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Published: July 18th 2017
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Geo: 52.3738, 4.89095
Today we spent a large amount of time in transit. We caught a bus in front of our hotel to get us to the train station for an 8:26 departure from Brugges to Amsterdam. The first leg of the journey took us to Antwerp where we needed to switch to another train headed to Amsterdam. The second train was an inner city train and made several stops. I believe we arrived in the Central Station around 2:00. That was fine with us because it had started raining when we left Bruges and was just clearing up and the sun trying to break through when reached Amsterdam.
A stop at an information center led us to boarding a tram to reach our home for tonight. It was rather easy to locate on a quiet residential street a block away from the noise and action. Our room was waiting for us. We just had to reach it! It's an attic apartment with a kitchenette. We also have a balcony. The only one in the establishment. It is very quaint and worth the climb of 54 steps up a steep, winding, narrow staircase, wide enough for one person only. The owner of
the establishment, Alexander, spent some time marking points of interest on the map, along with eating establishments and grocery stores. The owners of these smaller independent hotels are very accommodating to travelers and very personable.
After a cup of tea we set out for some sightseeing. Our first stop was Vondel Park. It is the most visited park in the Netherlands. It had paths for jogging and walking and bike paths for the bicyclists. There were lots of people in the park enjoying being in the outdoors. Also located in the part are a couple of restaurants with out door seating. Again it's amazing to see how many people are outside socializing, drinking cold beer and the temperature is around 50 degrees.
Leidseplein was our next destination. It's a square with out door seating for eating and drinking. It also has several shopping streets with stores selling shoes, clothes, souvenirs, chocolate, toys, and in between them are all kinds of eating places, both inside seating and carry out. Ice cream shops are plentiful also! The building architecture is phenomenal. It's hard to resist taking pictures of every building you pass because of the ornate facades.
Before we realized the time it
was almost 7 and we hadn't eaten so along the way back towards our hotel area we came upon a neighborhood pub. We settled for a bar burger and a beer, coke for me. It was quite tasty!
One thing we definitely noticed were the crowds. The number of tourists on the street make it nearly impossible to walk in some spots. We were surprised since it's early in the tourist season. One needs to be constantly aware of their surroundings. There are trams crisscrossing everywhere along with bicyclists who travel in bike lanes, but stop for no one. Also, motorized vehicles are allowed on the bike paths. The only thing separating them from pedestrians is a painted white stripe.
Our first impression- There's no where quite like Amsterdam.
Wie niet waagt, die niet wint
Rich & Linda
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Rose
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I've been gone for a couple days so I'm just getting caught up reading the blog. I am glad to see you are taking the time to enjoy the beverages wherever you go! Love the picture of Linda amongst the tulips! I'm exhausted just reading about
all you're doing! Rich, I just got home from completing the Zoo-de-Mackinac 50 mile bike ride! Maybe your traveling influence will get me next!