Europe 2018 {Day Four~Amsterdam}

On Saturday, July 14th, I had an 8:30 ticket on the Eurostar to Amsterdam. This is a new direct route that the Eurostar is running from London. (I actually read in a New York Times travel section article yesterday that you "have to change trains in Brussels", but this is not correct. There are some direct trains.)

The Eurostar operates out of St. Pancras International Station, so I took the underground from Earl's Court to St. Pancras/Kings Cross. It's around a 25-30 minute trip, plus with the Eurostar, you have to be there early. Unlike when you are taking other trains in Europe and you just have to be there when the train leaves, with the Eurostar you have to be there early to go through security checks and go through border control to leave the UK, so I left my hotel about 6:40.

I'm always so sad to leave London!

Here's the train route under the English Channel into Calais, through Lille, France, then on to Brussels, Belgium, into The Netherlands with a stop in Rotterdam, and finally Amsterdam...

Just another word about the Eurostar in case you were planning a journey. When I went from London to Brussels via Eurostar 4 years ago, I just had a regular seat. This time, I booked the Standard Premier ticket, and I think it was well worth the extra money. On all my European train travels, I've been doing First Class or Business Class (which is higher than 1st class on European trains) seats. It's not necessary by any means, but usually not super expensive, and I like spending a little more here. Eurostar First Class was very expensive, but I found the Standard Premier to be a good compromise.

I was very tired because I had only slept like 5 hours the night before, so I sacked out on the train almost as soon as we left London only to wake when they served breakfast, and then sacked out again until Brussels. The total journey is about 3 hours and 41 minutes.

When I arrived in Amsterdam, I took a taxi to my hotel. You can take trams, but I was 100% unfamiliar with the tram system in Amsterdam, and have 0% interest in figuring it out while hauling luggage. I got to the hotel, had lunch, and headed out to explore the city on foot.

All the canals and homes along them are just as charming as you would imagine.

I went to Dam Square first to go on a tour of the Royal Palace

While this is a working palace, the King & Queen don't actually live here. They occasionally stay here if there is a state visit, and they have big dinners and events in this room.

Funny story: We had watched a video about the state dinners in this room where they pointed out that they put down a rug to protect these floors. So as I'm walking out of this room, I'm looking at the palace map trying to decide where to go next, and bam! I walk right into the the circle barrier (I mean really. Don't we think they should be up a bit higher where they are easier to see?). Anyway, I still have a bruise on my leg from where I nailed it, but I wish I had a video of the incident because I have no idea how, but after nailing my leg into the barrier, I ended up inside the circle on the floor that needs protecting. I don't know how I didn't fall on my face, but thankfully I didn't because it was already enough of a scene. I thought I was going to get kicked out after the first room!

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima
aka: Max & Wax
But really, they are some of my favorite Royals...

After leaving the Royal Palace without getting arrested, I headed to Lanskroon Bakery for a Stroopwafel. I had read that they had a particularly good Stroopwafel, even though everyone but me was buying ice cream on that warm day.

I'm not even kidding when I say that within the first hour of being there I had seen more bicycles than I had seen in my entire life. You hear or read that everyone rides bicycles, but your mind really can't comprehend what this means until you see it. People have 2 or 3 kids piled on their bikes. Nobody wears helmets. It's nuts! You have to be very careful not to get plowed over by bicycles. On one of my tours, the tour guide said "when you hear the (bicycle) bell, run like hell!". That's so true.

I walked over to look at some of the Bloemenmarkt...

The flowers everywhere were just beautiful.

My next snack stop was Van Stapele Koekmakerij

They only make and sell one kind of cookie. There will be a line. They will run out daily. But oh my gosh! This is a must if you are in Amsterdam.

I walked back to my hotel and caught the Wimbledon Ladies final, and then went next door to the Foodhallen. This is one of the reasons I settled on the hotel that I did. It was located right next to a Food hall that was in an old tram building (as was my hotel).

The gin & tonic bar was a big hit for me because they made a fabulous Pimm's.

Here are a couple of videos that I shot that shows the variety of the Foodhallen

I stayed at the Hotel De Hallen. I took a video of the outside, but never got a pic, so here is one I borrowed from their website.

It is located just outside the hustle and the bustle of the city center. It was really within walking distance to everything or a $5-10 uber if you didn't want to walk (BTW: Uber is loads cheaper than taxis in Amsterdam). As I said, it's in an old tram station. I had an indoor room (meaning no windows to the outside), but since it gets light so early, and dark so late, that was perfectly fine with me.