Ich konnte in Amsterdam leben.

Aside from the tourists, prostitution, and legalized marijuana use, I could easily live in Amsterdam or somewhere in the Netherlands close.

Monday morning we checked out of our B&B by leaving two bottles of beer and saying thank you to our gracious hosts. We headed back to Amsterdam Centraal station and left our bags in lockers. This inexpensive service is greatly appreciated by visitors and is available in all the main stations I have traveled to in Europe so far. Fortunately our bikes were still locked how we had left them the previous night so we rode around the city again, stopping at a street market outside the tourist center. It was a typical flea market scene with shoes, clothes, nick-nacks, and household products. I was able to accomplish something on my itinerary  by trying the "raw" herring that is so popular. It is actually cooked in salt, so safe for human consumption, and served with onions and pickles. I found it quite tasty!

We kept riding and picked up various items for a picnic lunch in Vondelpark. After returning out bikes we made two liquor store stops. One to pick up a small bottle of jonge (young) and oude (old) jenever, or Dutch gin. The young is similar to vodka with a hint of juniper and the old is closer to whisky. I look forward to trying them soon. The second stop was to the local beer store, The Bierkonig. We were able to find a few local brews recommended by the shop owner and a beer glass. *More information to come on our Netherlands beer finds.








Since we still had some time to kill before our late night train ride home, Ryan and I did some people-watching and took pictures, like creeps, of people riding down the bike lane. Here is what we found:

This week has been pretty uneventful so far, but the weather has been great and I have been enjoying my daily 2 hour walk with Ladell. Sadly, I have not done any cooking or baking from recipe books either. Quite a relaxing week if you ask me...