Dutch Food

 

I know that I talked a lot about food during this blog.  What you are about to find out is that I also took pictures of food during the trip.  Yes, I like food!  So here is some of what we ate.  (I only took pictures if it wasn't too embarrassing and if the food look/tasted good)

Yeah, I know it's not food, but he consumed a lot of it!

First lunch in Loosedrecht restaurant near the base.  Don't remember what he got, but the Dutch eat french fries with MAYONNAISE!!!

Restaurant in Loosedrecht near base.  Burger with onions, mushrooms, and pickles!

Didn't eat there but saw this old fashioned automat in Utrecht.

This is what I should have named this blog post!

A typical breakfast made by David on the boat.

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, pine nuts on toasted ciabatta bread - close to a bagel with lox and a schmear!

Snert (pea soup)

Some kind of steak with potatoes in Oudewater - Wonderful dinner!

Dessert in Oudewater!  Hot Fudge Sundae!!

his was the salad in Gouda where they had to give us another table to hold our food.  We each had one of these salads with an entree (mine is pictured below) and we ate the rest of the salad for lunch the next day. 

This was my entree of assorted kinds of fish (mostly salmon) in a cream sauce with vegetables and roasted potatoes.  I don't usually order cream sauce but the menu was in Dutch and the waitress translated - I had no idea what I was getting, but it was good!  This was the same waitress who thought all Americans were like those on TV.

These were my wonderful lamb chops in Uithoorn!

He's rolling his eyes because I kept taking food pictures.  He had a POT of mussels!

A close up of our last dinner on the boat.

This was the lovely dinner David made for our last night on the boat.  He had pork chop and I had chicken.  One bowl holds an orange sauce.  The other bowl has green beans.  There are also potatoes and of course, stolen corn that went directly into the garbage after this picture was taken!

Day 10 - Heading Home

Day 10 started, actually at 4:15 AM when our alarm went off.  We had a 7 AM flight to Munich.  The hotel shuttle didn't start until 6 AM, too late.  The taxi cost 25 euros, too much.  But the first train left at 5:31 and arrived at Schipol at about 5:36, so that was our choice.  We got up and out and walked to the train early.  We were sitting on the platform, alone in the dark, tickets in hand, feeling quite proud of ourselves by 5:15. 
At 5:28, an announcement came over the loudspeaker that the next train would be on track 3, right where we were.  Even though the announcement was made in Dutch, it clearly said spoor (track) 3, twice!  But, moments later, the train pulled into track 2!  Now getting to track 2 requires running down a flight of stairs and running back up the other side.  David took off, suitcase in hand.  He shouted wait there and come if I call you.  Moments later I heard him talking to someone and then I heard "SUE - COME OVER!!"  I jumped up and lugged my suitcase down the stairs rushing as fast as I could.  I got halfway up the other side when fortunately, David came down to help me!  I never would have made it alone.  He told me they were waiting for us.  Amazing!  So we made it onto the train and got to the airport in plenty of time.  Our flight to Munich was quick, despite the annoying guy sitting behind us with a bunch of his annoying friends.  Then we had a three hour layover in Munich, where I had breakfast.  I took the next two pictures at one of the airports, but I don't remember whether it was Schipol or Munich anymore.  

Chocolate for sale by the gram!

A display of decorative elephants for sale.

Our second flight, from Munich to JFK was eight and a half hours!  Interminable!!!  But we made it safely (although they served yucky food!  German meatloaf is NOT American meatloaf!)

Day 9 - Back to Amsterdam

We had to officially return the Oude Rein to Locaboat this morning. (Boo hoo!)  We packed up and they called a cab for us to get back to the train station in Breukelen.  From there we would take  a train to the stop for Schipol Airport where we'd get a shuttle to our hotel, a Holiday Inn Express.  Naturally, when we got to the airport and called for the shuttle, we'd just missed it and had to wait half an hour for the next one.  Our hotel wasn't exactly at the airport, as I'd planned, but a 10 minute drive.  However, it was brand new and very nice and had (YAY!) free wifi!  I had to use their computer since my battery was long since dead along with the converter.  We checked into our nice room, checked email quickly, and headed back into Amsterdam.

Our very cool hotel room and bathroom (below)

Back on the train!

David and I couldn't agree on what we wanted to do since we'd already seen most of the Amsterdam hot spots.  I wanted to first go to the Amsterdam Archives to see if I could dig up anything about my Dutch ancestors.  David agreed to go there with me. 

We found the place easily and I went in and explained my situation, asking for someone who spoke English.  After hearing my story, he asked if I could read Dutch.  Do you think I'm speaking in English in the Netherlands if I can read/speak Dutch?? (No, I didn't say that, just thought it). He gave me a superfast tutorial and sent me on my way to looking at microfilm (took me back to my college days!)  I spent a few minutes looking and trying to figure out what I was looking at.  I wanted to spend some more time delving through things, but David was bored.  We agreed to meet at Central Station at 5 PM in a spot we had chosen earlier.  He left.  I worked for about fifteen more minutes before giving up.  These archives were only for people who'd lived in Amsterdam, and I have no proof that any of my ancestors did.  And everything was written in Dutch, which, as I have explained, I can't read.  Now I was on my own in Amsterdam

I had a plan to see the Rembrandt Huis (house) museum because I really like his work and wanted to learn more.  Then I planned to visit the Dutch Resistance Museum or the Jewish History Museum.  But first, lunch!  After a nice chicken club sandwich I found my way by tram to the first museum area and what did I find but a flea market!  Fun!  I wandered around there for a while, and then I stumbled upon the Rembrandt House Museum!  I got in at a discounted price because I had my Holland Pass card and I also had picked up a card entitling me to a free souvenir! (I got two free note cards with Rembrandt etchings printed on them) They allowed you to check your bags and coats for free and also had free audio tours!  The museum was the actual house where Rembrandt lived, painted, taught art, and was an art dealer.  There was also a woman giving a demonstration of how etchings were made.

Rembrandt's bed, in an actual cupboard!

Fireplace in a room - the pillars are actual marble but the mantle is wood painted to look like marble, a money saving custom of the time.

Etching demonstration

After I left this museum, I had decided to go to the Dutch Resistance Museum.  I was studying the map and trying to get my bearings when I saw that the Jewish History Museum was right across the street.  I went there and was happy to find that I had a coupon for free entry (the last coupon left from the packet we'd bought on day one!)  This museum was the only one other than the Rijksmuseum that searched bags and had you walk through a metal detector.  This is a sad world we live in.  Inside the museum was very interesting.  They also offered a free audio tour, so I went at my own pace and learned quite a bit.  The museum itself was a former synagogue.  Being a Jew in the Netherlands, while not great throughout history, was better than many other places.

The old sanctuary of the synagogue, now the center of the museum.

The Ark which holds the Torah Scrolls

After leaving the Jewish Historical Museum, I decided to go to the flower market which we'd passed this morning on our way to the Archives.  I located where it was on the map and what tram to take to get there. I was so proud of myself when I found it!  I shopped around there for a while and bought some tulip bulbs which were legal to bring back to the US (that translates to "were more expensive").  Then, I found a small store that sold Delft ceramics.  I went in to look around and bought a small candle holder.  Then it was on the tram back to Central Station to (hopefully) find David.  He was already there and had spent the day wandering and taking the tram around all parts of the city (probably a return visit to the red light district too!)

It was too early for dinner so we decided to go back to the flower market and we bought some more legal tulips.  Then we made our way to Rembrandtplein, a plaza I'd seen earlier, where there were a lot of nice looking restaurants, many of which had outside seating.  When we got there, it turns out David had eaten his lunch in the same neighborhood!  We ate in an Italian place and watched the passersby while we ate.  Then, we headed back to our hotel as we had an early day coming up (7AM flight!)

Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Plaza)

Statue of Rembrandt in plaza

Day 8 - Last Full Day on the Boat

Today, we got to sleep "late".  We couldn't leave the marina until after 9AM because we had to return their gate key and retrieve our 50 Euro deposit.  Immediately after leaving the marina, we had to cross under a bridge.  Now we've gone through hundreds of bridges all week, both fixed bridges that are plenty high enough for us to pass under and opening bridges.  This bridge was an opening bridge (or a BB, which stands for beweegbare brug) but it was actually high enough for us to pass under - just barely!  As we approached this bridge, David yelled to me to lower the bicycle handlebars and the flag on the front of the boat.  I ran up there and took care of those two things and looked back at David who was steering while sitting on the floor!  If he'd sat on his chair, his head would have been too high!  I started back up to where he was and almost forgot to duck myself as I ascended the stairs!  I decided to sit down right where I was till we were out from under.

This is us going under the bridge.  The bar you see in the center is the railing I would have held onto if I had been standing

Soon after this, we had to cross the large canal that we'd spent an hour on after leaving Utrecht back on day 4.  We approached it very carefully as we knew that there were barges traveling up and down, and we couldn't see what was coming until we were there.  David slowed the boat down and I moved up to the bow to see if we could cross.  Fortunately, the only barge we could see was far down the canal so we crossed easily with no problems.

This was the view up the canal as we crossed.

Soon we were approaching the small town of Weesp.  We had to go through several bridges to get there, and I had to pay a "golden shoe", which means put money in a wooden shoe that was lowered on a fishing pole.  David had done this earlier in the trip.   In Weesp, we found the tourist information center where I paid 2 Euros for a walking tour guide.  It was very interesting to follow this guide and learn about the history of the town and with historical buildings being pointed out.  We were very surprised to learn that the town had once had a Jewish population with a synagogue and a Cantor in residence.   

This plaque commemorates the deported Jewish community of Weesp.

A small canal in Weesp

While in Weesp, we bought some sandwich materials and sodas so we could eat lunch while we were traveling.  Right after leaving Weesp, we encountered another very low bridge that would open, but not for us because we could "fit".  This one was just about three inches above David's head while sitting on the floor!  After that bridge, we had a slow meandering ride in front of us as we headed back toward Loosedrecht and the home base of Locaboat. 

Some of the scenery we passed.

Since there were no bridges or locks for a long time, we kind of lost track of where we were!  Suddenly, we came to a fork in the river and we didn't know which way to turn.  Fortunately we saw a sign indicating the direction to a particular town.  We quickly consulted the map and determined which fork to take.  We arrived at the Locaboat base by 3 PM. 

Approaching the lock at Loosedrecht

The "Lock Queen!"

We chatted with the service people at Locaboat, and they attempted to fix our electric problem (which I think was mostly our converter's problem and less the boat's problem).  Then we decided to spend some time exploring the lake there called Loosdrechtse Plassen.  It was a windy day, so there were lots of sailboats.  We had to pay very close attention to where we entered the lake so we could find our way back to the base!  

David had been talking for days about cooking dinner on the boat on this last night.  We had gone shopping earlier in the day and while he cooked, I showered in a "real" shower at the base.  Of course, the shower there allows you 7 minutes for a half Euro, so I had to be quick!  Along with the meal, David cooked the stolen corn.  Even though he boiled it for a long time, it must have been feed corn because it was still hard as a rock!  Yes, stealing is wrong!

Washing dishes after dinner.

1 Comment:

AnonymousJune 9, 2012 at 7:52 AM

I really loved hearing about your trip. We are doing the same trip June 25th for 10 days. We are also renting from Loca boat. So your blog was very helpful. I wished you would have named the restraunts as the food looks amazing.

Day 7 - Uithoorn to Amsterdam

We woke up early in Uithoorn to find that a street market was setting up right outside our boat!  David inquired but found that they didn't officially open until 10AM, more than two hours away, but a few vendors seemed to be already set up.  We decided to walk through the market and see if there was anything to buy.  There was a fresh fruit and veggie vendor and we bought beautiful raspberries from him.  Also, a cheese vendor (David has yet to walk by a cheese store without going in!)  David bought some cheese and was chatting with the guy.  When the vendor heard that we were going to travel back to the US, he told us he'd vacuum seal the cheese - otherwise it might be confiscated!  Uh oh!  We'd already bought about five cheeses from other places that were not vacuum sealed.  David asked if we could pay to have him seal our other cheeses.  He readily agreed, but didn't charge us. What a nice guy!  We also bought two eggs from him for our breakfast.  Yes, in the Netherlands you can buy individual eggs! 

Our cheese vendor - you can see the boxes of eggs near his outstretched arm.

We pulled out of Uithoorn by about 8:30 in the morning.  The nearby bridge opened at 6AM instead of 9 - the usual opening time for many bridges.  The trip was pretty quiet.  Our guidebook warned to watch for a mechanical ferry at one point.  It said not to pass until the chain was in the water.  We were unsure what that meant, but quickly understood when we came up to the ferry.  It was set up on a chain between two points on opposite sides of the river.  As the ferry crossed the river, you could see the chain pulling it tight.  As it moved across, the chain slackened and fell under the water.  A man working at the ferry motioned us across when it was safe to go.

The ferry - You can see the chain extending into the water.

I had also read on the map that there was a town, Oudekerk, coming up where we could fill up with water.  We arrived there and found a charming small town with lots of stores and an easy docking area where the water was.  We decided to wander around for a while.  I was shopping in a drug store when I heard an American voice speaking with the saleslady.  When she was done, I went over and asked where she was from.  It turns out she had lived in Lake George and Portland Oregon, but was now living in Oudekerk.  It seems her son had been transferred to Amsterdam and she and her husband decided to follow him and his family there.  She said she absolutely loved living in this small town outside of Amsterdam!  And, that there were a small number of other American ex-pats living there as well, so they had a nice social group!
Back at our boat, while we were filling up the water tank, I told David about the woman I had met. (If you're curious, water cost half a Euro for 80 liters and we needed one Euro's worth.  In the US, water is usually free at a marina.)  While I was telling him, I saw the woman again and pointed her out to David.  Also, the German couple we'd met the day before passed us by.

My American "friend" (older woman)

David adding water

Now we were heading back to Amsterdam, this time by boat!  There were two choices for docking there.  One marina was in the center of the city, right near Central Station, an area we knew was very crowded.  To get there you had to go right through the middle of Amsterdam.  The other option was a marina just on the outskirts of the city.  We chose the latter option, a marina (or Jachthaven in Dutch) called Weinslot. 

Amsterdam in the distance.  Note the Ajax soccer stadium!

When we got there, we found the marina on one side of the river and the tall buildings of Amsterdam on the other.  We docked on the outside of the marina and went on shore to inquire if we could stay for the night.  The very nice manager assured us that we could stay for 13 Euros (more than we'd paid before, but this was Amsterdam, after all!) which included electricity.  This marina was very secure and we needed a key to get in and out (on foot, not by boat!) Unfortunately, the city was taking over the property as of November 1, and after 85 years there, they had to close. 

Our boat (second from right) in Amsterdam Marina.

Rijksmuseum

Now we were off to explore Amsterdam again!  There was a train station a five minute walk from the marina.  For 7 Euros apiece, we were able to buy a train pass that was good for 24 hours on any subway or tram.  Our first stop was the Rijksmuseum.  When we got there, we decided to first stop for lunch.  We found a cute little pub called Hans and Grietje (Hansel and Gretel?).  I was in the mood for a burger and they had them on the menu (or lunch karte as it's called).  Delicious!  In the museum, we saw the magnificent artwork of Rembrandt, Monet, Degas, Renoir, and de la Croix.  

Just a few blocks away was the Van Gogh Museum, so we went there next.  I really loved the Van Gogh's and was saddened by his early death at 37.  It's so amazing when you are in a museum and see a painting in person that you've seen in books for years!  

Next, we went to the Houseboat Museum.  This was an actual houseboat sitting in the canal that was set up the way it would have been about 100 years ago.  Having seen a million houseboats all over the country, I was excited to be inside one!  It was pretty spacious inside, except for the "bedrooms" which were actually called sleeping cupboards and were nothing more than a closet with bedding.  

The large sitting room on the Houseboat Museum

Coming out of the Houseboat Museum

What is a visit to Amsterdam without going to the red light district?  My first surprise was that there were actual red lights!  I thought it was just an expression!  We walked down several narrow streets where there were floor to ceiling windows looking into very small rooms, closet sized, with young women standing there in lingerie. Most of them looked pretty bored and many were talking on their cell phones.  Amsterdam has a pretty substantial sex industry going on, in fact, with many stores selling sex "equipment", along with the many "coffee shops" selling pot. 

This is a condom store!  They're hanging in the window!

Do I even need a caption here?

We then spent a good deal of time trying to find the neighborhood where we'd eaten earlier in the week - the area where we'd seen the horse drawn carriages with the US Ambassador.  We managed to get on the wrong tram, or the right tram in the wrong direction.   We finally ate dinner at a nice cafe.  They forgot to bring our appetizer, but it was fine because we had so much food anyway.  My only negative was that I ordered fish but forgot to ask if it was a filet or a whole fish. I hate dealing with whole fish, and guess what I got!  After dinner we took the train back to the boat, ate pastries we'd bought earlier and fell asleep!

1 Comment 

Brian, September 26, 2011 at 9:58 AM

Two things: One, don't get any ideas from that Oregon lady. If I move to Amsterdam, I am not taking you along with me. Two, you can't go to the red light district during the afternoon; that's the C team at best. Weekend nights is when the A+ team comes out.

Day 6 - Gouda to Uithoorn

Today was a big traveling day, passing mostly by farms and businesses with some small villages here and there. 

Typical scenery

Getting ready to pass under a bridge with another one just ahead.

You can see the highway passing under the canal we're on.

At one point, our canal passed OVER a highway!  We've been under many bridges in this trip, but this was the first time we went over a bridge in a boat! 

For a good part of the trip we were on a canal that barges also use.  This can be scary!  At one point, we were waiting for a bridge to open.  This means circling around unless there’s a place to moor up against.  It was windy today as it has been all week.  When the wind catches the boat it pushes it wherever it wants and you have little control.  Although you are supposed to wait on the right (starboard) side, the way the river curved, we couldn't see what was coming from that side.  So, we were near the left (port) side of the canal and a large boat was coming through pretty fast in the opposite direction from which we were traveling.  We needed to wait for that boat to pass through the bridge before we could go through.  At the last minute, David saw that we weren’t securely up against anything and the wind was pushing us back to the middle of the canal in the path of that boat.  He made the decision to go with the wind and shoot across the canal in front of that boat before it got to us.  The reason is because he has more control over our boat if we're moving than if we're just idling and waiting as we had been.

Tied up on the side waiting for a bridge to open.

Of course, we made it safely across in plenty of time but my heart was in my mouth the whole time.  Afterwards we discussed how we could be safer if that situation came up again.  And it did, less than 30 minutes later.  We were waiting for a bridge to open.  When it did, we could see there was a large boat coming through.  This time we were tied up against a side wall.  As soon as the boat passed under the bridge, we untied and started to head towards the bridge.  Just then, it closed again.  David was pretty angry!  We had to wait a while for it to open again.  We also met a couple from Germany while we were waiting for a bridge to open.  They had also rented from Locaboat.  We were chatting a bit and he had done boat rental trips about 17 times already!  Their boat was smaller and much faster, so they left us in the dust.  Later on, they pulled off and moored while we went on ahead. 

Early in the afternoon, we found a quiet place to pull our boat over and tied it to two trees.  We had some leftovers from dinner the previous night and some bread and cheese we’d bought, so we had a lovely lunch.  Right next to where we were eating, someone had a flower stand on the side of their house.  The flowers were marked with prices and a dish was there for the money – the honor system again.  So, we decided to buy a small flowering plant for the boat, even though we’d be leaving it behind in a few days. 

We continued on until we reached Uithoorn, our stopping place for the night.  Right next to the middle of the town are a bunch of docks available for us.  There was no electric or water here but it seemed safe and we could walk right into the town in a minute.  A man stopped by to collect the fee for staying here – 4.50 euros, and we were set for the night!

This is a very small town that is not even mentioned in the travel guides.  We walked all around the town in about an hour and found the only hotel in Uithoorn and it had a nice restaurant.  Inside, I found that they had free wifi!!!  YAY!!!  I grabbed my computer and went back there spending about an hour catching up on my emails and facebook while I nursed a cup of cappuccino and ate a small stroopwaffel.  We went back that evening to have a very nice dinner there.

Taken at dinner by our waitress