What day is it?
Still trying to figure out exactly what day it is…. still in the same clothes and same energy as yesterday. But it’s Friday and we are in Amsterdam!
We arrived early in the morning. Coming through customs is always difficult. They ask so many prying questions, it gets me nervous…. like these aren’t my kids, and I’m not here for vacation.
“How long are you staying?”
”Ummm… 10 days, no 12, 12 days??” [reports with zero confidence].
”What’s your destination?”
[looks at him like he’s stupid … clearly the location I am attempting to enter] “Amsterdam….” duh [immediately starts doubting answer, should I have told of all the places? Crap.]
Amsterdam’s airport is pretty neat. Large and open and a lot to do. The train runs underneath the airport… which just makes sense, but is also kind of cool. You take the escalator (but it’s not steps – it’s just slanted) underneath everything, jump on a train and head out.
We arrived to a very busy Amsterdam. Tomorrow is King’s day and people are flooding in. Since we arrived early, we had some time to spare before checking into our Airbnb.
We heard about the Pancake Bakery and decided to check it out. The walk felt like an hour (though Daniel claims it was only 15 minutes) with a 50 pound backpack (maybe an exaggeration, maybe not) on your back, a child’s backpack in one hand and clinging to a child with the other hand.
The Pancake Bakery didn’t disappoint. And when we were finished, there was a lovely message from our Airbnb hostess saying we could check-in early if we were already in town. This was a huge relief.
We quickly found our way to our Airbnb – a delightful apartment on the top two floors of a home near the canals. We were warned that the steps were narrow, but didn’t realize just how steep it was (see video below).
If you are wondering, “yes, Miah has already fallen down them.” She just bruised her back and bottom. To go up the steps she has to use her hands to climb, so it’s become a game where we ‘climb the mountain to get to our Amsterdam home.’
Our wonderful hostess made the home perfect for our family. Miah’s bed had a Frozen bed-spread and a tub full of little girl toys at the foot; while Samuel’s was the Mario brothers and a tub full of building blocks and dinosaurs. All these age appropriate toys was a god-send. Daniel and I were depleted, but the kids were their normal energy-filled self. So while we rested (fell asleep in the bed) the kids played together with the toys set up for them in their rooms. Annemieke will be receiving a raving review from us on Airbnb. Her thoughtfulness was a life-saver.
After getting settled and rested, we set out for exploring and grocery shopping. The markets (and just about everything else) will be closed tomorrow for King’s Day, so we stocked up on groceries to get us by for a couple of days. We treated ourselves to some new fancy cheeses and fresh-baked pastries. Everything at the market is in Dutch, but it wasn’t hard to figure things out. A cucumber still looks like a cucumber… and when you read out loud “komkommer” it’s not that hard to decipher.
More pictures and videos to follow later. I wanted to quickly capture the highlights of the day.
