One evening in July (yes, I know I’m late with this), BJ and I were watching our recording of that days Tour de France when she
Below our Window
suddenly perked up and said “Horses”. I hadn’t even noticed the sounds of several horses ‘clip-clopping’ up the street. BJ, though, ever the alert horsewoman zeroed right in and we looked out our window and saw, to our astonishment, beautiful carriages and matched teams of horses passing by.
We watched nearly 60 carriages pass being pulled by from one to 6 horses each. The driver and passengers in each carriage were dressed in period costume consistent with the originally intended use of each carriage. Milk wagons, Dr’s buggies, drayage wagons, royal coaches, beer wagons, etc. Amazing.
At the corner
We later did a little research and found that a local organization: Hoofdstad Aanspanning, is responsible for this once-each-year event in Amsterdam. It was difficult to discern much else about them as their website is available only in Dutch and the translate programs really don’t cut it. We did note that they are active in different locations all year long so maybe we’ll see them again at another venue.
As we wandered about we found a giant game of Chess taking place in the mall near Leidseplein.
Chess on a grand scale
Chess Art
Well, that made us thirsty so we sat down at the nearby Irish pub to have a beer and fries while we watched the chess game and listened to the buskers make music.
Buskers
US
(BJ’s always trying to get a better photo of us for the blog….how about this one?)
Museumplein with Rijks Museum in the background
Not many days after that found us walking (again??) in a very light rain through the museumplein on our way to niewmarkt where we meant to have some lunch and visit the stalls for baked goods and maybe some cheese.
While strolling, we came across a tiny, hole-in-the-wall antique shop.
Antique shop
We just had to look inside. Owned by a very nice lady the shop was a trove of ‘previously loved’…well…stuff! BJ wound up buying a little doll and I found a new-old cap.
With our new ‘treasures’ in hand we continued to walk. It is a nice way to spend a weekend morning.
Tiny Alley
As we passed the myriad little alleys in the area, we’d look down them often to find magical gardens or hidden restaurants and business. No space is wasted in Amsterdam.
Dead Bike
Chained to bridge railing are a million bicycles….some have clearly been there a while. Eventually they will be tagged as abandoned and removed by the city.
Door Art
Everywhere, there is art. It often takes unexpected forms such as door embellishments. I think I’ll start including these as I find them. This one is the entrance to a furniture shop.
Restaurant
As we arrived at the niewmarkt it began to rain in earnest so we took shelter in a restaurant to have lunch and wait out the weather. “A burger”, I announced, “I need a burger!” BJ thought I was funny but agreed to split one with me. “Yeah,” I said, “We can never eat a whole one, plus fries, anyway…good idea”.
Micro-Burger
In customary Amsterdam fashion the food took a long time coming….long enough that we each finished our first beer and ordered a second to accompany the meal. Finally the waitress brought out our burger and fries as well as a spare plate so that we could share. We were underwhelmed!
This burger, for which we paid rather dearly, about €7 as I recall, couldn’t have been a whole 2 inches in diameter. We Americans are used to burgers the size of Frisbees and so had set our expectations to match our experience….bad idea when travelling!
Despite our micro-burger’s diminutive size it was quite tasty and we enjoyed it (briefly), the fries and our beer while we conversed with the very nice Swedish couple seated next to us. However, despite the lovely old building housing the restaurant … for the price, we probably won’t go back there.
Still, the whole of the day and each of its parts was an experience…an adventure that we shared and we are both of the opinion that you just can’t have too many of those!