Amsterdam {Bikes & Canals}

We spent last weekend in Amsterdam.  Being only an hour and ten minute flight away, it's pretty easy and accessible for us.  Our friends from San Francisco, Chris & Morgan were ending their European holiday there for the weekend, and we thought it was the perfect excuse for a weekend trip.

A great canal shot

To say the least, Amsterdam was beautiful.  It's made up of countless canals and a million bikes.  We spent our weekend soaking up the sun, cruising around town on rental bikes, snacking on dutch gouda, and watching all the boats pass along the canals.

Dutch Gouda

Now, I mentioned cheese already, but other things that come to mind when you think of Amsterdam might be Coffee Shops and the Red Light District.  They are definitely a scene, but in no way define the city - unless, of course, that is what you're after.  That said, we did take a quick stroll through the Red Light District the first night.

Main area of the Red Light District

Neighborhood Coffee Shop

We stopped off at the Van Gogh museum. It's so cool to see Van Gogh's work progress over the years and how different some of his work was leading up to his famous paintings.  It was a similar experience to the Picasso museum we went to in Barcelona.  And of course, seeing the famous paintings up close is pretty cool.  I love Van Gough.

In the middle of the museum area

Bridge names on the railings of the bridges

We arrived in Amsterdam at 9am, and after a day of orientating, picnicking and some culture, we were able to meet up with our friends Chis and Morgan.  Check out the amazing table they were able to get at the cafe - canal side.  It was so nice to see some familiar faces from back home.

A perfect beginning to a fun evening

I probably took 200 photos in 2 days, and I'm guessing 150 of them were of the canals.  All different canals and locations, but they just kept getting better.  Below are a few of the highlights.

Canals just before dusk

Canals at dusk

Canals at dusk & us

Canals in the morning

Canals in the afternoon

Canals in the afternoon & bikes

Hanging out on canals

Ok, you get the idea.  There are more, just wait.  Saturday morning we made a trip to the Farmers Market and swooned over the fresh produce, meats, cheeses, eggs, bread and especially mushrooms.  Dublin, why, why don't you have a decent farmers market?

Our favorites, so tempting.

We made a lap, looking for a small snack for breakfast and ended up deciding to get a cappuccino and enjoy the scene for a while before indulging.  I sent Brian into a popular cafe on the edge of the market while I sat outside saving seats.  Brian walked out with 2 cappuccinos and a slice of apple pie, for breakfast.  It turns out Amsterdam is known for Apple Pie and Winkle happens to have the reputation for the best apple pie in the city.  It was delicious, but let's be honest, my Mom makes a pretty killer apple pie....but, I never got that for breakfast growing up.

The famous pie

Back on the tourist trail, we visited the Ann Frank House.  While a very tough and somber subject, seeing Ann Frank's house and diary is pretty amazing and a little eerie at the same time.  To walk on the same floors and see the actual house and hidden quarters reminds you how real and recent it all was.

Ann Frank house (The guy with the green shirt is in front of it)

And then we were back to the canals, biking and picnicking.

Another beautiful bridge

Classic Amsterdam

Same area as above but with me.

My view for most of the trip - following Brian biking

Stopping for some snacks

This is in their "Central Park"

And finally we got on the water for a canal cruise.  We tried to rent our own private small boat but because the weather was so nice, they were all booked up.  The nice thing about our tour was we learned a little about the city.

Sun + Boat = Happy Husband

One thing we learned was the name Amsterdam comes from "The Dam on the Amstel River".  Because there is so much water in the city, all the building are built on 12 meters of wood.  Because of this, the buildings aren't that stable and you often see leaning buildings, like the one below.

See it leaning to the right?  I noticed a lot of leaning building around the city

Being on the water, the canals were just as beautiful

We're on a boat!

After our boat tour, we had a few more hours before we needed to head to the airport.  So we spent our last moments drinking wine and boat watching on the canal.

The street we stayed on

We had a beautiful weekend in Amsterdam full of things that Europe does well, biking, boating and markets.  We're so close by, I'm hopeful we'll make it back while we're here.