Relaxing (?) in Amsterdam

With sad hearts, we left Seattle on July 1st. We arrived in Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam VERY early on the morning of the 2nd. We’d decided on 3 nights in Amsterdam before going to (as Jack put it) “The Holy Land” – Belgium.

We could have stayed MUCH longer in Amsterdam, had that been our destination. We enjoyed wonderful “stumbling fu” – the ability to wander aimlessly and find some TOTALLY cool places, things to see. Our hotel was… OK, but it was in a great neighborhood and had a lovely little cafe/pub downstairs where we breakfasted and had GOOD BEER!!! Have no fear – we knew the true Holy Land was Belgium, however we were pleasantly surprised to begin our Beer Odyssey in Amsterdam.

We managed *some* of the sites during our *supposed* relaxing few days before Belgium. We misjudged! We didn’t really relax so much. We wandered, ate, drank and wandered more. We found many of the better known Belgians, as well as a surprising number of Dutch/Local beers. We “stumbled” across a marvelous little brewery (something like “The Three Sisters”) near den Waag (?). I wish I’d been better about taking notes, but I didn’t really start a travelogue until Belgium. Silly me.

The weather in Amsterdam was COLD and most days it rained at some point. It was much like Seattle in the spring/fall. The locals were even complaining about the cold! (So all of you who are chortling about “thin-blooded-Cairenes” can stop now!!)

Our brief visit (Jack’s first) to Amsterdam made us realize that a longer visit is necessary. We had many things – museums, shows, the zoo – that we did not have time to get to… THIS visit. The only museums that we managed to see were the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh. Both spectacular, but there is soooooo much more.

We walked, we laughed, we partook and we began planning for another time. Life is too short not to plan (and take) more vacation trips.