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It was all fun + games 'til the food poisoning....

It was all fun + games 'til the food poisoning....

Old Jul 12th, 2011, 05:01 PM
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It was all fun + games 'til the food poisoning....

We were happy to leave for Amsterdam last Saturday morning. Fly into Amsterdam, out of Paris, with an overnight in-between in Auvers Sur Oise. Amsterdam and Paris are two of our favorite places, we've been going once a year for the past number of years, twice a year when we are really lucky.

RSW through ORD into AMS, uneventful. DH and I both slept for four hours. I was disappointed it wasn't longer, however we were awake, alert, and feeling good. Schiphol Airport (isn't it a nice airport?) to Centraal Station. We pop out of Centraal Station and are greeted with a beautiful, sunny day.

(Wardrobe note: I'm always seeking good travel clothes. This trip I purchased a "Zella" activewear pair of black pants and zip jacket from Nordstrom and was very pleased. Extremely comfortable for the plane, not constricting, didn't wrinkle, and I felt pretty pulled together).

It is an easy ten minute walk to Rentabike Frederic (Frederic.nl) on Brouwersgracht, where we will pay for our houseboat and pick up the keys to what we will call home for the next three days. We've rented from them the past three trips, it is so easy and works out so well for us.

(I am a guidebook junkie. I will purchase numerous guidebooks as well as check every library book out available for my destination. Rentabike Frederic I found in Rick Steves. I know on this forum not everyone is a fan of Rick Steves. I find his writing entertaining and I think his directions are spot-on, so his books are an automatic Kindle download for me. His accomodations and restaurants I'm not really aligned with, however I have to say Frederic was a real find, and my most memorable dining experience to date came from Rick Steves as well).

The houseboat isn't ready yet, we leave our luggage and head to Gartine (gartine.nl). Gartine is down a narrow street, and its a tiny little place. We were here last trip on our arrival morning and found it to be special. Today there is one open table, for two, right by the window. DH has the "Big Breakfast", croissant, homemade jams, sourdough toast, fried egg, French toast, cold cuts, shards of old Dutch cheese, and orange juice. All of this is served on a blue and white Delft footed plate. I have the scrambled eggs with house-grown herbs and smoked salmon on sourdough toast. We both have cappucinos. The service is good and friendly, the sun is shining. We are delighted to be here.

After breakfast we happen upon an art fair at Spui. We enjoy minging about a bit and find out Art Spui is every Sunday 10am - 6pm. We especially like two pieces and are going to ponder between the two and plan to come back and make a purchase, however we got sidetracked and didn't return. (Next time).

My favorite place to shop in Amsterdam is Cora Kemperman and I always come home with a few new things from there. (Check out her website at corakemperman.nl, it is a beautifully done website. Her story and how she does business is interesting as well). I leave with a new skirt, matching top, and another top. Happy day.

Time to buzz back by Rentabike Frederics to pick up our keys. Our houseboat is nearby, on the Brouwersgracht at Keizersgracht, in what is considered the Western Canal Ring, in the Jordaan. We approach this big, black, obviously-been-around-a-long-time hunking houseboat, as we come aboard through a rickety little gate I am a little nervous and say so to DH. He opens the hatch, peers in, says nothing to worry about, this is great, this is beyond great.

Beyond great indeed! White painted wood floors, walls, ceiling. We step down into a modern galley with deep taupe cabinetry, rough hewn wood table with contemporary white chairs. Deep taupe modular sofa, a high rail running the length of the boat on both sides with lots of half-burned white candles of all shapes and sizes in glass hurricanes and jelly jars. High windows with white canvas edged in black window coverings which we roll up water-side to bring in the view from the canal.

We unpack and run to Albert Heijn for groceries. It was such a lovely day that I want to kick off my closed-toe shoes and put on my Haviana flip-flops. I pack Havianas only for indoor wear, like a slipper, when I travel. But it's such a nice day I want to wear them outside. Well, I must've tripped on the cobblestones, and went into this slow motion fall, like you see in a movie. I can remember feeling that I needed to land, I needed to stop, as I went careening by other people. The street was really busy, fortunately I didn't run into anyone else or hurt myself, well, besides my pride. I do't know how it happened but then there I was on my knees, looking up at DH who had my flip-flops in his hand. Lesson learned.

So now we are back at the houseboat. This was the best! We had rented a houseboat previously, and what I didn't know that I wanted until I didn't get it was a place to sit outside on the houseboat. This houseboat has a stern outfitted with a big white market umbrella, one of those Kartell plastic sofas with a cushion, and pots upon pots of blooming pink flowers everywhere. We get out the wine, the Gouda cheese, some olives, proscuitto, roast beef that looked good at the grocery store (and was good as well). it is a stunningly beautiful day, there is a lot of boat traffic on the canal, everyone, it seems, is out on the water on every kind of craft imaginable. Huge boats, little boats, a beautiful wooden boat piloted by a dashing gentleman in a sportcoat. Party boys and girls with loud music and laughter. A solo boater with his dog. A large boat with everyone dressed in white and pink with balloons. Boats with so many people you think someone is gong to slip off. We are having the best time, hanging out on our houseboat, relaxing, drinking wine, snacking, and snapping pictures of the boats going by.

Later we head for Vondelpark, we've never been and it is a warm Sunday early evening. It is a beautiful park, so green and lush. Everyone who doesn't have a boat or didn't get an invite to be on one is here at the park taking advantage of the glorious weather. We grabbed a table at Het Blauwe Theehuis, however changed plans and decided to go instead to our favorite Amsterdam restaurant, Daalder Eten + Drinken.

Daalder (daaldercafe.nl) is in the Jordaan, back by the houseboat. We discovered it a few years ago when looking for somewhere to have lunch, and will visit numerous times over the course of our visits. (Last time we went every day). Tonight we had homemade ravioli with manchego and mushroom sauce. It was very good. Although the truth be told last time we were here we had a pasta dish with "truffle something" and a fried egg and it was knock-your-socks-off kind of good. I was hoping for that kind of good again. Dessert was excellent. (And I wasn't even sure if I was going to order it). They called it Tasting of Strawberries. A narrow rectangular white plate with chopped strawberries with strawberry mousse atop, along with something else, of course strawberry again, it had a firmer consistancy than the mousse, was chilled, and looked like it was prepared in a loaf pan and cut into slices. I don't know what it was called. Delicious. Let's just call it that. Next was a strawberry gelee, yum, (just one, wish there were more), and lastly a champagne flute with sorbet in prosecco. Amazing. What a great way to end a stellar first day in Amsterdam.
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Old Jul 12th, 2011, 05:43 PM
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Don't hear too much about Amsterdam on this forum. Looking forward to more
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Old Jul 12th, 2011, 06:26 PM
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Staying on a houseboat has always intrigued me. Thanks for your description. Loving your report.
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Old Jul 12th, 2011, 07:02 PM
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Looking forward to more! Would love more details about staying on a houseboat...how does it compare to an apartment? Do all the "facilities" work well? Like you, I wouldn't have thought of it but the outside deck area sounds fantastic.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 09:06 AM
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After going to bed last night @ 10pm we woke this morning @ 7am, and feeling great. The bed was quite comfortable. We scramble up some eggs with the leftover cheese and proscuitto. We opened two of the windows, a touch of a chill, it feels good.

Time for a shower, I was a bit apprehensive, although there was nothing to be apprehensive about - great water temp, pressure, and supply.

Headed to the library by Centraal Station (Bibliotheek Amsterdam) as I wanted to go to the coffee bar on the 7th floor for the great views that I had read about here on this forum. Loved it! The view is magnificient! Sat on the terrace and enjoyed cafe lattes. Would come back here for a meal, it is cafeteria-style, and everything looked fresh-fresh-fresh, with a cool atmosphere. Would have stayed longer but wanted to do some shopping. Our shopping highlights were:

Spied a contemporary souvenir shop, Saskya & Co (www.saskyasouvenirs.nl). Liked what I saw in her windows and inside the shop did not disappoint. They have a well-edited selection of merchandise, Saskia herself is a charmer, providing personal service, wrapped up our purchases beautifully.

DH spotted the next shop, I was looking in another direction, not real interested. "You HAVE to see this" he said, and in we went to United Nude, which is a shoe store. United Nude is one of the coolest stores that I've ever seen. (You have to see it too: www.unitednude.com). The store is dark, there is a "Wall of Light" where each shoe is displayed it in its own cube, with the colors behind changing constantly. I was like a kid in a candy store, was assisted by the most darling little Dutch girl ever, who explained the brand is a collaboration between a Dutch architect and Clark's shoes. And if you think the store itself is cool, let me tell you about the two pairs of United Nude shoes that I now own....

Also discovered a new(ish) lingerie store, Sam Friday. Clean, modern, and of course lingerie is so easy to pack.

We need to take a little break, we are near Luden (www.luden.nl), we've been here a couple times before and it is a welcome sight. There's a few different rooms and we slip into an empty narrow room by the bar, and into a window seat. We stayed there the rest of the afternoon, relaxed and happy, watching the world go by. DH had amazing cream of mushroom soup, followed by a seafood stew. I had a delicious goat cheese salad, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with thyme. The bread was wonderful also, the country white bread had pepper, and the brown bread had cumin.

There is a live webcam in Amsterdam that we frequently view from home. We went to the spot, called up DH's daughter who gathered up her kids in front of their computer so we could wave to them. (www.terena.nl/~dick/cam2.asx).

Dinner was The Pancake Bakery on the Prinsengracht, apple pancakes for both of us. We were fortunate enough to be next in line when an outdoor table opened up, we were fortunate enough that the weather in Amsterdam continued to be gorgeous and sitting outside was lovely.

Back to the houseboat where I dragged out all of the half-burned white candles outside and nestled them around our deck as we shared a bottle of wine to end our evening. Truly enchanting.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 11:45 AM
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Great report but anticipating the food poisoning whammy with empathy.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 11:57 AM
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Lovely to hear of someone just enjoying being in the city, and not rushing from one museum to the next. The houseboat sounds lovely, and the weather perfect. I could almost be tempted to stay there for a day or two, even though I am only 50 minutes away by train .

Please can we have some of that lovely weather now - it is 13c and wet wet wet here now .

I too am wondering about the food poisoning.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 12:24 PM
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16° in Paris, where it was 27° yesterday!
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 12:37 PM
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I'm enjoying your report, especially the food descriptions. The houseboat sounds wonderful.

I like Rick Steves, too. I also find his writing amusing. When I'm planning a trip I always buy a Rick Steves, a Frommers, and a Fodors.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 12:38 PM
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P.S. I had food poisoning once. Not fun. I couldn't even keep down a Pepsi.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 12:44 PM
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On our third day in Amsterdam we are headed to the Kroller Muller museum (www.kmm.nl), with the 2nd largest collection of Van Gogh's in the world. The museum is located within the Het National Park De Hoge Veluwe, about 50 miles SE of Amsterdam.

Two trains, one bus, and a 20 minute walk brings us to the visitor center where we each pick up a free white bicycle that are available for exploring.

We enjoyed the opportunity to visit a number of Van Gogh's, including "Cafe Terrace at Night", and walked through the large outdoor sculpture park. I am not appreciative/understanding of modern art, however it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

We had a lovely lunch outside - it is yet another beautiful day. Thee, warm ham sandwiches with spicy grainy mustard. We shared an apple pie with whipped cream, DH said it was the best whipped cream he ever had.

We had been looking forward to this day, DH is a huge Van Gogh fan - and it was everything we had hoped it would be.

We had both read a lot about getting to the museum and it sounded complicated and as though people had difficulty with it. We did not find it difficult at all, however it makes for a long day.

Daalder again for dinner, we sat outside in the center of the boulevard. We began with a tasting plate (sausage, bittenballs with feta + spinach, smoked salmon), it was all YUM. We both had the veal special. Minced veal wrapped around chopped gambas (large shrimp). Pureed potatoes with a bit of spinach waved around the plate and a bit of a brown sauce. Delicious! We would've gone for the "Tasting of Strawberries" that we had the other night, however opted for another glass of wine instead. (DH gets migranes from wine in the US - sulfites, we guess - and is able to drink wine with no issue in Europe, so we always make sure to exploit this)!

This is our last evening in Amsterdam, as we leave for France tomorrow.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 12:50 PM
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just joining in -we weren't too struck on amsterdam, but your TR might be just enough to convert me!
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 01:26 PM
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Sidny - We love staying in a houseboat. Previously we stayed on what they call a barge, what I described in my travel notes as "really like a rectangular red house that sits on the water". The barge had large windows on the Prinsengracht. The tour boats would come by and we'd be sitting at the kitchen table and they'd be taking photos of us. This time the houseboat was actually a boat, so less headroom in the bow where the bedroom was, and of course you had a few steps down coming aboard. Everything else was pretty much like apts we have rented, oh, except without a steep staircase to climb!

Hetismij - The only reason we weren't rushing from museum to museum was that we've spent OTHER visits to Amsterdam rushing from museum to museum, and back again. I have to say that this way was incredibly enjoyable.

We love Amsterdam. It is a beautiful old city with a hip, modern edge. It's walkable and the people are friendly.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 01:28 PM
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SwimChick, you've made my day. We were working on a trip for next spring going to Paris for two weeks, then London for the Chelsea Flower Show and had thought about adding a few days in Amsterdam early May in hope that the tulips will still be in bloom.

We were booking air today just after I read you trip report and now have 3 days in Amsterdam in, what I hope based on description, is your houseboat! Your fabulous description made the difference for my husband (a boater and master gardener.)
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 01:32 PM
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I'm so bad at previewing....that should be your trip report, not you trip report. And if my husband ever reads this, should probably be sailor, not boater.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 02:06 PM
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Judy - our boat was Bouwersgracht Houseboat I (013). One tip: the sink in the bathroom has a faucet that goes on by sensor. So like if you were to put your cosmetic bag in the sink.....

We went to Keukenhof on our first visit to Amsterdam which was in early - mid May. I didn't realize how lucky we were, I thought the flowers were always blooming, I would've been so disappointed if we would've missed it.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 02:13 PM
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YAY....I got the right boat....your description was so good!

We'll arrive May 2, which is maybe a little late, but our three weeks in Paris and London are already set and we just couldn't rationalize adding much more time to a three week trip. I'm sure we'll have a great time even if the tulips are a little wilted!

Thanks for the sink tip. We, of course, just booked so haven't heard back as to availability.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 03:20 PM
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I am enjoying your report. I think Amsterdam is my favorite city after London.Thanks for sharing.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 03:57 PM
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Very much enjoying your report but every time you mention eating something I think oh oh food poisoning.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 06:16 PM
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I've only been to Amsterdam very briefly but I agree with you 100% that it is hip with excellent, forward-thinking shopping! Such a preponderance of good-looking people, too--and this is coming from someone who is not a blond lover.

Thanks for the report. Very sorry about the food poisoning.
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