Plain Jane

Saturday Sept 22

PART 2

The weather was clearing up when we left the store. Walking towards the market, amazing smells filled our noses and live music filled our ears. We noted the different foods that called us and by the time we made it thru the bustling place had picked them out. For lunch we got a bunch of fresh carrots and basil pesto. A chcolate torte was then added for dessert. A bit away from the market, we found a small bench and sat down to enjoy our meal. It was so surreal. Viewing the beautiful scenery and canal. Eating carrots just pulled from the ground. Fresh pesto that was divine. Even the chocolate torte passed my 'really-real chocolate test'... I sneezed after one bite. [if you didn't know, really rich chocolate always makes me sneeze once]. Hearing the different languages as people walked by. Pinch me! I'm in Amsterdam!

The sun by that time had come out and was shining warmly on us. After lunch we went back to the market to check out the non-food stalls. There was a thrift-store type of stall where we found a jacket for me. Unfortunately for style the jacket soooo didn't go! But it did the thing jackets do best, keep you warm...no...wam-er, it was still cold.  Picking up some food for our travels the next day we headed back to Shelter Jordan to deload our purchases. While at the hostel, Sarah got some tickets for a canal tour. This ended up being the best idea. A bit tired from our night flight and morning stroll, sitting down sounded great.

An interesting thing we found out about Amsterdam is the typical layout of their streets. If you just passed a street ending in -gracht your next street will most likely end in -straat. I had a lot of fun working my tongue to pronounce the long names.

Lamp post in front of the palace

Going by the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, the crowd almost swallowed Sarah and I up. However we got our barrings and headed toward the canal boat. Once on the boat we were informed thru the recordings about what we were seeing.

The boat took us farther then we could have ever walked and also cruised out to open water as well. 

By the time our boat docked the sun had sunk behind the buildings and the air was turning chilly again. We decided to go to a nearby Cafe De Prins for dinner. We had seen reviews of it online and it boasted a tasty fair. From the packed outdoor tables we couldn't wait to try it out. The small entry way was lined with bar stools and many after-work patrons were talking over their frothy mugs. Passed the narrow bar and up some stairs, the room opened up to a spacious dinning area with many tables. We sat down in a corner and looked over the menu. Everything sounded amazing but I decided to try a burger. Sarah ordered a traditional Dutch meatball with toast and pickled vegetables. The burger was completely mouth watering and literally the meatball was the size of a baseball.  I watched as the owner spent some time with each customer making sure that they were taken care of. A little joke here and then some talk about soccer there. His jovial face put everyone in a happy mood.  As we ate we did some more people watching and then left just as a group of college students filled the tables next to us.  

On our way back to the hostel we stopped to see an old friend. Some of you might recognize this blue Mercury Grand Marquis, as it is the exact type that we had when I was a growing up.  It was funny to see this 'piece' of home half way around the world.