Amsterdam and Nijmegen

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Week Three - Including Amsterdam and Nijmegen

In the final week in the Netherlands we did many of the usual daily things, but also made the trek to Amsterdam and Nijmegen. Wijchen is about 2 hours by train to Amsterdam and so Lovice and I left Jos and kids behind for a day out. We left early, expecting to catch 3 trains, only to find that there were works on the line and our train had been replaced by bus. This afforded a different view of the countryside on the way to our first connection.

Once we got to Amsterdam we headed straight to a coffee and cake “café“ (careful to avoid Coffee Shops which are the venues for the sale of Amsterdam’s legal drugs rather than for what we were after). We had purchased a map on the way and Lovice advised that I should be the guide as she rarely came to Amsterdam so it was a tourist day for her too.

After a very nice coffee and cake break we decided to follow the walking route marked on our map. We headed off and wandered past the front of the railway station which was a nice looking one (under renovation as so many places seem to be) and then onto St Nicholas Cathedral. This was an impressive church, and it had a great display of portraits of local homeless people connected to the church, it was interesting reading a little of their stories.

We continued on following little lanes and coming upon very picturesque spots of Amsterdams houses reflecting in the canals that all seemed to be built on different angles to each other, even though they shared walls. This gave the impression that the buildings were not exactly straight (in fact I think many were not, with the upper floors sometimes being wider than the ground floor if they could manage it).

Continuing on, we went to go along a small circuit with a round church in the middle, which took us into Amsterdams red light area that lived quite happily it seems alongside and amongst the rest of the city. We continued on and saw interesting streets of shops and also different districts of houses (an area that had been wharehouses with great doors over the windows, now residential for example). The later was actually a detour due to bad map reading or as I kept saying a bad map!

By this time we decided lunch was in order and stopped in a great café restaurant in a small lane called Gebed Zonder End (Prayer without end). It was in part of an area that had been a convent of cloistered nuns (a section still existed as a working convent today).

We continued on and we saw the main square and the royal palace and then back to the area where the canal cruises left from and took a cruise for an hour getting a different perspective of the city of Amsterdam. Many large houses of the rich and famous, alongside the everyday residences including those that made their homes on houseboats. Houseboats were everywhere, with lovely gardens on many. One houseboat had even made the top decks from brick veneer (I don’t think they planed on doing any cruising).

We decided to give Anne Franks house a miss as even after 5 the queues went around the block. We found a Thai restaurant for old time sake, not realising we were back in the red light district again. The food was great, and the local interactions interesting to watch. Our journey home was a bit more direct, only delayed by a derailment for over half an hour, so we made it home a little late but having spent a great day out.

Another day trip was made to Nijmegen to visit the town that Lovice worked in. It is the oldest town in the Netherlands and had some great churches, ruins as well as modern shopping district. It also had a great waterfront area looking onto the river Waal) where we had both morning tea and lunch.

One evening we went to the local cinema to see Harry Potter. It was not Gold Class but it did have food and drink service in our seats all for a local price! We had a local savoury snack that was cone shaped chip things that you squeezed tubed cheese into, all part of my Dutch food education which will continue with winter foods in December.

Our final evening we went out to a local restaurant in Wijchen that we had been surprised to see earlier. It was a Croatian Restaurant, which was fitting as I was about to fly to Croatia the next day. The food was good and service entertaining. It was sad to be leaving but I had really had a great break from being on the road and was ready for my next trip along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia.

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Photos

Amsterdam Station
Renovations obscure part of the building

Comments

[tezzakezza]

Hi Sharyn!! I enjoyed reading about Amsterdam, we loved it here, and have fond memories of wandering around the beautiful streets, looking at the wonderful houses and picturesque canals....and yes, the very fascinating, not hiding ANYTHING red light district... an interesting experience, even more so after dark!! We also enjoyed the yummy hot cones of chips, and did a canal cruse too while we were there, and had...according to my diary...the BEST cup of coffee at a canal side cafe!!! Mmm, i thought it was just coffee, but in retrospect i'm wondering what made it so special!! We also did see the house of Anne Frank, although had to try twice, on the 1st attempt the line was way too long. I'd grown up reading her book more than once, so enjoyed that....although they were doing some renovations at the time, so not all of it was accessible, so a little disappointing in the end. Ahh, memories!! X Keri