Today started off with a trip down to Centraal Station in order to catch a different tram than our usual ones. We firstly went to the Purse and Handbag Museum. While not my first choice of museums to see, it turned out to be fairly interesting. The exhibits had a bunch of information regarding materials and methods used during different time periods, and for what purposes the bags were used.
From there we then made our way to XtraCold, the ice bar. This bar itself is made completely of ice, and it is located right near the Amstel canal. Though it seemed like a neat place, we couldn’t justify the 20 euro cost to enter the bar, even if it included two drinks. So, we took a gander at some of the pictures of the inside of the bar, and then headed out.
Next we went to the Anne Frank House, which has been mostly converted into a museum as well. It was very interesting as it included many of her writings, and also allowed us to see what the house was like while the family hid from the Nazi invasion. One really interesting connection was that one of the family members was sent to Neuengamme, which is the labour camp outside of Hamburg that we went to see a few days back.
After the Anne Frank House, we made our way back to Centraal Station to catch the 21 bus to a coffee house called Barney’s. However, we couldn’t find the place, and the address I had was apparently not correct. It would have been neat to see, but we were okay without it.
On the way back from Centraal Station, we decided that we would just walk down the main stretch and choose a restaurant that way. We stopped at this Argentinian steakhouse and ate. As we have found in many other places here, the water is not free, and the food is usually very pricey. The meal was pretty tasty though, and my baked potato was massive! After dinner, we walked over to the other major street that runs north to south—Damrak—and looked for a bakery. We didn’t find one that had nice looking pastries, but on our way back to the 2 tram, we did find one. Stopping in, I had a glass of Chinese Blossom tea (strength of an English tea, but with a little more fragrance, like Jasmine) and a slice of apple pie. Both were great.
Now, I am getting things ready to depart for Belgium tomorrow. I certainly enjoyed my stay in the Netherlands, and I hope that things go equally well, if not better, in Belgium for the last leg of the journey.
2 comments
No, but I wish we had! It was just a little shop on Damrak near the square. If I get a chance to make it back to Amsterdam before departing though, I will check out Coffee Connection. Thanks for the recommendation. 🙂
The place where you drank your tea, was it called the coffee connection?
The best place for coffee /tea and pastry in Amsterdam!