My Summer Vacation in Europe - Part 4: Amsterdam, the Boss and Frites with satay sauce? Yes PLEASE!

 

My Summer Vacation in Europe - Part 4:  Amsterdam, the Boss and Frites with satay sauce?  Yes PLEASE!

 Once I got settled into my hotel, I took a quick walk around the area and snapped a few photos and just got a feel for the city. Then it was time for a nap.  Oops.  My legs were really bothering me after the long trek through Schiphol and I decided that a rest was probably the smart thing to do. 

My car driver may or may not have parked here when I arrived.

Such a pretty city

Centraal Station from outside of hotel

Before arriving, I’d made big plans to try stroopwafels, pancakes, poffertjes, and frites, not to mention I’d booked a distillery tour and a canal cruise.  I wound up postponing the canal cruise until the next day (the vendor was super nice about rescheduling me!) and I cancelled the distillery tour altogether. I look at it this way, I’ll have a reason to go back!  The best laid plans, right?

Upon waking from my nap, it was dinner time so off I went to the lobby bar in search of food.  The Park Plaza Victoria has a couple of restaurant options but they’re not all open every day. In the case of arrival day, it was the lobby bar, room service or go out.  I ordered a soda and a burger, and I was very happy. They had some great-looking cocktails too but those would wait for the next couple of nights! 

They had a TON of gin choices, and fancy tonics too

This was a pretty good burger

Coke made with actual sugar.  100% better than ours

 I turned in early and got a decent night’s sleep.  The room was cool enough though later in the week I ended up opening the window.  Jet lag is real too, and I woke up a few times not knowing what time it was.  Finally, around 7 AM I made myself a cup of coffee and set out on another little walk.

 Wanting to get pancakes or something, I checked the Google machine and found a spot just a few minutes’ walk away.  (Maybe 2.5 blocks or so, but it was early, cool, and nice for walking.)   Cleverly named Pancakes Amsterdam, there are a couple of locations in the city.  This one was across a canal from the hotel.  

They serve both Dutch (crepe-like) and American style pancakes and I ate here twice for breakfast.  Both my meals were good though the apple crumble on the Dutch style pancake was more like broken up apple crumb pie and I would have liked it to be hot.  (I am not sure if that’s how it is supposed to be served but even in the USA, sometimes pancake/waffle toppings are cold.)  I probably should have ventured further to try poffertjes (little silver dollar pancakes, so yummy and Trader Joe’s actually sells a pretty good version!)   The next morning, I went to the same spot (I tried to go someplace else, but the line was huge and there was an overwhelming smell of a particular kind of smoke in the area which wasn’t making me happy.  Oops.) The second time I had American-style pancakes with bananas.

 

American style banana pancakes

Part of the interior of Pancakes Amsterdam

Dutch pancake with apple crumble and whipped cream

After breakfast I snagged more coffee at the Illy coffee shop adjacent to the hotel and did a little shopping and exploring.  I walked over to the train station and got my transit pass and rode the tram a little bit to take a “tour.”

Centraal Station

Tram stop

Tram

Since my first boat tour started around seven, I opted to get something for dinner near the area where I’d be meeting the tour company.   I didn’t want to walk too far and found a spot called Hansel and Gretel which sounded good since they had schnitzel on the menu.  This restaurant is SO tiny, but I did get seated quickly.  The food took longer than expected, they were busy, but still, and was nothing super spectacular but it did the job.  It wasn’t overly expensive, maybe 25 Euro for my entrée and wine, but there are better restaurants in Amsterdam, and I would not go back and not suggest this place to anyone.

Schnitzel

Interior of Hansel and Gretel

 

Interior of Hansel and Gretel

My rescheduled canal cruise, booked with Captain Jack's Amsterdam though Viator, had a departure point near the Rijksmuseum which is a short walk from the nearest tram stop.  The tour was about 90 minutes and included beer, wine, soft drinks and little snacks like local cookies, licorice, cheese, and crackers.  The tour was excellent, and we learned a lot about the history of Amsterdam. I was hoping it would be getting dark so I could get some great images, but it stays light until after 9PM during the summer. 

Rijksmuseum

Captain Jack's dock

Off on our cruise

 That canal cruise was so much fun that I booked a second one, RIGHT after the first, well maybe an hour after, that left from the dock in front of my hotel.  This one was operated by Flagship Amsterdam, on a boat that’s enclosed.  Again, it was a fantastic tour, and the windows were open, so I was able to take some photos.  The best way to see Amsterdam is from the water so don’t skip a boat tour.  Check reviews though to be sure you get a good one! (I booked that tour through GetYourGuide).

Second boat dock, near Centraal Station and Park Plaza Victoria

The boat and our guide

Interior

Hotel from Centraal Station

After the canal boat tours, I was hungry again, so I had to try frites.  We call them French Fries and they are HUGE in the Netherlands and if you don’t try them, with some type of sauce, then you probably didn’t even go to the Netherlands! 

 

Fun fact, I really don’t like sauces.  I never eat mayo, ketchup is good, salsa is welcome too.  But one of my favorite sauces, of the few I eat, is satay sauce or peanut sauce!  Yum!  So when I saw that you can get fries with satay sauce, I joined the line at Mannekinpis and placed my order.  One of the best things I ate on that trip, let me tell you!  They’re open until midnight (11:59 to be precise) and they may be a bit more expensive than other shops, but it was close to the hotel, and I was happy with my choice.  (I think it was only about 5 or 6 Euro and the cone was FULL of fries, I couldn’t even finish them!)

The line moves fast!

Frites with satay (peanut) sauce! 

 Concert day was super exciting.  Again, I took it easy as I wanted to save my energy, but I headed to the Johan Cruyff Arena and timed my arrival for about 6PM.  The train lets you off very close to the arena.  It’s in an area with some hotels, bars and restaurants and you can get trains to go to towns just outside of Amsterdam so it’s very convenient.  It was designed as a football (soccer to Americans) stadium and named for Johan Cruyff, a famous Dutch footballer.  Entry into the arena was easy, and it’s suggested to use mobile ticketing.  The security check was quick, and I took the escalator up to the entrance, walked around, scouted out my seat and took in the atmosphere.  I’ve lost count over how many times I’ve seen Bruce, but this was only my second time seeing him outside the USA. (The first was August 26, 1985, in Toronto, Canada!)

Lots of trains

I'm here

Arena station

Hotels, food and more!

 

Being a Phillies phan, I am spoiled by Citizen’s Bank Park and their wide selection of food and beverages.  The concessions at the Johan Cruyff Arena leave a LOT to be desired.  I wound up getting a burger which was pretty bad, fries which were also bad, and some sort of local draught beer.  The ONLY good thing about this meal?  The whole thing was about 15 Euro.  In the USA, the beer alone would be close to that amount!

 

I won’t bore you with details of the concert but suffice it to say I loved every second and didn’t even need to use my “bathroom songs.”  And yes, I cried tears of happiness.  Bruce and the E Streeters always make me smile.

Getting home to the hotel was easy as well.  I had my transit pass, followed the crowd to the track from where my train would depart and boarded.  I’ll tell you this, the Dutch have mass transit down to a science.  I thought the train would be overly packed.  Not at all. See they planned for a huge crowd and had sufficient cars, so everyone had a seat.  In fact, the train wasn’t full.  Maybe that’s how it always is in Amsterdam, but I was impressed. 

 

Once back at the hotel, I made it before the bar closed, I had a nice night cap in the lounge and retired for the evening.  I tried a couple of drinks in the hotel bar during my stay and they were excellent.  Yes, they are priced at big city prices, but they are all made with care, fresh ingredients, and top shelf liquor.  The “Porn Star” martini was made with a whole passion fruit.  WOW!

Porn Star martini

 The next day I headed over to the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport and I will cover that, as well as getting to Bologna and on to Ravenna in Part 5!