Day 6: Amsterdam

We packed up the next morning, grabbed a quick hotel breakfast, and rushed off to the train station. The 2 ½-hour trip to Amsterdam was smelly and a little nightclub-like (there was a guy in full leather in the row behind us), but relatively uneventful.

We caught a taxi from Central Station to the hotel. The hotel was really cute on the outside and in a great location, but a little dormish on the inside. I think we were spoiled in Brussels.



We left our bags in the room and had the hotel make us a reservation for dinner. We figured we'd up our chances for a good table if the hostess thought we spoke Dutch! We headed out to Vondelpark, famous for its population of tropical birds (accidentally released by a private owner).



We learned quickly to stay out of the bike lanes -- the bikes are serious! We went to the Van Gogh museum which turned out to by my favorite of the trip. Afterward, we walked to Sama Sebo, an Indonesian restaurant recommended by one of Sarah’s coworkers. We were told to order Rijsttafel -- 18 tapas-like plates that put us both in an Asian food coma. There was one more stop for the night though – a boat tour through the canals.


(They drive these in the bike lanes sometimes.)










(These are from the daytime. The pics from that night didn't turn out very well.)

There was some Amsterdam history, a few cheese jokes form the skipper, and a lot of beautiful scenery. Afterward, we decided to call it an early night -- both of us were beginning to feel the effects of a crazy week!