1a. The first thing that stood out in Amsterdam were the bikes. The streets are filled with parked bikes sometimes even blocking the sidewalk.
There are also bike lanes all over the city and are on both sides of the road. The bike lanes also normally follow the direction of the cars.
For right of way priority here is what I observed:
– Trams are the obvious kings of the road. Everyone must give way to them.
– Vehicles are commoners. They give way to bikes, and pedestrians.
– Bikes then are the military. They only giveway to other bikes.
1b. As a pedestrian, you have to pay extra attention.
First look out for bikes. Cross. Next cars and trams. Cross. Cars and trams again in the other direction. Cross. Then watch out for bikes again. Cross.
Instead of just one look left and look right, it is like you are watching a tennis match as you cross the road.
1c. A situation to be careful of is when a car slows down and lets you pass. Do not be greedy to get to the other side of the road because the bikers will not be giving way.
Mae and I unintentionally ended up relying on each others “clear” or “bike” whenever crossing the road as if it was a military operation.
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2. The next notable thing in the city were the houseboats in the canals. Houseboats are exactly what they are called.
In a tour the guide said that people started living on boats back when there was a housing crisis in the 70s… so the “hippies” started living on boats.
Kudos to the first person to think of living in a boat. Here I was thinking if I were homeless I’d likely want to live in a warm and stable place.
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3. The same tour guide shared the stats that there were lots of drunken bikers that also fell into the canals in Amsterdam.
Last 2021 the government recovered 17,000 bikes at the bottom of the canals.
However, they did not say how many drunk bikers they recovered.
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4. The best attraction we went to was the Amsterdam Winter Paradise. Held in a large convention center, they converted the space to include all kinds of winter activities like tubing, ice skating, curling and more.
There were also your ‘perya’ games where you could win impractically large stuff toys by throwing a ball and knocking down a stack of cans, or tossing a ring into bottles. Mika and Julian found them irresistible.
For Mae and I, it was the stalls selling hot chocolate and Nutella crepes.
4b. All over the place were also around 300 real Christmas trees decorated with fake snow.
The fake snow was the best part for me.
Everyone gets to enjoy the snow activities, but without it being extremely cold. It was just enough cold to make it feel real.
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5a. There were three “best foods” Mae wanted to try here.
First was the stroopwaffel. It is 2 almost crepe-thin layers of a waffle joined together by caramel. Then chocolate sauce is poured over half of the cookie along with any topping of your choosing.
The best stroopwafels was from a place called Van something. It was a good 12 minute walk from our starting point.
When we saw the store, we bought one each, plus another tin can to take home.
It was good. Well worthy of a detour.
As we were moving along our next food stop we saw another Stroopwaffel place. There was a much longer queue.
We realized we just ate from the wrong shop. The 1st one was ‘Van Holland’, our destination was supposed to be ‘Van Wonderen’
We walked away wonderen how different their stroopwaffels would be?
5b. Our next food stop was the best cookies in town, about a 5 minute walk.
This time there were no “impostor shops” around and it was obvious because there was very long queue once again.
There was no place for all 4 of us to wait so Mae decided to go inside a nearby cafe
When she came in she was told no kids were allowed. There was also no coffee being served.
Turns out it was a cannabis cafe.
Mae’s response was: “Ah its THAT kind of cafe”.
The people inside the cafe laughed.
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5c. I wonder if the cannabis store beside the cookie shop made all their cookies taste better.
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5d. As we were deciding on whether to go home and take a break or proceed with the day, an important executive decision was made:
We would go back in line to the stroopwaffel place.
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5e. Their stroopwaffels turned out to be much better. First it was freshly made. Second it was thinner and had a better bite. It was well worth the 25 minute queue.
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5f. When about to eat the “best” of a type of food… is it then better to eat a “average” one first before going to the “best” so you know what makes it the best?
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6a. On our last day in Amsterdam we scheduled a family photoshoot at 9am. Checkout is at 11. Train leaves for Belgium at 12. It was going to be a hectic day.
At 8am another executive decision was made. I would go out to the Cafe to buy the best Dutch Apple pies.
This part of the itinerary was skipped as part of our wIntermission numbers.
But given that Mae bakes an amazing apple pie, and its my favorite dessert of hers, the fear of missing out (FOMO) was just too much.
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6b. I realize now during travelling that food FOMO is so much stronger that sight seeing or places to go FOMO.
Attractions and monuments will always be there (if they are any good) 10, 20, even 30 years down the road.
But food experiences are fleeting. The exact conditions by which food is served, and the circumstances by which you eat them will always be unique and are impossible to recreate.
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6c. Everything that rest of the day proceeded fast. We only got a real moment to breathe and relax when we were already in the train leaving Amsterdam.
I opened up the apple pie and ate my slice.
It was the best and most comforting apple pie I had.
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6d. I hope Mae finds a good Dutch Apple pie recipe for home.
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7. On our last day, as we were riding a cab to move to go to Belgium, I said to Mae, “We’re AmsterDONE!”
She had no reaction, except a very flat, “okay.”