Amsterdam: Day 3
by Vincent
Today we spent time around the Museumplein and walked through the largest day market in Amsterdam, Albert Cuypmarkt, and ended with a walk through Vondelpark.
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum is a massive museum containing art and artifacts spanning many centuries. It’s quite an impressive museum and will take up an entire day (or more) if you want to see everything. We highly recommend going straight away at 9AM for opening—the line starts forming early. If you took our advice and stayed with Fleur, you’ll also have your Museumkaarts—Museum Pass. If you don’t, you can buy one at the museum. They are absolutely worth it if you plan to visit more than two museums (and you probably will)! There is also a I AMSTERDAM logo/sculpture outside of the museum, which was empty at 9am. We were easily able to get pictures. When we left the museum at 2pm, it was PACKED and getting pictures would have been nearly impossible, without photo-bombers.
My favorite part was the objects—especially the arms and armaments. What can I say, I’ve always loved old guns.
Protip: Museum Passes grant immediate access to the museum, you do NOT need to stand in line for tickets! They also last a full year so if you plan to come back, you’ll be set.
Albert Cuypmarkt
This is one of Amsterdam’s largest markets, as it stretches down the avenue Albert Cuypstraat. It’s a really cool market and unlike the markets we have in Aix, it has some street food! The other interesting thing is you can buy “general store” products like razors, shampoo, etc. The stores basically just move outside onto the street. Other goods you can shop for include vegetables, chicken, fish, clothing, shoes, antiques, pillows, and household goods. The chicken meatballs are AWESOME, pick some up. There is also the classic Dutch fries (Vlees Frites) which you can carry around with a dollop of various sauces. Here’s the thing though, the best fries are actually at the Watergraafsmeer market (near the Meester Visserplein stop) which we found out later.
We had poffertjes which are silver dollar pancakes with powdered sugar—they’re super yummy. We also had stroopwaffle, which are syrup waffles — hold them straight, or you will get syrup all over yourself!
We stopped at Jeffrey’s Cafe for some coffee, it was off one of the side streets. The guy who was presumably Jeffrey (we didn’t ask) was nice and offered some advice on where to go around Amsterdam.
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is pretty self-descriptive. It’s a great idea to go on a Friday because the museum stays open late—with a DJ or live music! It took about an hour and a half to get through it, again, our museum passes allowed us to take the priority line and we got in in less than 10 minutes.
Vondelpark
We went to the Vondelpark (pronounced “Fondle”-park) after the Van Gogh so it was later in the day and the sun was starting to set. I have to say, I like Amsterdam’s parks better than France’s parks… they just feel… more like a park. To be fair, Paris has a “garden” not necessarily a park—but Vondelpark was better anyway and even here in Aix, La Torse is probably the closest we get to a real park (and it is nice). Vondelpark is a BIG park—think Central Park or Hyde Park—and has a ton of trails and benches. We sat around a lot, just enjoying the views. Another reason it was better? WILDLIFE. Let’s see, we saw ducks, swans, herons, rabbits, duck-like geese, and lots of birds — including wild parakeets! You just don’t see that in France’s parks.
De Ebeling
The sun had set and it was nighttime—we were hungry. After trying a couple places and finding they were too busy or too smoky or too closed, we landed on a bar near the park, De Ebeling. The bar was cozy and pretty busy, and we sat at a tiny cocktail table until a spot opened up. I gotta say—I had the best burger there. It was delicious. I haven’t had a good burger since leaving the US! Granted, there are a couple potentially awesome burger places in Aix so I’m reserving judgment. I had an Amsterdam Tripel which was good and Céleste had a Chicken Caesar Salad which she says was good as well.
