Amazing Amsterdam!

*Disclaimer - this is going to be a bit long. We did a lot in one day!*

I Am Amsterdam - (We're by the M")

Yesterday Leah and I went to Amsterdam! We went with RTT which is like a tour agency here on base in Germany. It was quite the long day. We made it over to the meeting point at 1am...oof. It was early! All of us, including 6 others from the same office Leah works it, loaded into a coach bus and were on our way. Our "guide" Mike said a few things before all the lights were turned off so we could all try to sleep. I say "guide" because Mike was more just there to tell us where to be at what time and deliver a few mildly funny jokes along the way rather than actually guide us anywhere. (We found out that he's actually in the Army and just does this as a side gig. I guess I wouldn't mind being paid to travel around like that!) Leah brought the pineapple blanket with and shortly after Mike's few notes, we all tried to get some sleep.

In Germany bus drivers have mandatory rest stops and rest periods before driving again. So part way through our 6 hour drive to Amsterdam, we had to stop for about 20 minutes. We got out just to wander the gas station for a few minutes. Didn't know you had to pay to use the restroom! A few people grabbed some snacks and back to sleep we went.

Before we actually made it to Amsterdam, we stopped at Clara Maria farm where they make wooden clogs and cheese. Weird combination, right? We arrived a 7am. When we first walked in a woman greeted us and we were all a little surprised when she started talking. She was clearly an American! Last I checked we were in The Netherlands. She told us that she grew up an Air Force brat, joined the Air Force her self, and as a tourist made it to the Netherlands where she met a nice young man, fell in love, got married, had kids, and now she helps run a cheese and clog farm! She told an amusing story of how her then fiance was talking about breeding cows from the US and the Netherlands and how they make the best cows. Fast forward a year or two, they had their first child. He told his wife that now they have cows and a child of the same "breed"....Dutch/American cross breed. I'm not sure she was super amused to hear it at the time, but it was a funny story.

Moving on - The first thing we saw at the farm was a small demonstration of how they make their cheese. It's all Gouda and they make many different flavors. Definitely an interesting process! The cheese is all safe to keep on a shelf in your kitchen without going in the refrigerator as long as you take care of it properly. You have to keep in on a wooden shelf or board and turn it over every few days to let the moisture come out.

Cheese for sale

After seeing the cheese process, we saw how clogs are made. All clogs are made from Poplar wood because it's soft enough to work with. The guy giving the demonstration chopped up a piece of wood and put in on one of the two machines it takes to make a clog. There's a template to follow and the saw cuts the outside shape of the shoe in no time! Then he transferred the shoe over to the other machine and cut out the inside. Even though there are templates to follow, it's quite a honed skill. Neat to see! One rough clog only takes about 10 minutes with the few machines. 2 hours by hand (if you know what you're doing!)

Some of the finished clogs for sale

Once we were done with cheese and clogs, they served us breakfast. Bread, butter, dutch chocolate sprinkles (weird, but delicious!), ham, eggs, fruit, coffee, and lots of cheese. Leah did eat the cheese...everyone really liked it. She found out all the milk for the cheese comes from the cows on the farm. After breakfast, most people wandered in the gift shop looking for souvenirs. We walked out to the barn to see all the cows and chickens.

Breakfast on the farm

Some of the local cheese

Traditional Dutch breakfast sprinkles!

Our host

They had quite a few cows, which shouldn't be a surprise since they make a lot of cheese. Leah tried to feed me to a cow, but luckily, they weren't interested in fuzzy pineapples. So we took photos instead. We gave a bunch of cows some rubs and walked all the way to the back of the barn to see the baby cows. So cute! Leah let the babies suck on her finger a bit. This is where the vegan kicks in and we feel bad for the little cows. After giving most the cows some more pets, we washed up and headed back to the bus. (No souvenirs purchased) It was time for Amsterdam!

The barn of Moo

Cheeky getting to know the cows

Baby Moo!

It took another 30-45 minutes to get to our drop off point. Along the way we went from countryside to a bustling city. Mike our "guide" pointed out a few things like the hooks off the tops of buildings to hoist furniture and the three XXX flag for the city of Amsterdam. He said it stands for the three things that could threaten the city: Floods, Fire, and Plague. But after doing some quick research, turns out that's just a legend. The x's are actually crosses of St. Andrew who was crucified.

Once we all got off the bus, Mike took us on a short walk to the city center DAM square. There was a big monument in the middle and across the street a carnival was being set up. There was a big ferris wheel and a few other rides. We never made it over there to check it out. At this point, it was about 10am. We had until 8pm to do as we pleased. This is where the driver's mandatory rest period came into play again. He had to be stopped for 10 hours. So we were free for 10 hours in Amsterdam!

City Center Monument

City Center

It was a gloomy cloudy day. No rain in the afternoon...that would change...but our group of 7 came up with a bit of a game plan and got to it. We stopped in a pub for someone to hit the bathroom, but ended up staying since a few guys wanted a beer. Leah had a coffee. We had tickets to the Van Gogh museum at 12:30, but wanted to see the Anne Frank house too. We had time, so we walked in the direction of Anne Frank. There was no way we were getting into that museum today, so we took photos of the outside and walked back towards the direction of the Van Gogh museum.

Amsterdam is called the "Venice of the North" for good reason. So many canals! The boats were fund to watch.Those drivers have some skills too! Amsterdam has very cool architecture. All the buildings along the canals are built onto each other. Wall to wall until you get to another road. Old buildings, modern architecture, such a combination of everything. Neat to see the blend.

So many canals

And the bikes. We were warned about the bikes. I'm pretty sure Amsterdam is one of the most bike friendly cities in the world. They have their own lanes everywhere and you better keep an eye out for them. They don't stop! Thousands and thousands of bikes. Two people riding on one bike, bikes with little seats for kids in the front. Kids standing on the backs holding on to mom or dad, cargo bikes, motor bikes. No tandem, no mountain, no fancy road bikes, nothing fancy at all. Just simple commuting bikes. It was fantastic.

Back to the adventures of the day. Just before we went to see some art, we stopped at the I Am Amsterdam photo op. There were so many people in front of it doing the same thing, it's hard to see us in the photo, but a cool little stop.

I Am Amsterdam - (We're by the M")

Then we walked over to the museum. It was cool to see Van Gogh's work, but not all of this famous stuff was there. Starry Night, the Venice Cafe, and his more famous self portraits were all in different museums around the world. But the Sunflower painting was there. The museum had other artist in there as well including a few Claude Monet paintings. We got a few photos, but the staff kept a close watch. You're really not supposed to take pictures of the art. It only took us an hour to walk through. We picked up a post card for Mom at the gift shop and we all headed outside. Time to find lunch!

Van Gogh Musem

Famous Sunflowers

Sometimes with a group, it's hard to find a place to eat that's agreeable to everyone. Leah's a vegetarian, so that was probably the biggest challenge. Luckily, it didn't take much time at all! We found Cafe De Pjip and sat down to a nice lunch. Leah immediately was happy since they had a cider menu. She got the Blind Pig Honey and Smoke Spirit cider. It did not disappoint! To each she had a grilled pepper, onion, and hummus sandwich. So tasty! The bread was fantastic. Everyone was happy with their food and drink.

All of us at lunch.

Once we had food in our bellies, we walked over to the Heineken Experience. I can't say it was worth 18 euro, but it was an experience. From the few brewery tours we've done in the past, this was quite different. It wasn't just a small group going through with a guide. It was like herding cattle. A long line to get in, follow the big group to hopefully hear what the first stop's "guide" was saying, move on through....funny thing about the first stop though. The girl was talking about prohibition in the states. She said that when prohibition ended, all the brewers were racing to be the first back in the US. Heineken (according to them) was the first one back in there and that's why they hold a special place in the hearts of Americans. Now, I'm not 100% spun up on my prohibition and beer history, but living in Brew City, it seems like Miller never left, so I'm not sure how Heineken beat them back into the beer game after prohibition ended. Either way, it was an interesting perspective. As we walked through the Experience, we saw the history of Heineken, how the bottles and labels have changed, some versions of vats where beer is made, and into the stables where horses kind of like the Clydesdales of Anheuser Busch usually stay. They gave us one beer there, which Leah sipped and then passed on to one of our group members. After the stables, the experience continued. It turned into more of a party vibe. Lots of soccer references, a DJ music spot, a few other random interactive spots. You could get a bottle personalized for 6.50 euro. We did get a free bottle opener during the experience. At the end of all of this was a basement like bar that was jammed with people, club music playing pretty loud, and a super sticky floor. You had to cram your way through the crowd to get your two beers. Leah handed hers off to other people again after tasting a sip of the two different ones they had. Gross. She wasn't a fan of the club atmosphere, so she left before the other guys and met the two people from the group that didn't do the tour outside. I think we'll stick to the Milwaukee tours. Another reason our city is pretty dang awesome.

Heineke Experience

The group that went to Heineken

Inside Heineken

Inside Heineken

Cheek getting his two beers

When Leah made it outside, the two guys that didn't do the tour said they found a market and a vegan restaurant! What?! Once all the rest of the group made it out, we headed that way. Up until this point the weather had mostly held out minus a few sprinkles. It went downhill from there. We did find the Vegan Junk Food Bar and Leah asked to stop. It turns out it was a sit down restaurant, but they did food to go. She heard that the fries in Amsterdam were good, so she ordered some of those with the house sauce. So delicious! Everyone else that tried them agreed and were all surprised that it was vegan. Heck yes! From there we walked towards the street market so a few guys could have their Herring. YUCK. As we were walking, it started to really rain. We tucked under some cover as the guys slurped down their nasty fish. When in Rome? No thanks.

Vegan Junk Food Bar!

It was getting later in the day at this point. 5:30 or so and we had to be back to the bus at 8pm. We wanted to at least say we saw the Red Light district, so we walked in that direction. We had to stop for a few minutes as it started pouring again. Story of the rest of the night. Some of the guys were thinking about taking the bus, but the rain let up enough and we walked on. We found the Red Light district, but we basically just passed through it. It's definitely something to see, but we didn't stick around long enough to get a good idea. Interesting shops and people smoking funny things. See ya later...

Just another street in Amsterdam

Half the group wanted to stop for some dinner. We were all tucked under the awning of a Thai restaurant as it was pouring again, and they decided it was a good place to stop. Leah and two others weren't really feeling it, so we went in search of coffee and pastries. We saw so many shops all day, you'd think it would have been easy. Of course not. We wandered for a solid 20 minutes, in the on/off rain, but finally we found a small shop tucked in a side street that lived up to our expectations. Bonus was that it was located pretty close to our pickup point. Leah had a super delicious Almond Roll. The filling was very similar to almond Kringle. So good! She got to try a bite of a hot waffle with melted nutella on it. YUM!

Almond Roll. Yum!

After our snack, we stopped in a souvenir shop for the two others to grab something and then we made it back to our meeting point. We hung out in the lobby of a nice hotel until our bus arrived. We finally loaded up, and were on our way back to Germany. We watched Kindergarten Cop on the way back. When's the last time anyone watched that movie? "It's not a tumor!" haha. We had to stop for 45 minutes on the way home for a bus driver break. Half of us just stayed on the bus and tried to sleep. We arrived exactly on time at 2:30am. Zzzzzz.....We were back in the room and in bed shortly after that.

Overall a good day! With only 10 hours, it's hard to see everything. Amsterdam is a cool city and it'd be fun to check it out again at a slower pace.

Stats:
Steps Walked: 20,000
Souvenirs purchased: 1
Bikes seen: 1 Bazillion
Chances of returning 99.9%
Chances of living there: ~0%