Amsterdam Layover

Sometimes, when I'm planning a trip, I mess things up a little. This time around, it was booking our flights to and from Stuttgart out of Amsterdam. I accidentally booked it twice, and the flights I had to keep had a ~8 hour layover in the middle on the way there. It made for a long day of travel... But then again, we got to spend part of a day in Amsterdam!

 As soon as we arrived, it was time for coffee and a snack. We found them in the form of espresso and poffertjes. Neither M nor I was able to sleep on the flight, so what followed was a combination trudge and sleepwalk through the canals.

We wandered west and south from Amsterdam Centraal (the main train station) towards one of my favorite neighborhoods downtown, Jordaan. At one point we got a traffic jam caused by a couple of guys putting a couch through a 3rd story window via a thick rope thrown over a pulley hanging from the ridgepole.

Tired wanderers

After wandering by the Anne Frank House and finding a hearty lunch down a side street, we found ourselves in front of the beautiful Rijksmuseum. A pair of musicians were playing Bach in the entry, and the sounds echoed through the stone arches. We were a bit tired to handle an overload of the Dutch Masters, but we did take a minute to enjoy the garden and park on the south side of the museum.

On our way back to the train station, we detoured through Dam Square. It was busy as always, crammed with tourists, shoppers, and average Dutch citizens going about their business.

Back at Schiphol airport we picked up our bags and cruised through security. M to a much needed nap while I debated whether it was too late to have another coffee. Anne picked us up at the Stuttgart airport a few hours later, and we fell asleep at her house after a delicious dinner at a local Biergarten.