After looking through my posts, I realized that I haven’t written much about the city where we spend the most time- our new home of Amsterdam! Duh Julie! Obviously, this will be a recurring post as we continue to share our lives with all four three of you that actually read my ramblings.

As for the ‘hood we now reside in, De Pijp, we are within a 5 minute walk of the famous Albert Cuyp Market, Sarphatipark, canals and the almighty Heineken Brewery, where we will send you when we need a break- Kidding!. Sort of… Traveler Tip: The Heineken Experience (as it’s called) is alright, but one of those ‘you only need to do it once’ kinda things. You learn about the history of the Heinie (barley+hops+water=beer) and see some interesting (read: old) beer tanks and stuff. Also, the entire tour is in English! They sure know their audience. After you go for a 3-D, interactive ride as a bottle of beer (which was actually pretty hilarious), and take a lesson on how to properly pour a beer (the more foam the better – who knew?), you’re freed. The bar at the end of the tour is supposed to be awesome, but it’s just awkward. Lots of “I think I’m cool” types, which hopefully, we did not get categorized with. Although we were both wearing dark-rimmed glasses… Anyway, you get two beers for free with the tour and I think they hope you have enough buzz when you leave to say, “Wow! What a cool… experience!” …

We also have a bread shop down the street and tons of cute little cafes, pubs and restaurants nearby. Very much fits our lifestyle and taste. There are also several coffeeshops (no, haven’t tried any of these neighborhood ones yet) and a teeny little red light area (haven’t tried that either, thanks), which we heard is called ‘the seven lost hookers’. If you are curious enough, I’ll just have to show you and you’ll understand immediately.

Have I mentioned how awesome the Cuyp market is? Well let me go ahead and do that. It’s awesome. I stroll through it during the day to pick out things for dinner, like the giant bundle of fresh asparagus I bought the other day. For only a euro! Been cooking a lot and really enjoying it. Jaro enjoys it too. 🙂 Traveler Tip: The market has way more than food though. Tons of fresh flowers, all kinds of toiletries, clothing, jewelry, etc. It’s a great way to spend a little time outside on a nice day. And bring small bills to make it easier on the vendors, would ya? When Jaro and I visited in July, we had a great afternoon walking through here, buying a hunk of cheese and bottle of wine, then sitting at a park to enjoy it. We also tried an authentic herring sandwich, which is raw herring (skin and all), onions and pickles. It was … interesting. Now I walk through it on the reg and I’m hoping to get ‘in’ with a few of the vendors. Specifically any of the cheese or flower vendors.

Can’t wait to share more adventuring with you! Have a great weekend. xo