Wandering the Streets of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The train from Brussels was quick so before I knew it we were easing into Amsterdam Central Station. I love how the trains are so efficient and with our Eurail Pass we arrive right in the city center. We had ended up booking a room at the Amstel Botel which was on the other side of the river from the station. Their website mentioned a free ferry transfer from the train station which Sara and I expected was run by the hotel. As we exited the station towards the river, we saw what looked like a public ferry in the final stages of boarding and the signage made it seem like it was going towards our destination. We jumped onboard and hoped that we weren’t supposed to have a ticket. A few minutes later, we neared a dock and cruised past an old decommissioned submarine. In fact, we were surrounded by interesting and antique ships! This was an awesome city so far and we’d only just arrived.

Our hotel, Amstel Botel at NDSM pier

The Amstel Botel looked like a large houseboat. It was permanently attached to the dock and didn’t look like it would fare well if it tried to set sail. Our room was near the waterline and we could listen to the waves lap against the side of the boat. Several times, we looked out the window and saw several swans paddling around looking for food!

Even though we were on the far side of the river from downtown, the free ferry made it feel like we were right downtown. It was such an easy and useful system. Every time we rode the ferry it was full of people. Sara and I spent most of our time wandering down the quaint streets and around canals. Sara couldn’t wrap her head around how cute the city was and was loving the picturesque setting.

While walking the streets, we had to be careful not to accidentally walk in a bike lane or else the hordes of bikers would start to angrily ring their bells at us! There were bikes everywhere and almost all the streets had special bike lanes. It was scary as a pedestrian because it was like trying to cross two streets at once – I never knew where to look.

Boats cruising in Jordaan

Also while wandering the streets, we couldn’t miss the periodic smells of people smoking weed. The Netherlands has decriminalized marijuana and permits smoking in public and in some establishments. The most common place for people to smoke is in coffee shops. People just seemed to be relaxing in storefronts having a smoke (and not drinking coffee). Our nose would immediately notice a coffee shop while walking past, but otherwise, smoking weed was not as prominent as I would have expected. It just seemed to be an option for those who are interested but was not the main focus of the city at all.

For most of our meals, we visited small supermarkets and bought pre made salads. They were large, tasty and a good price. With the hotel price high for our budget, it was necessary to cut other expenses such as tours or food. But I guess we have to expect difficulty staying in budget when we visit Europe during the high season. We did eat out once during our Amsterdam visit. Sara found a nice little pizza shop called Pizzabakkers. We had an artichoke pizza with arugula and some €3 prosecco. We were the only people there which was surprising because the pizza was really good!

Arendsnest

After saving so much on food, we decide to try some of the local beer. We found a wonderful little bar called Arendsnest which only carries Dutch beer. The bartender was very nice and helpful. She listened to our preferences and provided samples before we had to commit to a full pint. We ended up drinking varieties by De Molen, Oedipus and Diuts & Lauret. All were excellent and made us hopeful that we’d find good beer throughout Europe.

Our last night was spent enjoying a meal on the rooftop of our hotel while watching the sunset. We needed to keep moving north to meet my parents and planned to catch an early train in the morning. We originally planned to stop in Copenhagen, but again most of the hotels were sold out or very expensive. So to save some money and in the spirit of exploring we decided to stop for a day in Hamburg, Germany.