6 to 9 Sep - Amsterdam, Netherlands

I call this place the land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes, Heineken beer, cheese and pancakes!

September is a good time to visit Amsterdam. The temperature is between 10 to 20°C. Do dress in layers as the weather can switch to and forth between sunny and showers.

Our itinerary
6 Sep (Friday)
- Explored the shopping belt near our hotel. Had our lunch and enjoyed a cuppa.
- Next stop to Tourist Office (located opposite Amsterdam Centraal Train Station).
- We did zero research before we came! We bought a tour package to Volendam, Marken and Windmills for the following day. We also received discount cards and a guide book.
- Explored the Dam Square and visited The Sex Museum.
- Joined the queue to buy the piping hot and thick french fries, served in a paper cone and topped with mayonnaise.
- Met up with A's friend for dinner. Wilson took us to Beulings for dinner. I will describe Beulings as a quaint restaurant but fine dining at its best. In Singapore, most of us are always seen busy with our mobile phones at the tables so I am really impressed at how the locals only engage in conversations with their partner/friends. I did not see any of them fiddling with their phones. The whole dining experience lasted almost 4 hours.  Reservation is highly recommended! It was full house but I am not sure if it was because that day was a Friday night. (http://www.beulings.nl)

 

 

 

7 Sep (Saturday)
- Our 5-hour day tour starts at 9AM and we had to be at the meeting point before 8.30AM.
- We visited the  Volendam cheese factory. Our next stop was Klompenmakerij Wooden Shoe Factory and finally the windmills at Zaanse Schans. We also past by fishing villages of Volendam and Marken. It was freezing cold!!
- We had late lunch at an Argentina Restaurant but the food was only average.
- I went back to the hotel to nurse a bad cold. A went to meet his other group of friends for dinner and clubbing.

 

8 Sep (Sunday)
- We bought tickets to the canal cruise!
- A wanted to visit the Museum of Medieval Torture.
- In the late afternoon, we meet Wilson who took us around Amsterdam Centraal. He showed us Amsterdam Museum but we did not enter. We took photos with the smaller version of "I amsterdam". (The bigger icon is nearby Van Gogh Museum).
- Wilson took us to a café called "Pancakes!". They have many varieties. We ordered the chocolate pancake and apple pancake.
- We had dinner at Van Speyk. We like it very much! (http://www.vanspeyk.com/en)
- We ended the night with a stroll at the Red Light District. (Do take note that no photography is allowed).

 

 

 

 

9 Sep (fourth day)
- We took the train from Zaandam to Amsterdam Centraal station again! Noticed how our day always starts here?
- Our first stop is Anne Frank Huis. Do note that no photography is allowed inside this museum. We queued for about an hour.
- We had fried noodles at one of the cafes. You choose the ingredients, sauce and noodles. Our choice > shrimps, bean sprouts, green vegetables, sweet sauce and yellow noodles, topped off with peanuts and a slice of lemon. This kind of noodles seem quite popular with the locals. 
- We also chanced upon a Parade!
- Next, we visited Museum Van Gogh.
- We ended the afternoon with Heineken Experience. Strangely, the beer over there seems to taste much better. Maybe it is in our minds? The entrance ticket includes 2 glasses of beer and a souvenir which you can redeem at the end of the tour. During the tour, we also get to have a glass of cold beer. 
- We met Wilson for dinner and he took us to a Cantonese restaurant at Chinatown.

 

If you only have one day in Amsterdam, I will suggest that you can go for the 5-hour tour, visit Anne Frank Huis and Heineken Experience in the afternoon, followed by dinner at Van Speyk and end the day with a stroll at the Red Light District!

 

No trip to Netherlands is complete without a visit to the windmills. We purchased the tickets to Volendam, Marken and Windmills Day Tour at the Tourist Office and also received a discount of 20%. There are authorised distributors selling the same tour package but they will not come with the discount.

 

Anne Frank Hius opens from 9am to 9pm on most days. But there are days when it will close at 10am or 7pm. The last admission is 30 minutes prior to closing time. It is advisable to check the opening hours before you visit.

 

Heineken Experience opens from 11am to 7.30pm (Monday to Thursday). The last admission is at 5.30pm. It opens from 11am to 8.30pm (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). The last admission is at 6.30pm. Online ticket is available at a cheaper rate.

 

Van Speyk opens daily from 5pm to midnight. It is a classic Amsterdam style brasserie.

 

Red Light District is generally safe. Just take the usual precautions and do not take photographs of the ladies.

 

We had a fantastic stay in Amsterdam. Thank you Wilson for your hospitality!

Inntel Hotel Zaandam

We stayed 4 nights at Inntel Hotel Zaandam. This hotel is conveniently located besides Zaandam train station and 10 minutes train ride to Centraal Amsterdam. From Zaandam station, it takes us directly to Schiphol Airport which took approximately 20 minutes. Zaanse Schans which is famous for its windmills is only 4 km away. There is also a shopping street and cafes. The location is simply awesome!

Inntel Hotels Zaandam

 

 

Zaandam train station

 

The exterior of the hotel is unique and colourful. Our room package did not include breakfast; we had purposely decided to opt out of it.  Guests can enjoy complimentary access to the wellness club, gym and indoor pool. But unfortunately we did not have the time to utilise it. The rooms are tastefully decorated in three themes – Taste, Craft and Factory. The room is clean and spacious and there is complimentary WiFi in the room. The speed was reasonable. Do take note that a tax of EUR2.20 is imposed by the city at per person per night.

Our room with the Verkade Biscuits theme

The Bathroom

 

 

View from our room (spot Primark!)

The only glitch that we encountered was during checkout. The receptionist informed us that someone has used our room number to sign for breakfast and he wanted to charge us for that. We definitely did not do that. We had left the hotel very early on that day as we have pre-booked a day tour (to visit Volendam, Marken and Windmills). We had our breakfast at Mcdonald's which was nearby the meeting point. In the end, the receptionist did not insist. I almost wanted to tell him to go and check the video surveillance tapes for the culprits. Other than this, the stay was fantastic.

 

Getting around in Amsterdam

The machines only take coins and Maestro cards (not Visa, MasterCard or American Express). If you do not have enough coins, you have to buy the tickets at the ticket office where they will charge additional transaction fee of EUR0.50 per ticket.

 

 

It costs EUR4.80 per ticket for a return journey

 

OV-chipkaart ticketing system is one integrated card for travel on the tram, metro, buses and trains

 

GVB is the public transport company of Amsterdam providing integrated metro, tram and bus service

 

You can do it the Dutch way - biking!!

 

Or walk! Amsterdam is the most "walkable" city.

 

My 3 week vacation. First stop - Amsterdam

Last month, I went on a 3 week vacation to Europe and I came back with 2798 pictures! The highlight of the trip is probably that the hotel that we booked had closed down.

Anyway, here’s the itinerary.
5 Sep – London
6 to 10 Sep – Amsterdam
10 to 12 Sep – Venice
12 to 14 Sep – Florence
14 to 16 Sep – Rome
16 to 19 Sep – Paris
19 to 23 Sep - London                                       

It started with the SIA promotion to London. A bought the tickets. We did the minimum homework – choosing the hotels and booking the transfers online. As we did not book the train tickets in advance, it turned out to be much more expensive. In order to save costs, we took the plane for some of the transfers. The information on the train schedules can be found easily online. (Tip: do book the train tickets early if you can.)

Initially we thought of taking up a land package but we changed our minds as both of us prefer the leisurely kind of holiday. That being said, free-and-easy holidays will suit us better. We did not want to squeeze in many places - firstly, it will be exhausting and secondly, we won't enjoy the trip. So we decided to visit only four countries. And one of the places that both of us wanted to visit is Amsterdam. (Tip: you need to be able to travel light if you are taking the free and easy option.)

 

 

Ending this post with my favourite picture. I have another picture of this in the sunny version but I like the reflections here.

Koh Grill and Sushi Bar

During our recent girly meet up, Emily suggested lunch at her favourite Japanese place.

“It’s inside Wisma foodcourt and I have made a reservation.” she said.

 

At the back of my mind, I was wondering why there is a need for reservation since it is located inside a foodcourt?! Dang!

Our reservation was at 12noon. When I arrived at 11.40AM, a queue was already forming! (It opens daily from 11.30AM).

 

The food certainly did not disappoint. However, do not have high expectations of the service and the ambience. It looks like this Japanese place is rather understaffed. It is very hard to get the attention of the service staff. The floor around our table was still very wet but the waitress did remind us to watch our steps.

Our order

 

The Appetiser
This is a cold dish - century egg and tofu, with fish roe. 

The "must-order"

We ordered both the Shiok maki – Gen 1 and Shiok maki – Gen 2. Emily and I both prefer the Gen 1. Gen 1 consists of eel and avocado while Gen 2 consists of tempura prawn and chewy seaweed. The creamy sauce is indeed very shiok! If you are someone who loves cheese, you will love this dish.

The Yakitori
I wanted to order the asparagus wrapped with pork belly and mushrooms wrapped with pork belly but they did not have it. So I asked for “anything else that’s wrapped with pork belly”. Here's cherry tomatoes wrapped with pork belly. It is a tad too oily but anything with pork belly seldom goes wrong for me.

The soup
I requested for warm water as I was still nursing a bad cold. The waitress simply brushed me off with “we do not serve this.” (Ok fine…) I ordered Evian mineral water instead. I feel that they could have been more flexible. I do not mind paying for the warm water. Emily suggested that we share a pot of soup (I cannot remember what’s the name). The soup is nice but I will not order this again as I do not handle fish bones very well.

 

Carpaccio

Thinly sliced swordfish and salmon, served with a light sauce and lots of garlic.

 

We also ordered a small bowl of garlic rice to share. The total bill came up to S$84 for 2 persons.

Koh Grill and Sushi Bar
Wisma Atria Shopping Centre
#04-23 (Besides toast box)
Reservation is strongly recommended! Tel: +65 9180 3805

Gardens by the Bay

I made my first visit to Gardens by the Bay on 26 May 2013. It was an impromptu trip so I did not prepare my DSLR (all the photos were taken with Canon S100). Unfortunately it started to rain heavily and we had to take shelter in the Flower Dome. I hope to visit the OCBC Garden Rhapsody on my next trip!

 

The Flower Dome is one of the icons. It replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions and it is home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world. More information is in the website Flower Dome

 

I enjoyed spending my Sunday afternoon at the Flower Dome. Just take a look at these amazing flora and fauna! Amid our hectic work life, how often do we get to smell and take in the sights of beautiful fresh flowers? I love flowers; I think most girls do. 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

I shall end the post with a photo of the silver leaf. At that very moment, I really wished I had my Tokina 11-17mm with me.

 

Ticketing hub opens from 9AM to 8PM but you can also purchase your tickets online