A perfect day in Amsterdam
While we were in Paris, my son Paolo kept egging me to visit Amsterdam even for just a day. Though I’ve never been to the City of Canals, my enthusiasm to go was somewhat dampened because I had wanted to visit my cousin Milen Aviles there. Ironically, she and husband Medel were in Manila at the time to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.
Still, Paolo persisted and I finally relented on the condition that he plan the trip and take care of all the details, from booking our train tickets, plotting our itinerary, choosing the restaurants, and all the rest. He readily agreed and scheduled the trip on our last full day in Paris.
My daughter Gabbie, however, preferred to stay behind to explore the City of Love on her own (Gabbie wrote about her “me-time” in Paris in last week’s article), and enjoy some peace and quiet away from her mother and brother!
Since we booked our tickets three days before departure, they cost us around 300 euros each, round trip. If we booked much earlier, like a month before, the tickets would have been cheaper.
Paolo and I took the Thalys high-speed train that departed from Paris at 6:13 a.m., arriving in Amsterdam at 9:44 a.m. When we stepped out of the Amsterdam Central train station, we walked along the quay and were treated to a beautiful view of the river IJ. The weather was nice and cool. At around 20 degrees, it was much cooler than Paris and perfect for strolling. I quickly noticed how many people were on their bikes using the dedicated bike lanes adjacent to the pedestrian lanes. Talk about great urban planning!
During our stroll, Paolo found the place where he wanted to have breakfast, the famous and popular Omelegg, which specializes in omelets. We arrived just in time, as it quickly filled up with customers waiting to get a table. Together with coffee, I had the salmon deluxe omelet, which consisted of smoked salmon, avocado, spinach and truffle cream. Paolo built his own omelet with five different cheeses, leading our waiter to remark that this was a first for him to see! It became very obvious to him that my son loves cheese.
After our hearty and delicious breakfast, we continued our walk to the city central where the canals were. We passed some of the famed Nine Streets (“De Negen Straatjes”) and admired the narrow houses with their gabled facades. After a bit of window shopping and photo taking, we made our way to the Van Gogh Museum for our 12:45 p.m. tour. I chose the Van Gogh Museum over the Rijks Museum when Paolo asked me where I wanted to go, because after seeing the animated movie Loving Vincent, I became more interested in van Gogh’s art and life story. The museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary with special exhibitions of his colorful masterpieces, together with his drawings and letters.
After two hours in the museum, Paolo was ready for a late lunch. And so, we settled on The Pantry, a restaurant that serves traditional, home-made Dutch dishes. The place was also packed with tourists at the time and we were lucky to get a table. Good thing too that they had set menus which made it easier for us to choose, since we’re not familiar with Dutch cuisine. Paolo wanted to try their sausage (Menu No. 1) while the lady next to me highly recommended Menu No. 3, which was a combination of three Dutch sausages for starters and a savory beef and onion stew with red cabbage and mashed potatoes for the main course. It was delicious, savory and filling, and for dessert, I had their divine mini-pancakes dusted with powdered sugar.
After lunch, we continued to walk so we could get rid of all the calories we “acquired.” We had wanted to see the house of Anne Frank but tickets were sold out that day, so we continued exploring the city and window-shopping while slowly heading back to the station to catch our 7:15 p.m. train to Paris. I checked out some of the cannabis stores (there are lots of them because marijuana is legal there) and was amused by the sheer number of products that contain cannabis, like water, chocolates, tea, coffee, and more. Then there were the novelty stores that carried sex toys, which gave Paolo a case of the giggles just looking at them. He also wanted to pass by the infamous red-light district, but had no luck seeing even one “lady of the night.” Since it was the height of summer, the sun sets at 9 p.m. so there was no practitioner of “the world’s oldest profession” to see at 6 p.m. with the sun still shining brightly.
Unexpectedly, we found a TK Maxx (like the TJ Maxx discount stores in the US), which had five floors! My son had a blast, finding a T-shirt of his favorite NBA team OKC and a Munsingwear cap. A few stores down the street was a Primark, the international fashion retailer famed for its affordability that’s a shopping haven for many, including me.
We got to the train station before 7 p.m. and were heading back to Paris by 7:15 p.m. During the ride, I thanked Paolo for insisting that we visit Amsterdam. Though we were in that beautiful city for only a few hours, it captivated me and gifted me with new treasured memories of a perfect day with my son.
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