Day 11, Sunday 1 May – Chilling back at the park, pancakes, cheese and wine
As per our previous post, we intended to take it really easy on Sunday. As it turned out, we had walked 15.17Km on Saturday – we believed we deserved a rest!
After a lazy morning we decided that it would be best to get some fresh air. In this case we decided to check out Vondelpark as well as decided whether the Museumplein would be worthwhile for our honeymoon.
The park was not as we expected; in Australia parks are quiet, peaceful places where you’d expect to see elderly people and families walking their pets or enjoying the quiet serenity of nature. This is not the case in Amsterdam. There are people EVERYWHERE, with buskers playing music, and folks enjoying their barbeques on the lawn. It was a spring day in Amsterdam and the scene seemed similar a hot day on an Australian beach – young people basking in the sun checking out the local goods (wink, wink).
We enjoyed the walk and the tulips which the Netherlands is famous. We then decided it was probably time for something to eat and checked out De Vier Pilaren which was a pancake and poffertjes place. We ordered a lemon pancake as well as a Nutella pancake – they go quite nicely together!
After enjoying our pancakes (with coffee) we headed back to the hotel. On our way we picked up wine, cheese, olives and a selection of antipasto meats. We had these back at the hotel while watching Dutch television trying to figure out what the characters were saying.
Day 12, Monday 2 May – Canal cruise, De Poezenboot and the Sex Museum
Our Monday started with a 45-minute canal cruise from our hotel room to the Amsterdam Centraal train station. The canal cruise was quite pleasant as Chantal and I got to view the surrounding areas and the houseboats. Some of the houseboats are impressively elegant and well designed.
Once we arrived near Centraal we immediately stopped for breakfast and coffee before moving onto doing our laundry (yes we brought our laundry on the canal cruise). While waiting for the laundry we walked into the sex museum which was nearby.
The sex museum is on one of the main streets and pretty popular. There’s artwork, old photographs and magazines, diaries and letters from famous people, all around the theme of sex. Oh and of course there’s oversized phallic objects everywhere.
We wrapped up at the sex museum, picked up our laundry and moved on to the main part of the day – De Poezenboot (The Catboat). This is a houseboat which was converted into a cat sanctuary for stray and abandoned cats. It’s become quite a tourist attraction for people who like cats (just like us!). One thing we noticed was that the cats weren’t just in cages, allowed to roam when their were visitors. It is literally a heaven for cats with scratching posts, high ledges to jump onto, as well as little sun beds laid out in front of the window with the view of the canal. The cats were great natured and beautiful. We spent quite a bit of time in there patting and hanging out with De Poezenboot’s residents.
After we reluctantly left the cat boat we made our way back to the hotel and freshened up for dinner. We then made our way back into the city to Miu, an all you can eat style Japanese restaurant. We ate until we felt sick but it wasn’t because of the food, it was the quantity. Miu certainly deserved its high ranking on TripAdvisor. Our only issue was with tipping (we still haven’t properly figured this out).
As we were stumbling around Amsterdam trying to find a tram back to Centraal, we took a turn and decided to continue in the direction of the Red Light District. We had somewhat explored this area the day before but during the day. It’s certainly takes on new life after dark! There’s some things we learnt about the Red Light District:
- There are literal red lights above the windows where prostitutes present themselves for purchase
- If there aren’t lit windows, there are live sex shows. These must be popular because we saw at least three of them within a 400 metre stretch
- The Red Light District is extremely popular at night, even on a weekday. We had trouble walking a short distance due to the massive crowd
Day 13, Tuesday 3 May – Jordaan, Pancakes again, and Amsterdam Royal Palace
Having walked no less than 11Km the previous day, Tuesday was another lazy day for us. We slept in and at about midday decided it was time to do something on our last day. We had originally planned to travel to Den Haag but after some research we soon realised that Leiden and Den Haag were deserving of more than just a day trip – we promised the Netherlands we will be back again!
We took a train and then a tram to Jordaan, the area near Anne Frank’s house and found a neat little pancake place – Sara’s HhshshslHPancakes. We had delicious savoury pancakes with sauerkraut, sausage, chili and hollandaise sauce.
After brunch we walked around the stores and boutiques, admiring the wears. At one point we accidentally went into a University building where Chantal did a great job with a rotating door and ran straight into the Perspex.
We grabbed a coffee at a place which stocked Soy (hard to find!) and then took a tram to the Dam. This is where we took a tour of the Amsterdam Royal Palace where we were awed at the magnificence of this 17th century building. It was originally the town hall of Amstelredamme before becoming the royal palace for Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother, Napoleon Luis. It is now a property of the State at the disposal of King Willem-Alexander. We took many pictures and soaked in the grandeur of the palace.
We had a great dinner at the O’Reily’s Irish Pub a couple of streets away and then made our way back to our hotel from Amsterdam city for the last time.
Now we are homeward bound, ready to sleep in our own bed and hug our beloved cats.
Chris and Chantal 