Amsterdam, Netherlands
I guess we are not destined to get going in the morning. We made it out of the hotel by 11:00 and back to Albert Heijn grocery store for picnic fixings and then on to Vondelpark. The shop is close to the park so they have lots of small packages of meats & cheeses. We picked up those and some rolls and yogurt and beer and headed off to the park for brunch. It was a gorgeous day. We were lucky with the weather our whole time in Europe, but we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day for a picnic. We relaxed and people-watched in front of a small stream.
By about 13:00 we had had enough sun and gathered our things and walk to Museumplein.
We considered seeing the Van Gogh or Rijksmuseum, but honestly didn’t feel like it so we went to a museum more up our alley: The Heineken Experience. It was actually a lot better that I expected. For €15 per person you get entry to the museum and 3 beers – one in the middle of the museum and 2 tokens for the bar at the end. There are lots of interactive displays. They have pull out screens with different tacky Holland scenes you can stick your head in for photos, you can send photo and video messages to friends and family through email, and there is a 4-D “ride” that goes through the brewing process as if you are the beer, so you get shaken around and misted with a bit of water.
I have been on a LOT of brewery tours and this one made it more fun and interesting. We also printed a Heineken bottle with our names on it as a souvenir (€5) and collected it at the end of the tour. We had our “free” beers and were on our way.
Now you may recall I’d had a hard time finding Café Gollem the bar earlier in the trip. I found out there was another bar, Gollem II near the museums and this one was right on the corner and easy to find. It was about 15:00 and the place was deserted but there was a very nice guy at the bar who helped us. MB saw the holy grail of beers listed on the menu – Westvleteren. It is not exported to North America so it is very difficult to get but considered one of the best beers in the world. They were out of Westvleteren 12 which is supposed to be the best, but they had Westvleteren 8 so MB tried it and he was in heaven.
This bottle was actually aged a few years so he got really lucky. He maintains it was the best beer of the trip and of his life! I stuck with the lambics I prefer. We were sitting outside and it was just such a perfect day we were very happy.
One thing I noticed with bar service on our trip is that they won’t come by and offer you another drink until your glass is empty. I’m used to ordering another when I still have some left so I’m not left without a drink while they bring another. So we made sure to drain our glasses so we could order another round. The bartender said there was nothing he had that could top the last round, so MB settled for a Charles Quint on draught and I had Frambozen (raspberry) beer. These 2 rounds cost €22, mainly because of the €10 Westvleteren,
We decided to do our shopping & sight seeing. There were a few things we wanted to buy and since it was our last day and getting close to shop closing time we did a mad rush through our stops. Thinking back now it is amazing we made it everywhere. First the Albert Cuyp Market which was right around the corner. It is mostly like a flea marker/bazaar with clothes and small items for sale and there are also fresh and cooked food stalls. It was pretty busy but we managed to get some spicy chicken wings as a snack and hit the stroopwaffle booth for a fresh hot stroopwaffle and a package of them to take home. Next we grabbed the tram and headed to the flower market. Unfortunately, there were no bulbs available for export to Canada. They said they only have those in August, but we did get to see the Mint Tower which we had missed on our previous wanderings. We cut through to Leidsestraat where we kept seeing this beautiful pottery in the window of a shop called iittala that was always closed when we walked by. We made it before closing time and bought a mug with a really cool design to remember Amsterdam. Next we hopped back on the tram. I tried to use the same strippenkart but the conductor would not allow it, even though I’m pretty sure you can transfer within one hour. Oh well, we were stamped again and off to Dam Square which we had also managed to miss on our travels. Just outside the square there is a great beer store we’d read about, and we were able to make it there 15 minutes before closing. MB found bottles of Westvleteren 12 and bought some to take home. They were very expensive at €10 each but he was worried we wouldn’t see them again and had to get some. Then we asked how to find the original Gollem bar and were directed to an alleyway we had walked by 3 times on our previous search. It was so frustrating that it had been right there all along, but we were glad to finally find it.
This place is very small. There is a small bar area and a slightly larger area with tables a few steps up. We didn’t find the staff or patrons particularly hospitable – they seemed slightly annoyed to have tourists in their midst, although you’d think they’d be used to it! MB finally tried Westvleteren 12 and pronounced it delicious, but he preferred the aged #8 he’d had earlier at Gollem II and I much preferred the atmosphere there over the original Café Gollem.
We headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and get ready for dinner. We wanted to try one of the Leidseplein tourist restaurants and saw a Chinese restaurant serving duck, which is MB’s favourite. We got an absurd amount of food on a round rotating platter to share and had some wine as well. The food wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the portion was unbelievable and at €42 with 2 glasses of wine each I thought it was excellent value.
After dinner we were back in the Leidseplein for another enjoyable evening in the coffeehouse relaxing and people watching. We had a great last day in Amsterdam and were sad to be leaving in the morning.
Tomorrow: Day 4 – on to Bruges with some train delays along the way.
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