Saturday 31 March 2012

Good Supermarket ALBERT HEIJN Amsterdam

We found one of the these just off Dam Square, really huge, next to the tram route we get home. Then we found another one beside the apartment where we're staying. We also pass several on any transport route we take.


Turns out there are over 50 in Amsterdam and I think they're great.

1) they have giant giant tubs of lovely potato salad for €1.65......€1.65!
2) they have English breakfast tea, proper English breakfast tea for 29cents for about 20 tea bags
3) 10 sweet brioche rolls for €1.79
4) lots of meat, vegetables, ham, cheeses and a wide variety of bread


They look quite nice and, for me, they fall somewhere in between Tesco and Marks and Spencer.

You could spend a lot of money here.....saying that they don't have nearly as many 'ready meal' options as any of our supermarkets. You can also get away with spending very little, as they have an 'Own Brand Albert Heijn Range'......the packaging is Red and White (that's where the potato salad comes from)

Note: quite admirably, but very annoyingly, plastic bags are not issued as standard to shoppers in Holland in the same way as in the UK. You have to bring your own bags OR pay 20 cents for a large, thicker handled plastic bag; which includes a free dirty look. 

For some reason we have only been capable on ONE occasion of managing to anticipate the possibility that we MIGHT need to go to the shop on the way home and subsequently carried them with us.


(We go to the shop every day on the way home) 

Hence, we now have a collection of about 30 Albert Heijn plastic bags.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Free Boat Trip In Amsterdam - GVB

I did a generic search for the millionth time the other morning for 'free things to do in Amsterdam'.

I came across something which I can't believe I previously missed. At Central Station......at the back of central station to be exact, there are 6 different little ferry ports (they really are pint sized little ferries) that take you across the harbour to the other side of Amsterdam for FREE



Fabulous! The 6 different boats to you to 6 different destinations, each a little further along the water front. They run every few minutes. There is always a boat loading or unloading; no tickets are required. Bikes go through one door, people through the other and if you so wish, you can all stand outside in the fresh air during the 5 - 10 minute trip.





Technically, this boat is not for cars. But I saw several of these little vehicles on the various boats, and numerous ones tooting around the streets on the other side; it was little being in an episode of Mr Men. They are a 2 seater and (I presume) with a very low power engine, but they can fit anywhere and, boy, can they shift at speed!


Some of the apartments on the other side; a nice large modern residential area over to the far right of the map
This is a pub!!! The tiniest little pub in the world! (Not officially, but in my world it was) The Tiniest Little Pub Ever....so adorable. With Grolsch and pussy cats in the window, in equal measure.

This is a new large, impressively architecturally modern building which is going to be a Film Museum, due to open on 5th April 2012. The Frog Shaped building to the left is also new, filled with lots of fashionable looking important young people...... in fact, beyond that building again there were several new apartmet blocks, close to finish ,as yet unoccupied. I'd say they will be pretty impressive places to live, given the view of Amsterdam across the way.



One of the many little water side houses. It was a lovely way to spend a morning, going back and forward to the various little ports. I also spotted a Water Taxi and got far too excited, I thought they only existed in cartoons. The free ferries run from 7am during the week, 9am at the weekend until midnight.

Once again, free.

Groupon in Amsterdam; Mr Nilsson

I decided to have a look at Groupon in the Netherlands the other night and found a deal for €19.00, 2 people, steak chips and salad at Mr Nilsson.


We had to phone to make the reservation. As usual, the person on the other end of the phone spoke better English than I did. One 15 minute tram ride later and we were at the door. (When you get the hang of the transport system here you realise how amazingly efficient it is)


They had a table set aside for is, with our details written in chalk on the top. The food was absolutely gorgeous; it doesn't look like much on that photograph, but believe me, it was superb. There was also a big side bowl of salad; that disc on the top of the steak was garlic herb cheese.....what more could you want?


Really nice place, nice atmosphere and good service. Would definitely go back; keep and eye for Groupon deals because this was such a nice night out for £20.00 - the only bill we got was for €2.20 for a coffee. Even though you've paid for it a couple of nights before, it feels like a freebie

Mr Nilsson (or Meneer Nilsson) is located at Plantage Kerklaan 41, 1018 CV, Amsterdam 020 62444846

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Monday 19 March 2012

This is how I roll...

Yeah that's right, I did it, what's up?


Light weight 40 litre cranberry trolley with brake bar and back storage zip.

Word.

Sunday 18 March 2012

Harry van Gestel & Maui Reple Art Gallery Amsterdam

We wandered past the art gallery of Harry van Gestel & Maui Reple today in Centrum.



His pieces were amazing; some of those larger ones Andrew is standing beside had price tags of €15k. We were invited in with champagne to look around. Don't worry, Harry also invited us to take as many pictures as we liked.




The highlight for me was when I heard a loud crash; I turned around to see Andrew and an older man looking at a damaged sculpture lying on the floor (above)....thankfully it wasn't Andrew and the piece was only slightly damaged. For a split second I thought we were going to have to leg it or cough up several thousand.....



St Patrick's Day 2012 & Melkweg Club Amsterdam

Yesterday was St Patrick's Day; I didn't even realize until we went looking for the Melkweg Club to make sure we know where we were going for our Example concert.


We reached Leidseplein Square and immediately ran into several dozen Americans in giant Guiness Hats being very American and shouting 'WOOAH YEAH! I'm Irish, Welcome to St Paddy's day'.....literally to each other, they weren't putting on a show or anything.

We had a rest in the afternoon and within 20 minutes and two short tram rides, we got to the Melkweg Club. You take the Number 1, 2 or 5 from Central station and get off at Leidseplein.

Not being used to massive clubs in the Isle of Man, I was a bit nervous about getting in; dress code, 'your face doesn't fit, you're not getting in' blablabla.


I know, I'm adorable.
It couldn't have been easier. A few weeks ago I bought 2 tickets for the show and 2 memberships on line. We each had to print off 1 Membership and 1 Ticket and just show them at the door, where they scanned a bar code. That was it. There were people of all ages in there, quite a few British, and kids from 16 upwards. We went up on the balcony where there was plenty of room; we could even sit on some of the tiered levels and put our coats behind us, so there was no need to check anything in. 

Drinks were reasonably priced; €3.80 for a large bottle of beer, €2.80 for a small one and €2.80 for water; saying that, lots of girls had brought water bottles in in their coats and filled them in the toilets. 

There was plenty of room, plenty of air conditioning and the sound system was great. 

The Membership was €4.00 and will let us in for 1 month; so it's a good option to get in somewhere for free as long as you don't hammer the drinks.


Friday 16 March 2012

Dam Square Amsterdam and The Sex Museum

So it's now taking me only 15 minutes from I leave my apartment, get on the correct tram in the correct direction, until I am right at Dam Square in the center of Amsterdam. 

Yesterday was just beautiful for an Irish girl; not to hot, about 18 degrees and lovely hazy sunshine.


The is Madame Tussauds. We are tight on money at the moment; and literally you could spend 100's between two people very very easily every single day. Take a 1 hour canal tour €15 each, attraction like Madame Tussauds 1 hour €15 each, lunch €40 for 2, dinner €60 for 2, all the little coffee and snack breaks inbetween EASILY €70...buy a dress €25. That's €225 right there between two people in one day (presuming only I buy a dress and not Andrew)

It would be so easy to go through money so we are having to be very careful. Everything smells and looks wonderful. But on a day like yesterday it's lovely to sit outside. We bought a packet of Brioche bread for €1.65 for 10 rolls; and the biggest tub of potato salad I have ever seen for €1.85 with some ham at €2.00; and that was lovely. 

We watched this guy for a while who drew quite a crowd. This is the middle of his act where he was contorting his body through the center of a tennis racket whilst balance a glass ball on his head. Later he put a fire ball down his trousers.


One of the attractions I remember vividly from the last time I was in Amsterdam was the SEX MUSEUM. I took my mother and didn't allow her to go into the S&M section. I've been to a sex museum in New York and it wasn't great. They were showing One Night In Paris projected on a wall...lots of porn clips everywhere and 'shock factor'

But the Sex Museum in Amsterdam is really really 'arty' Lots of paintings, comics, sculptures and photographs going back 100's of years. It's a historical walk through the sex industry, social perception and it's influence on art. Really interesting and quite funny; the ground floor has a real 'Fun Fair feel'.

The best thing about it? It costs only €4.00 to get in (and they have toilets) Everyone's a winner

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Police DNA Spray and Ov-Chipkaart In Amsterdam

First thing I noticed on leaving the apartment, is that if you misbehave around here, the police will spray you with their DNA.


....yes, that's what I thought too. Anyway, moving swiftly on....

I will go into more detail about the transport around Amsterdam when I get some better photographs. But basically today I figured out to get myself a Transport Pass Card; €8 for the card and €10 for credit.

It's called an Ov-Chipkaart and you beep it over a scanner when you get off and on the vehicle.


It took us about 10 - 15 minutes on the tram to get into the centre of town which believe me beats walking all that way.

My journey in cost about €1.50 of my credit. You can check your remaining credit balance and also top up the credit at several clever little machines all over the city and in the transport stations.

This card covers you for Trams, Buses and Trains.

...we're getting somewhere (that doesn't involve my poor little legs)


Tea in Amsterdam

Look at this for handy...... you boil the kettle, make tea and then keep it warm in a glass jug over a stand heated by a tea (fitting) candle!!


Tuesday 13 March 2012

Arrived in our apartment

We're here!!!

Thank goodness. Met our 'host' who is very nice. He is away now and has left his apartment in our (hopefully) capable hands. Got a taxi this morning from our hotel, €15. We are central and we're heading out now to explore

(That translates as 'trying to find where on earth we are in relation to everything and hopefully find our way back without walking for 6 solid hours)........

Update; the walk from where we are into the Dam Square centre was supposed to be 30 minutes. Inspector Gadget walking at full warp speed might take 30 minutes. Personally, I am exhausted and ended up getting a taxi back. Hopefully when I am less tired and have better concept of my surroundings, it won't all seem so spread out. 


Wrong turns taken = 5
Number of times almost hit by bicycle = 3
Number of condoms seen hanging randomly in a window display = 45


.... told you....

Monday 12 March 2012

Amsterdam Airport Taxi


We flew at 7.30am this morning and landed one hour later in sunny and very warm Amsterdam - about 16 degrees.  We got picked up by a taxi company Amsterdam Taxi On Line from Schipol airport. They were the cheapest on line at €34.00 and he was right on time, in a nice car and was very friendly. Gave us advice on where to walk and eat...

Isn't this flattering!!! I don't care, I was tired, I was hungry and I was roasting warm....but I had a cone of chips and a falafel which makes everything ok. 1 big falafel , chip and 2 bottles of water was €12.00.



We did get slightly lost, but that's because Andrew was in charge of directions which is always a mistake. Tonight we had a lovely dinner near the hotel; Steak with Salad and Chips & Chicken, Goats Cheese and Spinach, 2 beers and 1 bottle of water was €42.00.....

.......today I learnt that not specifying 'tap water' means any water brought to your table will be at least €5
...... and that when a Dutch man says 'oh, about 5 minutes walk from here'...it probably means at least 20 minutes for little short Irish legs

Sunday 11 March 2012

In Liverpool

Woop WOOP!!!

We decided to not go for the boat; it would have meant us leaving the house at 6am....then even if the sailing went ahead, we had no guarantee that it was actually going to make it to Liverpool.

Turns out it did...but nevertheless we went for the FLYBE flight at 11.30 and arrived in Liverpool after a very smooth 20 minute flight.

Our room was not quite ready in BASE2STAY, so we took a 5 minute walk into Liverpool One shopping area and to........RED HOT WORLD BUFFET!!!


This place is fabulous; £10 for all you can eat, with Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Italian and more. The only negative about it is it's very much geared towards the British Fast Food mentality; lots of curry and chips but only one hot plate (out of about 50) that had just vegetables on it.


I decided to make up for the lack of fresh vegetables by loading my plate with Thai Green Curry......flaming hot Thai Green Curry it turned out to be, but it was still nice. And some Squid. And some chicken curry. And some Onion Bajis. And some noodles. Maybe a little burger. But that's ALL I had...I didn't have dessert.

.....and a little Korma with rice.