We were up again by 3:30am to pack for Amsterdam and we had a quick breakfast of yogurt-like skyr, juice, and hot chocolate before heading to the bus stop for our prearranged 5am pickup. We stood out in the early morning cold with out big backpacks on until 10 minutes past our pickup time and then began to get worried so I called the bus company. They determined that a mistake had been made on their end and sent a shuttle straight out to get us so we made it to our 5:30 flybus to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:45, but on the ride over we got an update that it had been delayed until 8:20. Thankfully we had plenty of time until our next flight so it wasn't going to be a problem.
At the airport I stopped by the VAT refund desk and got some money back on the Icelandic sweater I had purchased, since the refund you a portion of the tax charged on souvenirs over a certain amount if you show them your receipts. Then we got our boarding passes printed out, went through security which was rather painless, and found our gate. While we waited I answered a tourist research survey.
The flight to Copenhagen was around 3 hours. We ate some of our packed snacks and watched a movie and I read a little bit of our Amsterdam guidebook to start preparing. We were flying through Copenhagen because it was the cheapest option. In fact the way we booked our flights was originally a round-trip ticket from Seattle to Copenhagen with a 5-day layover in Reykjavik. Then we booked a round-trip ticket to Amsterdam from Copenhagen, so our last 5 days will be back in Copenhagen before flying back through Reykjavik on the way home.
We had about a 3 hour layover in Copenhagen before our final flight so we found a spot at O'Leary's and had some overly-expensive bar snacks and some giant Carlsberg beers while we played Quiddler, a card game where you spell for points, and had a great time. The last flight was a couple of hours and we were seated in an emergency exit row so I got some extra leg-room which was nice. We arrived at Schiphol airport around 5:30pm. We were both getting a little tired at this point and our brains getting a bit fuzzy.
The weather cool but still much warmer than either Iceland or Denmark which was a welcome change. We still needed to get to Amsterdam so we bought one-way train tickets to Amsterdam Centraal station. It was only after we had descended onto the rail platforms and boarded a train that I realized we hadn't scanned our tickets at the scanners above and there was no way to scan them now. We rode the train for about 30 minutes, which seemed a bit long for our trip, before I realized we were going the wrong direction. In a panicked I grabbed our bags and we jumped off at the next stop and in my hurry I dropped my phone. It bounced off the platform, but luckily it did not drop onto the tracks and the screen was still intact.
We crossed the tracks and had to buy new one-way tickets back to the airport. This time I was sure to scan them. We only had to wait 15 minutes for the next train and then we were back on our way in the right direction. Back at the airport I made sure to scan out and then used our old original tickets to scan us back in. We were much more careful about finding the correct train the second time around. We got to Amsterdam Centraal around 7:30pm and we properly scanned our tickets on our way out of the station.
Our next destination was to find our hotel and drop off our bags. Thankfully the Ibis was adjacent to the train station. Just outside of the hotel was a multi-level bike parking area which was absolutely packed with bikes. The guidebook warned us to beware at all times of being run over by these silent killers. Bikes and scooters constantly zip along the narrow paths and have the right of way in Amsterdam.
We went inside our hotel and checked in. Rick Steves describes the Hotel Ibis as cheap and utterly charmless and he's absolutely right. The door doesn't open all the way because it connects with the foot of the bed, which reminded me immediately of the Lord Jim hostel near Earls Court in London that we had dubbed the Internet Hole since we only stayed there long enough to use the internet to find a better place to stay. We found tiny black hairs on the bedsheets and questionable stains on one of the chairs. I was disappointed that there wasn't a drying rack for towels and laundry. However the bed did turn out to be roomy and comfortable and you couldn't beat the location. Surprisingly it was rather quiet that first night and we both ended up getting a good night's sleep.
Although we were both tired we decided to go out and get some dinner before going to bed. We headed out on the main drag and I went in search of a not-so suspicious ATM. There are lots of independent ATM companies and most of the currency exchange places have ATMs, but the best rates are at the banks which were rather hard to locate. We wandered the canals and finally found a Rabobank over in the Jordaan neighborhood.
Armed with cash in hand we continued on until we reached La Perla, a popular pizzaria. It was busy that evening, but we still managed to get seated rather quickly at a shared table. We ordered two personal-sized pizzas and shared them along with some wine. After the prices in Iceland and Denmark we were pleasantly surprised at how comparatively cheap everything was. After a great meal we were feeling quite satisfied and wandered back along the beautifully lit canals to our room.
We got up late the next day and decided to do the first of many walking tours. I'd downloaded some audio-guides with the Rick Steves app on my phone, but we were going to have to share a single set of earbuds as we walked. Since it was Valentine's Day we thought it was appropriate. Before we started our first tour we stopped by the train station again and got a chai and a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was neat because you got to pick out a chunk of chocolate from the display case with a ton of flavor options and then they plopped it in a cup and melted it with steamed milk. We definitely plan to go back there.
The city walk tour started at the Amsterdam Centraal train station. The exterior was very fancy and the interior had be completely renovated in a more modern style. Next we headed down the Damrak, which is one of the main drags downtown, and stopped at the very cool Sex Museum. It occupies two tall multi-storied narrow buildings connected by covered exterior staircases that seem to go every which way. The exhibits themselves were fun and interesting and it was actually less cheesy than I expected. I'd say it's well worth checking out.
After the Sex Museum we continued our walking tour to Dam Square, grabbed a tasty sandwich roll to share along the pedestrian mall along Kalverstraat, swung by the Amsterdam Museum, took in the view at the top of a slanty elevator at a mall, through an open-air flower market, and finished up all the way down at Leidplein Square.
It was still too early for dinner so we went in search of a drink and found a nice pub featuring 100 Danish beers. We got a pilsner and a glass of the local gin called jenever to share. The pub was near the place we were going to be staying for the final two nights in Amsterdam so we wandered over to check it out.
Kat had the brilliant idea that we should do some pot while we were in Amsterdam since it was everywhere and kind of one of the things to do so she searched her phone for a place to grab an edible, since we don't enjoy the smell or act of smoking. She found a place called Best Friends that supposedly had some good cupcakes so we headed there. The recommended dose was half a cupcake if you are a lightweight so we shared only a third between the two of us. It was enough to get mellow and not get much else which was just fine for us.
Now it was time to get some serious munchies so we headed to dinner at a recommended place called Kantil & de Tiger, an Indonesian restaurant. There are many Indonesian restaurants here because the Netherlands had colonies in Indonesia at one point in time. We ordered rejsttafel, a traditional Indonesian feast of small plates meant to be shared and stuffed ourselves.
After dinner we attempted to see Anne Frank's house back in the Jordaan district, but we had not made reservations and they were completely sold out for the rest of the month. Instead we wandered back downtown and grabbed some hot drinks before starting our next audio-tour, the Red Light District. I think it was a fitting tour to experience on Valentine's Day. It wasn't nearly as seedy or tacky as I had imagined it might be and we had a very nice evening stroll while window shopping. Soon our tour was over however and we took our own self-guided tour back to our room.
No comments:
Post a Comment