AMSTERDAM

Amsterdam - a new route from Exeter and one I expect we'll be taking again. Bikes, canals, houseboats, museums, markets, all of these and more packed into a day and a half (although I'm sure the impressions I give from the blog is that we care only for food! )

When we arrived it was already getting dark so we made straight for the hotel, went for a short walk round the block, and made ourselves comfortable in the bar. It was Jon's birthday the following day and the girls had given me presents to put in the case for him - we spread his cards out in the room hoping the maids might leave chocolate on the pillow but no, never mind. Everything else couldn't have worked out better. 

Interior shot of the American Hotel - the room was nice too, but when you opened the door it banged against the bed! 

The 1200 odd bridges only had railings put on them about 100 years ago - it saved the fire brigade from having to haul horses and drunks out of the canals 

The bar/dining room of the hotel is difficult to photograph because the lighting is seductively dim - suffice to say it was a lovely place to be and my excellent meal of lamb followed by creme brulee could only be enhanced by these beautifully restored art deco surroundings and immaculate staff. We only ate here because it was pouring with rain and we didn't fancy venturing outside, but I don't think we could have been more content anywhere else in Amsterdam 

I thought I'd try, unsuccessfully, to take an arty shot of the menu. Seconds later the menu toppled and knocked the orange juice all over Jon who, due to my strict 'travel light' policy, was wearing the only decent pair of trousers he had brought. When the waiter, Turgay, asked us what we would like Jon requested 'a new wife', and Turgay duly presented a candidate! Luckily by then I had been forgiven and the aspiring applicant was sent back to the kitchen 

Turgay, who made our dining experience so memorable 

By the time we finished our coffee we had been there three hours and it was still raining! We took a little walk round the block and then watched an English building programme with Dutch subtitles on Steve and Trish's tv and stared at their computerised minibar before going back to our room and sleeping on the softest lushest hotel mattress in Europe 

This is so cool - they have a camera on the roof of the hotel and you can look at the live pictures from the tv in your room - what's the weather like? Not raining? Let's go! We walked to Ann Frank's house looking for a place to have breakfast - the wind whips along these canals straight into your bones and we were dismayed to see that every place we passed didn't seem to open until gone 10am. Eventually we arrived to find an excellent cafe just two doors down and enjoyed scrambled egg, bagels and hot coffee. NB Ann Frank's house was enjoyable as well! 

A good way to get out of the cold on a freezing dry day is on a covered canal boat - we caught this one outside Ann Franks house thinking it was a circular route but it actually went up to the central station and back down again, past our hotel and finishing at the Van Gogh museum. Where should we go from here? How about the Van Gogh museum! 

It is perhaps difficult to make out from the photo but we are just outside the central station and there are rows and rows and rows of bikes on several tiers - how on earth do you find your own amongst so many? 

Free icerink between the Rikh museum and the Van Gogh. People just turn up with their skates (or their bike!) 

Warme herschen and slagroom aka hot cherries and whipped cream! 

Very nice! 

http://vangoghen.bitmove.tv/bitmove/cgi/receive.jsp?uid=18AE2E7593025CB042577F6EF4913C30&format=WMV
At the entrance to the Van Gogh museum they had cameras where you could send a video postcard home - if you click on the link (or paste it to your browser) you may be able to access the message. They keep them for 2 months so it will only be there until the end of April, after that I don't know if it will be blank or whether an attractive stranger will be saying 'wish you were here'.

Someone told me not to bother with the Van Gogh but I'm glad I don't remember who it was, because it was thoroughly enjoyable. There was so much work I have never seen, in print or otherwise, and an exhibition on the expressionists that kept us there for the entire afternoon 

This picture looks uninspiring and was so not worth it - I was trying to take a photo of Jon on the staircase at the Van Gogh when these people stood in front of the camera. As I waited, camera poised, for them to move this attendant comes up to me and starts shouting 'no photos, no photos' so I put my camera back in my bag and she sees my bottle of water and scolds 'no drinks! not allowed!' I was aware of her out of the corner of my eye for the rest of our visit 

Jon chose to have his birthday meal at the hotel (again) and sitting at the same table! But what? No Turgay? This is a picture of our waiter Carlos, attempting (and succeeding) in being the most entertaining a man could wish for and still have his dinner 

Hmmm ... 

We are sitting next to the window and if you look carefully you can just see the fountain outside 

The lights were dimmed (or dimmed even more I should say) and suddenly this appeared, centre stage. Could this be for the birthday boy? 

Apparently this says 'happy birthday' but we'll have to take Carlos's word for that 

Judging by the many jazz bars there is a vibrant live music scene 

The owner of this cafe had once been to Belgium and wanted to recreate his experience. Judging by the crush in there Belgian cuisine is not that popular in Holland. Shortly after sitting down a mother and daughter came in and hemmed us in on one side, and then a man with a dog sat right next to us on the other. Either spatial awareness is different in The Netherlands or they felt rather intimidated by the walls 

I think you can guess what this is - I wanted to show it in use but Steve said it smelled and wouldn't stay long enough for a decent photo 

More than 1500 of the houses that line the four main canals are listed 

Tulips in Amsterdam - we spent so long at the flower market that we missed the boat so to speak, our canal boat ticket ran out at noon. We'll have to save the rest of the canal trips until our next visit (oh yes! we'll be back)