Amsterdam!

We took a quick trip to the Netherlands over the weekend. It is now my new favorite country and Amsterdam is now one of my favorite cities. It is so charming, laid back, beautiful I could have stayed well for a very long time. I was not in a hurry to get back to Paris, which is saying a lot because I LOVE Paris.

We found a GIANT wooden shoe. It's just Cosette's size right?

The Van Gogh Museum, the Albert Cupy market, the canals, the pancakes there is a lot to love about Amsterdam.

When I see this picture I want to say or yell "I am buff!" Haha, but not really. I just feel beastly carrying Cosette around the city on my back. But no, I am not buff or beastly. I am a city mamma. 

First thing we did once there was to hop on the hop on hop off canal cruise. Traveling by boat is a must when visiting this charming city. The canals run all through the city making traveling by boat one of the best ways to see the city. See the city we did. Cosette, of course, was happy to be traveling by boat. Fun for the adults and fun for the kiddos.

I want to call this a house boat because it is on the water, but its not a boat. What a way to live. Only in Amsterdam.

The only windmill left in the city. 

Our first hop off point was by the Albert Cuyp Market. This was probably my favorite thing we did there. Fantastic market! It is the best one I have been to outside the Philippines (no market will beat Divasoria). The variety of goods was fantastic. We enjoyed a lot of delicious goodness at this market. We tried some Dutch cookies that are a almond filled cookie. The cookie version of the French frangipan, if you are familiar with that. We were in love with the first bite. Fresh stroop waffles could not be missed. There were stalls that only served French fries in wax paper shaped cones. And we were reintroduced to Dutch cheese. Gouda is gooda, haha. Oh and I finally found a styling pair of sunglasses. I will no longer have to squint in the spring sun. If this had been the only place we visited in the city we could have left Amsterdam with raving reviews. Cosette enjoyed looking through the different shoe stalls. Just proves she is my daughter.


Waiting for a fresh hot of the grill stroop waffle. That was Lyndon's favorite during the trip. He had several.

Fresh stroop waffle!

We meandered on down to the Van Gough Museum. Three floors all Van Gouh. It was art heaven. Lyndon, who is no fan of the impressionist, thoroughly enjoyed the museum and left with a great appreciation of Van Gough. This man was a true artist! All he did was paint, anything and everything. It was so fascinating to see how his style changed over his life. It was the best museum experience. The only thing that was missing was his portrait of the sun flowers. That was a bummer because we recently watched the Van Gough Dr. Who episode. I guess we will just have to catch it when we go to London.

Taking the boats along the canals is great, but we almost enjoyed walking through the city better. If we did it right we would have taken to biking through the city. That is the way Amsterdamers get around. So many bikes. It was a breathe of fresh air just to walk along the canals and take in the city. So gorgeous in the spring!

Bikes everywhere! Almost as many as there were pigeons.

Pretending we are going to bike through the city. 

We had to take pictures with the I amsterdam signs we saw. There are three and we visited two of them. Cosette called them the letters and begged to go play on them. Play on them we did. Lyndon climbed to the top of the "d". It was pretty entertaining to see him running across the tops of the letters to get to the "d'. He tried to climb up the "d' but it was a wee bit to tall unless he got up on another letter and then climbed up. 

She loved playing on the letters.

Husband doing his power pose.

There he is running across Amsterdam.

You know a country is great when pancakes are a must have dish there. We were actually there on national pancake day (what are the odds?!). We tried several and the best ones we had were at pancakes! Dutch pancakes can be served savory or sweet. We tried both. They are as large as a dinner plate and flat like a crepe. mushroom for him, apple and bacon for me and Cosette, strawberry chocolate for dessert. Yum, yum, yum!

I did not know this before visiting the city, but Amsterdam is where Ann Frank and her family hid during WWII. The house is now a museum dedicated to Ann. The line was too long of a wait for the kiddos, but we stopped by her house.
One of my favorite pictures we took. Just looking at it makes me fall in love with Amsterdam. So gorgeous!

My handsome boys. 

Enjoying the views in the Venice of the north.

Long post, but Amsterdam was worth it. Like I said we were very sad to leave. 

So long Amsterdam! We left a little piece of our heart with you.