On Tuesday, June 1 we bid farewell to Kim, Key, and Raphael and took an early morning flight to Amsterdam. We arrived at the Amsterdam Central station quite early in the morning. Click the button below to view a panoramic photo of the station.
We purchased multiday passes for the public transportation system. We were able to quickly find the correct tram to take to the Hotel Asterisk. The tram system in Amsterdam makes it very easy to get around.
While waiting for the hotel to prepare our room, we found a nice place for Amsterdam pancakes. Amsterdam restaurants serve a wide variety of pancakes ranging from sweet breakfast-type pancakes with fruit to pancakes with ham, bacon, eggs, and other meats baked directly into the pancake. Over brunch we planned a short walking tour of Amsterdam using our Cadogan guidebook. The canals are the most well-known feature of Amsterdam and they did not disappoint us. Along the canal there are houseboats where many city residents live. The bridges over the canals provide many romantic vistas.
The architecture of Amsterdam is also worth noting. Because most land in the Netherlands is reclaimed from the sea, the buildings are designed to take maximum advantage of available space. They tend to be tall, multifloor structures, with interesting gables and roofs. The buildings are designed with very steep staircases to save space. The staircases are too steep and narrow to allow furniture to be transported to upper floors. As a result, a typical home in Amsterdam will have a hook and pulley on the top exterior of the building to allow furniture to be pulled up to the upper floors. The buildings are slightly tilted to prevent furniture from bumping into the outside walls on the way up.
Steep staircases
Stairstep-style Dutch gables
That evening we had dinner at a Lebanese restaurant and then continued walking around the city. Amazingly, the sun does not set until after 10 PM during the month of June in Amsterdam.