24 Hours: Amsterdam — Paris (PhFArt Tour Day 2)

Amsterdam — Paris: Day two: Terri and Adam’s Philosophy, Food, and Art (PhFArt)Tour 2023.

Accommodations: Mercure Amsterdam North Station, Ibis Styles Paris Gare de l’Est TGV (do not recommend)

Restaurant(s): Boules Bites and Bar

Highlight(s): Van Gogh Museum, Albert Cuyp Market, Oedipus beer

Transportation: Thalys train (now Eurostar)

After our visit to the Rijksmuseum and our Dutch apple pie in Amsterdam during day one of our trip, we ventured toward the Albert Cuyp Market which I’d learned about in a YouTube video.

We walked along a canal where folks were growing plants on the canal and possibly raising fowl. Or a duck had made itself very comfortable. I was entertained by this.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this grogeous non-fruit bearing cherry tree. We walked through a lovely neighborhood to get to the market.

Loved these fascinating sculptures. Do they have a purpose other than being interesting to look at? No clue. Bikes. Lots of bikes.

We weren’t impressed by the market itself. There were some nice stalls with beautiful fish and there were some not so nice stalls with random junk.

I’d read about the stroopwaffels and since they too were on our bingo card, we waited in a short line before placing our order.

We had a few bites and decided it was too sweet (and sticky) and moved on. We aren’t clear on the fascination.

We made our way past the Rijksmuseum toward the Van Gogh Museum and as I said in the previous post, the grounds were gorgeous.

The museum is located in the Museumplein, a public space with three museums and the concert hall that you can see on the far side.

While the space lacked character, we were surprised to see most of the people in this area, sitting at a slant, facing the main grassy area. As you can see, it was a gorgeous day.

After paying a euro each to use the toilet near the museum, we joined a massive crowd at the Van Gogh Museum. Some people say it is their favorite museum but to us, the layout was strange and the self-portraits including the one shown above were poorly lit.

We quickly made our way through the multi-story museum attempting to enjoy not just the Van Goghs, but the Monets, Gauguins, Degas, and Cesannes.

We made quick work of the museum and walked to the closest metro stop to return to the hotel. I’d not effectively broken in my new Cole Hahn tennis shoes and my heals were trashed. Not a smart move for day 2 of our trip. I don’t think I was able to wear them for the remainder of the trip.

After a nap, we walked from the hotel toward the restaurants and found Boules. It was cute and uncrowded and was perfect except for the fact that there were no vegetables on the menu.

I asked the guys behind the bar for beer recommendations and they crouched down and conferred before making two local suggestions.

The first was an Oedipus IPA that was good and came in a fancy, branded glass.

It went well with the bitterballen (essentially fried meatballs) we had. Dinner was pretty random with those plus ballpark-like nachos (not the gourmet ones…the ones with the fake, orange cheese) and chicken satay that was covered with some pretty heavy gravy. The only fresh produce was in the salsa on the nachos.

We saw these wherever we ate in Amsterdam…utensil pockets with a paper napkin. Cute but not very environmentally friendly. Was this a holdover from the pandemic?

We were still fighting jet lag, and after a drug discussion with the two guys behind the bar, and a second beer (another Oedipus), we returned to the hotel and attempted to stay awake until 10 PM. We’d learned that Amsterdam was no longer the big drug destination that it used to be. The more you know…

We left the hotel at 9 AM to take the metro to the Centraal station and catch our 10:15 train. We weren’t sure of the logistics and didn’t want to miss our train.

We remembered to take a pic of Adam in his cap when we exited the station after almost forgetting. We were surprised to see the river (IJ??) since we’d completely missed it on our first day when we’d exited Centraal Station.

We actually had to go outside of the station to get the picture and then go back in to take the Thalys train to Paris. I loved the stained glass roof. It probably says Amsterdam.

We stood in line for a croissant and cappuccino for me and a sandwich for Adam and while waiting, we met a family from Davis, CA (Hudson, Chelsea, Anne, and Tom). Chelsea had just graduated from San Marco and they were doing a similar trip to ours but in reverse. They suggested that we take a Vespa wine tasting tour in Florence which we both decided could be a little dangerous after the second stop.

We had seats facing each other so we could play cards on the train ride. They looked like fancy thrones and were quite comfortable.

The train ride went by pretty quickly as we played hand after hand of Monopoly Deal until we both needed naps. If you like card games, are competitve, and don’t like how long it takes to play Monopoly, this might be for you. Each hand lasts between 10–15 minutes and can be played with 2–4 players. Warning: playing can cause bad feelings and feelings of mistrust depending on who you are playing with. But it’s still really fun!

Three and a half hours later, after traveling through Belgium, we arrived in Paris (Gare du Nord) and it felt like returning home. We both love Paris.

We were within walking distance of our crappy hotel (and no, I didn’t know it was crappy when I booked it), the Ibis Styles Paris Gare de l’Est. There were three Ibis hotels within 500 feet of each other and at first we went to the wrong one, stood in line behind some gals having some issues. We looked around as we waited and were delighted by how nice it was. And then totally disappointed to learn it wasn’t our hotel.

Ibis is the low-cost/budget Accor Hotels brand and I will not be staying in another one. Fortunately we were only there for two nights and it did include breakfast. The location, near Canal St Martin, wasn’t great (but not bad) and it was good to explore a new area. The towels were thin, the bathroom smelled like mildew, but Zach at reception was very nice and suffered through my French, and even encouraged me to speak more.

We dropped our bags, changed into clothes better suited for warm weather and walked toward the Seine. More on that in day three.

Next up: Day Three: Paris

For the trip overview, check out Terri and Adam’s Philosophy, Food, and Art (PhFArt) Tour (May/June 2023).

Have questions? Send me an email at pilotingyourlife@gmail.com

About the Author

Terri Hanson Mead is the multi-award winning author of Piloting Your Life, Managing Partner of Solutions2Projects, LLC, and an advocate for women through all of her platforms including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and this blog. Terri is the mother of two (one in college and one who just graduated!), is based in Redwood City, CA and in her spare time, loves to travel, cook, play tennis, and fly helicopters around the San Francisco Bay Area, especially under the Golden Gate Bridge.