Day Twenty-Three: Amsterdam/Rotterdam with Dave and Andrea

YAY! Dave and Andrea have landed in Europe and take the place by storm for 5 weeks. We worked it out that we could meet up with them at the airport and show them a little about how to get around in Holland, get them to their hotel safely, went out for dinner, and generally got to fill them in on how much of an awesome time we've been having in Europe so far. Also, they were able to tell us a little more about their plans while they were here.

So, we made our sign for them, picked them up in the rain, and got on the bus route that the directions from their hotels' website told us to take. Eventually, however, and with no help whatsoever from the driver, we got off the bus (realizing it was taking us way in the wrong direction) and walked in the on/off showers the 45 minutes to the hotel. Of course, Dave and Andrea were carrying all of their luggage, so we stopped at this wonderful little cafe where we had some Magners cider and introduced Dave to La Chouffe, our new favourite Belgian beer. The cafe was wonderful and so homey! Then the hotel... It wasn't in the most convenient location, and it was a little sketchy, but we saw it was a bit of a diamond in the rough... clean, affordable, and comfortable.



From there, Rob, Dave, Andrea and I ventured off to try and find food. The hotel was no where close to downtown Amsterdam, nor any kind of tourist activity... but we were fortunate to stumble upon a wonderful little Indonesian place that had some great rice, curried beef, vegetables... and of course, the customary Heineken. We were really impressed with it and it's affordability.

Rob left us at this point since he had to go to class in the morning in Rotterdam, and Dave, Andrea and I went back to the hotel, stopping for snacks, beer and wine at the convenience store. Dave also bought his first souvenir of his trip. The three of us then had a good nights' sleep in their hotel bed ready for our trip to Rotterdam together this morning.

It was interesting being in Amsterdam the second time around, because we didn't spend much time downtown at all. We did, however, take a 2 hour walk from the hotel to Amsterdam city centrum, which allowed us to see the REAL Amsterdam, stopping at a Turkish bakery for spinach and cheese flat breads and fresh strawberries in the market. We even found Dave some coffee to go. Saw some interesting buildings and people, completely avoiding the city square. We then took the train down to Rotterdam which I thought would be a great way for Dave and Andrea to see more of Holland since they're only here for three days.




We got into Rotterdam and I showed them some of the cool architecture there, and slowly made our way to de Dijk, a pub where they had a deal on all you can eat racks of BBQ pork ribs, salad, and fries for the obscenely cheap price of 9.50 Euros each. Had a great time talking and catching up, and then walked up to Rotterdam Central Station to send them off back to Amsterdam. However, just before that happened, we were sidetracked by McDonald's. I noticed while watching TV a few days ago that the Dutch McDonald's had STROOP WAFFLE MCFLURRIES!!!!! So of course we had to stop and try them. They were just as delicious as I had hoped they would be!