Cruising

We woke up around 10:00, still tired from the night before.  The friendly receptionist at our hotel gave us complimentary breakfast at the hotel since it was our honeymoon, so we wanted to make sure we did not miss the extravagant buffet! We have definitely been eating our way through Europe, and Amsterdam was not an exception! There were so many different things to choose from! Warm fluffy pancakes, all types of meats, eggs, salmon, cheeses, fruits, pastries, beans, roasted tomatoes and mushrooms, and probably a lot more that I am forgetting.  We did not take pictures of our breakfast, but just believe me when I say that Marriott definitely knows how to put on a wonderful breakfast! We were already looking forward to eating there on Sunday!!

After our bellies were happy and full, we stepped out into the streets, not needing as many layers as last night, and made our way to the canal.  We decided to take a tour of the canals on a smaller boat, so we had to wait until 12:45.  We then decided to walk around before our boat departed.

 In front of one of the many canals

 In front of the Rijksmuseum

 We of course had to visit a market! Albert Cuyp Markt

 All of the delicious cheeses

We then hopped on our canal cruise boat and headed down the waterways.  We went under and through the bridges and learned lots of interesting information!

 The beautiful canals

 They had these on the tops of all of the houses.  Since the houses are so tall and skinny, in order to get furniture in, they have to use this lever to bring the furniture up through the window.

 Pretty old church

 They loose about 30 cars a year to the river.  Amsterdam insurance companies came together and decided that it was cheaper to put in these barricades for cars instead of always getting out the cars from the river.

 Anne Frank House and Museum... going there on Sunday

 A few of the many house boats that we saw.  They are very expensive now because Amsterdam is not handing out any permits for people to live on the boats.

 The smallest house in Amsterdam.  How could you live there?

 Very windy... my hair is in my face in most every picture.... us on the boat

 The coat of Arms... the three X's mean the three things that killed most of the people in the Netherlands.... Fire, Water, and the Black Plague..... Now days he said the 3 things that may harm people are taxis, trams, and bikes!

 The houses are tilting because Amsterdam is slightly sinking, just like Venice

 If you have a layover in Amsterdam, you can take this bus from the airport to all of the sights. Such a great idea!

 Going through the '7 bridges' 

After our beautiful canal cruise, we decided to cruise another way... on bikes! Amsterdam is famous for all of their bikes, and we decided to join in on the madness! Renting bikes is a GREAT way to see every part of the city in a shorter amount of time! And who doesn't love a nice bike ride! It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip! We first cruised out to another yes... market... by the Anne Frank house called Noordermarkt.  It was great and we bought some dried fruits and nuts to hold our appetite while we cruised around!

 The dried fruits and nut mixes were unique and delicious

 Taking a break from bike riding

 Pretty picture on the bridge

 All of our many friends on the I AMSTERDAM sign... there's me on the S

 T just cruising

 Say Cheese!

 We found a cool little area.... more residential

 Vondelpark..... a very beautiful, large park that we biked around before dinner!

After cruising around for a while, we decided to go back to our hotel and get ready for dinner.  One of my best friends, Erika, is from this area and told us that Indonesian food is very popular here.  We thought that was kind of a strange food type to be in Amsterdam, but decided to give it a try!

We continued our 'food tour through Europe' by eating at an Indonesian restaurant just a few blocks away! We were not disappointed! It was amazing! We were very glad that we tried this new culture and if we ever see an Indonesian restaurant in the future, we will definitely be going in!

We ordered a 'rijsttafel.'  A rijsttafel meal consists of anything from 10-30 samples of Indonesian dishes.  Some are super spicy, others merely very perky, and all of the dishes are accompanied by white rice and some delicious fried rice.  All of the dishes were very good and if you are ever in Amsterdam, I would HIGHLY recommend this restaurant... or any Indonesian food place for that matter!

 Our appetizer... Curry Chicken Soup... Delicious!

 In front of the feast that we were about to begin eating!

 To the left: chicken sautee with a terryaki glaze  

To the right: chicken sautee with peanut sauce (for T)

 To the left: roasted pork in a terrayki like sauce (for T) 

To the right: curry chicken

 Top left: cucumber salad 

Bottom left: fried coconut to add to the dishes if you wanted to flavor them

To the right: the delicious fried rice

 To the left: spicy beans

To the right: (top) spicy sauce (bottom) fresh colwslaw

 Fried Bananas for dessert

 Hard Boiled Eggs in a Sweet and Sour type sauce

 Spicy Beef

Bottom left: white rice

top: T's peanut cucumber salad

To the right: fried little potatoes that you put on food for flavor (kind of like salt and pepper)

The delicious restaurant where we had our Indonesian experience!

After our HUGE meal, we headed back to Leidseplein square and had a beer at an Irish pub.  Stuffed and exhausted from the day, we headed in a little earlier to prepare for another big day ahead of us!