Day 1 and My Feet Hurt Already

Before we start on today's adventures I want to show you the view from my rooftop deck.  It was around sunset last night when I took this

You can see a bit of a crane coming in from the left there.  There is tons of construction going on in this part of the city.  A couple of buildings near the flat where I am staying are being demolished...I felt the Earth move many times today while spending time mellowing out at home.

Here's the view on the other side:

Today was mostly shopping day.  Mostly a slow day, I didn't do much but get out and get my bearings.  Photos aren't anything special as I brought around the little cheapo camera to kind of scout out locations.

In case you didn't know, Amsterdam is overrun with bicycles.  They are everywhere and outnumber the cars by a vast majority and it appears that they also outnumber the pedestrians as well.  There were a lot of bikes last year in Vienna, but it was nothing like this.  Entire public squares are now bike parking lots...with wall to wall bicycles.  I learned quickly to think of them as automobiles and to look both ways before crossing the bike lane.

I woke up around 7:30 and puttered about a bit.  I had my muesli and yogurt (which ended up being diet...remember, can't read the Dutch) with a cup of coffee made in the Nespresso machine.  Puttered about some more and took my shower.  Just as I was thinking of heading out, it started to rain.  Feh.  Luckily, it didn't last too long and I headed out to Albert Cuypmarkt...the largest street market in the Netherlands.  Like last year, it's right around the corner from where I'm staying.

This is actually more of what you would think of as a street market although a great deal of it is a store with a sampling of merchandise set up outside as well.  So, it's a mix of a street market and a giant permanent side walk sale.  Some of the actual street market stalls

Of course, there were quite a few flower vendors with tons of...you guessed it...tulips!

You could smell the fish coming up before you saw them.  I may yet get some to cook in the flat.

I did buy some yummy cheese from this stall.  Similar to the cheese I got at the grocery store, but a bit more aged.  More on this later.

There were a bunch of souvenir stalls of course with my favorite tacky purchase possibility being these bedroom slippers that look like wooden shoes.  I am soooo tempted.

In addition to the cheese, I got some bread and other bakery goods, 3 gauzy scarves, a large glass of orange juice, and these tiny litte pancakes (poffertjes) which were sprinkled with powdered sugar and absolutely yummy. 

I spent a few hours there, then headed  back with my purchases.  Made a cheese sandwich for lunch with my new bread and cheese...and it was yummy.   Made me think it might be yummier warmed up...and it became my plan for dinner. 

Sat around a bit more and decided it would be a good idea to top up my public transit smart card as well as find my H&M so I could do some more shopping.  I mapped it out on my computer and headed to the tram stop.  I got there with no problem and managed to find the H&M...which happened to be on the busiest shopping street in the city, Kalverstraat.  There were no less than 3 H&Ms on that street...and a Lush.  So, I did some more shopping.  

Then I wandered around a little and saw some interesting buildings

That stripey building is actually a shopping center...LOL.  I then wandered around a bit and ended up exactly where I wanted to be, Central Station.

I think this is a cool train station.   Crazy amount of construction going on around there, but you can still see some of the nifty architectural details.

The tourist center is across the street and I wanted to get an I Amsterdam card so that I can get into museums at no additional charge and get two days of transport included...but the office was closed.  So, I have to go back tomorrow morning.

So, I went into to the station and added some money to my smart card (I was almost out), then I headed back. 

Dinner tonight was a grilled cheese sandwich

No, the sandwich isn't burned, it's dark brown bread!  Cheese is still yummy melted and I paired it with a few of the teeny tomatoes I picked up at the grocery store.  Good stuff.

Tomorrow I plan to get up early and try to hit some museums.  Maybe the Anne Frank house too.  We'll see how much stuff I can squeeze into a day.

I found out that the King Tut exhibit is in Amsterdam RIGHT NOW.  http://www.amsterdamexpo.nl/en/tutankhamun-the-exhibition/  I think I'm going to try to go on Friday...wooohooo!