Amsterdam - Beth's Visit

We returned to our house in Bonn and had brand spanking new floors and a huge mess to clean up before Beth arrived the next day. After frantically cleaning for 8 hours to make sure the house was presentable for our first guest, I got a frantic call from Beth. She had missed her connection in D.C. so would be coming a day late.

September 16th

I decided the best plan was to go straight to Amsterdam when she arrived the next day. The train from the Frankfurt airport stopped in Cologne so I planned to get on the same train so we could ride together. It worked out perfectly.

Once we were in Amsterdam, we set about the task of locating the B & B I had reserved. Thankfully, Klaus, our host gave us directions or we would have never found it. As it was, we got lost a few times.

The Eel house was an unassuming and unmarked 5 story house on a corner. The stairs were ridiculously steep and windy. Of course before our trip, I read a negative review of this B&B based on the dangerous stairs, but dismissed the author’s review and attributed it to whiny Americans. I underestimated the “death” stairs. We were, of course, on the 5th floor so we were all pretty out of breath by the time we reached our attic room. The space was small but had a lot of character and a great view.

We freshened up and went in search of dinner. Beth’s Frommer’s guide led us astray a number of times on the restaurant end. We looked for three different restaurants during the course of our stay and none of them existed. However, we were able to find some great places on our own.

That night we had dinner at De Belhamel. It was a little pricey, but we figured a splurge was in order as it was Beth’s birthday. We sat outside at the junction of two canals and had a great meal.

September 17th

The next day Klaus brought breakfast to our room which consisted of warm croissants, bread, cheese, meat and fruit. We had a relaxing, slow start to the day.

First on our agenda was the Anne Frank House. However, the line snaked around the building so we adjusted our plan and headed down to the Van Gogh museum winding our way along the Nine Streets (high end shopping) between two canals.

The last time I was in Amsterdam, I somehow neglected to visit the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House. I’m not exactly sure what it was I did see, but it was about 10 years ago.

The Van Gogh museum was the highlight of the day. I learned a lot that I didn’t know about Van Gogh. He didn’t become an artist until he was 27. He worked in a gallery, was a preacher and then a school teacher before he started to paint. In the span of only 10 years, he painted over 800 works of art. The museum contains 200 of these paintings.

After the museum, we went to the old town center and did some shopping. Beth picked up 2 scarves which kept her warm for the rest of her trip. She only managed to lose one of them in Munich which is probably better than the majority of Oktoberfest revelers.

This was Beth’s first trip to Amsterdam so she wanted to walk by the red light district. This time it was just as depressing as the last time I was there. Everyone seemed to have different tactics. Some stood suggestively; others looked bored or showed off their rolls of fat. One women even stood there making funny faces at would be customers.

We decided to rest our aching feet near the national monument which was fittingly phallic for the sex capital of the Netherlands.

We walked by the Flower Market along the canal and went to the Anne Frank House. The line had completely died down so we were able to get in right away. I've read the Diary of Anne Frank a long time ago but seeing the house made me want to read it again.

For dinner we checked out a vegetarian restaurant that Klaus and Rick Steve’s suggested – De Bol. It was really very good. For those of you in Denver, it reminded me of the Watercourse restaurant but the food was better. We split a North African dish and a veggie cheese casserole.

After dinner we went to the Black Star café and had to peel ourselves away from watching a soccer game to get home. Who knew we liked soccer so much? I think we both decided we were rooting for whichever team had Renaldo.

Thursday, September 18th

The next day we decided to take one of the boat tours to take advantage of the sunshine and two hours we had to spare before getting on the train to Bonn. It was nice to see the town from the water and hear some of the boat driver’s commentary.

We learned that the reason houses are so tall and narrow is that people were taxed according to the width of their house so the built up rather than out. The city has over 100 canals and 500 bridges. A few years ago the city installed low barriers along the canal to prevent cars from driving into the canal. However, one car a week still ends up in the water.

After our tour, we had lunch at Koppel Café which was another winner. I would go back to Amsterdam for the food in a heartbeat.

Back in Bonn, we dropped our bags off at the house and headed downtown for a quick tour of Bonn. Beth was able to practice her German when I fainted. She got to ask someone – Sprechen Sie Englisch? The other German phrase Beth learned during her trip was Entschuldigung (excuse me/ sorry) which she used during the trip as a pick up line.