Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Part 2

The final day and associated times spent in Amsterdam were ones of wandering and walking.  Rae and I both like markets.  We are also both interested in living on a boat and/or houseboat someday.  Luckily, Amsterdam had both of these items in plenty.  We spent the third day visiting several open markets, one of which was devoted to nothing but tulip bulbs and other assorted flowers and bulbs.  Strangely enough the price decreased as you approached the center and then increased again as you headed for the other end.  So if you were patient and could stand to pass through about a thousand people before buying your tulips, you could save a euro or two.  Rae had done her research and there were about 3 different markets she wanted to hit.  Our next stop took us beyond the tulip market to a very long stretch of stalls that was probably 3 or 4 city blocks long.  

This really long market had everything!  It was snack time.  Raw fish on a bun with onions and pickle was the appetizer followed by fries with ketchup and mayo with onion.  For later, we picked up some more cheese and an entire smoked mackerel.  No joke, the whole fish.  The guy picked it up, slapped it in a newspaper, bagged it and handed it to us.  Good times.  Now every market we've been to has it's own peculiar quirk.  It may be a layout choice, it may be the times they're open or it might be a particular kind of stall that shows up.  Here in Amsterdam it seems the bath and body section of your local Walmart can only be found in the outdoor market because that's the only explanation I have for why stall after stall would be shampoos, conditioners, razors, hair coloring kits and a whole assortment of bath and body products.  It never ceases to amaze me the oddities that markets have.  If I ever design one, I'll have to remember to throw in a subtle strangeness.  

After all this wandering through crowds of people, Rae and I headed back to our home base and dropped off the wares we had purchased.  Then we went out to the neighborhood of Jordaan and simply walked around the canals looking at the converted house boats.  It was so nice and so peaceful.  There weren't a lot of bikes or cars or even city sounds for that matter.  We walked for hours away from all the people and talked and talked.  So many of these houseboats were converted freighters or haulers.  Now they haven't moved in years.  Some of the little coots (a duck like creature is my best description) have gathered dozens of twigs, sticks and other rubbish together to make their nests on the canal wall side of these houseboats.  The turbulence from passing canal tour boats is lessened there.  One such nest already had the couple exchanging turns on 7 eggs.  It was pretty adorable seeing them interact.  We sat and had a beer for a while and watched them.  

All in all, our final time in Amsterdam was spent enjoying the food and the atmosphere of the quieter neighborhoods.  Many more chocolate covered waffles were consumed along with more fries, bread, cheese and beer.  We caught the train for Frankfurt and headed home with 4 beers and 2 packs of stroop waffles.  I can safely say that we should have brought more stroop home with us.