More scenes from Amsterdam

Amsterdam has thorougly enchanted us!  We had a great day just wandering...the weather was perfect and it felt as though all the locals were out enjoying the sunshine (along with all the tourists!). People were sitting in window sills, on their stoops, even sitting on the sidewalk in a plastic chair and a dog bed!

In our wanderings today, we came upon a cute little carving in a tree.  We had walked under this tree numerous times, but it wasn't until today that we saw the little woodcarver!

We have seen so many fun little quirky things...the stores and streets are filled with such great sights!

I loved this window in a shoe store...the way they displayed the shoes on bike peddles in this bike crazy city seemed so appropriate! 

The ENORMOUS cans of pickles in the window of the fish market made me think of Bryan! If you need roughly 6 lbs. of pickles, I know just where you can get them!

Truly the smallest car I have ever seen!  It is dwarfed by the bike parked next to it...smaller than our golf cart!

And I love these "station wagon"/wheelbarrow bikes (I really don't know what to call them!).  We usually see kids  (frequently 2 at a time) being transported in the front part, but I saw a a few grown young women in the front while boyfriend/husband peddled! There are also plenty of bikes being ridden by Mom (or Dad in some cases) with a child sitting on the back, and a baby/toddler in front of Mom...

And seriously, the canals are so beautiful...can I just include a few more shots? 

Oh, Jay and Iren...our walking tour guide showed us a picture of this canal during King's Day and we though of you and how much fun you must have had celebrating your engagement on that crazy day! In fact, I think our guide is point at you two in the photo!

One of my customers had suggested we check out the Pulitzer Hotel and we did!  This lovely hotel is actually made of 17 separate houses!  It was founded by the grandson of the Pulitzer who started the Pulitzer Prize and the hotel library has a copy of every Pulitzer Prize winner the you can read while staying at the hotel.  It was kind of cool to see them all arranged together!

"whilst"?!?  Now that's a word I need to use more!! :-)

We thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Amsterdam, partially due to some great recommendations we got from our friends Joe and Becky.  They shared the name of the hotel they had stayed in on their recent visit to Amsterdam and we loved it...the location was great!  If you are ever in Amsterdam, I heartily suggest booking a room at the Hotel Vondel in the Museum Quarter.  It is on a darling little street...you feel away from the hustle and bustle, yet you are just 1 block from a major road with all the busses...and really just a short walk from everything!  We were thrilled when we checked in and they upgraded us to a triple - our room was huge!  And the best part, it had a California King bed!! (Our bed in Munich was horrible, making us that much more appreciative of this great bed in Amsterdam!)

And it had this little sign in the room...something you don't see at home!

The common areas down stairs were very nice...the breakfast room and the lounge/lobby area:

The Hotel Vondel, like the Pulitzer, is made of several old Dutch homes that have been connected...this makes for weird little twists and turns in the hotel...and thank God there was an elevator, because the stairs in these old Dutch homes are killers - they are really more like carpeted ladders, each step is about 6 inches deep and the vertical climb is nuts - I thanked my lucky stars each time I got in the tiny little elevator!

We also had a fantastic meal at a restaurant recommended by J & B.  It was called ZaZa's in a section of town called de Pijp.  It was really a special meal and we so thoroughly enjoyed our selves.  It was one of the best meals we have ever had...and they were so accommodating to Gary's gluten free requests - the GF bread they served was outstanding!  

One random fun fact we learned about the King of the Netherlands, that I forgot to mention earlier,  is that he is a licensed commercial pilot and apparently flys for KLM Airline (under a fictitious name) about twice a month!  He has been doing this for about 10 years and it just came to light.  I would like to think that he was our pilot from Munich to Amsterdam...I have no proof, but it is a rumor I may encourage!  We will be sorry to leave Amsterdam...but perhaps the King of the Netherlands will fly us back here some day!