Don, Frankie and I left Seattle around 2:00 pm on Wednesday, September 4th. We flew Delta straight to Amsterdam in a 9 hour flight, arriving about 8:30 am. No sleep but felt pretty good for the first few hours.

We tried to check into our hotel which was part of our Delta package but for some reason they had cancelled our reservations. We don’t know yet if it was Delta or the hotel. Frankie is going to contact Delta Vacations about it. However, the hotel had rooms so it wasn’t a problem. They did not have them available until 3:00 though.

We walked down the street and across the canal to where there was a long street market. A lot of the booths were extensions of the stores behind them. Some interesting food stalls and lots of clothing, bags, junk, etc.

It was very windy and cool (felt good to me, as usual). Then it started to drizzle. That is our basic forecast for the days we are here.

We went into a coffee shop/cafe. Don and I had our 10:00 am Heineken and Frankie had a coffee. We sat there for a while chatting some with the two women who worked there until the rain stopped.

Canal by hotel. Our hotel is the second building on the left. (Photo credit: Frankie)

We were very tired by then and walked back down the street to the hotel. We figured if we sat in the lobby they might give us rooms quicker. Not. Don and Frankie’s room was ready first so we all trooped up there. They lay down and I sat in the chair trying to stay awake listening to my book and playing games. Finally, a little before 3:00 pm I finally got my room. I lay down around 4:00 and kind of slept for two hours. They are tearing down a building next door and were using a backhoe to clean up broken up cement. So, it was rather noisy.

The other members of our party, Barb and Celia, had come in sometime after 3:00 and went straight to their room. They decided not to join us for dinner.

We walked a couple blocks away to a highly popular restaurant, Cafe Loetje. It was a fun place and very busy. We got there just in time to get seats at the bar while waiting for our table. A few minutes later there was standing room inside and out for tables.

Bar at Cafe Loetje

Frankie and I ordered something we never see in the states – veal liver. Don ordered his favorite – schnitzel. The menu was ala carte so we ordered sides of fried onions for our liver, and everyone was going to order french fries until I noted that I had seen that they were large orders. So the waitress said 2 baskets of fries for the 3 of us. We should have ordered 1 and the liver came with bacon and onions so we had way too much food. It was all good though.

Frankie and Don

Veal liver with bacon and onions

The next morning after a fairly good night of sleep, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. We weren’t able to get all the tickets online so had to stand in line at museum and were able to get them. They release tickets that aren’t available online at machines by the museum. It was weird.

Frankie, me, Don, Celia and Barb

The Van Gogh museum

We split up and all saw the museum at our own pace then met up in the cafe for wine. Van Gogh was definitely an interesting and troubled man.

We all had a rest in the late afternoon then met up for dinner out. We went to Mamouche, a Moroccan French restaurant. Four of us went for the chef’s surprise 3 course dinner. Don chose a couscous and grilled meat dinner.

We started with an apertíf of Prosecco with Moroccan rose petals. We all thought it was going to have a rose syrup or something but it was just a petal.

Our surprise dinner started with an appetizer. I got filo dough filled with chicken, onion, raisins, and almonds. Frankie got a filo with tuna confit, capers, parsley and quail egg. We split them between us. They were both good, but I liked the tuna one best.

Interior of Restaurant Mamouche

Filo filled with chicken, raisins and almonds

Filo with tuna, capers, parsley and egg

Next we were served a hot, steamy tagine. Mine was lamb, almonds, plums, and sweet potatoes and Frankie’s was cod, prawns, onion and potato. Both were very good. Don enjoyed his couscous and grilled meat with sweet potato and pumpkin. Celia and Barb had the same things that Frankie and I had.

Tagine of lamb shoulder, plums, almonds and green beans

Tagine of cod and prawns

Couscous and grilled meats and vegetables

Dessert was creme brûlée and a citrus yogurt ice cream and a filo filled with almond paste with cinnamon ice cream. Those who know me well know I am not a cinnamon fan but the ice cream really didn’t taste much of cinnamon. The desserts were all eaten before we remembered to take pictures.

We were all really happy that we had tried someplace so different. The service was pretty good and the restaurant was busy but not too noisy.

Back to the hotel for a night cap and then to bed at around midnight.

It was a good day but not too busy.