hour or so learning the history of how it got here, the rules, laws and protection that has been put in place for everyone. This was an experience I was so thankful to have and I would highly recommend this to anyone over 18.

After our tour, we had lots to talk about, think about and just process after thinking of things in such a different way so we headed to a place where we had space, views, drinks and time to continue our conversations, the Amsterdam Double Tree Rooftop Bar & Restaurant.

Time started to move quickly and before we knew it we were roaming to find dinner at Rakang Thai.

After dinner, Eric & Audrey headed back to the house and Jed and I headed back out to walk through the city in the evening. We walked back down to the Red Light District which had changed drastically from when we were there in the early evening. At night, it turned into almost like a Bourbon Street. This is the place to go for Bachelor and Bachelorette Parties or for a crazy night of drinking, smoking and other extra curricular activities. This place was the place to be for lots of excitement. It was fascinating to walk around and people watch. We were honestly shocked we didn't see anyone end up in the canal.

Red Light District during the day

Red Light District during the day

It was a great day exploring the city and we were excited for all that we had planned for the next few days we were going to be in the city.