We've had a great few days in Amsterdam. As it's not that long since we were here last (2 and a bit years) we haven't felt the need to rush off to see all the touristy sites again but have been soaking up the culture by just leisurely wandering the canals, looking into lots of quirky little shops, being assaulted by the strong smell of marijuana seeping out of cafes and just admiring the amazing architecture of crooked little houses, gabled windows, fancy front doors and old decorative friezes depicting everything from sheep, bakers, and ships to a cat in a vineyard, pilchards and Noahs Ark, just to name a few.
Saturday morning we went for a wander around Noordermarkt, a lively local market selling all sorts of things - lots of the usual global products you find at all markets, vintage art posters, 2nd hand clothes and books plus a huge section of fresh food which of course we were all most interested in. Cheese stalls were very popular (not surprising really!) with huge wheels on display, fresh fruit and veges, yummy looking fresh boutique breads, and one stall just of various types of mushrooms, most of them I've never seen before. Of course, Anika managed to seek out all the stalls offering free little tidbits.
So what do you do in Amsterdam on a sunny, spring Sunday? Do what all the locals do, get on your bike and head to Vondelpark to soak up some sunshine and that's just what we did. It took a little while for me to get my bike legs happening, (not being a particularly confident bike rider), but it wasn't quite as daunting as I thought it would be and I only almost had one collision so that was pretty good going really!
It was a beautiful day and just perfect for a ride through the streets and alongside the canals, down to Museumplein which was packed with tourists queuing to get into the Van Gogh museum, and then into Vondelpark which is a bit like Centennial Park (except no cars) with lots of bike paths, lakes, playgrounds and cafes. Although most of the trees are still looking quite wintery there are heaps of bulbs out everywhere and there were huge areas of grass carpeted in tulips, freesias and little hyacinths which looked beautiful.
Museumplein also had a heap of Van Gogh trees with their stark branches poking up at all angles into the sky and looking very atmospheric.
A person of Dutch extract who isn't confident on a bike!! That's hard to believe! One sure way to indicate that you are a tourist in Amsterdam is to wobble along on a bike and go the wrong way on a roundabout!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the blogging. My regular routine is to read your posts over my brekkie. Better than the daily newspaper.
I better own up that it was me writing that last post and not Peet, hence the wobbly bike riding. Peet was tour leader for the bike riding expedition and he was fine, it's just me who had such a deprived childhood not owning a bike or learning to ride a bike until I was about 12 or 14.
ReplyDeleteWe did know about the labour wipe out in Queensland (no surprises there really) as I have been checking in on the Herald website everyday to see what's been happening back home. I don't know much about Campbell Newman but in everything I've read about him he comes across as being a bit smug and smarmy.