I was in Amsterdam last year for Hivefest, but have returned with my better half to see more of the sights. She has not been before.
We had an early start to get a train into London to catch the 8am Eurostar. That takes about 4 hours to get to Amsterdam. We paid a little extra for the premier seats where you get more space and some food is included. You get a nice breakfast with real cutlery. They offered more drinks and some snacks later. I was catching up on some viewing and watched the first Knives Out.
We are staying at a B&B near the botanical gardens and do caught the Metro. The station signs make me think of a song.
After dropping off our cases we went for a walk around town. The old town is a maze of streets and canals. You can suddenly find there are semi-clad women in windows and they are not shy about displaying 'adult' products in shop windows. There are plenty of other goods on display from art and antiques to chocolates. Talking of chocolate we will visit the Tony's shop at some point. Unfortunately their cafe is not open.
We did not have a specific goal today, but found ourselves by the royal palace and decided to have a look. I am no royalist, but it is impressive. It used to be the town hall and the city wanted to show off it's wealth.
We had booked at a vegetarian restaurant, but had a call on the train to say they had to cancel as the chef was injured. There is no shortage of eating places. Tonight we went to Vegan Temple Bar
The food was great. I had a falafel burger and she had 'chicken' salad. We shared some 'squid' that was quite convincing. The place was empty when we arrived, but then it was early. It was nearly full by the time we left.
We walked back to our accommodation. You do have to watch your step as some front doors are down steps. You need to stay away from the edge of the canal whilst dodging cyclists.
We saw some fun items in a gallery, but they may be a little big to take on the train.
More exploring tomorrow. The weather has been lovely today, but that may not last all week. We will do outdoor stuff whilst it is nice.
