Amsterdam is awesome! GORGEOUS. Yesterday was so hot we got sunburned while sitting at the tables out front of our hotel. Our hotel by the way, is amazing. It was the first ever Heineken brewery (a perk I did not know when I booked!) It feels like it is right smack in the middle of downtown- we were able to check in early and so we put our bags down (thank ya jee-zus, they were so heavy) and walked around all morning.
We met up with Jon’s brother who lives here and his girlfriend Claudia (Clow-Dee-Uh). Jeff always manages to get Jon and I to do things we would ordinarily never do ourselves. The 4 of us took 2 bikes-Clau and I sat on the back end side saddle and the guys rode all over town. There was a big festival to mark the beginning of the arts season, so we rode over there- amidst traffic mind you. Tons of people were out. There were boats and bikes and fabulous Dutch people everywhere.
We rode back over to the other side of town to Vondel Park (Jon was dying by then). You would not believe the number of people hanging out with absolutely no agenda. There was hardly a square of grass to be spared. After some snacks and a few drinks we said goodbye to Jeff and Claudia and headed back towards our hotel for dinner.
The Argentinian Grill we ate at was pretty good. We sat outside because the weather was still so nice. I ordered some large prawns that came fully shelled with legs and eyes and I had not idea how to eat them. After one small bite of shell it was pretty clear that I was NOT supposed to eat that part and I could’ve sworn the waiters and bus boys were having a good laugh at my expense. The girl next to me ordered the same prawns and the answer is a definitive NO. I did not eat them correctly.
After a few glasses of wine we went back to the hotel and I think I came in, took my sandals off, and CRASHED fully dressed. The day had finally caught up with me.
We have one more day here and then we check out tomorrow (Tuesday) but I’m glad that we’ll be coming back later on in the trip. We were planning on going to Switzerland from here, but since we didn’t make reservations we’re considering hitting up a different country.
More on that later…
