Amsterdam is a really cool city that I only enjoyed for a couple of days. It seemed to me that it was the most crowded city I’d ever been to. It’s not bigger than many other international cities however there were so many people walking around day and night, it never let up. It seemed like Christmas time, when people walk and shop and enjoy the city lights. Of course there, people were enjoying plenty of eye candy in the infamous red light district.
There are so many things to check out and the city offers great public transportation so you can do a lot in a short amount of time. You can even rent a bike and ride/live dangerously along with the locals, who by the way don’t give a hoot for pedestrians. Walk at your own risk there.
I’m getting sidetracked – I’m supposed to be talking about food…
Since I was only there for two days, I can’t say that I had many chances to explore the city culinarily (is that a word?) but whatever I did indulge in was decent. I remember the prices being outrageous though and both my husband and I, as well as my accompanying cousin, were on a budget. So we did what we do lots of times, eat at local small places or hit up the street vendors.
Let’s see, we had Belgian fries of course with a disgusting amount of mayo. It’s a specialty there and I know many folks here eat fries with their mayo (or vice versa), however my husband Mark and I weren’t buying it. Next time, we’re sticking to ketchup or whatever else is available.
We also had Chinese food, or was it some other Asian category? Can’t remember but I had stir-fried rice and hubby and cousin had brothy noodles. This was ok, nothing to write home about. I think we just picked the place because we had been sightseeing the whole afternoon and were close to strangling each other – you know, once hunger kicks in…. So we walked around totally undecided on what to eat and after passing at least a dozen joints, we settled on the Chinese place that was at least cheap.
We also had the chance to go to a bar and drink local beer, but alas, missed out on pub grub. Speaking of pubs, stopped at one for lunch the second day and always wanting the local stuff, I ordered bitterballen, a mixture of ground beef, spices, breadcrumbs, egg and milk, which is deep-fried. This was funky, funky. It kind of melted in your mouth but you could not detect any meat. Probably my first real mystery-meat dish. I also had the most traditional thing on the menu, pea soup. Thought this would be somehow different than regular pea soup I have at home but no, it’s pretty much the same darn thing. Maybe theirs had a tad too much pepper in it. So my advice, skip it if you go.
Other than that, can’t remember what else we ate but we walked around so much and did the usual Eurotrip (non-stop sightseeing and photo taking) that I’m sure we didn’t fuel up as much as we should have. I’d love to go back and try their waffles, herring and Indonesian food (history and politics again).
Fries and a tub of mayo
Waffles
One of many beautiful canals
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