In the morning, we woke up to this view. Just lovely.
The apartment we rented was on the Kiersersgracht, one of the main canals circling the city. Below J and the kids are standing in front of the apartment in the bottom left corner and the kids are jumping off the front stoop.
It was a great location - not very touristy but within walking distance to everything we wanted to see and do.
Amsterdam is an absolutely beautiful city. Photos do not do it justice.
Breakfast at the famous Pancake Bakery was a bust when we arrived to find the doors shuttered. Luckily we found a cute place for breakfast right around the corner. After breakfast we walked to playground in front of the Noordekerk. Before any trip I like to scope out a few playgrounds for us to visit - this one was very close to our breakfast spot.
After the park we were all a bit low on energy so we decided it would be a good time to take a canal cruise. It was very relaxing and provided a new vantage point from which to see the city. C tells me this was one of her favorite parts of our entire trip however given that she fell asleep for most of the ride I'm not exactly sure how to take that.
Once we got off the boat, we decided to head back to the apartment. We didn't have a particular route in mind and stumbled across Van Der Linde bakery. There was a huge line of people out front and everyone was coming out with ice cream cones. This was a line for me. J thought I was crazy to just get in line but the woman ahead of me assured us that is was worth it.
For just two euros, I walked out with two cones of what I thought would be vanilla ice cream. There were no options on flavors - this is what was being served in cone, cup or waffle sandwich.
The first taste was definitely a surprise. It was light and fluffy and tasted a bit like egg cream. After doing a little research later I found out that it is actually whipped ice cream and apparently is a bit of a 'secret' amongst the locals. Lucky us.
To see more photos from our trip to Amsterdam, click here.
I have always wanted to go to Amsterdam -been to the airport many times but never gone outside. Looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteit's a darling city - definitely keep it on your list of places to visit. You could even come visit us in London and we could go with you :]
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