Such a joy: bicycling in Amsterdam

So it may seem that in Amsterdam I didn't do so much. That's only half true. It turns out the most fabulous thing of any thing to do in Amsterdam is to ride a bicycle. The city begs for it.

First, there are bike lanes everywhere and cars are quite respectful of them and of bikers. Second, it's a very flat place. Third, and most importantly, it is beautiful and perfectly sized for bike sightseeing.

The canals, oh the canals! These red-brick lined canals are perfect for encircling the city on your bike, and then going right back the way you came. Their not set up to carry car traffic, so they don't do it very well. Plus, at every intersection, the street rises a little bit to allow boats to pass underneath. Once you get to the other side, it's a very pleasant whoosh as you accelerate down the hill. Preeta, Patrik, and I literally spent hours doing this, at all times of day and night. In fact, our favorite time was in the late evening, around midnight or 1am, when all was quiet. Unbelievably exceptional. Riding a bicycle around Amsterdam can make you fall in love with the place.

It's just a great way to get around and explore, too, getting to places I'd otherwise never see.

Ridiculous beauty as the sun glances down off the canal.

A very friendly duck at a random park I found while bicycling.

A redeveloped part of town that converted entrepots into housing and work space, with great red brick facades and huge windows.

Some houses on an island that were developed all with a dash of whimsy.

And a building with some bold pastels to sing out into the day.

Plus, while you're biking, you are more apt to live up to this poem that I found, inscribed on the side of a building in 10 languages.

The bicycle and Amsterdam, a match made in heaven.

(Thanks to Patrik's friend for the route recommendations!)

Late night Amsterdam cuisine

My last night in Amsterdam and it was getting late. Time to hit up some quick late night eats!

Maoz Vegetarian is a local chain with a slew of very brightly lit falafel restaurants.

Upon ordering a falafel, I was given free reign at the salad bar, able to fill my falafel with marinated carrots, cabbage salad, hummus, or any other of about 20 ingredients. I loaded up.

And the falafel was pretty good! The chickpea balls themselves were well-composed and well-fried, tasting very fresh and very warm. The yogurt sauce from the salad bar was to die for. I have a feeling that mastering the art of which condiments, where placed, and how much takes some time...

To chase my falafel, I went to the fry stand.

Vlaamse frites are really just a bunch of french fries in a cone-shaped piece of paper. The coup, though, is that there are 15+ sauces to choose from, of the ketchup, mayo, and mustard variety. I went for the garlic mayo and the curry ketchup, a pretty tasty combination.

Finally, there was Febo. I could not bring myself to eat what they were selling...

...because they were selling fried foods out of vending machines. That's right: fried foods, that come from a vending machine. Eeewww. No way could that taste good or provide any nutrients of value whatsoever.

To "The Movies"!

Time for some nighttime culture, time for the movies. Or, should I say, The Movies.

Upon entering I scanned the playlist and queried the ticket seller to learn which movies might have some English to them.

I was directed to Fish Tank, "one of the Netherlands Top 10 movies in 2009." Excellent...but it turned out Fish Tank was a UK film. It was still quite good, if depressing. The story of a teenage girl in a bad neighborhood with a crap mom and no dad. And of the pitfalls she encounters along the way. Well done and not without any semblance of hope, but still pretty bleak.

I was very glad the theater also served beer, and that I could take it into the screening with me.

Shall I go to the cafe?

With my friends gone and a spate of computer time in front of me, i scrounged up a list of go-to cafes from Patrik's friend and from other sources. On successive days, I test them out.

Cafe #1 is De Jaren, near the University. It has a wonderful little patio that hangs over a canal, perfect for a bit of lunch and some time on the computer. This salami and pickle sandwich was quite good, meeting all of the cafe basics of freshness and flavor.

Cafe #2 was the Bakkerswinkel, a cool bakery in the heart of a pretty icky neighborhood near the train station. My drink was, first and foremost, gorgeous. Layers of orange juice, yogurt, and berry puree remained separated. It was great both pre- and post-mixture. I also got two stuffed rolls, one with chorizo and cheese and the other with a ratatouille mixture. These were also quite good and fresh. I could tell the chorizo was spot-on when little drops of orange oil started leaking on to my plate.

And cafe #3 was De Balie, a cool cafe in the otherwise really crappy neighborhood of Leidseplein. You know, one of those neighborhoods with chain stores, found across the country, mixed in with low-quality food establishments and bars only meant to get their patrons wasted. But I digress! The cafe was great. They have Wieckse Witte white beer, very tasty. And a really really quite good caprese sandwich.

As proven as it could be: Amsterdam has some lovely little cafes with great sandwich options.

A long time to hide in a little place

The other "must-do" tourist item on my list was the Anne Frank House. The actual house in which she and her family hid during the war, now converted into a museum. It was a really well done museum, incredibly minimalist. Essentially, you get the background in the first couple of rooms, and then head upstairs to where the eight people hid. It was a very little space, made even more dreary by the fact that they couldn't open the shades for risk of being seen. Several, but not many, artifacts of Anne and the family's time were scattered around the rooms. In addition, quotes from her diary had been blown up and plastered on the walls.

And of the eight, only one, Otto Frank, her dad, survived. To this day they aren't sure how they got found out. But then, they did, and they were scattered to a number of the Nazi's concentration camps.

The place ends hopefully, with Otto Frank's plea for more understanding and tolerance. Interestingly, they had a poll set up on a hot topic. When I was there, the question of whether headscarves for Muslim girls should be banned in schools was raised. Everyone could watch a short video and then vote with handheld buttons. I'm not sure it really worked, but a nice attempt nonetheless.

Not so far from Suriname?

Dutch cuisine was lacking a bit in variety. I branched out. Years of colonization had brought back some foreign tastes to Amsterdam, and it was full of Surinamese and Indonesian places to eat.

I got a recommendation and headed for Mok Sam.

The first dish was a fried banana served with peanut sauce. Nice job on the fry, and the peanut sauce wasn't so bad either. It was advertised as a bit spicy, which it was not. Chili sauce was at the ready to fill the gap.

Second was pitjil. This turned out to be mixed steamed vegetables covered in...peanut sauce. Also pretty tasty, though I was beginning to push the bounds on peanut sauce.

Finally, my main, lamb roti special. This large dish came with lamb chunks, little green beans, potatoes, a boiled egg, and cabbage, all covered in a mustard curry sauce. Oh, and there were thick tortillas too. Best of the bunch, this had loads of flavor and carried the chili sauce as well.

Some Dutch apple pie to say goodbye

I couldn't believe it, but it was already time to say goodbye to Preeta and Patrik. Their plans were taking them to Sweden, while I would remain behind in Amsterdam. We did have one final brunch, at Villa Zeezicht right on the canals.

It was a lovely morning, and the sun was out.

I went for the swiss toast, brioche smothered in mushrooms that had been sautéed in butter. Lots of butter. This was excellent, a potential new find. I had not heard of swiss toast until this day. Now I will have to make it!

Patrik went for the uitsmijter, and it was a success. Just look at those beautiful eggs!

Preeta got a different concoction, a mix between a fried egg sandwich and bruschetta. Pretty good as well!

As always, we had to get a bowl of yogurt, muesli, and granola. This one turned out to be beautiful and tasty to boot.

But, truly, we had come here for the apple pie. It just seemed a bit crude to eat it without having anything else for breakfast. I got my version with cinnamon ice cream. Somehow, though this was a bit of a let down. The crust had too much bread and, saddest of all, the pie was served cold. It really would've benefited from some time in the oven.

We did leave with full bellies.

And then my good friends departed. After two-plus days of excellent adventuring, Amsterdam instantly became a little bit sadder.

A quick note on Dutch beers

I've had the chance to sample Dutch beers throughout my time in Amsterdam. Two times in particular I dove in in more depth.

One afternoon, with Preeta and Patrik recuperating from jet lag, I had a nice late afternoon canal-side at a beer bar. This bar was fully dedicated to the art of Dutch brewing, and claimed to have beers from every Dutch brewery (except those that did not bottle or had production amounts too small to distribute). It would take a long time to get through the selection. I settled for these two, the first a bitter blond ale and the second a porter. I sadly did not catch the full names of the beers. The blond, in particular, was a perfect sun-starting-to-go-down type of beer, complimenting the canal wonderfully.

The second time came later in the week when I found myself at Brouwerij 't IJ, a local brewer. This place had a fantastic windmill, as you can see. It also had some tasty beer. I went for the Columbus, a tasty wheat beer that deserved to be toasted to the heavens. It was also a great little beer garden, with many folks out in the sunshine enjoying the brews and the company.

Frankly, I've been a bit surprised. I had not heard much of Dutch beers prior to coming to Amsterdam. They are severely overshadowed by their neighbors, the Belgian beers. However, from my brief sampling, they have something to offer. I wouldn't be shocked to see them make a niche run in the States sometime soon.

A little bistro dinner

One of Patrik's good friends from graduate school is Dutch and now lives in Amsterdam. She wonderfully offered to take us to dinner and share with us some of her best spots in the city.

We went to Roem, in the loveliest part of town that has canals alternating with streets. It is absolutely fantastic in terms of ambiance.

As my refreshment, I got a goblet of La Chouffe. This was an excellent beer, much like a lighter version of Chimay.

And as my main, the special of the day, entrecote with spaghetti arrabiatta. The meat was done very nicely, medium rare as requested. It was the first time in a long time I've had a good steak, and a French bistro seemed just the ticket. The pasta wasn't up to the heights of the meat. It was fine, but lacked the punch that can make arrabiatta transcendent.

I emerged full from the meal and full with spots to check out in my coming couple of days in Amsterdam.

Belated birthday celebrations!

On our way away from the Van Gogh Museum, we stumbled on an odd little cake store.

de Taart van m'n Tante it was called.

And it was full of wacky cakes, and wacky decorations to match. A great occasion to use to celebrate the wonderful Preeta Nayak and her recent birthday!

While we were waiting, Preeta posed for some portraits with various large, plastic cakes all around us. Elvis and a globe of the world also joined the fun.

And then it arrived, and Preeta was delighted. Cake!

A slice of Hollandse Appeltaart came, replete with almonds and whipped cream. Tasty, apple-y, and quick to disappear.

A slice of Maanzaadtaart also arrived, bringing a dose of "illegal" chocolate to our table. Almost like fudge, this was oh-so-rich. It took a true team effort to make it through.

Happy Birthday, Preeta!