Amsterdam - Running in Vondelpark

I got up early this morning and went for a run in the beautiful Vondelpark, located directly to the left of my hotel. It has a 3.3 km loop that winds around ponds, fountains, sculptures, wide grassy areas, funky playgrounds, local restaurants, stately mansions, and pretty much anything else you will ever want to see.

This round metal fence is apparently where you clip all the keys and other valuables that people lost while running through the park. Everything here is a piece of art....even the lost & found!

Came back and had a scrumptious breakfast at the MoMo restaurant in the Park Hotel. It is called an American breakfast buffet, but I don't recall seeing half of the things I ate at any buffet in Eden Prairie. Chocolate sprinkles on toast and roasted tomatoes with pesto are not typical EP fare. :)

Saturday in Amsterdam

I got to sleep in for the first time probably since before I had kids and decided today I would do as much exploring of the city as I could in the afternoon. The Park Hotel is right in the middle of all the action and everything is so easy to walk to within 5-10 minutes. I went through the Reijks museum, which was literally next door to the hotel and is the entry way to the whole Museumplein, which is a huge green area that is dedicated to all the local museums (Van Gogh and many others). Many people were in line for the museums so I decided to browse outside instead. Plenty of fun things to see: Heineken brewery, cool buildings, art supply stores, and of course a true "American" hot dog stand. lol

ArtZuid was also cool - a series of sculpture gardens, fountains and beautiful restored houses all within a few city blocks. I even got to see a bride and groom take their wedding photos while I was there. :) There were lots of tourists from everywhere around the world, milling around and taking pictures. i took note of all the interesting clothing styles I was seeing. Some were European - clearly wearing a combo of 80's/90's era clothing with scarves and lots of layered sweaters and tight jeans and bright statement pants: pink, red, salmon, blue and green. Others were from Asia with sunhats, black sunglasses, backpacks, cameras and black jackets. The Americans were wearing cargo shorts, A&F polo shirts, columbia jackets, and white tennis shoes. My favorite was a European couple riding a tandem bike. The man had a gray suit, nice scarf and shiny brown Italian leather shoes. The woman was wearing a stylish purple dress with a big flowing skirt and pearls. They looked like they were right out of a classic 1940's movie.

I love that there are so many little shops and restaurants in the narrow Dutch buildings that are jammed next to each other throughout the city. Each street is unique and has its own character. Each one is lined with a million bikes. Unlike newer cities, there is not a distinct architectural difference between buildings on one street versus another. With exception of the museum district, they are mostly the charming historical stone and brick buildings that you think of when you think of Holland.

There is a really cool street market that takes up about 10-15 city blocks on Albert Cuyp Straat. They sell everything from clothing, scarves and jewelry (all neon) to flowers, fresh fish, cheese wheels, olives, fresh waffles, mixed nuts, fruits/veggies, and bike tires. It's a really popular place to go and I spent a lot of time there this afternoon. For 2.50 Euros, you can get almost any kind of fresh made treat.

I also went to the local grocery store called Dirk to grab a salad and a chocolate croissant. Unlike US markets, dairy products are kept on the shelves, not in the refrigerator. I also thought the refrigerators were interesting. The glass is so clear you almost can't tell that there are doors there.

After a good 6 hours of hiking around the city, I decided to get a burger and fries a local outdoor cafe. The burger came out on top of a piece of toast with curry sauce and banana peppers. It was unusual, but very tasty! You never know just what you will get here. Followed it up with handmade pistachio ice cream from a  tiny store on Leidsestraat in the shopping district. Perfect ending to a great day!

Two pointers for travelers going to Amsterdam:
1) Take lots of cash. Mastercard is not widely accepted (Visa is in some places) and their credit card machines sometimes have issues with American cards because they don't have a microchip in them like European cards do. You'll have to pay in cash at any street vendor or market, as well as taxis and trams.

2) Know where the bike lanes are and watch out for bikers at all times. Bicyclists are very fast here and they do not stop for you. In order of priority on the street it goes: Bicycles, people, cars. I saw several unaware tourists start walking into bike lanes without looking and almost get run down.

Amsterdam ABC's: Amstel, Boats, Canals

I started off my first full day in Amsterdam with a visit to TMC office and had a great meeting with Arthur de Ruiter - Europe manager of TMC. He showed me his office with a beautiful 10th floor view and introduced me to his team of 12. We had lunch at a small cafeteria nearby, and in true Dutch fashion every piece of meat was deep fried and covered in mayo or tarter sauce. No thanks! I opted for salad and some kind of soup that tasted like it was made with leeks, parsley and onions. Arthur informed me that the chef there was a retired chef from a famous restaurant and that he really takes pride in his food. The TMC employees make it a point to compliment him on his skills regularly, which results in VIP treatment from the chef at every cafeteria visit. :)

I returned to headquarters for the afternoon and spent my time meeting with Jason Knox, the Amsterdam trans branch manager (new as of 2012) and after that, the sales guy from Supply Chain Movement magazine. The sales guy got really heated up when I asked him how they measure the success of their magazine. He said "You Americans! It's always about "click rates" and "open rates" and all that rubbish. I base my success on personal relationships with all my subscribers. I KNOW what they like!" ;-) As he continued to hard sell us on his networking abilities, Sophie and I watched all the other people in the office take off early into the bright sunny day, wishing we could join them. One and half hours later, we thankfully got out and into the sun ourselves!

Sophie showed me her cool new scooter and I took my first tram in Europe back to the hotel. While riding through the city, I saw that there was a sand volleyball tournament going on right in the middle of some big festival going on. Wish I would have jumped out to watch for a few minutes. I never turn down a good sand vball tourney!

After we freshened up, I walked up to Sophie's apartment and she and her boyfriend, Nick, took me out on their boat for a tour of the canals.It was great to see Amsterdam from the locals perspective. I also learned that you don't need a license to drive a boat here, unless it's a really big one. That is so reassuring, isn't it? All the cool kids were out with their boats, their 90's neon sunglasses, and their sound systems blasting dance tunes as we went by. Lots of people also sit alongside the water, dangling their feet over the edges of the canals while they eat ice cream and soak up the sun.

We stopped at a landmark windmill brewery and picked up another colleague, Alex, and the four of us boated around the canals for a couple hours. Boat parking is a tough business because there are no reserved parking spots in the canals. You have to be territorial and push boats out of the way. When we got to Nick's spot, there were two boats already parked there. We proceeded to untie them and double park them outside of Nick's boat so they could still get out. Soon after we parked, another boat tried to triple park outside of the other one! Unbelievable.

After the boating adventure we walked all over town across cobblestone streets, dodging crazy bicyclists, looking for a restaurant that had available seating, but they were all full. We finally found a cute little place called Nel, nestled on a large outdoor terrace, that had seating available at 9:00pm and we finally had our dinner in hand by 9:30pm. I was so hungry I would have eaten the table itself. Thankfully, I didn't have to! I had a lovely lemon sole fillet with veggies, mashed potatoes and an apple cake for dessert, called "Appleschnitt".

After dinner, I walked the 1.5 miles back to the hotel, enjoying the evening air and sounds of the city. Amsterdam is the type of place where you can feel very safe walking around by yourself. I really like that because it saves so much money on taxis and trams. 

A note to my sister, who thinks I am gorging myself on food while on my "European vacation": I promise that I will still fit into that bridesmaids dress when I get back! :) I probably walked 4-5 miles today after 5pm, and I'm avoiding a plethora of deep fried meats. I think my arteries will also thank me later.