It feels like forever since our last adventure!  But here we are in Amsterdam, whose beautiful canals and museums we last visted in October 2000. Twenty three years ago, we had film cameras and no cell phones.  We had to find our way around town with paper maps and a Let’s Go Europe book.  Whoa!  Crazy right?!? 

Anyways, we arrived on Thursday morning well before the official 3pm check-in time at our hotel.   So, after depositing our luggage in the luggage storage room, we were off to eat and explore!  We had passed a pancake restaurant while rolling our overstuffed suitcases down the sidewalks from the train station to the hotel, so we knew we had to go back there. I mean, how do you pass up Dutch Pancakes?  thetwinsontour sure can’t!  Dutch pancakes are as big as a dinner plate and come with various toppings– like baked apples and whipped cream!  They also had a Dutch brand of syrup on the table, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Mrs. Butterworths, so I just stuck with yummy whipped cream.  

/You know what else we passed on the way to our hotel, suitcases in tow? Madame Tuassauds wax museum!  That was not on our mental list of potential activities because we went there in 2000. Been there, done that.   But it was right there!  Just 1 block from the hotel.   And we had plenty of free time. It was like a sign that we needed to go again.  The price has gone up considerably in the past 23 years.  Actually, I have no idea what it cost back then, but it had to be significantly less than the 26 euros it costs now.    The euro is pretty strong right now, so that translates to about $30 a person. Which is crazy.   Needless to say, we took pictures with every single wax statue they had (except Donald Trump).   Leo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga, ET, multiple James Bonds, Marilyn, Madonna (or as her frends call her, Madge), Dutch speed skaters, Queen Maxima and whatever the King’s name is.  I think you get the picture.  

Now, the only thing we really remember from 23 years ago was that there was a smashed penny machine in the exit stairs.  And it was broken and it had taken our money.  There were 2 Dutch guys there who  really wanted a smashed penny, so they went to find a worker.  We all waited in that stairewell forever and ever.  And no one ever came to fix the penny machine.  So, for 23 years, that is all I can think of about the wax museum—the smashed penny that I was not able to get.  It’s left a sour tasete in my mouth for all these years.  But guess what?!?  There is still a penny machine in the stairwell, and it works!  I finally got my Madame Tuassauds smashed penny!  After all these years.  It feels so good to be able to have a happy ending to my wax museum story, finally!

So, for the afternoon.  We were supposed to go to the Van Gogh museum.  At least, that is what I have been thinking in my head for the past 6 weeks or more. We were going to the Van Gogh museum on Thursday afternoon and then the Ann Frank House museum on Friday morning.   So, here’s a friendly little reminder, as you get older, it is best to look things up and write things down rather than go by memory.   Because when you book your Van Gogh tickets in April for an August visit (quite necessary if you want to go), you may think that you have tickets for Van Gogh on Thursday afternoon, but you really have them for 10am Friday morning.  At the EXACT same time that you booked your Ann Frank tickets for.  Yes, we had tickets for Van Gogh at 10am and Ann Frank at 9:30am.   And the museums are about a mile and a half apart.  What a conondrum!  

We asked our friendly hotel clerk, and he did not seem to think it was too much of a problem.  His first suggestion was to go to Van Gogh and sell our Ann Frank tickets for $100-200 euros each.  Which did have a certain appeal…  However, he said that Ann Frank is more strict on ticket times so to do that first.   He called ahead to the Van Gogh museum for us and confirmed we could show up late (whew!).  

But let’s circle back to Thursday afternoon.  We also saw lots of canal cruises on our way from the train station to the hotel.  The station is surrounded by canals and piers for canal boats.   So, this too seemed like a sign that we should take a canal cruise (which is something I don’t think we did on our first visit to Amsterdam!)  (I think we did….) So we stopped in one of those tourist ticket places to check on canal cruises.  Of course, she started waxing poetic about the many different canal cruises that are available in Amsterdam (there are about a gajillion different ones).  The open-air  boat sounded like an ideal option since it was a beautiful sunny day with nary a cloud in sight, but my sister had a vision that could not be ignored.  You see, my daddy visited Amsterdam sometime in the early 60s when he was in the Navy.  And there’s this amazing picture of him in a blazer and way cooler sunglasses than I ever saw him wear,  looking remarkably like James Bond as he steps into a glass covered boat.  And, well, clearly we needed to duplicate my daddy’s photographic masterpiece.  So the ticket agent said it looked most like the Lover’s fully enclosed canal boats.   However, it was such a beautiful day that we decided that the semi-enclosed boats were close enough.  And well, I guess I wasn’t supposed to share that secret with you–  that we only semi-recreated the photo.  But I was also wearing my dirty airplane trravel clothes and not a stylish tweed blazer.  Seriously, can anyone picture my daddy in a blazer?  I cannot even fathom this.  It will always be a mystery because we didn’t discover this picture until long after he had passed away. It was in Aunt Marfie’s attic.   I digress.  

So, we consider the photo a 100% successful re–creation.  Unfortunately, our phone photo editing programs do not have sepia as a filter (crazy huh?) Luckily my favorite cousin is a genius and was able to fix it for us.  Oh, the glories of the internet!

After all this exertion, it was definitely time for a snack. And by snack, I mean French Fries. And not just any French Fry, but The Best French Fry in The Netherlands! Yes! We love when things are the best because who wants second best? Let me tell you, these fries were pretty darn good! The line was about a half hour long, which means that the fries are fresh, hot, and crispy. They were a thick cut fry, with a crisp outside and soft inside. They are served in a paper cone. You eat them with a wooden pitch fork. And, the sauce menu. I don’t even know what the options were. The one I got was some mustard, mayo, spice mix that my sleep- deprived brain can no longer remember. And for some reason, the cheese sauce was vegan with hints of vinegar. (Not being vegan, I have no idea– is vinegar flavored cheese normal?!) I ate it anyways and scraped every last drop of cheese sauce off the side of the paper cone. We just got the small order of fries, but it was literally an entire meal worth of fries. We gave it our best effort, but were not able to eat all the fries. Actually, the sauce doesn’t make it all the way to the bottom of the cone and they are kinda cold by the time you make it to the bottom of the cone, which leads me to believe you aren’t supposed to eat them all. It’s only logical, right?

Having gotten only a couple hours of sleep on the airplane, we were pretty much walking zombies by this point in the day. We headed back to the hotel to charge our phones and rest our feet. We weren’t supposed to nap, but that plan lasted about 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Needless to say, we took a power nap.

We forced ourselves to leave the hotel by 6, so that we could roam the streets of Amsterdam. We were hunting for a grocery store so that we could buy some Dutch yogurt. Or, really, any yogurt. Yogurt makes me happy. A yogurt a day keeps the doctor away. Interestingly enough, the mini marts can’t sell alcohol after 4 pm. Not sure if this is to prevent displays of touristic public drunkenness or to encourage liquor sales at restaurants and bars. Not that I wanted any liquor. I wanted yogurt. And candy.

We were back to the hotel by a little after 8. Which gave us time to eat our yogurt and shower and be in bed by sunset.

And, that is Day 1 in a nutshell. Day 2 will be a separate post. I am sure you are tired of reading. I am tired of writing for sure.

Bohrn2Wander,

thetwinsontour