So Thursday we were in Amsterdam.

For lunch Jaap recommended La Place, a restaurant in the V&D department store. The one in Haarlem is good, but this one was even better. The restaurant has a huge selection of fresh food, sandwiches, coffee etc. I had the roomkaas on a sandwich, which is a sort of cream cheese with fresh herbs. The restaurant is beautiful and has a unique blend of the old Amsterdam canal house facades with a modern, open glass architecture.

After lunch we returned to the museum, and since there was so much to see we decided to skip the Rijksmuseum for today. Next time!

La Place.

We went for a long walk through the city. Bikes, bikes everywhere. At the Spui square we had triple beers with bitterballen.

The Munt tower, which we learned today was at the very edge of the city in the Middle Ages.

Near Dam square we went to the Bierkoning where I bought glassware.

Since we had pretty large lunch we opted for a simple dinner, and we went to a snack bar in the Red Light District. Fries are obviously available in the U.S., but snacks like kaassouffles (cheese pockets) are typical Dutch. As well as the use of mayonaise with fries of course. I've since long learned to eat my fries with ketchup, but it was nice to have the traditional patat met.

We walked back to the station through the oldest part of the city, part of which is now a small China town.

A great day in a beautiful old city!