Our Amsterdam Mini-Adventure: Layover On Our Way to Seoul

London seemed to sense that we were eager to leave on our trip, and so as a way of reminding us that London can actually be friendly, the two employees we encountered on our way out of the city were by far the nicest service-industry people we've had the pleasure of meeting during our entire year here! The first was a ticket-checker on the DLR train, who chatted with us the entire way to London City Airport, and the second was the KLM baggage counter person, who kindly offered to send our check-in luggage all the way through to Incheon Airport in Seoul, so that we wouldn't have to claim them at Tokyo's Narita Airport, even though the last leg of our journey would be on another airline. Our flight to Amsterdam was pretty perfect, on our wee plane that we had to walk outside to board:

The only shame was that it left a half hour behind schedule, but at this early stage in our long journey, that didn't faze us. "It's suddenly this day," Bob said when we arrived at the Amsterdam airport, "This day. This day we've been talking about: our five hours in Amsterdam!" Although our late arrival and need to return with time to board our next flight meant that our wandering time would be more like three hours than five, we still had enough time to catch a train into the city and wander around for a bit, getting a feel for a place that I've never seen and Bob's only visited once, back in 1991. Our verdict? Amsterdam looks like a pretty great city! We were grateful to our friend Gary for his suggestions about where to while away a few hours, and limited ourselves to the canal-lined streets just southwest of Centraal Station, where our train from the airport deposited us. It was a cold day (much colder than in London), but we enjoyed wandering randomly up, down, and across the canals.

This boat appeared to be some sort of animal shelter, with birds arriving one after another for a bit of a snack.

The buildings lining the canals were beautiful, and those we were able to see inside were furnished as impeccably on the inside as they were characterful on the outside.

Although we passed by Anne Frank's house,

we didn't have time to go inside--something that I definitely want to do on our next (hopefully longer!) visit to Amsterdam. Also, Bob hasn't read all of Anne Frank's diary, so I told him that he really should do that before we visit the house. Those of you who have read Diary of a Young Girl may recall that Frank talks about the church bells that she could hear from her hiding place in the annex. That church, the Westerkerk, is practically next door to the house,

and a statue in front of the church commemorates Anne Frank's life. As we stood in front of the statue, the chuch bells began to ring.

We continued walking, acutely aware of the quietness of the city--it felt like we were all alone on the canals--well, just us and a whole lot of bikes!

I liked the way the puppy in this low window seemed to be staring (wistfully?) at the empty wine bottle:

We managed to resist the temptations of one bakery,

but not partaking of two would require some superhuman powers that we clearly lack, so we wandered into this lovely bakery and emerged with some glorious treats to sustain us on our walk.

Classy Christmas trees were everywhere to be seen, and the entire city seemed to be done up in an understated, pleasant way. Even the cheeses were wearing their December best:

Amazed that our time was passing so quickly, we decided to follow the hordes of locals streaming into this charming "lunchcorner" to have lunch before heading back to the airport. We sat in the window (right where the men in this photo are now sitting--they took our seats after we left)

and enjoyed our delicious sandwiches as we watched people cycle along the canal.

(That's my sandwich above--a wonderful combo of warmed brie, walnuts, and honey that hit just the right spot on this chilly day.) After lingering a bit too long over our food, we rushed back to Centraal Station, where I snapped one last pic of the substantial bicycle parking

before we returned to the airport to find the gate for our flight to Tokyo. Along the way, I got Bob to pose next to this bit of jet that itself seemed about half the size of the plane that got us from London to Amsterdam!