Amsterdam - Day 1 & 2

We arrived at the airport in time to get a quick bite to eat and the load the plane.  I don't know what happened but we didn't have seats next to each other.  Andrew was sitting directly in front of me in the middle seat. The woman next to me realized we were together and was nice enough to give up her aisle seat for Andrew's middle seat.  

I settled in for the long haul (an 8 hour flight) and was able to sleep for most of the trip. Andrew wasn't able to relax and sleep so he watched the same movie on repeat for 8 hours.  

Amsterdam is probably my new favorite place.  I was impressed with the overall friendliness of the people.  It was easy to walk around and not feel like a tourist.

We marveled at the buildings which we learned are built on wooden pilings and are hundreds of years old. The oldest home in Amsterdam was building in 1425 (not pictured) but a fire destroyed most of the city which makes most of the buildings only a few hundred years old. The homes are pitched forward and crocked. They are intentionally pitched forward.  They are crocked from years of settling of the wooden pilings. The homes are beautiful with different gables at the top. Each gable has a hook which is still used to move items in and out of homes due to the vertical nature of the building and the narrow spiral staircases. We took a tour one night and the guide told us that if one doesn't measure the window opening correctly then the delivery trucks leave the furniture on the sidewalk and it essentially becomes up for grabs by the general population.

There are bikes locked to what feels like every free space along the canals.  We read that the canals are clean enough that the city doesn't have to flush the water out but there's no way the canals look any cleaner than the Mississippi River.  There are houseboats lining the canals which people live in.  We experienced rather chilly weather while visiting.  We wore long sleeves and pants every day and carried a jacket and an umbrella b/c the rain was unpredictable. It could be sunny one minute and sprinkling the next.  It didn't rain hard but just sprinkled for 10 minutes and quit.

I took lots of pictures of Andrew. He was a good enough sport.  Not great but good enough.

We ate at a place called Black and Bleu the first night. It was delicious but was essentially a steak house.  We learned Amsterdam doesn't really have it's own fare but rather a little of everything.  Andrew was disappointed to eat at a steak house the first night but he got over it when they served mayonnaise with their french fried. The mayonnaise was delicious and sweeter than our traditional thoughts of the divine condiment.

We went to the hotel bar after dinner to check it out. Our hotel was very nice and pleasant to stay in. It can be difficult to pick a place in a tourist area that isn't overpriced or outdated.

The smaller building on the corner is pitched forward dramatically enough that you can see it. We did a cheese tasting in that building.

We enjoyed a rest between all the walking.  We stopped to have a drink before our cheese tasting class.

We had scorecards for the cheese.  Andrew was the officially cutter of our cheese.

The more a cheese aged the more it crystalized. When we held the cheese up to the light we could see the crystallization. Andrew did not appreciate the taste of the aged cheese.

It was cheaper to have a beer than to drink water or a soda. In Europe they don't give you water when you dine rather they charge you $10 for a wine bottle sized bottle.