Amsterdam, The Netherlands
After leaving The Hague, we headed for Amsterdam. Our plan was to park
the car in one of the Park
and Ride lots on the town's perimeter and take the tram into town.
This worked out well. The tram left off at the main tram station at The
Dam, a hive of tourist activity. We asked in the Tourist Information
Office for the way to our hotel, which amounted to a fifteen minute
walk. The hotel was the Nova,
and it met our needs for a central location, and included breakfast,
and moderate prices.
For dinner, we asked the hotel clerk for a nearby Indonesian spot, and
he suggested Kantjil.
This worked out well, with tasty food at decent prices.
The next we did the two great Amsterdam museums: the Van Gogh and the Rijks. The walk allowed us to
browse through the Amsterdam flower market.
The two museums are located together as part of a public park complex.
After visiting the museum, we had lunch in the Van Gogh museum's Cobra
Cafe, which was outdoors, in the park. We then walked to a nearby canal
and took a ride through the canals and port area.
After we finished with the canal-boat ride, we walked back in the
direction of our hotel, looking for the Begijnhof, a secluded church
and courtyard, surprisingly serene, set as it is in the middle of
Amsterdam. Here are the pictures.
That night, we once again asked the hotel desk to recommend a nearby,
inexpensive seafood restaurant. This time, however, the restaurant,
called Lucius, was expensive, although the food was reasonably good.
The next morning, we retraced our steps: walking to the train station,
taking the train to the Park and Ride, and firing up our GPS. However,
this time, instead of skirting Roterdam and Brussels, we took a more
inland route no the interstate. Aside from an inexplicable segment on
city streets in downtown Liege, we experienced an unevent return to
Metz.