Water Cities, Part 1: Amsterdam and Strasbourg

What a fantastic vacation! I just got back from spending ten days exploring Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Annecy, and even adding in a spontaneous day-trip to Geneva. I didn't realize it until mid-trip, but all of these cities revolve around water. What a great theme. Here are (lots of) pictures from my first two stops:

Amsterdam

I had been to Amsterdam with my family when I was about five years old on one of our earliest trips to Europe. The only bad thing about travelling internationally when you're five is that you don't retain many memories! This time, though, I was able to fully take in and enjoy the city as an adult. I visited the city with V, one of my great assistant friends, and we had a blast. 

The first stop after arriving was to get myself all set up at my hostel in town, Cocomama. Wow. This place was without a doubt the best and coolest hostel I have ever stayed in! It's a 'boutique hostel', which means that it's a bit more expensive, but you have SO many more amenities and it's way nicer than your typical hostel. If you are ever in Amsterdam, I *highly* recommend staying here! The women who own and operate the place are fantastic and so kind, it's in a great location, the kitchen and bathrooms and rooms are all new and clean, and they have lots of events during the week (pub crawls, family-style dinners, movie nights, etc.). I had such a great stay there and met some really cool fellow travelers from Texas, Australia, and Spain. 

V had been visiting Beligium before she came to meet me in Amsterdam, so we caught up over Italian food and then a drink in town on our first night there. The next day, she would be busy visiting the Hague, so I got up early and got right to exploring!

I loved the bikes! Many of them were quite colorful and fun.
I like that this one says "Amsterdam" :)

First stop: the Albert Cuyp market, less than 5 minutes away from the hostel. This market was huge! It went on for block and blocks and included everything from fresh fruits and veggies, seafood, clothing and accessories, to toiletries, and of course, there was the delicious Dutch treat of poffertjes. Yum!

I went to the market with a group of students from Texas and an Australian guy, and none of us had really had breakfast, so poffertjes were the perfect treat! It was fun to watch the fellow at the stand make us these tiny little puffy pancake-like things, lay them on top of a slab of butter and a smear of Nutella, and then douse it all with powdered sugar. They were warm and so delicious!

The guy that made us the poffertjes had a Facebook
page for his stand, so he took a picture of the group
 taking a picture of him, which I later found online. :)

After the market, I split off from the group (they were going to the Heineken Experience, which I'm saving for when I'm in Amsterdam again in April with my friend from high school) and wandered through town on my own. It was incredibly relaxing to walk along the canals and through the streets, discovering all sorts of fun shops and things to see along the way. I stopped at one cute 'corner store' called Stach, where I picked up a much-needed and well-crafted latte to warm me up on my walk. It hovered around freezing the whole time I was in town, so I was on the hunt for any excuse to warm up! In the same neighborhood, I walked past lots of antique shops and boutique clothing stores and enjoyed window shopping.

I randomly really liked that "toeback" is the Dutch word for tabacco, haha.

When in Amsterdam, of course you're going to find lots of amazing bridges over the beautiful canals. This one was one of the most picturesque, I thought:

When lunch time came around, I decided to go for more street food and wound up with another warm and hearty treat for my walk; french fries with mayonnaise, a Dutch classic!

I literally walked all over town that day. Right before I went to go meet V for the evening, I stopped by a random bar and plotted out the next day's adventures on my map while rehydrating with a small glass of Heineken, the local, world-famous beer. 

V and I met up and wandered around a bit, and ultimately made our way to this local brewery, which I had heard had amazing beer, and that they only sell here and at a few bars in town. The bar is only open for five hours a day, and I knew I wouldn't have time the next day, so I had to try it out when I could! It was much different beer than I normally enjoy, but it was very tasty, and I loved that the place was built in a windmill!

The next day was museum/tour day for V and I! We started off at the Hermitage Museum, where the city is housing a temporary, smaller Van Gogh exhibit while the original Van Gogh Museum undergoes renovations. It was fun to see some of his most famous works up close and personal. You can't go wrong with Van Gogh! 

In the afternoon, we took a free city tour with about thirty other people and had a great time exploring the city and learning lots from our native Amsterdamer tour guide. The final stop for the day was the Anne Frank House. I'm glad we went to see it; I had been there as a kid, but didn't remember a thing. Visiting the Frank House made me want to re-read her diary.

After so much walking around and museum-hopping, V and I were hungry!! We went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant called Bazar that had been recommended by my hostel. Wow! I had a delicious tagine-like dish with lamb, chickpeas, and almonds and it really hit the spot. A great way to end our Amsterdam adventure before we both took off early the next day for other places. 

Strasbourg

While V headed back to the States for a week,  I made my way to Strasbourg! I rolled into the train station in the late afternoon, got settled into my lodging for two nights, and then headed into town to see what I could before the sun went down and then find some dinner. I walked through "La Petite France", a great old neighborhood with an awesome mix of German and French architecture, and then I found myself a tarte flambée for dinner. Tarte flambée is a regional Alsatian speciality, and is basically a French/German pizza. Mmmmm!

Tarte flambée 

The first thing I did the next day was to head to the old city hospital, under which is an ancient wine cellar dating from the 1300s. They even have a huge cask of white wine that was barreled in 1472. Jeeze! It's been tasted three times over 550ish years, with the last time being just after WWII. The guy who tried it said it was delicious, but after that long in a barrel, I don't know how any wine wouldn't be complete vinegar! It was neat to see the cellars and the various wines from across the centuries and into modern days.

After that, I headed to the docks for a boat tour of town. I pretended to be a student (I'm so glad I can still pull that off!) and got on board for half price and had fun floating around the canals and the river for an hour while listening to a history of the city and its various landmarks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the cathedral, grabbing coffee, and again wandering all over town. I went back to where I was staying in the evening and cooked myself some dinner before heading out to see a newly-released French film called "Mobius" with Jean Dujardin. It was very French, i.e., lots of romance and a melancholy ending, but I liked it. 

The Strasbourg Cathedral has a beautiful Astronomical Clock,
similar to the one I saw in Prague!

On my last day in Strasbourg, it was the first Sunday of March, which meant that all the museums were free, so I had another museum day. :) I explored a museum on the history of Strasbourg that was really interactive and fun, as well as the three museums in the Palace Rohan, which included a decorative arts museum, and archaeological museum, and a Musee des Beaux-Arts. Whew!

The square in front of the cathedral.

Another thing that wound up being free that day was a visit to the top of the cathedral's tower.  Seeing as my dad and I had started a tradition in Prague of climbing up whatever towers or landmarks we could in order to get the best view of the city, I had to climb this tower, too! Sunday was a sunny, lovely day, so the views were breathtaking. I absolutely love seeing French towns from a bird's eye view!

Lastly, I walked through La Petite France again before calling it a day.

I spent my last night in town staying at a friend's place. I met Agathe when she had an internship in Seattle, and we've kept in communication since then. She goes to university in Strasbourg, and I was glad I got to catch her for a day! We went to lunch together on my last morning in town before I left for Annecy, and it was really nice to catch up. 

The Strasbourg train station's architecture was crazy! The outside was this wild modern glass 'egg'-like shape, while the inside featured the original facade. I felt like I was in a greenhouse or something, haha.

Next up, my visits to Annecy and Geneva!