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Published: November 1st 2013
Sun: Shifting gear Strange...still woke up at 8am! It had only been about 4hrs since I finally slept but I was wide awake. Soon after, going back to sleep got even harder because hunger struck. I wasn’t surprised. Not eating a legit meal before sleeping was a terrible idea. Vinh also woke up for the same reason. We made coffee and snacked what was available which was embarrassing. We hung tight as we were meeting mom & Toshi at 11:30.
We were able to meet in tourist-studded Grand Place. It seems that there was some gala being planned for Sun afternoon. Stages were setup and the square was hustling and bustling. At noon, we went into a restaurant right on the square for Belgian feast. For once, I needed something meaty and hearty. Beer had to wait for me though 😞. I was pretty sure it would have circulated way too fast. I had stoemp with carbonnade; all out Belgian 😄. Stoemp is mashed potato & vegetables and carbonnade is Flemish Beef stew. So hearty and totally hit the spot! Normally, I would have been full looking at the plate, but today, it went down smooth and
was absorbed in seconds 😄. It felt like forever since my last real food.
With happy tummy, we went back to the apartment just around the corner to gather our luggage along with bio-hazards from yesterday. We parted with Bertrand and continued to Toshi's. Since we had a few hours until the train to Amsterdam, we took a trip to Sablon where exists high density high-end chocolate boutiques!!
The high-speed train left Midi station shortly before 6pm. Booking train ride during dinner time caught off guard. I didn’t think about it, fail! We picked up Gaufre de Liege and a few nick nacks at Midi. Gaufre was super heavy and doughy but do much damage to my recovering body 😄. Less than 2-hr ride took us to Amsterdam Centraal. After a short trip southward took us to Miko & Swaze’s home. We got there relatively smooth. They gave us an extensive primer. There had so much info but between 3 of us, we managed to take note of the essentials for the days to come!
Mon: Amsterdam in a nutshell Woke up hungry again! That ended up in 8:30am start. First thing first, breakfast! Hartog,
one of many recommendations by Miko & Swaze sounded like a handy option. It was a short walk to a super cute bakery café. Everything looked enticing but speculaas was on top on my list. I inadvertently ordered speculaas a la sandwich. When it arrived, I was confused by the crumbly dark brown cooked in between the bread slices. Is this legal? I took a bite of it...actually works! It's like biscoff spread extra crunchy 😄. Coffee was solid too. Nom nom. We continued on to Albert Cuypmarkt. We were a bit early for opening time of 10am but the vendors were getting ready and we got a good glimpse of the market. At the end of the strip, though, I spotted Van Dobben on which I read in guide book for having good croquettes, score! It took while to get that kroket fried up. What came out of it, though, was super hard shell encapsulating creamy goodness, yum!
Chop chop, we had to shoot over to Dam square by 11am to join the walking tour. I’ve done this in Dublin where energetic guide walks you through the city and you name the price. It was hard to be
oriented when you’re following the guide. But again, this guide had so much to tell and he loves doing it! I think it’s the best way to get a quick run-down of the city in a time crunch. It turned out to be a gorgeous day too, perfect for walking tour 😊. The tour ended at Ann Frank house. I wasn’t going to visit the sight and I was glad. It’s a mad house just as any guidebook says.
It was 2pm and we were, guess what, hungryyy! Let’s go find the herring 😄. I guess the booths are scattered throughout the city but we wanted to go where the locals have put a stamp of approval 😉. It was on Utrechtstraat. Found it! Just as we were told, there are 2 booths on consecutive bridges being operated by the brothers. Pretty good, super raw. From there, we checked out Bloemenmarkt. The Markts have been miss for me in Amsterdam 😞. I was picturing blooming flowers after flowers. Rather, we found tulip bulbs and bulbs. You can buy sacs of 100 bulbs or cannabis seeds, lol.
I was set on rijstaffel for dinner today. We snacked all day
and I was still recovering, hehe. So Dutch yet I wonder if it’s been touristified…? We went to the central station as mom was going back to Brussels. Sky Lounge at Double Tree is right next to the station. The guide said 6 Euro coffee is worth the view. On Monday night, bar wasn’t too busy and we scored a window seats, yes! Believe it or not, that was my first adult beverage since the run!! Vinh had La Chouffe and me lambic framboise. Nice and girly and refreshing . Rain has been on and off but we managed to send off the sun to set.
We made a mistake here, deciding to walk back home. We didn’t realize it was that far. Besides, we had been on our feet all day! Finally reached home at 10pm, wiped out.
Tue: Amsterdam reinforcement Slept in til 8:30 - much needed sleep finally came 😊. Morning coffee at Coffee Bru, a neighborhood joint recommended by Miko. It was really cute. Nice atmosphere. We splitting a pastry as usually but c’mon now. We were both still hungry. Next door was a cheese shop Miko had told us about. They
make half-baguette sandwich with whatever you want in it. Sounds great...except! We didn't know what! Started with salami. There were 5-6 good-looking salami. I wanted them all. Even the lady said she likes everything. That's not helping us!! We just had to close our eyes and point. Same process with cheese. After much struggle, we walked away with a beautiful and super yummy sandwich!! I don’t think it couldn’t have gone wrong if we tried hard.
Since we overachieved Amsterdam yesterday, we wanted to check out Haarlem. Mere 15min ride on a train took us to the central station. It turned out to be a nice day too! We found the "i" right off the bat and had our route set early on. Haarlem is a cute town, a bit more dead than expected. After wondering through the cobblestone streets, we were ready for fritz, because that’s what sounded promising from the Lonely Planet . Randomly picked piccalilly sauce turned out to be right up my alley! Mustard/cornichon mix? Sour+sour, love it. We also had kroket…why not 😄. We made round through town and was ready to head back shortly before 2. At Amsterdam centraal, we took a
free ferry across to the north side…and back.
Next stop was Brouwerij 't IJ. Miko & Swaze approved of this place. It was little out of the way but it was so worth it. This microbrewery is housed in the old windmill. Inside is rustic, simply-painted white with bar stools and few tables. Rows and rows of beer bottles filled the top wall. Although it wasn't on the menu, Miko had told us of the sampling option. We liked all of them😄. Everything was distinct in flavor and alcohol content (5-8%!)(MISSING) and none of them had after taste. Really pleasant. Sheep cheese and salami worked well too.
Dinner next! Dutch pancake was still on our bucket list. Pancake! seemed legit. We went across town in rain. Yes, this time, it was raining continuously. The book said it closes at 7p. When we walked in right at 6p, we were denied due to closing, doh! Well that sucks. We settled on winkel at Nieumarkt. Not exactly around the corner but on the right side of town. Food was alright but the apple tart was to die for! Indeed, the book said on the market days, people make
line for this stuff 😊.
It was still raining. We metro'ed home shortly after 9. Another long day... Since we were going to leave early the next day, we chatted with Miko & Swaze for a long time. Oh well, sleep will have to be on the train.
Wed: Cozy in Delft We had a decent start at 9am. Another Hartog round. Love this place! This time, I got Gevulde Speculaas, almond paste filled speculaas, yummy! At central station, we got on 10am train to Delft. 1hr later, we found ourselves in pouring Delft. By now, this wasn’t scaring us anymore. We stayed put on the platform and busted out an apple. Before I finished it, that dark mean cloud had moved on.
Our lunch pick was awesome at Stadt-koffiehuis, super cute place!! We finally had the pancake a la bacon/apple/raisin. I could do without bacon to be honest. It was cross between crepe and omelette, oversized and thin. Not bad 😊. Delft is a small walkable town. Cobblestone paths along the canals. It was spotty rain all day long but we covered pretty good ground, even up to Royal Delft. Very
picturesque. Not overly touristy but decently hustling. We found this balance very pleasant.
After a nice stroll, we took refuge at Locus Publicus, a beer pub or brown cafe at 4p. They had 10 beers on tap and 200 others on the menu!! We had blondes that the bar guy recommended. Cheese & meat platter was a really nice tie-over 😊. It was only 5p. Too early for dinner. Second round? Sure 😄. I got kruek lambik.
This time, we lost the guide book and just wondered around to pick a place to eat. There were much more than the book listed. Vinh has an eye for good places. We went to the postcard place; open and cozy atmosphere and awesome food. When we were ready to go, I realized my book was missing. Last I saw was at the pub. Was I that buzzed? We went back there and the bartender immediately recognized us. Embarrassing! I guess I WAS that buzzed. Phew. We walked around some more in search of appeltaart . It started drizzling again but that’s more reason to find one now! I was eyeing appeltaart from the lunch place but it was
just closing at 8p 😞. Looking for crowd and open cafes, we came to beestenmarkt. We saw mostly bars, except this place said coffee + appeltaart combo. Gimmicky? Probably. What the heck, we had our hearts set on the appeltaart.
Going through Grote Markt on the way back..uhhh. We were so disappointed earlier because the entire square was filled with carnival; rides and games! Now the music was thumping louder than ever and more people had shown up! Really?! It’s Tuesday!! Aw yea, we heard it from our room until I didn’t wanna know when.
Thu: Taking it to Utrecht Thumping music, big guy under our bunk bed tossing and turning causing earthquake and his snoring! Gmorning. Shared simple-stall bathroom between 24 beds made the morning rough. A gorgeous morning though! Stadt-koffiehuis would be a great repeat-offender 😄. We got there at 9 and they were just getting the place setup. I got my appeltaart fixing while Vinh got his loaded pancake fix. Delft has been a pleasant destination. View, food and accessibility. All A+!
We caught a 10am train to Utrecht. New adventure began shortly before 11. Overcast but desensitized. No time
was wasted to get acquinted to the city center. Cobblestone road goes all along the canal making a loop. We were looking forward to the lower canal side terrace cafes which are distinct from Amsterdam canal side. But, perhaps due to the weather, they were non-existent 😞. At the south end of the loop is a place commemorating Miffy's author and sterrenwacht (😄). We had walked for a few hours by then. Time for a drink! We picked Kafe Belgie which seemed to have constant bustle of people in the outside seating. Being light-weight and thirsty, Kruek lambik was a perfect choice 😊. At restaurants and cafes, people have been really nice and patient. And every one of them had nice atmosphere and character. After going back to the station to take care of tickets for the next few days, we walked around in search of a cafe to sip on coffee next. Luckily we found the one I had my eyes on 😄. Blackbird is a tiny narrow joint which had wall full of bikes in the entryway. Deeper inside, we found cozy couches and seats surprisingly spaciously placed. Again the barista lady was super sweet.
It
was 5p. Start thinking about dinner. Like Delft, there were more good-looking restaurants than the book listed. Let's see what we find! Nah, nah, nah... Vinh pointed out a window in the other side of the canal. It's too far to see the inside but we could see the good vibe already. De Witte Ballon menu had half portion options and the line-up looked nice. Inside was about half-filled at 5:30. There was one window seat open. The waiter said we could take it if we'll be done before 7:30. 2hr dinner, no problem. It turned out to be a great seat with the view of Dom tower. It was even the best view of the tower all day. Our mussels came in a ginormous pot with 3 sauces on the side. Sooo yummy, cooked in white wine broth with leeks, mmm. We added beer so we can sit longer and enjoy the mussels with the view. We finally cleared the pot at ~7p. We thought about dessert but we didn't want to be rushed. We'll take this elsewhere :.
By that time, most of the cafes were closed. It was misting too. Back to wandering 😊. That's
Cozy spot
Stadt-Koffiehuis, Delftwhen we came across Tastoe, a cozy cafe. It's another small place lined with rustic benches. Almost all the tables were busy. They did breakfast, lunch and dinner or just drink. Great atmosphere and once again, the waitress girl was super sweet! Appeltaart #4 was yum! We're so hooked, lol.
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