Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Amsterdam Day 4.....or is it Heinekenville???





Another day unwinds in Amsterdam at our favorite bar, De Saloon. Made even more our favorite tonight as Prince's Purple Rain started playing shortly after we arrived.

We got up a bit on the early side today....10:30am!! We believe the city doesn't really get going until noon as the streets seem fairly empty until then. We started our day in hopes of touring the Heineken experience, but our dreams were soon crushed as it was closed until sometime in October...boo Heineken. We were directed to "The City", which ended up being just a large gift shop with all things Heineken, including a 78 euro sweatshirt Heather debated buying (ha ha). We tried our best to get our 3 free beers each we were promised on the tour, but to no avail.

We spent the afternoon exploring the outer areas of Amsterdam, and were surprised to find that there really is a normal looking city part to all this Dutch-ness.

Why do they even bother with food in America?!? We found dinner at a small Italian bistro around the corner from the hostel that promised pizza for 4 euros, and since we are on the cheap, we wandered in. How do we describe the fantastic-awesomeness of this food? We ordered a margarita pizza and a pasta with bacon, egg and cheese in a cream sauce, along with the best grape soda in the world...kinda like wine right? The pasta was perfectly cooked, with the rich cream sauce sticking to each piece. The pizza I don't think words can describe, and we aren't even in Italy yet! The cheese tasted like it the cow was hooked up to the restaurant it was so fresh. The wood oven cooked the crust to a perfect crisp texture with a nice smokey flavor from the fire. If this is what Italy is like, we may not come home, and we have a lead on the worlds greatest pizza in Naples.

After cleaning up a bit and recovering from our feast, we left again for a final night in the city on the river Amstel. We walked through the Red Light District one more time, up and down some canals and went to a bar called the Old Nickel, where we tried some more Trappist Monk beers from Holland. Can't wait to find those monks in Belgium! (More to come on that adventure)

We walked up towards the Dam Square and had a drink served by a smart ass waiter, who offered to buy our drinks if we didn't like them, and even informed us that he knew how to make change!! After dark we made one last pass through the Red Light District to see it all lit up, and got caught in a bit of a rainstorm. So a short 30 minute walk in the rain, with a brief stop to buy another cone of the greatest ice cream on the planet at the Australian ice cream shop, here we are back at De Saloon winding down another night for the 3rd time.

H & C

PS to review: TINY TINY cars in Europe, and Thousands and Thousands of bicycles everywhere.... there will be a quiz at the end of the trip so pay attention!

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Heather and Charlie,
Have caught up on all the news from Amsterdam. How exciting that you can actually drink a beer that Jon has not tried - just kidding, Jon. I do like Heineken too!!
Love, MOM

Unknown said...

Charlie and Heather,
You are doing a great job with the pictures and narration on the blog. It really helps our anxiety level to hear from you often.
Love, MOM and DAD

Unknown said...

the way you guys discribe food makes me soo hungry! .. sauce on every noodle .. Yum-O! But a margarita pizza? I like my (anything) margarita with tequila and strawberries please.
I had my first dream about you last night heather! We were in the liquor store and i was trying to get you to try a drink called a fuzzie (SP?) - its 1/2&1/2, frozen lemonaid, vodka and ice all blended up! YUM-O (hopefully im not missing a direction or ingrediant.. i'll get back to you on that one)
...so could you get anything for a euro in the red light district?

Cheddar said...

for one euro in the red light you could get a dirty look probably on the house.

Cheddar said...

Yes and if you take a picture of the girls you could get anything from a cup of pee thrown at you or you and your camera might go for a swim in the canal, not worth getting a shot of!!!