Alkmaar and the Cheese Market

We took a 30-40 minute train ride from Amsterdam out to Alkmaar today to the Cheese Market. Alkmaar has had a weighing house for cheese since 1365 and the Cheese Market has been running since 1593. The town itself also prides itself on being an excellent shopping destination and Langestraat contains a large variety of boutique and chain stores.

The Cheese Market is held on Friday morning and the bell at 10am signifies the start of trading. The cheese market takes place on Fridays from early April to early September.

Our journey home took about three times as long as it took to get to Alkmaar since our train broke down at a small station in the middle of nowhere. We asked a teenager for a translation of the announcement and he said “The train is broken. They are going to try and fix it.” followed by “We all need to get off”, so we did. There were no further announcements as we waited on the platform, until another train arrived. We looked around for a dutch speaker to translate and amusingly we met the looks of others doing the same thing. Lots of people started to get onto the train, so like sheep we followed, but did find a dutch speaker along the way to confirm the train was heading into Amsterdam.

Anne Frank House, Amsterdam

Yesterday we went to the Anne Frank House (aka Anne Frank Huis) in Amsterdam (in the Jordaan area). We had booked our tickets on the Internet and printed them out which meant that instead of having to wait in the very long queue for admission we had an allocated time that we could turn up to a side door, ring the bell and be let in. Needless to say we thoroughly recommend this approach.

Photos are not allowed inside the house, so unfortunately I am unable do do a pictorial tour.

The self walking tour is very well done and contains lots of information is suitable bite size chunks in both written and audio form. Everything that was in Dutch of German was also translated into English.

The house was in fact bigger than I expected, although when you think that there were seven (I think) people living there, all of a sudden it is quite small.

Anne’s various diaries and other books are on display; I had never thought about her having more than one, but since the time period did span a number of years it is to be expected.

There was a very interesting interactive short film exhibit near the end of the tour that talked through various human rights situations and got people to vote for an answer. The collective vote results were then displayed, first showing the proportion for or against of people in the room, and then of all the people that had voted over time. It was interesting how varied the responses were. There was one question for which the audio asking the question differed from the words displayed, but other than that it was an excellent exhibit.

The entire visit was well worth it and thoroughly recommended. I will leave you with a photo looking from the doors pictured above out over the canal and the Westerkerk church that Anne heard chime (that is still chiming regularly today).

Haarlem, Netherlands

Yesterday afternoon we headed out to Haarlem in the Netherlands with my cousin Andrea. Haarlem is a very picturesque town that has a excellent vibe.

The Grote Markt (Market Square) is at the centre of town and the heritage nature from years gone by (apparently 700) has been well maintained. The Meat Market pictured below is one of many beautifully maintained buildings.

We had a coffee in the Grote Markt looking up to the mammoth Grote Kerk.

I also photographed three different gables on adjacent buildings (there are apparently six different types).

Thanks Andrea for a great outing.

A tour of the Jordaan (guided by geocache)

We walked several kilometres this morning around the Jordaan district in Amsterdam, guided by a multipart geocache (GC20DV1). If you want to know what a geocache is check out my this previous blog post.

This multipart geocache consists of 12 different stops throughout the Jordaan and therefore we got to see a lot we would never have got to otherwise. We started off at this statue of Theo Thijssen, a Dutch writer from the nineteenth century.

and then came across some bird houses on a wall.

There are some lovely shops in the Jordaan and in particular this bakery and butcher looked excellent. I will have to try and find my way back here some time.

There were some lovely buildings located along the canal.

We saw kids playing football on a concrete area between parked cars; the ball occasionally landing on or going under a car. They even had a metal cage for a goal at one end.

With some buildings that seem to emerge from the canal, house boats and normal boats, there is a lot to see.

There are even some mammoth birds walking around.

As per the wikipedia definition “Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people (typically elderly people who can no longer work to earn enough to pay rent) to live in a particular community”. The almshouse pictured below founded by Daniël Stalpaert in 1650 is probably the biggest in Amsterdam and is just tucked away from the roadside and you wouldn’t know that a beautiful courtyard was within.

We also came across some interesting art along the way.

The Westerkerk church that resides next to Anne Frank Huis is also prominent from many locations in the Jordaan.

Restaurant de twee grieken, Amsterdam

We ate out at our local Greek restaurant last night, de twee grieken. We were the only people in the restaurant for our entire time there, but the food was very authentic and tasted good. We even had a cat (and No, we didn’t eat it).

I had Stifado (veal fillet in tomato sauce with shallot onions) and Jane had Katsikaki (stewed goat meat) that came on the bone and was a very generous portion. Both tasted like home cooked meals and were presented in like, accompanied with hot chips, rice, white beans and coleslaw.

Strange art (and other things) in Amsterdam

We decided to target a different part of Amsterdam today so headed off towards the South Eastern side of the city. We made our way to Dam square and then took the most direct route to get to Rembrandt’s house, through streets lined with cheap gift shops and takeaways.

We didn’t go into Rembrandt’s house but wandered through the tacky Waterlooplein Flea Market and then on to the Jewish Quarter where we walked around the vicinity of the Jewish Historical Museum and I finally got my camera out when we found this cute mosaic on the wall. I have no idea what it represents and after a quick search online I’m none-the-wiser.

On route to the Dutch Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum) we passed Wertheim Park

and then came across these strange sculptures overlooking the canal.

The Dutch Resistance Museum was very well setup and contained lots of information presented well about the everyday life of people in Amsterdam during the German occupation of World War II, and some exceptional stories about how the Dutch resisted the Nazis. Just outside the Museum we came across these tile sculptures strung as a window screen.

We had lunch just along the road from the Museum at Cafe Koojes. Jane enjoyed a Goats Cheese salad that had a large slice of goats cheese that had been lightly heated with a apple and basil syrup. I had heard that Croquettes were a food associated with the Netherlands so I decided to order a couple. I didn’t have high expectations and consequently my expectations were met… I won’t be rushing out to have them again any time soon.

We then took Tram 14 across town and disembarked out West beyond the Jordaan and proceeded to walk back towards the city centre. Before long Jane spotted this piece of art diving from the wall into the canal.

Wandering around the canals is lovely and we came across many house boats in one canal.

In the middle of the Jordaan, close to Anne Frank’s House, this sign on one of the benches along the canal made me chuckle.

Almost back to the start of our journey, we came across this smart car charging.

Wonderful Eatery in Amsterdam - La Place

After our rather long and wet walk on Wednesday morning, we doubled back to one of the shopping centers we had passed and had lunch in the ground floor cafeteria called La Place (link in dutch only).  I've never seen a food hall quite like this and I do rather hope I have the opportunity to see more of these in the future.  Basically it was a large food hall with all manner of freshly cooked or prepared items at various counters.  You helped yourself and paid at a central kiosk.  So the layout itself it not especially unfamiliar, but the array of food on offer was absolutely outstanding.  There were freshly backed items - bread, muffins, croissants, cakes and hot savouries; myriad cold salads; freshly squeezed juices - including a fruit salad in a glass topped up with fresh juice, or a lemon and mint juice, or strawberry juice; an asian section where you choose your various items and handed them to the attendant to cook in a wok as you watched; a stand of hot soup - white asparagus, fresh vegetable or fresh tomato and basil; pizza; grilled items - again you choose your meat or fish and have it cooked while you wait.  Fantastic!  We shared a selection of salads, a bowl of white asparagus soup and one of those fruit salads in a glass with juice.  Simon managed to take a few photos before he had finger waggled at him advising there were no photos allowed!  Actually, the finger was waggled at ME once the woman realised I was with the guy taking the photos!