Amsterdam for Christmas

We left Naples around noon to head for our mid-evening flight from Tampa. We wanted to get dinner first so we made the mistake of stopping at an outdoor mall on December 22nd. It was so insane that I feared we'd miss our flight over a smoothie! We didn't, but those Christmas shoppers were intense. We made it to the rental car return and to our flight with no issue.

I'd been excited because we got seats in a row of two so I thought we'd be living the high life. I was wrong. This particular plane's seats reclined so far that the person in front of you, if they were a-holes and reclined, were all but sitting in your lap. The flight attendant had to actually make the man in front of Jackson sit up so that Jackson could eat the provided meal. It was such a cramped space making for a very long flight. We didn't sleep at all. We did, however, watch some good movies. Rough Night was like the female version of Hangover and had us laughing so loudly that we may have disturbed other passengers. The Descendants was a decent film that made us want to make travel plans to Hawaii again soon!

We finally made it to Frankfurt, Germany and hightailed it through immigration to catch our flight to Amsterdam. We were fairly certain we were going to miss our flight as the German officials were in no hurry. Luckily, we did not as the attendant boarding our flight made some mistakes and caused a small delay. Hooray for travel victories! We got on that flight and the plane was all but empty. This meant I could stretch out and sleep on Jackson's lap for an hour. You guys, I passed out. Poor Jackson couldn't even get to his iPad for that hour. He just sat there. He should have moved me, but he was too kind to do that.

We got to Amsterdam and had no customs to clear because Germany had already covered that which was a nice bonus. Once we'd successfully gotten our luggage (always scary on tight connections) and had two of our three credit cards not work in the train ticketing machines, the magical, final credit card worked and we secured train tickets into the city's center. Europe is so good about public transit and taking the train is far easier and less expensive than hailing an Uber.

Tired traveler on the train to
Amsterdam's city center

We got to the train station which was massive and beautiful. Luckily, it has free wifi so we got directions to our hotel and headed off. We'd booked this hotel for its proximity to the train station so it took us less then 10 minutes of rolling our bags through town to find our new home for the next few days. In a travel miracle that I'll always have gratitude for, our room was ready at like 10:30 a.m. local time. This NEVER happens. The idea that we could stretch out and take a nap after that cramped flight across the Atlantic was the best news.

The view from our room

Do you hear angels singing?
I did when I saw this!

Wild bathroom tile that
eventually grew on me

I'd like to tell you that we just went out and explored right away to try to adjust to the time difference. That would be a lie. We showered and got into bed for a 4+ hour nap that was delightful. After closing on our house, moving across the country, shuffling all around the west coast of Florida and numerous holiday celebrations these two old folks needed a rest. It was such a relief to have gotten to that point without any travel issues that I think we slept like logs out of sheer relief.

We did eventually rise because we were hungry. Airplane food is gross and I just don't eat it. Jackson ate a tiny bit, but not much either. Our travel guide, Rick Steves, said that a particular "flemish fries" stand in town was the best in Europe so we had to check it out. You're tempted to call them french fries. They are not. They're cooked twice and the crispiest most wonderful things you'll ever eat. The fact that McDonald's exists here is a miracle after trying these little golden gifts.

Flemish fries? Yes, please.

It was POURING down rain that evening and the good tourists of Amsterdam were unfamiliar with how to politely use umbrellas in public so we cut our evening of exploring short and found an Italian restaurant near the hotel for a proper dinner. I had soup because it was chilly with the rain and it was actually quite good. I didn't know what to expect of Italian soup in the Netherlands! I also had spaghetti because I figured it was hard to mess up and Jackson had a rotisserie chicken. I don't think we've ever had a more random meal. It was good, though! After that we just retired for the evening as we were plum out of fuel.

Jackson in Dam Square

The skies cleared and the next morning was perfect for sightseeing. We walked around, grabbed lunch and took in the city's offerings including cheese tasting and marijuana everything.

Clearly Jackson had a contact high because he decided that he wanted to get me a Louis Vuitton purse for Christmas. To be fair, they are significantly less expensive in Europe because of customs fees that get applied when they enter the United States. We were also able to buy them without VAT (value added tax, similar to sales tax) since we are not EU citizens. All in all we saved about $600 on the purse I'd been eyeing for close to ten (yes, ten) years. Yes, it was still too expensive. Yes, I will carry it for the rest of my life. 

"Just ham and cheese on bread?!"
The waiter thought I was insane.

A city of canals

Reaction to gross cheese he tasted

Clear day view

The alleys were so pretty

City views

On Christmas Eve we went for a tour of the Anne Frank Museum and then on a boat tour of the city to see its Christmas light displays.

Jackson was fond of this tree

We also found the cutest bakery for a quick snack

THIS MUFFIN WILL FOREVER LIVE IN MY HEART
IT WAS SO AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS

Looking across at the Anne Frank Museum

The secret stairs to Anne Frank's hiding spot

Anne and her dog!!!

Listen, I make us go to quite a few museums as I've gotten really nerdy in my old age and this one was BY FAR the BEST we've ever visited. They frowned upon photos so we didn't take many, but if you're ever in the area certainly get tickets. What a brave little girl she was.

We walked from the museum across town a bit to get on our canal tour. They were really proud of the light displays that turned out to be kind of lame. A few of them were really cool, but the boat went SO SLOW that we were super bored and fighting sleep!

A light display on a bridge

Enjoying the view from the boat

The canals from our tour boat

This was deep.

We were pleased to get off the boat and meander back across town to our hotel.

The city was so vibrant at night

Modeling my new purse

Christmas Eve dinner: noodles!

We found a cool make your own chow mein place that was just delicious and inexpensive for a late Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas in another country is always interesting. The reason we picked Amsterdam for a Christmas visit was due to their lack of religion. We thought this might mean that more sights would be open through the holiday break. We were right. The city was still pretty alive. We didn't have a lot of plans so we just wandered around town soaking in the sights.

Christmas Flemish Fries!

We visited their stock exchange

We found the noodle place again for lunch! YUM!

I loved this house

The department store where we got my Louis

The quintessential Amsterdam photo 

Christmas Jackson

Christmas Jenna

The city itself was lovely

Cars park right next to water without guardrails! 

One of the fancier buildings around

Petefish

Another view of the Anne Frank Museum in the daylight

Oh, look. I found the bakery again for
a Christmas Day treat!!

Guys. Is this not adorable?

We'd read that one must visit the
Flower Market

We loved all the different booths

The smells were heavenly

The backs of the booths

Cute neighborhood

Everything is marijuana

A museum about weed. I didn't insist we visit.

I did, however, insist that we visit the Red Light District.

This sign made my blood boil.

I totally agree that taking photos of the workers in the windows is unacceptable, but the idea that they keep women safe by keeping men happy just pissed me clean off. It was an...interesting...experience to see these workers. They have a large window they dance in front of and then a bed behind them. It looked like the school nurse's office, honestly. There was nothing sexy about it. The trade is highly regulated and each bed had to have a pillow. It was just so odd. We saw quite a few workers and one even thought Jackson was interested and tried to appeal to him. I'll never forget his face when the worker called out to him. :) 

We walked around the district at around 5pm on Christmas Day so it was a little slower than normal. I'm OK with that. I don't think I would have been comfortable with the place in the dark. 

Looking down the Red Light District

Petefish in front of their gorgeous train station

Jackson looking handsome

Christmas FaceTime with our girl!

Look, druggie Santa

We tried to go out for dinner on Christmas night and it just didn't work out. We ended up eating take out in our room and even that was kind of a nightmare due to finding coins in our cooked food. We enjoyed seeing Amsterdam, but we were not sad to be leaving. It is truly a place where people come to explore their whims and forget their manners. Some of the side neighborhoods were truly lovely, but the main part of town near our hotel was regrettable. 

Those are ALL bikes. Over 3,000 bikes are parked here daily.

We grabbed a train on the 26th and headed for Antwerp, Belgium to continue our adventures. Amsterdam is certainly worth the visit, but I was not sad at all to be moving on. A visit during the warmer months would probably be even better.

Peace out, Amsterdam!