Amsterdam

Amsterdam House boats

Mothers restaurant Amsterdam

Foodhallen Amsterdam

More house (million euros +) boats Amsterdam

Canal Houses (2million euros +) in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Flower market Amsterdam

Services connection Houseboat Amsterdam

Amsterdam

All the pictures ever taken are here

We’ve been a bit quiet here, mostly because of awful internet access. The Airbnb place we stayed in in Wormerveer near Amsterdam was marketed as a ‘business listing’, but their wifi was terrible. We complained a few times, they claimed that no one else had ever complained, they turned the router off and then on again and so it went on.

It’s the last day of our trip today, we’re starting the long journey home from Amsterdam tonight. We have about 20 hours in Dubai between flights and we’ll get out and do some stuff, then do another overnight flight home to ADL.

We were lucky that we had lovely weather for a couple of days in Amsterdam, not too cold with blue sky and sunshine. We drove into the centre of AMS on Tuesday and walked and walked and walked. Greg had done some research and paid EU10 to park in a parking station for the day – a bargain as everywhere in the city charges EU5 per hour. I’d noticed when we used a parking station in Rotterdam that our car’s number plate was on the ticket we took out of the machine … and that’s how it all works. Number place recognition. So we drove into the AMS parking station, then when we got to the boom gate to leave, it just magically opened up for us after the number plate had been scanned.

We spent the day walking along the canals and streets and lanes. I had read about a colourful street, Wijdesteeg, so we went to find it, but it’s been demolished! It had been taken and ‘decorated’ over by squatters a few decades ago and I guess someone decided it was time it all went. There were other tourists standing around looking puzzled when we were there, so the tour guides haven’t caught up with the news that it’s gone.

Next day we drove to Haarlem, west of AMS. Lovely old town square and we sat on the edge of a canal and ate lunch in the sun, then drove to Edam, north east of AMS, because …. cheese!

Thursday we had a ‘home day’. Greg went to try and find a laundromat, then we did a big walk along the Zaans River and streets near the apartment, and walked through Wilhelmina Park, where there were more hints that Spring is on its way. All the snow from last weekend has now melted, and we don’t need to worry about slipping on icy footpaths.

Yesterday, Friday, we drove across the whole country  – 140kms,  it took just over 90 minutes! – to Nijmegen, to catch up with our favourite Dutch people, Mickey and Jaap. We had dinner at their place and caught up on each others’ lives since we last saw each other a few years ago. I can’t think of a nicer way to finish our holiday.

Applebol – cooked cored apple covered in puff pastry

Lunch on the canal in Haarlem

At the Foodhallen with Bitterballen