Eating my way thru Amsterdam....

The Fita Hotel in Amsterdam where I stayed is owned by a couple of brothers...one of them a former chef. He was the perfect choice to provide recommendations for food.....he did very well...very very well...

The first evening....it was Cafe Loetje....while not needing a reservation we were cautioned to go before 7:30...since after that it becomes very busy.  We arrived about that time and had to wait about 20 minutes for a table.  The menu was fairly small....Steak - Salad - Fries  and Beer.  (I am being a little facetious - but there is no paper menu.  The choices are on a chalk board  and shrimp and a Thai dish are about it..)

Here we have Cafe Loetje....

And the Entrees......Salad - Steak - Fries.  Now....I am not one of those that has to have steak every night...but this was delicious and I think I could be a convert.....

The next evening the former chef recommended we go to his former restaurant...Thijs....it was a very special treat....

I began with a starter of yellow beets sliced very thin and small lettuce leafs covered with carpaccio and garnished with small olives....A bottle of Italian Merlot was of order as well...

The Entree....Free range chicken with chorizo in a wine pepper sauce with roasted vegetables...

I did not have have a picture of the perfect dessert....Creme Brulee with Ice Cream....oh, sorry I consumed it before I even got a photograph!!

The final night in Amsterdam the recommendation was Bouf....

I  began with a starter of Italian tomato soup...ummm with warm bread and a glass of great red wine...

The entree was a corn chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and grilled vegetables consisting of carrots, brussel sprouts, turnips, potato, asparagus, mushrooms and onion...

Okay....tonight I photographed the dessert before I devoured it.....a stickey chocolate cake  with pistachio
 ice cream, boysenberries, blueberries and strawberries....

Amsterdam....I loved all the food...and will now head to Paris tomorrow....

Last but not least....the photo of the day is of my new venture in Amsterdam....what do you think??

A Canal Ride thru Amsterdam....

The day was perfect for a ride thru Amsterdam on the extensive canals.  The boats are very low in the water since they must pass under the many bridges of Amsterdam....a city with one of the largest number of bridges in Europe.

These canals are not wide either....in most places it would be very difficult for two boats to pass...

These canals are home for many people in Amsterdam.  Houseboats line the canals and serve as a "home on water".....for example....

The residents of the houseboats such as this one....probably have a daily ritual of feeding the swans....

The beauty of this city can be seen from all the lovely homes that line its banks....

Most of the homes have a winch to use in taking furniture up to the upper levels of their home....such as a piano or oversized furnishings.....

..plus there were always the interesting accessories such as this gas lamp.....

The boat trip took us out into the Hetij....the large body of water accessing the large cruise ships and freighters.....but today there were only Large Sail Boats....

and this boat of senior rowers.....

The locks controlling the water levels in the canal date back to the 17th Century.....

I almost forgot to include a photo of some of these unique bridges in Amsterdam....

Well...time for the photo of the day.....this photo represented to me the warmth of the city....the beautiful

door and and facade of this home was very typical of the many homes I passed today walking many miles thru the streets of Amsterdam...

Amsterdam - a city of ABC's (Architecture, Bicycles and Canals)

Amsterdam has an extensive network of canals....much like Venice!!  It is interesting to note that home in Amsterdam are built on wood pilings that go down some 30 meters into the first layer of sand.. which preserves the wood since none of the wood is exposed to air and precludes it from rotting.  New pilings for property are done with concrete and are driven 90 meters into the 3 layer of sand in the earth.  Here are some of those properties.....

This house seems to be shifting...or the pilings are unstable.  It is the leaning house of Amsterdam.....

Bicycles dominate Amsterdam....approximately 60% to the population use a bike.  They have dedicated lanes and share them with motorbikes.  One needs to use caution and be aware of not getting of the sidewalks into the bike paths.  However most bike riders (who have to be registered)  have insurance.
I have to admit even with the large number of bikers and with some very close calls I did not see any accidents with other bikes, pedestrians or cars.  So many bikes the bike racks are double deck!!

...they are parked everywhere....

The hotel selection in Amsterdam was the Hotel Fita...close to the Van Gogh museum.  The lines to buy tickets were huge...and I had seen the Van Gogh exhibit before in Washington DC so opted to pass on waiting hours for access.  Here are some views of the museum....

The Anne Frank house was also on the list of sites to see...but the tickets were all sold out for the weekend.....so I settled for this picture of the statute of Anne Frank....born 1929 and died 1945...

Adjacent to the Anne Frank house is Westerkerk which conducted the first gay marriage in the world and Homomonument - the a three triangle monument dedicated to the homosexuals who were killed by the Nazis during WWII.....The triangles signified the identification used by Nazis in the concentration camps.

The beauty of the city is...as in most cities in Europe...in the Architecture and sculpture.....

While not really sculpture....this is an interesting piece of artwork on a home along one of the canals.

The Heineken Brewery provides an "Experience" tour of it's history and how the making and bottling of the product is conducted....plus you get 3 glasses of Heineken!!  The brewery is still very much a "family" affair....into its 4th generation Heineken family members in command.

Here are just a few photos of the "Experience"....

The horses and wagons used for parades and exhibition of the Heineken product were also included on the tour...

as were all the many awards received for their products....

plus....the beers were GREATTTTTTT

That's it for today....opps...almost forgot the "Photo of the Day".....one has always heard the expression..."Mind the Gap"...well known in the UK - London especially  to identify the space between the train and the platform...well in Amsterdam we have  "Mind the Head" ....or Watch Out!!

Next up....a ride down the canal....