Amsterdam

After a full first day in Amsterdam, slightly tuckered, I will keep this brief. We departed St. Ives yesterday and drove about four hours to Heathrow. We said goodbye to Hannah at Terminal 5 as she headed in to London to meet friends. From there she is off to Madrid and Portugal. What a life.

We noshed at the Gordon Ramsay food venue at Heathrow then took a fifty minute flight to Schipol airport in Amsterdam arriving around 9:30 pm. The airport was a ghost town made more eerie by some travellers in full anti covid 'moonsuits' complete with mask, shield and booties. Caught a cab in to town and arrived at our funky digs where we were met by Astrid our host. We ascended the wickedly steep steps "typical Amsterdam" Astrid noted, dropped our bags and headed out to case the immediate neighbourhood. We are in the Joordan neighbourhood which is so intimate, non touristy and generally comforting. I walk around with a smile on my face. Loved London but this is so much more embracing.

Today we more or less stuck to our neighbourhood with a canal boat tour added. Started with a walk through a big street market about two blocks from our pad. It sold mostly fabric and cheezy clothing as well as fish, cheese and mini pancakes. Cash only which we will have to get used to. Then we went full tourist and unabashedly walked around with a Rick Steeves Amsterdam guide open and followed his neighbourhood walk. Well worth it. Great lunch at a middle eastern hole in the wall, walked in and out of cool shops, canal tour, new battery for my failing IPhone 8, some great late afternoon beer at a pub as the sun dropped below some buildings across a canal. Fun fact - the classic Amsterdam narrow buildings with a short beam and pulley at the top actually lean out over the street to enable the loads to be pulled up away from the building. Saw some cool stuff from the canal cruise that we want to see later. Tomorrow we go to the Van Gogh Museum and the large park nearby. More tomorrow.