We got a relatively early headstart on our second day in Amsterdam, since we'd gone to bed early on Monday evening after being awake for more than 24 hours. Once up, I wanted to visited the i amsterdam sign and since our hostel was a 10 minute walk from the museum campus, I decided we had better hit it up before we headed further downtown. Elia wasn't interested, so while she got ready, I made the walk by myself, and was able to see the outside of the various museums as well.
After we were ready, we decided to skip out on the hostel breakfast and hit up a cute little pancake place we'd seen nearby. We decided on strawberries with whipped cream as the topping, and shared one, which was DELICIOUS. Unfortunately, their espresso machine was broken (WTF) so I had fresh-squeezed orange juice instead, which was good, but just not the same.
We then caught the nearest tram and made our way back to the Centraal station in order to store our bags so we could walk around some more. By the way, the central train station in Amsterdam is absolutely gorgeous. The exterior of the building is not only beautiful, but also one of the only large buildings we saw that wasn't under some kind of construction.
We didn't have a specific agenda downtown, so we just wandered wherever looked interesting. There were a few amazing churches that we stopped in, we checked out a department store and the mall (looking for a black dress for me and some swimming trunks for Rich), saw various interesting displays of food and did a lot of window shopping. We also saw the palace, which had a ton of folks dressed up in elaborate costumes (or looking like the grim reaper) a la what one might see on the Embarcadero.
The most fascinating part of our morning adventures was probably when we entered the red light district. I had been told what to expect by my parents, but it was still quite a shock to see, and Elia was totally blown away. The area of town itself was interesting and a bit "hip" but it also managed to be pretty skeezy at the same time.
Along the way, we decided to get some fries, as they looked and smelled delicious whenever anyone passed with some. So we got fries with peanut sauce which were... interesting... but not super awesome. Still, it was part of the experience, although some folks (ahem, Sander) might argue that getting fries in the Netherlands (and not Belgium) is a bit of a faux pas.
Nearby, we saw a sign for bus tours, which we decided might be a good way to see more of the city and spare some walking, so we bought tickets for one and slowly made our way to the bus stop. Our tour went around the city, covering some parts we'd seen and a lot we hadn't. It also took us to the Gassan Diamond Museum which was one part interesting and about four parts trying to sell us stuff we couldn't afford. Still, we discovered that Elia looks pretty good with a ring on her finger...
Our train tickets to Brussels were scheduled for close to 8 p.m., but it was around 5 p.m. that we decided we'd made our way through all we wanted to see, so we headed to the train station early. While talking with someone at the information desk earlier in hopes of finding out what track our train would be on, we were informed that our tickets were good for ANY of the trains to Belgium, so we decided to take the train a few hours early and get there before dark (although, as we've recently realized, "dark" is a lot later here than it is back home).
While on the train, we made a new friend, who sold us some snacks for the nearly three-hour ride.
I passed the time making playlists and taking pictures of scenery but some people were tired and spent most of the ride sleeping.
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Once we pulled into Bruxelles Central, things already felt different. The buildings were different, the air was different, everything. And then there's the fact that the streets were entirely too confusing and didn't sync with the directions we had, so we had no idea where to go. Of course, we asked a few people, but they couldn't help either. And looking at a map? Forget it. |
Since we had arrived earlier than originally scheduled, we decided to just eat at a close restaurant (the aforementioned one with the worst waffle ever), and this is where I had my first true Belgian beer experience. And oh my God. So amazing. Totally amazing? Yes. Perfectly delicious. The first kind I had was Kriek, which was so good (although to be honest, I've never had a bad Belgian beer).
During dinner (between the meal and dessert) I ran off to explore a bit sans heavy bags and was able to find some of the streets we had been looking for, so after we left the restaurant, we made our way to our meeting spot. Of course, bad directions are still bad directions (thanks Google Maps) so after a series of wrong turns and asking lots of people directions, we finally found Cafe Novo. I ordered another beer (also great) and we hung out waiting for Sander to arrive.
Sander is a dear friend I came across via the wonderful world of the Internet last year, and we've been corresponding since. He was kind enough to host us for two evenings and even served as a tour guide of sorts. We had our initial hellos and introductions and then he led us through the streets of Brussels as we regaled him with our tales of first impressions in Belgium.
First he took us to Manneken Pis, which is apparently a super famous landmark (as we soon found out from experience, when incarnations of the statue seemed to be everywhere we went).
Then we traveled on to the Grand Place, which was absolutely gorgeous by night (and equally as gorgeous by day). After a fruitless search for a waffle place open that late, we instead went to one of his favourite bars, La Porte Noire, where we sat and chatted until far too late and again, I had more delicious beer.
Finally, as 2 a.m. was nearing, we followed him to his place on Rue Haute, which is the longest street in Brussels. He gave us a tour and made our bed for us, and we stayed up talking a bit more until it was clearly too late for all of us.
Sounds like you guys are having a super awesome time! Thanks for blogging Nat, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteAt first glance, it looked like the fries were topped with bacon. Now that I could get into! Love your blog lil' lady :)
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