Amsterdam Trip Part Zes: In case you were wondering...

I didn't enter any tea or coffee houses, to get any tea or coffee. And as for the coffeeshops, where visitors go not for a pot of coffee, but, well, pot? Nope, not my scene. Going to one of those was truly never on my agenda. But it was the modus operandi for a whole bunch of tourists, many from the US, most from the UK:

• the granola girls from many countries,
  
• the middle class white boys with dreadlocks,
  
• the occasional hippie dude playing guitar or violin (!) on the street to get enough money for pot and his hostel room,
  
• the chavs yelling at dealers selling harder stuff on the street (Amsterdam's coffeeshops are VERY adamant about stopping the hard stuff),
  
• and pretty much any other American or Brit tourist that specifically came for the mary jane.
  

The smarter dope tourists will have gotten high in moderation, so I'm not talking about them. The funny ones were the ones who just went to excess! One group of kids we ran into in our hotel as we were taking the elevator to the room. They were very stoned, and studying a sign with great difficulty, or maybe it was their room number. I'm not sure. At least they didn't throw up on us. They probably did that outside of the coffeeshop they went to last. Blobs of puke in front of coffeeshops were not uncommon.

It's interesting that so many of them chose to openly smoke it on the streets, because that actually is illegal. Some of them probably got arrested.

As for Amsterdam's other famous vice, the "working girls" of the Red Light District: I did see them. If you've been paying attention, y'all have figured out I wasn't there to visit them. But lots of male tourists were. And the women who work in the prostitution booths? Protected by the law and by a very large man, and with health benefits from their employers! Still, one guy must have overstepped his boundaries. One day when I was walking back from a long day of sightseeing and, of course, more walking, I would up walking through the RLD and heard "OUT!" yelled in the distance. I turned around and saw some guy being thrown out of one of the prostitution businesses. The guy just cursed and muttered. I don't know exactly what he did, but I can only wonder.

Amsterdam Trip Part Vijf: Wagamama

After the 15 months since I visited the one on a non-descript but well-traveled street in London, and several days after passing up my chance to eat at the Faneuil Hall one in Boston, I finally got my chance to go back to Wagamama. There are two in Amsterdam, three total in the Netherlands, and I insisted on dragging Jim to the nearest one, on the Max Euweplein near the theater, Museumplein and Leidesplein.

We had just come from the Anne Frank Huis, the museum built around the house where the famous Dutch Jewish girl hid from the Nazis with her family and another for several years, until their safe house was breached (only her father survived the death camps, which took 6 million Jews and 5 million others). We had also just visited the nearby Homomonument, which as far as I know is the biggest monument in the world dedicated to GLBT persons around the world, especially gay victims of the Holocaust (5,000 to 15,000, at least). Max Euweplein, dedicated to a famous Dutch chess champion, is the site where people (like Anne Frank's family and many other Amsterdam Jews, gays and other Holocaust victims) were marched to be sent to the concentration camps. It was very sobering.

Still, we did enjoy our trip to Wagamama, as did the US and (moreover) UK tourists around us, and the Dutch coming in to eat as well (maybe they were also tourists?). Jim assured me he liked his food, so I didn't feel bad obsessively making him wait for the place to open at noon). And this is why I wish they would open more in the US, maybe DC, especially Baltimore, even LA which I do occasionally visit:

• The Wagamama Ramen (€12), a big steaming bowl of, as their menu states it, "noodles in a vegetable soup topped with a marinated and grilled mushroom, seasonal greens, kamaboko-aka [a type of fish], wakame [seweed], prawn, seasonal fish, chicken, fried tofu, menma [dried bamboo] and spring onions". Oh my God, this was good stuff. Everything was so wonderful, especially the kamaboko-aka and those grilled prawns. I got almost to the bottom, and was disappointed that there wasn't more at the bottom of that big bowl. Jim got the Seafood Ramen (€13), which had the same seafood as mine, plus other fish and squid.

• The Banana Katsu (€5) covered with a dollop of orange-vanilla ice cream. I've had banana tempura but never banana katsu (banana fried in Japanese bread crumbs). Three small banana halves with a small dollop of ice cream. Heavenly, about as good as a good tempura ice cream. We each got this.

• I was less impressed with the small side order of Japanese pickles (€1.50), not for the taste but specifically for the size. You could fit all three pickles together on the head of a quarter, they were that small).
  

While eating we did get the chance to see some guys playing chess outside. This was no ordinary chess game, mind you, but a game featuring very large and light pieces that can be played for all to see very easily. The piecs are in two large locked boxes so people can't just walk off with them. You have to get the key from somebody. It was amusing lunch entertainment.

Amsterdam Trip Part Vier: More Bites from Amsterdam

I'm back, after 24 hours of foot, tram and plane travel and two transfers for a total of three plane trips through two continents, three economic zones (euro, Icelandic kronur and US dollar). I'm surprisingly well-rested. It seems much easier to get back on schedule when you're going to a later time zone than to an earlier one.

Again, the photos will be posted sometime in the next few days. First, just some brief notes about a few other places I ate and drank at this past week.

Haute Cuisine

The Getto Bar and Restaurant is a very funky, openly GLBT-friendly place you might even find in Hampden or Charles Village. The night before Gil headed out to Arnhem, we all went in for some dinner. This was where I spent the most money for any dish, and this was not one of the more expensive places. I followed up a forgettable witte bier (€4) with a fascinating plate of game: venison, wild boar and rabbit medallions with hearty yet tender mixed vegetables (€17). It tasted pretty good, but one thing annoyed me: if I am going to order something as different as wild boar and venison, I would at least like to be able to tell them apart. All three meats tasted exactly the same to me. That's not my fault. I think they did something wrong. Very tasty and creative, but not worth €17 (for comparison's sake, that's roughly US$25). I forget what the others ordered, but they liked them. In addition to food, Gil got a very good, home-brewed rosé cherry beer (which I tasted, of course). Jim and I did go back on our last night in town for more of those home-brewed rosé cherry beers

Bars

In addition to the Getto, I stopped by a few bars, both gay and not, including a few good ones on Zeedijk (including the Queen's Head, which has a beautiful view of the canals by the Red Light District and where I got to see a hilarious Celine Dion impersonator) and Kerkstraat (a famous part of gay Amsterdam, including the Spijker Bar, where I ran into someone who, after trading genealogical info, apparently came from the same village that my great-great grandfather came from in Northern Ireland). I visited a regular old straight bar on Kerkstraat but I'm frustrated that I can't remember its name. But it's across from a gay bookstore and next to a gay sauna. Very gay area, Kerkstraat. But I must mention it because it was my first introduction to Hoegaarden, a delicious witte bier that I have to find at the Wine Source when I go next. I drank it wherever I could find it. If I can find it.

More Dutch

The Roode Leeuw (Red Lion), on Damrak - one of the major streets downtown that leads to the historic Dam - is in the beautiful Hotel Amsterdam (much bigger, much more expensive, and probably much better than my cruddy excuse for a hotel). We all ate here before Gil's trip to the little city of Arnhem. Their offerings were quite expensive, but we were enticed by the relatively inexpensive items on their lunch menu, including sandwiches. First I got a delicious tomato soup (€3), a common item on many Dutch menus that I saw. It was creamy and not so salty. It did strike me that, maybe, it was from a package, but since the Dutch don't oversweeten their syrups, sweets and sodas, maybe they don't oversalt their soups. Next I got a grilled mozzarella, basil and tomato sandwich - a classic panino, they just didn't call it that - for €6. I got no dessert - I wanted to save my euros for other things. But the other guys got creme brulée. I would have as well, were it not for the €8 price tag. I reasoned: as much as I love it, would I ever spend $12 for creme brulée? No. Gil did stuff a spoonful in my mouth. It was good, but not worth $12.

One thing I regret never getting to try is that common Dutch street food, salted raw herring. Last Thursday I saw the stand, all the way up to Holy Saturday, that day before Easter. I kept on putting it off. Then Easter Sunday hits and it's closed. Then it's closed Easter Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday! I never got to try it.

Argentinian

The Dutch seem to love Argentinian steak. Argentinian, Uruguayan, Brazilian - anything from South America, but specifically Argentinian. The problem with these places is their price: steak ain't cheap, no matter where you eat it. And at the typical price of €16 - €25 per steak, it was quickly ignored as a viable dinner option. But on our last night in town, Jim and I were lured into La Pampa Argentinian Grill Restaurant on Paleisstraat, again near the Dam. Their €15 complete dinners lured us in. I got a tasty if small Argentinian chorizo for my first of three courses, with a forgettable veggie garnish. The main course was a real medium-rare Argentinian beefsteak smothered in a peppercorn sauce, with frites (fries, or chips in UK English). Good steak, good sauce, pretty variable quality fries (back to those in a minute). Dessert was an okay double combo of chocolate and orange ice cream. Add one Cola Light (as Diet Cokes are called in much of Europe) for €4.50 (that is almost $7 for 200 mL of soda), Jim's two teas for €2.50 each and a basket of the softest hot bread I have ever had (no more crusty bread ever!!!) at €3.50, and we were looking at about €43 worth of food, drink, tax and tip. Just imagine if we had ordered the not-so-special steak.

One thing I did do was finally try fries with the typical Dutch frites sous (fries sauce), which is part of the mayonnaise family. Whole stands and small stores selling mostly just frites with mayo and a hundred other sauce choices are extremely common all over the Netherlands. Since I never got into those, I figured I'd try it here. I was nauseated at the idea, but it was actually much better than I thought it'd be. In fact, I even liked fries in frites sous. Then I went back to ketchup, which they also had. Peanut satay sauce is also a widely available topping for frites.

Amsterdam Trip Part Drie: Little Bites Here and There

I've had very little time to report in, but two things are for certain. One: it's very difficult to not find a different cuisine to sample every night. Two: it's fairly easy to spend €15 to €20 (that's $23 to $30) on a meal. At least I get a free breakfast. Unfortunately, it's godawful, so I just go to the local Albert Heijn supermarket and buy a croissant for €0.50.

Again, I have no access to my photos at this point. Yep, stupid hotel's wireless just is untappable with my computer. So photos will come later. I must say that, apart from the hotel kitchen, everything I´ve eaten has been quite good. To wit, a few cuisines and their attached restaurants:

Dutch - already addressed this in my previous post. But I am desperately looking around for stroopwaffels to bring back. Man, I love those things. You can get them for a little more money at Trader Joe's for about $5 (at Albert Heijn they are €1.50, or around $2.25). Lovely things. Also bought some syrup, which is far less sweet and far more molasses-y than our own. Also bought some sambal oelek, a very hot spice which is...

Indonesian - My friends and I all had some nasi goreng and Bojo, as well as a few other things. RE: Indonesian food is like Chinese food in the US. It. Is. Everywhere. That's due to Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. I had a very hot mackerel. Jim had lamb satay. I can´t recall what Gil had. I have to ask him. Total cost for me was about €15.

Surinamese - Most Americans have never heard of Suriname. And though I tried to find a purely Surinamese restuarant in Amsterdam, all I could find was a Surinamese-Chinese one. That´s the Wok to Walk, a popular franchise here. I got the Balinese bami with pork for about €5.

Italian - O Sole Mio is pretty close to Bojo, and for that matter it´s close to a few good eet-huisen. I got the pizza napoletana (anchovies, tomato sauce and mozzarella) for about €11. €4 more and I was in tiramisú heaven.

Sweets - Australian is not an Australian place. Instead, it has waffles, crepes and lots and lots of chocolate. My crepe with nutella, chocolate sauce and whipped cream was €4. The crepe was not soft at all, but that turned out to be a good thing, as I needed it to be hard so everything would not fall out.

Irish - Hoopman's is one of many, many Irish pubs in Amsterdam, again near the street with the aforementioned O Sole Mio and Bojo. I had a hearty salmon chowder for lunch today, their Galway Bay Chowder, for €10. Very good idea, considering the ridiculous amounts of snow, little styrofoam ball-sized pellets of hail, and more snow that we have been getting here. No problem, though: it's supposed to get much sunnier on the day I leave. Wat yammer.

Middle Eastern - Crystal on Leidestraat, one of the main thoroughfares through the city, serves up a mean hummus and falafel platter. My friends got lamb shaorma and something else - I forget what exactly. Mine cost about €11.

Indian - Bollywood ain't just the biggest movie industry in the world, it's also a cozy two-story restaurant across from Bojo. Most of their entrées run about €20, but we each got the chicken table meal for €14: pappadam, chicken soup (the only part I wasn't too crazy about - lots of grains of chicken), chicken curry, the tastiest and tenderest chicken tandoori I have had in a very long time, and naan.

Chinese - Two Chinese places to talk about, both on Zeedijk near the Red Light District. Nam Kee has been mentioned in various travel guides, and no wonder: they get you in very quick if they can, and will seat you sometimes with someone at a partially full table if there is nowhere else to put you. It´s Chinese but serves many Vietnamese and Indonesian dishes. In fact, many Chinese offerings had typically Indonesian names, such as the Chinese lumpia (spring rolls, €3), which were tasty if greasy. I ordered the nasi goreng, another Indonesian favorite, for €11. Heeeeeel lekker. Jim got the salt and pepper squid (€12). I don´t know what Gil got, because he went off to the small town of Arnhem to visit a friend. That´s the last I´m seeing of him this trip.
The second Chinese place, which all three of us went to a few days ago, was the Good Fortune Dim Sum restaurant. Many good pieces of dim sum there, and the proprietress and waitresses were able to talk to us and others in English, Dutch and several other languages. She commended me on my at least attempting to talk to her in Dutch, even if my friends gave me a ribbing for it. Total cost: €60, or €20 each.

Not sure if I will be checking in again tomorrow or before my flight. I will try. But the photos will be going up later this week, after I´m back in the US. I haven´t had any time to comment, by the way, but thanks to all of you who have given me suggestions and tips and input. I´m still looking for some Belgian chocolate, but it´ll have to be obtained here in Amsterdam. A train ticket to Antwerp, the nearest Belgian city is €58! YIKES!

Amsterdam Trip Part Twee: Dutch food - goed, of niet so goed?

Pictures to follow...



I haven't gotten to a working internet connection since Thursday. It's now Easter Sunday morning (Happy Easter, or Goede Passdag) and I am surprised that anything is open right now.


I have no way to get the pictures off my card at this internet kiosk, and some of the places I hve eaten I only remember by name if I see their photo in my camera. So I will just wait on writing about them (long story short: fascinating and fast stir fry at this Surinamese-Chinese noodle franchise, excellent Indonesian food, not so great Dutch, delicious Middle Eastern, and a pancake in the Hague that is to die for). Let me mention at least the Dutch food I have had:


The Hotel Old Quarter has been, well, interesting. Not in the best way either. Loud and loutish tourists from Germany, the UK and - yes! - the US have either kept me up at night or woken me up in the morning. The plus side? They have free breakfast. The minus side? It's not very good. But if you pay €5 more you get a real English breakfast (the proprietor is English I think. Lots of English ex-pats here).

One frigid night my friend Jim (not a fan of being out to begin with) begged me that if we went back to the hotel, which we had just left, he'd buy me dinner there. I was all up for that! I ordered a traditional Dutch dish, called hutspot. This is a potato mash with shreds of carrot and onion mixed in, and a large meatball covered with gravy in the middle. I don't know if it's supposed to be good, but theirs certainly was not. It was like a big Salisbury Steak meatball, only hard. The potatoes also left something to be desired. At least the dessert pancake with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream was better. They had the most wonderful ice cream. It's the only good thing they serve there.

In fact, I had to go all the way to the Hague to find good Dutch food. At the Babbelen Brasserij I got this filling and very tasty pannekoeke met spek en kaas (pancake with bacon and cheese), with powdered sugar and syrup. Dutch syrup is not super sweet like in the US. In fact, it's the main part of their delicious syrup waffle cookies. I must buy some of each to bring back.

Time at the kiosk is almost out. I'll write soon... With photos!

The vacation starts tomorrow...

Well it's finally here. The passport is xeroxed - twice, the clothes are packed, the dishes are cleaned up and the mail is... uhhhm, oh shit, I forgot to stop the mail.

Anyway, in 24 hours I will be in Boston, roaming around the city while I wait for my connecting to Reykjavik, which then takes me to Amsterdam around 11AM Thursday morning, Nederlander time. A few things I'm hoping to see and try:

1. My first lobster roll in Boston or, barring that, some "wicked" New England seafood. Certainly it's not as good as the Chesapeake's, but whose is? :) But I'm still looking forward to it.
2. Will anyone in Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport be able to talk to me in English?
3. Trying real Dutch foods like pannekoeken with some other stuff (bacon? raisins? cheese? Apparently these are heel Nederlands things to put in your pancakes).
4. The supermarkets, where I will be getting most of my food, due to the continued slide of the dollar into the proverbial gutter.
5. Some good Indonesian food (again, easy to find in the supermarkets). It's as easy to find as Chinese is here. Nasi goreng, anyone?
   
6. Surinamese cuisine - I have little clue what it is, except the word roti keeps popping in my head.

That's it for now, except that I am going to start copyrighting these posts, just as any of you who writes a blog (hopefully) may be doing already. I thought it was understood, but since the previous one (I still have no idea how to contact the bastards) I have to threaten legal action (direct quotes that give credit to me are A-OK). Malnurtured Snay also gave me the suggestion that I go to Wordpress, which apparently will allow me to choose who links back to me or not, but that still only solves part of the problem.

Ik koop €15 van voedsel omdat ik een smurf wil *

It has not yet crept up on me that I fly out to Amsterdam, via Boston and Reykjavik, in less than two weeks. And I have to tell y'all: I picked the wrong damn time to take a trip to the Eurozone. I say this because the dollar is slowly but steadily inching downward against the euro, as it has been for the past week. It's now US $1.53 to the euro, or €0.67 to the dollar (check it out here). I was kind of crossing my fingers for a big collapse of the euro in the next week with a simultaneous jump of the dollar. But that ain't gonna happen. The other way around is probably more likely. And, of course, it will happen while I'm over there. To get around that, I have been buying scratch-offs, but to no avail. The most I won was $2, and that was with the first one I bought. Since then I think I've wasted about $10 to $15 on the Lotto in the last two months (I'm stronger than I look), and have $3 to show for it. Maybe I should play more, but somehow I figure I will win not much more.

I'm not a patient person.

Well, at least my refund came in. Most of that goes to the summer, while the rest will probably go to my half of the hotel, the lovely Old Quarter in the Oud-Zuid (Ow'd Zide) Red Light District section of Amsterdam. At €75 for two people per night, it's the cheapest my friend Jim (who's flying into Amsterdam from SoCal with our friend Gil) could get outside of a hostel. Note: I would've been fine with a hostel, but noooooooo, Jim won't stay in a hostel. He also won't fly out of LAX for some reason - has to be fucking Ontario!!!

Sorry, must calm down.

I hope that most of my budget will be food and drink, because I really just want to see what's there. Fortunately, there are supermarkets nearby, which (to my understanding) are the cheapest place to get food, far cheaper than the restaurants. Regardless, I've been cramming Dutch into my head since January, by way of Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, Berlitz and the Teach Yourself series (that last one is hilarious, with strange transition music, an overly enthusiastic Dutch-speaking man and a Dutch-speaking vrouw who evokes all the excitement of mayonaise on witte brood). Considering that 99.9% of all Amsterdammers speak English (better than many Americans, and yes I'm talking about Americans who only speak English), I have to wonder if this a waste of time. Nah, what if I run into the one monolingual Dutch person whom I have to talk to? It's good to know at least a little of the language.

And at least if I buy €15 worth of stuff at the main supermarket chain, Albert Heijn, I can get a free Smurf figurine!!!

* The title means "I buy 15 euros of food because I want a Smurf."

Flying out of BWI? No problem! Flying to Iceland? No...

AAAAARGH! I can't believe it! After being cautious and buying my tickets months in advance, to fly from BWI to Reykjavik to Amsterdam in March at a great price, I find out this (right from the hestur's mouth):

Icelandair will terminate the Baltimore/Washington service effective January 13, 2008

You can imagine how I felt after that little tidbit of information. Fortunately I talked to a helpful lady from Icelandair's North America offices (located in Columbia, strangely enough - for now). They booked me a flight from BWI to Boston Logan, where I will THEN transfer to Icelandair and complete my journey to Reykjavik and Amsterdam - and viceversa. Of course, it's TWO connections each way, which will leave me very exhausted. But at least they are footing all the extra expenses. At least I can't argue with that. And I can finally mark Massachusetts off as a state I have visited, if only for a few hours.

Just booked the tickets...

It's official: I am now the proud owner of a $528 round trip plane ticket from Baltimore to Amsterdam via Icelandair during Spring Break (I have to plan these things ahead, of course, but I only waited four months this time). It was so cheap because it stops over in Reykjavik, Iceland - the others were at least $600 via United (their website says it costs $500. They lie. They lie through their faces.) I know nothing of Icelandic cuisine, except the skyr that Whole Foods sells. I only know a little more about Dutch cuisine (more a mix of Dutch, Indonesian and Surinamese cuisine). I almost flew Icelandair to London last December, but found a cheaper fare on British Airways (believe it or not). Now I just have to hope for a big tax refund next year. And I am not doing much traveling otherwise anyway - just a road trip to Jamestown, VA (yes, it is FINALLY happening), on Thanksgiving weekend, and probably a trip to NYC to see the new Young Frankenstein musical in January (much cheaper than in December, and the white sales will still be going on).