more amsterdam!

there’s really no such thing as too much amsterdam (not the way i do it, anyway). ; ) at the end of jen’s stay, we visited as another long weekend trip…we had lovely weather and were able to eat frites and stroopwafels to our hearts’ content. i think amsterdam is such a beautiful city, and it was so nice to be able to see it in the springtime, with trees budding and flowers blossoming.

we stayed in the most amazing and best-located hotel (the greenhouse effect, if anyone’s interested)…this is the view from our room! this canal is called the damrak, and it’s right smack in the center of the city, about a two minutes’ walk from amsterdam centraal train station.

each room has a theme…we stayed in ‘tropical paradise,’ so here’s jen and the view inside our room. ; )

the first thing we did was to take a canal tour, which i’ve never done before in amsterdam. it was fun, but difficult to get good photos. above are a refurbished trading ship in front of nemo, and amsterdam centraal train station.

this is the first of the ’seven bridges’ in amsterdam…a famous scenic viewpoint

some canal sights…duck on a green houseboat roof/fancy canalside mansion

we took a walk through the vondelpark, amsterdam’s most well-known park

jen at the vondelpark gate/jen on the canal

we also visited the ‘hollandse manege,’ a dutch riding school modeled after the spanish riding school in vienna

riding lesson in progress

here’s me clearly enjoying a fun blue hammock chair i found…if it’s still on sale when i go back, it may have to come home with me…/and a colorful bike-graffitti-scene

typical view with canalside cafe seating : )

‘fo guang shan he hua,’ a buddhist temple in amsterdam’s chinatown/ typical canalside houses – one with a stepped gable next to a comparatively plain warehouse-style gable (click here for a web guide to amsterdam’s many and various gables)

an ad for febo, a dutch ‘automatic snack’ institution (which perhaps i’ll blog about in more detail next time i visit)/modern (and blue!) architecture in a traditional neighborhood, complete with requisite furniture hooks

souvenir magnets provide an alternative gable tutorial

and…amsterdam

after our quick trip to groningen, we took the train back to amsterdam for a couple of days.  i still think that amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities i’ve ever seen (hopefully i’m not the only one who can see past the drugs and the prostitution…).  it was great to be there for the fall colors.  : ) here are some of my photos:

for more on stroopwafels…

please see the following blog!

http://www.daelmans-stroopwafel.blogspot.com/

the blog’s owner added a link to my groningen post on his stroopwafel blog…which contains a wealth of stroopwafel knowledge: how to eat them (please note the proper form – let them get melty on top of your tea before you eat or dip them!), recipes, their history…everything you ever wanted to know. enjoy!