And we're off!
Favorite thing about the airport in Amsterdam...the KLM shop with life sized engine:
We took a train from the airport to the Central Train station, on a pink train no less!
And here's where the drama of Day 1 begins. As soon as we bought our transit passes in the city, I realized I left my clipboard on the train from the airport. What was on said clipboard? Every bit of planning I'd done for the trip, all our confirmations, directions to all the places we were going for the week. Everything. But I'm a cool, go-with-the-flow girl, so off we hop onto our tram to get to our hotel. I remembered exactly the stop we needed, so we were all good there. We sit in the back of the tram, toting all our luggage and head through the city. The kids were jazzed, and I hadn't been in Amsterdam in years and years. We were all excited. We approach our stop and wrangle our luggage to the door. It was a little confusing with buttons and gates, but we figure it out, and off hops Charlotte as Tom handles her suitcase. He's about ready to get off....when the doors shut and off goes the tram. Tom and I FREAK OUT. Here's our baby outside all alone at a tram stop in Amsterdam(albeit a really nice part). Her eyes are as big as saucers and we're screaming at her "Just stay there! Just stay there!". Pulling away from her was about the most powerless I've ever felt. A very nice gentlemen next to us who saw what happened tells us the next stop isn't too far (although the 1/2 mile or whatever seemed like an eternity), but it might be better to walk back rather than wait for the tram headed back that way. You think?? We get off at the next stop and Tom proceeds to sprint back to the previous stop. Nicholas and I followed behind pulling the luggage. By the time we caught up with them, Charlotte and Tom were laughing and carrying on as if nothing had happened. Honestly, I don't think she was even phased. But the mantra of the day (and the trip!) became - Parent, Kid, Kid, Parent. Parent, Kid, Kid, Parent. You can bet we'll never let a kid off the tram first again!
We asked at our hotel about a dinner place with great local food. They recommended one, Pantry, a short walk away. Gotta love these walkable European cities!
Admittedly, the Dutch food wasn't the most attractive, but it was tasty!
Bitterballen - a crunchy breadcrumb coating filled with a gooey mixture of chopped beef, beef broth, flour, butter, herbs and spices
Stampot - Mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables. Nicholas chose the one mixed with carrots and onions (stampot hutspot) with a sausage on top.
Tom and I got the stampot sampler - stampot hutspot, stamppot boerenkool (with kale) and stampot zuurkool (with sauerkraut). The meatball served on my sampler was amazing.
They needed our table (we snuck in promising to eat quickly since we didn't have a reservation), so we left without dessert. But Tom had spotted a Ben and Jerry's on the tram ride earlier, so we finished off our Dutch meal with good ol' American ice cream.
Back to the hotel to rest up for Day 2!
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