We packed up our luggage and left it at the front desk for the day as we would be leaving for Belgium on the evening train. Off to explore.
We had a boat tour set for 1:30 in the afternoon, so wandered around Amsterdam in the morning. I loved the architecture of the row houses, the large buildings, the canals, and the bridges. It was all beautiful. And I took plenty of pictures. I'm not the best photographer always, so I just hoped they would turn out. Seriously, when would I be back to Amsterdam?
Since our hotel was located so close to the train station, there were bikes parked row on row. Amsterdam is known as the bike capitol of the world, with 40% of all traffic movements by bicycle. They have created a bicycle friendly city and lots of bike parking. And you had better watch out.
For lunch, we stopped at a little corner cafe, Cafe Wester, with outdoor seating. Chris and I found a bench and waited to order.
The cafe was located across the street from the Anne Frank house. The long lines were still there. Our tour with Those Dam Boat Guys was supposed to start from Cafe Wester, so we ordered Bitterballen and hummus and bread to tide us over until later. The bitterballen were freshly cooked, burning my tongue, but delicious.
Bitterballen (plural of bitterbal) are a Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beef or veal (minced or chopped), beef broth, butter, flour for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper, resulting in a thick roux. (Wikipedia)
Vincent from Those Dam Boat Guys met us at 1:30, waiting a bit for all of the passengers on the tour to arrive. From there he walked us to our boat and tour guide, Marc. We loaded on to a rented boat and were off for the next 1 1/2 hours, enjoying the tour and our guide immensely.
After we left the tour, we headed back to Dam Center. We took a tour of the Royal Palace, located in the center of Amsterdam.
In our wandering back to the hotel found this cool pizza shop for dinner, De Pizza Bakkers. We should have just shared one pizza like we did our salad, but thoroughly enjoyed dining together.
We hurried back to the Double Tree past the 100s of bikes along the way, both parked and being ridden. We retrieved our luggage and quick-stepped it back to the train station. It wasn't too far, but we had to navigate around the bikes and bikers. We reached the train and car 15 and gratefully but tiredly sunk into the seats. What a busy day.
We traveled to Antwerp first and then on to Ghent. We hired a taxi to drive us to the Marriott driving on cobbled streets, through narrow passageways, switching one direction and back again. I would have gotten lost. But, we finally made it to the hotel, a modern white building in the heart of Ghent. It was dark, so we didn't completely see the full enchantment that was Ghent.