We took the train back to Amsterdam before flying home.
We’re staying at a different hotel then earlier in this trip: Ambassade Hotel.
It was one of the nicer hotels for this trip.
Loved seeing these bicycles on the bridges over their canals.
During our return, we stopped back in a few places we both enjoyed. Eric looked for cheese………
……………and I wandered the flower market.
We walked to the ‘Red Light District’ – just to say we were there. Yes, down some of the alleyways there were ladies in the windows at street level – scantily clothed – even at 11 am in the morning.
Being so close to the sea, Eric found a popular (yet affordable) restaurant that we stopped in twice before leaving Amsterdam.
Of course, we had to get a version of their ‘seafood tower’. Let me see, I believe this is a fairly complete list of the items below: two different shrimp species, cockles, clams, razor clams, oysters, snow crab legs, stone crab, sea snails, mussels and crab salad (which we enjoyed the least).
What drove us (read – Eric) back for our second visit was their oyster happy hour. Between the hours of 3pm – 5pm, these tasty bivalves were available for a great price. So naturally, we needed 2 dozen between us to share.
I couldn’t pass up a chance to try their grilled octopus, with slices of fried potatoes – delicious!
I needed more for my evening meal. The mussels from the previous seafood tower were so good, that’s what I requested, also adding the frites. 🙂
One last shot of the restaurant we so enjoyed………..The Seafood Bar.
We thought we were full, until I saw the ice cream shop across the street. We needed some ice cream to ‘fill in the cracks’. Even with the chilly temps, ice cream hit the spot.
We had such a good trip, we were trying to find a way to end our time in Amsterdam. Found it!
After a short walk to our boat departure, we were ready for our last adventure. Random art installations followed a set pathway due to the number of vessels.
So glad Eric didn’t book the ‘boat tour’ below. The photo is a little dark, and yes, that’s a kayak. We saw several that had strung Christmas lights along the top of the hull.
Interesting thought……..
This one was interesting. The lights were on a cycle, looking perfect initially, then slowly crumbling down upon itself.
These birds commanded a lot of attention. Some of the installations were easily seen along the canals while the one above was in the port area.
Our cruise was a notch above the rest, complete with food, drink and a bit of history.
While this last post is way overdue – like most of my final trip posts – it is finally finished. We really loved Amsterdam and visiting the Christmas markets. Hopefully more Christmas markets will in our future.
Darden Travels 