Day 24: Amsterdam - Lekker!

All I really want to talk about today is the food I ate, it was lekker! But before I do that perhaps an overview of what we did today is in order.

After a delicious breakfast, where I enjoyed some hagelslag, ham, cheese and boiled eggs, see it's all about the food today, better get to the story. So we had breakfast and decided to wander over to the Amsterdam Museum and get there when it opens. We almost had the place to ourselves for a while which was a good change to last time when the place was packed. Anyway, we enjoyed looking around and found some exhibits we hadn't seen before. We then decided to tram it across town to the De Gooyer Windmill, the tallest windmill in the country. The windmill was quite impressive and next door is the Breouwerij't, a small brewery, unfortunately we were too early to try the beer as it didn't open until the afternoon.

It was time to grab another tram and head towards the bridge where you can see 15 bridges in the centre of the city. We walked down Utrechtsplein and then back up along Spiegelkwartier where there are several arts aimed antique stops. This was a fun neighbourhood to walk around with many people and cyclists about. Some more trams rides and we found ourselves at the Waterlooplein Markets. It was here that we enjoyed lunch from a small van. Kroketten in bread with friets and mayo the fare. I was in heaven, but I digress, back to our travels.

While at the markets it started to rain so we needed to seek some shelter, we came cross the Rembrant House Museum which Is the location where he spent most of his life. It was quite good but we weren't there long so had to fill some more time looking through some shops. When the rain cleared enough it was back onto a tram to Rembrantplein to stop for a drink. Another tram and we were back in Dam Square where we did a bit more souvenir shopping.

We circled around for a while prior to heading out for tea. We decided to eat at the 'The Pantry' in Leidseplein to have a Dutch meal. We must have been very lucky to get a seat as we only got a table if we could be out in an hour, this seemed OK, I was happy to eat as quickly as they could get the food out, and many people were turned away while we sat there. It seemed to be a very popular restaurant and after sampling their fare I can see why. I had the pea soup followed by a combo of hutspot, zuurkool-en boerenkoolstampot with a meatball and vlaflip for dessert. Amy had the Dutch steak and poffertjes. It was all washed down with a Dutch red wine. It was a sensational feed, I highly recommend the restaurant.

After dinner it was time to put the feet up and relax over a few ciders at Leidseplein and later at Stones, a bar around the corner from our hotel.

We were not going to do much at all today but as it turned out we did in excess of 20,000 steps and many kilometres of tram rides zig zagging around the city, it is so easy to get around. I just love being here and exploring the city, finding new spots I haven't been to and revisiting other favourite spots and to top it off we had some lekker Dutch food to boot. What a sensational day.Read more