We went to Amsterdam and in five wonderful, relaxed days we fell in love with the city.
Canals, a tram and bus system that the whole world could learn lessons from, candlelight bruin cafes, poffertjes, houseboats, coffee that even a registered coffee addict could find no fault with, amazing architecture - both modern and traditional and a people that were unceasingly warm and friendly.
We were lucky enough to be staying in a hotel about ten minutes walk from the Central Station. It was a fairly new build lodged just behind the Ministry of Justice building and boy was it fun. I felt as though I'd walked into the set of a 1970's sci-fi series; a sort of Captain Scarlet, Logan's Run and Space 1999 all rolled into one. It wasn't dystopic but lightheartedly joyful instead. Colour coded floors, huge white bathrooms and bedrooms, quirky 60's inspired furnishings and amazing views gave it a lovely feeling of light and airiness.
Our space capsule bedroom.
I can see for miles and miles and miles.....
We....
...ate breakfast in fern covered cafes....
...visited the sublimely hilarious sex museum....
...and the strangely moving and inspirational Bodyworlds.
We admired bikes and architecture.
(zoom into the top floor and yes! those are cheeses stacked in the window)
We ate Poffertjes, little pancakes served with icing sugar and brandied butter. Oh what fresh heaven is this?!.....
....and drank local beers in cosy, candlelight bruin cafes.
We queued at the Van Gogh museum and then after being informed that the expected time of arrival at the ticket office would be an hour and a half later! we let serendipity guide us.
Around the corner I stopped to take a photo of a building that I liked the look of only to discover it was the Moco Museum, which was hosting a Banksy and Dali exhibition.
Two minutes of queueing later and we were in.
The house itself was lovely, a sort of arts and crafts building housing ... well arts.
Apologies to Banksy and you, Blogger seems to be cropping my photos inappropriately. :-(
Having gorged ourselves on some brilliant art we popped into the garden of the Rijksmuseum for a quick sit down, only to become engrossed in this game of chess.
We dined at the seriously upmarket and ridiculously expensive Momo restaurant and had a fabulous meal.
We visited Edam....
...and the beautiful fishing village of Marken....
...and found their citizens to be both beautiful and friendly.
And then, dear reader, we visited Keukenhof Gardens for the Tulip Festival.
Oh Wow!
Just beautiful.
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