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MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY

Netherlands and West Germany Trip

Day 2 - December 2 2023

After 12 much needed hours of sleep, we woke up feeling great and excited to explore Amsterdam. We started off with breakfast nearby the hotel at Moak Pancakes. The eggs, cheese, and bacon toast and berry pancakes were delicious. We had initially thought this was a Dutch food place, but it was actually more American style.

It was time to start exploring. We took a tram to the Leidesplein, planning to work from the South side of the busiest area of town and work our way North. We started here first thing today instead of the canal and residential areas because the area gets  so many more visitors and we have learned to visit the more touristy areas in the mornings while most people are still sleeping. As we walked down Leidrstraate, it was clear that it was a popular nightlife destination because there was food trash all over the ground and as shops started to open, they were sweeping up the trash in front of their store. It also felt very different than the canal areas we walked through yesterday because there was less residential buildings and more restaurants and bars. 

Look at the third building in this picture. See how it tilts forward? There's a lot of buildings like this throughout the city.

The center of town had really beautiful buildings, but was also a bit more touristy than we prefer. We are glad we walked through these areas, but were ready to move a bit further out.

As we made our way towards the canals, we stumbled on a farmers market and got some bread, cheese, and gifts.

After a lot of walking, we wanted to rest our feet and found the beautiful Papeneiland Cafe where we got a Dutch apple pie and warm drinks. We were lucky to get a seat, they were so busy. The only open table was a four top by the door. Towards the end of our short stay, a few people ended up sharing the table with us!

The cafe is the corner building

After squeezing out of the cafe, we made our way to the Jordaan neighborhood, a more local and funky district. This was the first area we would consider living, cost aside. We really enjoyed it. 

Come lunch time, a lot of the restaurants were full, but when we saw ramen, we decided to wait and luckily had a table at Hinata almost immediately. We ordered a yuzu infused sake and a local yuzu flavored beer. (We really like yuzu, if that’s not obvious). We also got a Miso ramen and their special,  “White” ramen with *guess what?* yuzu zest. They were really tasty and we were able to relax a longer time, which was needed at this point.

It was about time for us to get our first Brown Cafe experience (basically a historic pub). After walking past a few that were absolutely jam-packed, we decided to try our best to squeeze in at De Twee Zwaantjes. Thankfully, there was some people-shifting right after we ordered a couple beers and we were able to cozy up against the window. It was quite an experience at this pub! The music was blasting and everyone jammed into this tiny bar was singing along with the good songs, most were Dutch covers of popular American songs. The bartender, a 60 year old guy, was dancing and singing along as well. It was so fun to experience.

It had started to rain and we needed to head back to the hotel to get more layers and drop off the backpack, so we trammed back quickly.

During November and December, the city decorates the streets and canals with holiday lighting, which we really wanted to see. So, we jumped back on the tram to a section of the canal area we had not explored yet.

After even more walking, we were ready to pop in to another Brown Cafe and got lucky again at Cafe De Pels, where we got their only open table. 

We got the "Bitterballen", a Dutch snack with meat and gravy, breaded and fried, served with a side of dijon mustard. When mike took the first bite, he said it gave him a food memory of "hot beef" sandwiches he used to get as a kid in Wisconsin. These were very...soft...on the inside. Kinda the texture of baby food, but tasted like meat and gravy. They were so interesting, but Mike loved them!

At this point, we were starving, so we walked back towards home and had dinner at Fuoco Vivo. We ordered the Foccacia Con N’djua (bread with a spreadable, spicy, chorizo) and a sausage pizza. Super delicious.

We started to feel the exhaustion creeping up again, so we walked back to the hotel. Once in, we had to try the cheese we got at the farmers market earlier. It was a super aged hard sheep’s cheese. It looked and smelled exactly like our favorite types of cheese. Unfortunately, it was not. The flavor got progressively more bitter and feet-y as it stayed in the mouth, it was quite unpleasant. 🙁 

Tomorrow, we will take the train to a couple cities out of town and explore more of the Netherlands. 

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