Europe 2011 day 1: Amsterdam

Time to finally getting around to blogging about our Europe trip back in September!  Our first stop was Amsterdam!

fresh off the plane exploring the city

Nick and I landed in Amsterdam in the morning (Sept. 13) and made our way through the huge airport.  We then took a train from the airport to Amsterdam Centraal Station and then took the tram to our hotel.  It was an easy flight and figuring out the public transportation once we landed was really easy too.  

Nick and I were staying the the Jordaan neighborhood - right in the center of town.  It is very picturesque and one of the hippest and most popular places to live in Amsterdam!   

lovely day, lovely city

I was really excited for this stop because I was meeting up with my friend Anne from my old workplace at Fred Hutchinson.  We've remained friends and since she was studying abroad (she is getting her Masters in Urban Planning) two hours north in a town called Groningen she said she would come down at meet up with us. Yay!  

Anne took a two hour train ride to come visit - so nice of her!

Even after a long flight from Seattle we weren't about to slow down on our first day of the trip, so we dropped off our bags, did a quick freshen up at our hotel and hit the town with Anne!  

The Jordaan neighborhood was was so pretty but a little confusing with all the canals.  We broke out the Rick Steves book and did his Jordaan neighborhood walk and saw some of the sights he pointed out.

standing in front of the smallest house in Amsterdam - it's only a little wider than the door

all the unique rooftops of the city

bike + cheese = stereotypical Amsterdam 

touring the city

After our walking tour the three of us made our way to Vondelpark and walked around and did some people watching.  

 After the park we decided to make our way to dinner for our first taste of traditional Dutch food - to be honest, pretty boring food.  I wont be making my way to any Dutch restaurants anytime soon.  One thing I read about Dutch restaurants is that they are slow - very slow.  And we found that to be true.  It's not that they are trying to be rude - they just want to give you your time to eat, even more so than what I have experienced in Italy and France!   After dinner we saw Anne off on her train and then strolled home and I took some night pictures on the way.   

The Royal Palace in Dam Square 

Westerkerk church