Amsterdam niemals schläft!

So Amsterdam does sleep from about 4 am until 10 am, but there are always people everywhere!

Sunday morning we woke up at a decent time for breakfast in our room at promptly 8 am. Our "Dutch" breakfast was a pretty standard European breakfast including lots of bread, rolls, and croissants, deli meat and sliced cheese, yogurt, and soft boiled eggs. Side note - I think I hate soft boiled eggs. We were out the door shortly after breakfast to walk across the bridge to Zaanse Schans to look at the old windmills. The windmills are still used today to press oil, saw wood, grind dye or make paper. This place was interesting but definitely a tourist trap. We enjoyed strolling through the streets along the river and taking pictures, bypassing the shops. Many of them did not open until later in the morning anyway. The crowds became overwhelming as we were leaving. There were approximately six or seven coach buses unloading tourists from all over the world so that they can run through the old Dutch neighborhood, snatching up overpriced souvenirs, and clicking quick pictures. I would have enjoyed checking out the coopery  wooden shoe workshop, and distillery museum with a tasting room but we were so turned off by the crowds that we decided to leave.

*In the picture of me on the river, the green house with the boat in front and the B&B on the deck is where we stayed.

Once back in Amsterdam, we headed to a key photospot that I found online where you can see 15 bridges. I ended up laying on the cement to try and capture this "unusual sight." Unfortunately it turns out that you can only see the great view from a boat in the water and there was a service van park in an inconvenient location. *I took the picture through the bicycle spokes on purpose. This is my attempt at being artistic to capture two of the elements that define Amsterdam.

We went to the Bloemenmarkt, the world's only floating flower market, on the city's southern canal belt. Founded in 1862, the market includes 15 florists floating on barges filled with gifts, flowers, and bulbs. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the variety of bulbs that were very reasonably priced.

For lunch we found a neat "take-out" cafe on the lower level on a busy shopping street. We were very pleased with the variety of cold items available and loaded up a tray with quiche, a salmon sandwich, a red cabbage salad, and a smoothie. When I asked if there was a place there that we could eat, I was told that we can eat upstairs but this is the take-out area and everything has to be paid for here. When we walked up the stairs we found a huge cafeteria style restaurant with hot food served on real plates instead of to-go containers. Oops...

After some quick shopping we walked towards a bike rental shop recommended to us by the owners of our Bed and Breakfast. My plan was to rent a bike just for a few hours to ride to a brewery and then return it. Since the shop was closing early, the owner talked us into renting the bikes for 24 hours and I am very glad that we did. The popular style of bike in Amsterdam is more of a 3 speed, heavy cruiser with a big seat, no top bar, a completely enclosed chain, and wide set handlebars. The seat on the bike I was given was way too low for me and I initially had quite a bit of trouble peddling, which was very embarrassing! Thank goodness for quick release seat posts because once I was comfortable on the bike, the ride was fun. The easiest way to kill tourists though is to let them rent a bike in Amsterdam. Although there are many bike lanes, riding around the unfamiliar city is still very dangerous. One has to be aware of cars, delivery trucks, pedestrians walking in the bike lanes, other cyclists that are not tourists, mopeds and scooters, bridges, one way streets, narrow paths, children, garbage on the road, driving stoplights lights, bike-lane lights, and pedestrian walk lights; all while following directions to arrive at the intended destination.

I thoroughly enjoyed biking Amsterdam though and it made for a quick and cheap transportation method to the Brouwerij 't IJ which is on the outer beltline of the city. We arrived at the brewery now located in an old bathhouse next to a windmill just in time for a beer before the brewery tour in English. We were lucky to find a place to lock our bikes at the somewhat crowded brewery with a large patio. The bikes have an intense locking system including a thick chain with a key lock and a Dutch lock on the rear wheel that requires a key to remain in the unlocked position. The lock seems quick secure but I guess a large number of bikes are stolen in the city each year. The beer was great and the tour was definitely the most interesting brewery tour I have ever been on. I am relatively sure that the guide was "high" but spoke near perfect English and seemed somewhat knowledgeable. He described the action of yeast as a "giant orgy" that involves "sweating, feeling great, and being tired afterwards." One of the most interesting things he said though was that the US craft brewery scene serves as a guide for breweries in Belgium and the Netherlands. They want to brew like us!

We stayed for a few beers including a dubel, tripel, barley wine, and witbier. The founder was an intelligent business man serving his craft beer in a small glass with two fingers of head. The concept is newer to Europeans but the brewery is very successful as they just opened a second brewery for bottle production. By the time we were leaving, the bar and patio were absolutely packed.

For dinner, we biked to Winkel outside of the tourist center as well. I believe winkel means "shop" or "store" in Dutch but I found the restaurant in a 10 Best of Amsterdam book because they are known for their apple pie. The restaurant was in the residential northwest side of town with long narrow apartment buildings on diagonal streets. As an appetizer we enjoyed Bitterballen, a local dish similar to fried meatballs served with a spicy mustard. The meatballs are soft in the middle though as if they were mixed with condensed cream of mushroom soup. Dinner included a curry dish for me and a local fish filet for Ryan. Side note: There is actually a small China Town in Amsterdam and curry dishes are extremely popular. We had to try a slice of their apple pie served with a heaping pile of whipped cream and it was fantastic. Different than traditional American apple pie but equally delicious. The crust was thicker and harder, not a pastry crust. Yumm!

After locking our bikes in a popular spot near the train station, we headed back to our B&B. We really were not supposed to leave the bikes unattended overnight but we were not sure of the rules on the train and there was just no way that we were going to make it back to the city in the morning on the train with 2 bikes, 1 rolling suitcase, 2 backpacks, 1 purse, and 1 full shopping bag. That would have been quite a sight for the locals! I'm sure they find the tourists amusing sometimes.