LONDON - AMSTERDAM

Wednesday August 1st

Before leaving London, England we must choose our Architectural Highlight! (as we will continue this in each city we visit…we don't want to bore everyone with our millions of architectural pictures that we have taken so we will limit it to one per city, although it may be hard to choose!)  

Our selection was the Shard, whose architect was Renzo Piano. 

So, On Wednesday August 1st, we basically just travelled!  We said good-bye to Dave and the olympics and headed out to the unknown!  Our destination was Amsterdam!  We took the EuroStar high speed train to Brussels, Belgium and had lunch there, and then continued on to Amsterdam, Netherlands, using our 1st class EuroRail tickets!  

Steve enjoying our private room in 1st class!  

We were so tired after travelling all day (5 different trains in total) that we basically found our hotel, Tulip Inn (very appropriate for the Netherlands), which was about a 20 minute subway ride from the central city of Amsterdam, ate supper and crashed…only after Steven was able to try his first local Netherlands beer!  It is amazing how beer and wine are cheaper than water here.  I never believed it, but it is true!

Of course enjoying his beer!!

The reality of traveling is starting to hit us as we have now entered a language barrier.  London, England was a good start to the trip because we were traveling and touring, but still understood everyone around us.  Now we are on our own, but enjoying the challenge and adventure!  I just assume that we will not understand anyone, but when we do it is a relieving surprise!

Our initial thought of the Netherlands is that the landscape is definitely a mix of urban and rural with so much open farm land!  It really reminds me of the great amount of farm land in South Western Ontario where I (Jenna) grew up!  My grandparents are from The Netherlands and when they moved to Canada they moved to South Western Ontario to a landscape that is so similar!  

Thursday August 2nd

VOLENDAM/AMSTERDAM

We have had a lot of fun in the city and in the rural land today!  Breakfast, which was included with our hotel, was delicious!  We made sure that we ate all we could so we wouldn't have to spend money on lunch!  The best part was that they actually had chocolate sprinkles, which is something that I (Jenna) grew up with my grandparents putting on bread and butter….if you've never tried it, you should!  It brought back so many great memories!  Jenna realized today that all of her heritage and funny quirks are a result of the Netherlands!  

Chocolate sprinkles just like Grandma always had! yum! (and yes, i took one extra to take with me after!)

Volendam 

We took a bus 30 mins north east of Amsterdam to a small town called Volendam, which was a super cute side town with shops and restaurant along the wharf.

                                       Jenna's Long Lost Relative?                            Steven along the wharf

                                     Beach, water, houses...                                         Cute streets of Volendam

Cute little residential homes, all mostly along a canal...everywhere you turned was a canal!  We are amazed by all of the canals and bridges and how the land looks like it could sink at any moment! 

Cheese Making + Clog Carving

On our way back from Volendam to Amsterdam we stopped at a cheese and wooden shoe place!  We got to see how they made Gouda and then got a demo of how wooden clogs were made!  Very impressive!  We tasted about 14 different types of Gouda, from pesto to smoked to peppered….they were all amazing!  

Sitting in the giant clog!

                      Steven enjoying his clogs!                                                                   Very stylin!

MAKING OF THE CLOGS...they are actually made out of imported poplar trees from Canada!

                                 

       

A new Olympic Sport perhaps?

It was extremely difficult to try and choose one to buy! We chose the Stinging Nettle.  We figured it was a rare choice and something different than we have ever had!   The Stinging Nettle is actually a weed that grows everywhere in the Netherlands.  It stings if you touch it and apparently you get white bumps.  Pretty gross, and do not sound very appetizing eh?!  Well when you cook it, the effect of the stinging nettle goes away and actually tastes really great!

The Dutch lady went outside and got us a Stinging Nettle so that we could see what it looked like!  Notice that she is not touching it!

Amsterdam

Explored all of the canals and house boats

SOO MANY bikes everywhere!

Steve contemplating the design of house boats...there were actually so really nice modern ones!

Streets of Amsterdam

Ate at a Pancake Restaurant, yum! Jenna realized that Icing Sugar was very commonly used in her home growing up and there was a container of icing sugar on every table in the restaurant!  The dutch people definitely have a sweet tooth!

yummmmm....

I AMSTERDAM sign!

SO MANY BIKES!!!!  In Canada we have the Park and Ride for vehicles, but they have overloaded Park and Rides for bikes!  Just watch out because bikers have the right-of-way everywhere and we almost got run over so many times!

uh oh, where's my bike?

Architectural Highlight of Amsterdam

'EYE' by Viennese architect Delugan Meissl

Purpose:  A New Film Museum

Today we are heading about 1 hour south to Rotterdam.  Dave (Jenna's brother) told his coworker that we were going to head to Rotterdam while in the Netherlands and he was confused as to why we would what to go there, since apparently it's not the most touristy city.  And then the guy said "Well it would only make sense that they would want to go there if they love architecture!"  Yup we do and that's why we are going there!  We plan on renting bikes and riding around, and hopefully also finding some traditional windmills just outside the city!