Twisted In Amsterdam

Munich to Amsterdam 

Our longest train ride yet, from Munich to Amsterdam, was a lot less painful than we suspected. Nine hours went quickly in a comfortable seat with the rhythm of the train lulling us off to sleep every so often.

Amsterdam Central Station

We woke up swiftly though, getting off the train at Amsterdam central station, as it was a bee hive of activity. Backpackers and travelers rushed in every direction. The city starts right outside the front doors of the station. We jumped in excited to see what it had to offer.

Chic & Basic

Our hotel, the Chic & Basic (sounded like chicken base when the staff said it), was that exactly. A little worn around the edges with some odd paint choices but right in the middle of the action and it did the job.

Nothing to hide

Since we arrived in the evening we immediately stowed our bags and headed out to wander the neighbourhood. We noticed that window coverings are rarely employed. At dusk, with the interiors lit, street views of some absolutely awesome lofts and flats made for interesting entertainment. It seems that having your life on display (with you in it) is fashionable but it was a little hard not to look like a gawker. 

Café De Dokter

The red light district was only a stone’s throw away from the hotel. We headed in that direction with an eye out for a bar to wet our whistle on the way. Randomly turning corners we came upon a little place called Café De Dokter. Opened in 1798, it is still owned by the same family today.

Incredible patina

The interior remains relatively untouched and has some incredible patina. The bar itself is made of sterling silver with the original tap in place. The back bar was festooned with memorabilia and original bottles and the lighting was predominantly candlelight.

Candlelight

In fact, the candles had been placed in the same spot every night charring the wooden shelf above them. On the shelf, a row of unopened but very cooked wine bottles dating back to when the bar opened.

Augustyn Trappist

The beer of choice was a special Augustyn Trappist beer that was excellent. I later discovered it is a whopping 10% alcohol of which 2 pints worked some serious magic.

Red Light District

We returned to the streets well lubricated (no pun intended) giggling like school kids passing the windows of the red light district. Walking down one street there were several women on display, mostly looking like Polish wrestlers or off duty cleaning ladies (no disrespect). Each one giving us her best “come hither” look.

Window shopped

As we sauntered and red light window shopped, like potential customers, there was the sweet scent of smoking ham in the air from a butcher shop at the end of the street. I recalled my first professional cooking job as a short order breakfast cook.  In the morning when we cooked off the bacon my cousin (Chef Paul) would turn off the oven hood to let the bacon smell waft out the door and bring the customers in by their nose.

Food porn

On the streets of Amsterdam, I am not sure it was having the same effect but it did bring a new meaning to the words “food porn” and it was making me hungry.

Burger Bar

I had scoped out a few cheap places to hit up for food and one was within a few blocks, called Burger Bar. They claimed to make the best burger in Amsterdam and killer fries so we decided to put them to the test.

Loaded burgers

Happily, they passed with flying colours, cooking up two fully loaded juicy burgers with what would turn out to be the best fries of that leg of our tour.

Anne Frank

The next day we got up late and primed ourselves with a couple of espressos in the hotel lobby. Heading out in a different direction this time to see how long the line would be to get into Anne Frank house. As we approached we could see that it was longer than either of us wanted to stand for. We decided we would come back in the evening when the line, hopefully, would be shorter.

Psychedelic

While deciding where we would head next I noticed a freaky looking dude motoring up the canal in a tiny dinghy painted in psychedelic colours. A small hand pump calliope was mounted in front and a trumpet in his hand.

Wynton Marsalis

As I kept watching he put his dinghy into a slow-moving, tight spiral and then rose to his feet. Like Wynton Marsalis, he played a beautiful tune on his horn while balancing in his boat and then pointed to the clock tower of the church next to us.  As if on cue the chimes on the tower echoed the same tune, it was exactly 11 am.

His calliope

Sitting again he cranked on his calliope with one hand and played his trumpet with the other still with his boat stuck in a slow-moving circle. He pointed again to the tower and again the chimes echoed his tune and the crowd started to pay more attention. He repeated this for a few more songs and then was able to play harmonies along with the church bells and finish the pieces the church would start, it was without a doubt the best street (or canal) act we have ever seen or heard.  

Man in the tower

At the end of the show, he asked the crowd to call up to the tower to see if anyone would reply and unbelievably a man, waving a towel, popped out of a door on the clock face. The crowd went wild and that was his cue to extend a huge fishing pole with a wooden clog on a string to the crowds on the bridge above and collect his pay.

Febo

We had heard that there was a chain of fast food restaurants that sold their food from small compartments in a large wall. Reminiscent of automats from days gone by. Intrigued, we found a Febo and gave it a go.

Fresh hot food

The idea is that they load these compartments from behind with fresh hot food. You make your selection, insert a few euros and it unlocks the door letting you grab your goodies and get eating right away.

Kroket or frikandel

This is cheap eating at its best, where you will find things like kroket (deep fried veal stew) or frikandel (fried meat shaped like a sausage).

The munchies

It’s the kind of place that caters to people leaving Amsterdam coffee shops with a serious case of the munchies, not for discerning palates such as ours (haha).

In hiding

Later that night we returned to the Anne Frank house and were glad to find the line quite a bit shorter. Anne Frank is, of course, the young Jewish girl who hid with seven other people, including her family, in a secret section of a house for two years during WWII. Trying to avoid being captured by the Nazis. Her diaries were eventually turned into a book that chronicles her time in hiding.

Multimedia presentation

The museum is a progression of rooms leading up to the actual hidden rooms that they lived in and ending in a multimedia presentation of their arrest and aftermath.

Twisted ankle

On our final day, we headed out toward the flower and book market. Unfortunately, I had severely twisted (possibly sprained) my ankle the previous day and it was now causing me some pain and difficulty walking for long periods. This put the kibosh on more long lines for museums and left us with short jaunts, with rests in between at a couple more pubs. 

Stroopwafel

We also decided to search out one of Holland’s traditional and delicious treats, the stroopwafel. A stroopwafel is a cookie made up of two thin waffles with gooey caramel in between. They can be found at every tourist shop in town in bags of ten or so but we were looking for a true homemade stroop.  

The best cookie

Back at our favourite pub, Café De Dokter, we asked the bartender whether he could direct us to a shop that may sell such a cookie. Without hesitation, he knew the very place to send us and it was only a short hobble away.

Fresh from the oven

True to his word, the shop served up fresh from the oven stroops that were absolute heaven and not only the standard caramel variety but ones made with honey instead.

Coming to an end

Our time in Amsterdam was now coming to an end and we realized that, at a glance, the food is mostly influenced by French and Belgian cuisine. Amsterdam is best known for pickled herring, cheese, tulips and pot. We will need to come back and explore the cuisine more closely. So no recipes for this entry but I will give you two when I tell you about our time in Antwerp.