Linda's birthday celebration this year was to take place in Amsterdam, a city we had last visited over 25 years ago, probably changed since then, if I could remember any of it. Last time I went by bus, this time we were flying on the 0725 Easyjet flight from Southend airport. This meant getting up at 0500 and being there for 0600 to check our luggage in. Linda doesn't like early mornings, but I was fine as I usually get up at that time. The only downside was we had to sleep on the sofa and chairs, as our friends who were coming with us slept in our bed. The flight was only 40 minutes and then we landed. We had pre-booked our tickets for the 197 bus and so by 1030 we had arrived at the bus stop near our hotel.
We knew the Hotel Weber was 200 metres from the bus stop, but was not sure in which direction, so we managed to check out several directions, none of which were right, so Linda asked a taxi driver, who pointed just down the street we were standing on. The upside was we saw Starbucks and an Apple store nearby. We checked in at the hotel and our rooms were ready, ours was on the second floor, so I had to carry our case up the narrow, steep stairway. We dropped the cases off and went out, it was not too cold. First stop was Starbucks for a coffee and snack (our friends went to Mcdonalds, but I couldn’t lower my standards). Once refreshed, it was off for a walk, along the Leidsestraat looking in shops, then we went to the Flower Market and cheese shops. Linda discovered that you got free cheese to taste in the cheese shops, so she visited a few. Our next stop was the Christmas Market at Rembrandtplein and we had a look round, then Linda found a paper shop, disaster, it had lots of things she needed.
After, Linda has spent ages in the paper shop we wandered around the main shopping streets, past several coffeeshops. In Amsterdam a coffeeshop is where they serve cannabis, a cafe is where they serve coffee, so you need to get the right one. At Dam Square we saw the Royal Palace and various statues before carrying on our walking tour. We had discovered that most of the cyclists were either high on cannabis or drunk as they tended to ride on the cycle tracks, pavements or roads, but not in any particular order, they didn’t stop at traffic lights or pedestrian crossing, it was dangerous and there were hundreds of them.
We found Anne Franks House and took some photos, the queues were very long to go in and you had to pay. We saw the Westerkerk and Linda took some more photos before wandering back to the hotel for a rest. I didn’t need a rest, so went for a nice run just over 3.5 miles. I had a look around the station and some of the main streets, it was difficult with cyclists coming at you from all directions, but at leat it was flat. After a quick shower we went out for dinner and to an Argentinian restaurant for steak, very nice. Then it was little wander around before we returned to our rooms for an early night. I had walked at total of 17.29 miles (including my running), not bad for day one.
Our room had a fridge in it and breakfast is eaten in the room. The hotel delivers bread and croissants around 0800 and then you make your own food. Today was Linda’s birthday and I had a surprise lined up for her, a visit to the Van Gogh museum. Evidently he was an artist, but I didn’t think much of his work. There was also an exhibition by Munch, but again didn’t really float my boat. Van Gogh didn’t become famous until he was dead, but then that is life. I did see the Sunflowers pictures, it was ok. It took Linda and our friends a couple of hours to go round, but fortunately there was a cafe (not coffeehouse) and internet so I just sat, read my book and waited.
It was now raining, so we got wet as we walked around, we went to the Albert Cuypmarkt (a street market) and there were a lot of stalls, all with crap on them. I lost count of the number of material shops Linda went into, but she did not buy anything as it was of low quality. We did stop for a coffee and she had a cheese baguette to keep her going. It was raining quite hard now, so our friends wanted to wander back, but we were made of tougher things and so we walked up to the Railway Station, built in 1889 and Linda took a few photos. She wanted pancakes other birthday, so we stopped on the way back and had some. Linda then went back to the hotel and as it was not raining so hard I went for a quick run (3.18 miles) in a different direction. I nearly got run over several times by cyclists . It was Linda’s turn to choose where we went for dinner, she chose Italian so we had a nice pasta and pizza. On day two I walked 13.87 miles.
On Wednesday meeting I went for a run before breakfast. Linda had bought her running gear with her, but it went home in the same pristine condition she brought it in. I wanted to have a look at the Olympic stadium and a different area, I covered 6.38 miles and would have done more but had to get back to pack and check out. We had another wander around Amsterdam re-visting a few sites, buying some cheese and see the house where Rembrandt lived. It was sunny today, but cold. We stopped for lunch, before going back to the hotel to collect our luggage and get the 1514 bus to the airport. We checked in and then waited for the plane. It was another 40 minute flight and then we were soon home. I had covered 15.45 miles today, which gave me a total of 46.61 miles in three days, not bad....