Tuesday, May 5, 2015

TUESDAY IN AMSTERDAM

After our beautiful day at Keukenhof, we weren't quite so lucky with the weather today.   We woke to gray skies.  By the time we left the apartment it had cleared up a bit.

Pretty canal scene along the way:


We only had a "loose" plan for the day--to explore a new area of the city.  I'd read about a market selling antique books, stamps and prints--so thought we should check it out.  We mapped out our tram route, used our handy iPhone map ap, and found it without any difficulty.  It was in an old covered passageway, which was a good thing, because it started raining about the time we got there.  We enjoyed browsing around, there were some very interesting old maps of Amsterdam, as well as some lovely old bird prints.  Most of them were too big to get home, darn it!

About the time we finished at the market it had started to rain harder, so we decided it was time for lunch.  We walked across the canal, and found a cute corner restaurant and settled in for a nice cozy lunch. Our timing was good, because about the time we started to eat it got very dark, and then a big thunder/lightening storm passed through.  Man, did it rain!  We were happy to be all snug inside, and we took our time, enjoying a glass of wine.

Our idea had been to stroll around a few neighborhoods, but the rain helped us change our plans pretty quick. I had notes on another market that I thought might be "covered", so we headed that way, thinking we'd at least see another area of Amsterdam.  The rain and wind has made it hard to enjoy our usual "wandering" type of sightseeing.  We don't mind a little rain--but when it's blowing sideways, we'd rather be indoors!

As it turned out, the market wasn't very interesting and it was mostly closed down by the time we got there.

Oh well--on to plan "B"!

Plan "B": head to a pub and have a beer!  We had a specific one in mind, and found it fairly easily.  By the time we got there--the sun was out again.   We just laughed…….

The pub had a very interesting beer menu, with lots of locally brewed beers on tap.  We tried a couple, and ordered a snack of sausage, crackers and nuts.  The sausage was delicious, it had lavender seeds in it.  As it turned out, that was our dinner tonight--just right!


By now we decided it was time to call it a day.

We used our Tram route ap on our phone, and walked to the nearest tram stop--which seemed like miles away. I think we could have walked home just about as fast!

It was an early evening for us, I was feeling particularly tired and out of sorts.

Ahhh--shades of things to come………….


PS:  Not many pictures today--it was too wet and windy to get out the camera!

1 comment:

  1. The canal picture is so cool..... Sorry you had such nasty weather. The weather here has been unpredictable - 80 one day and in the 40's the next. Today it is beautiful. I miss our coffee get-togethers. I am finally recovering from my 3-week virus illness so life is good. Big hugs to you and Dave.

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