Amsterdam in spring

..sounds real nice, huh?

Well it was.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and took the train into Amsterdam.

You can see the central station in the background.

As the hotel was placed a 10 min walk from the station, we walked there.

In the evening we sat outside a pub with a beer and just watched people passing by. Talked horse.
A bit chilly, but gave us a marvellous feeling after the winter.

We had Rijsttafel in a restaurant in the evening.
It is an assortment of many small Indonesian dishes and something that is famous in Netherland - a heritage from the colonial times.
It was very nice, and also very much.
Conveniently the hotel was not far from the restaurant...

The next morning we had breakfast in the loveliest breakfast room ever:

And the breakfast was just as nice as the room.
Lots to choose from.

I had a dessert with waffles, hot cherries, hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Fresh fruit.
And a café au lait.

Yummy!

After breakfast we walked to the station to take the train to s'Hertogenbosch, where the World Cup was to take place.
Normally it is a train ride of 1-1.5 hours, but due to some work on the rail road (we believe) the ride took 2.5 hrs, the extra time unknown to us before we started out.
Luckily we had started off early!

We got to see some of the countryside.
Canals everywhere, with a lot of transportation barges.

Finally we arrived.
Outside Brabanthalle where the show took place they had this cute tuk-tuk to transport people with.
The driver was even kind enough to stop it so I could take a picture...

We had possibilities to see the warm-up some minutes before the class started.

At the show it was free seating and we had some friends that had an early start that morning - so we got really prime places at the first row!

Here is Minna Telde/Don Charly.

Isabelle Werth/Satchmo won the class , with the new Dutch star Adelinde Cornelissen/Parzival second and Anky van Grunsveen/Salinero on third.

In the evening we traveled with our other friends to Utrecht, halfway back to Amsterdam, where they stayed.
We had a very nice evening. First in a pub with a large assortment of Dutch and Belgian beer, and then in a Thai restaurant.
I love Asian food!

Chicken packages as a starter!

On Sunday our flight didn't leave until late, so we had the whole day just to stroll around and enjoy the nice weather.

The flower market:

Some of the merchandise is a bit exotic to a Scandinavian:

In Amsterdam there are lot of bikes everywhere.

You really have to watch out when walking as they are difficult to hear, it's easy not to notice when they come from behind. People here are considerate and use the bell to warn you, so it helps.
I believe there are twice as much bikes as cars. There are bikes parked everywhere, and at the central station even in two levels.

And not all are in standard execution.

Nice delivery service?

After walking around for several hours, it was nice to sit down and stretch the legs.

Got thirsty too, hehum.

Finally we had to return to the hotel, pick up the luggage and return home.

But it was a very nice trip. I'd love to do it again next year!

Amsterdam is really a nice city.