Family Fun in Europe, Part 1: Amsterdam

On Friday, July 12, Steve, Trevor, and I flew United nonstop from San Francisco to Amsterdam. Following doctors' orders, I was wearing compression socks (surprisingly comfy) and had packed TSA-approved ice packs (affiliate links). We had been upgraded to the Premier Plus bulkhead seats, which gave us more legroom than I knew what to do with. Nice! 

As soon as the flight attendants could get up, they brought us drinks and snack mix. Twenty minutes later, around 6:00 pm SF time, we had a full meal... which I didn't really need so soon after snacks. I ate anyway, in hopes that it would ease me into a restful 'night' of sleep. (Spoiler: It didn't.) 

I had the pasta, which was outstanding. 

Steve and Trevor both had chicken. All thumbs up. 

It felt weird to have real silverware and glassware onboard considering all the things you can't bring on a flight nowadays. I would love to know more about the design process for the silverware. I imagine they stab and cut a lot of things to be sure their silverware functions poorly as weapons, while still being suitable for cutting and eating. 

After dinner, they turned off the overhead lights. I had high hopes that I could sleep at least a little bit during the 10.5 hour flight. During our only other experience with an eastbound long-haul flight, the airline had gone out of their way to help us sleep. This time, the goal seemed to be to feed us as much and as often as possible. Less than 3 hours after we'd had snacks and a huge meal and they'd turned off the lights, the flight attendants were back offering chicken sandwiches and brownies. I declined. I hadn't slept at all, due to a combination of my body thinking it was the early evening, frequent chimes (along with the overhead announcement telling us to buckle our seatbelts in English first and then Dutch), and my general difficulty with sleeping upright and/or in motion.

A few hours after whatever you call the chicken sandwich meal that happens shortly after dinner, the lights came on and it was time for breakfast. I had the bread pudding. It was really good, although it was way too much food. Steve and Trevor had the sausage and eggs, which they enjoyed. 

Our route from 'Noord-Amerika' took us through Canada and across the southern tip of Greenland. 

Almost there!

We landed early (10:00 am local), without incident, and without sleep (but stuffed). We hadn't checked bags, so we were able to head straight to customs. I took this photo to document the amount of luggage we packed for 3 weeks. Each of us had a roll-aboard and a backpack. While it would have been nice to have had more things with us for such a long trip, it was important that we could each manage our own luggage, particularly on the many trains we took. 

We waited 40 minutes to get through customs. We waited another 20 minutes for our Uber driver to find us (we weren't hiding - I'm not sure what the problem was) and another 30 minutes to get to our hotel, the outstanding Premier Suites Plus. For (much) less than we would have paid for a (much) smaller place in downtown Amsterdam, we had a luxurious, 2-bed, 2-bath penthouse apartment with gorgeous views, located a short distance from the Metro, which took us downtown in 10 minutes. 

This was our first look at downtown Amsterdam. It did not disappoint. 

This photo reminds me of something that stood out to me right away in Amsterdam. You are on your own for safety. There are no barriers to prevent you from absentmindedly walking into a canal (or stepping back while posing for a photo). Handrails are largely absent, bike lanes and train tracks are not well-separated from sidewalks, tripping hazards are rarely marked, and in general, you are expected to watch out for yourself. Which we did, for the most part. And on the rare occasion one of us tripped or stepped into a bike lane, we didn't sue anyone for our mistake. 

At least construction areas were blocked off, with helpful signs warning us about struikel gevaar and spatwater. 

The first thing we did in Amsterdam was take a hop-on-hop-off tour to get the lay of the land. It's our favorite way to learn the basics and get familiar with the geography before exploring further into a city. We saw our first windmill right away. 

The architecture in Amsterdam is absolutely fascinating. Every building has a different shape. 

And, of course, the canals are amazing. 

We were fascinated by the houseboats in Amsterdam. Once a cheap place to live, they are now among the most expensive. 

Steve, Trevor, and I had six other traveling companions: my parents (Dave and Kathy), my sister (Kari), her husband (Brian), and their kids (Timothy and Allison). While we were able to fly direct to Amsterdam from San Francisco, they had to make a connecting flight from Boise and were a few hours behind us. They were making their way downtown via Uber to start their HOHO loop while we were making our way back toward the hotel via Metro to find dinner. 

We decided on the highly-rated Wurst and Schnizelhaus, a short walk from our hotel. 

It was around 5:30 pm and the place was almost empty. So we were baffled when the host asked us if we'd made a reservation because they were full. No, we hadn't. She said she could squeeze us in at the bar. Squeeze us in?

There was no one else sitting at the bar. Or at any of the tables near the bar. It didn't look like any "full" restaurant I'd ever seen before. 

By the time our food came out (all absolutely delicious), the tables had indeed filled. All of them. All by people with reservations. 

Later, I remembered that in many countries (including the Netherlands) there is no expectation of turning tables in an evening like they do in the US. The table is yours for as long as you want it, which means they won't seat anyone at "your" table, even long before you plan to use it. It's very civilized, I suppose, but it also means you can't spontaneously show up at a restaurant and have any expectation of being served, no matter how long you're willing to wait. 

After we finished eating, our waitress asked if we wanted anything else. We told her no and gushed about the delicious food. She went away, smiling. And didn't come back. For a really, really long time, we sat there, waiting for the check. And then I realized it. The table (bar) was ours for the evening. It would have been supremely rude for our waitress to bring us the check before we asked for it. When we finally figured that out, I caught the eye of the waitress, asked for the check, and she immediately presented it. For the rest of our trip, we remembered to ask for the check when we were done eating!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped in at Albert Heijn. The outside is quite understated and looks like a bank... 

... but it's actually a grocery store. 

I am obsessed with visiting grocery stores when we travel. You learn so much about a culture by seeing what their local grocery options are. Have you ever heard of hagelslag? There's a whole section in this store for the Dutch people's chocolate sprinkle needs. 

  

There's also an enormous selection of canned herring and other fish (shudder). 

This is the black licorice section. You wouldn't think there would be 20+ different options for black licorice, but you'd be wrong. 

Trevor wanted to buy some, so I asked a helpful employee which was the best and/or most iconic brand or style of licorice. His English was almost perfect, but he was baffled by what I was asking. "Licorice? What do you mean? Oh, you mean Drops! We call those Drops! Get these ones. They're the best." That's an affiliate link so you can try them out without traveling to the Netherlands. So how were they? Pretty good! I don't usually like black licorice, but these taste more like molasses than how I traditionally expect black licorice to taste. 

We still hadn't seen the rest of the family at this point, who were trying (unsuccessfully) to find a restaurant with an open table. We later learned they ended up getting burgers from a vending machine by the Metro. No thumbs up. Then they stopped by the Albert Heijn for more palatable food. We'd already left. Not having slept for 28+ hours, we'd gone right back to the hotel after our grocery store outing and straight to bed. 

The nine of us had a very full day ahead of us in Amsterdam. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.