After splitting up to see things of interest to us in various parts of Amsterdam, we met back up at de Bijenkorf department store in downtown Amsterdam. It was right across from the Royal palace, Nieuwe Kerk, and National monument, so it was easy to find! We were there to claim our free gift as part of the Holland pass. Our free gift was a commemorative tin with candies in it, which we thought was pretty spiffy for a free gift. After claiming our gift, we thought about what we wanted for dinner. The top of the department store was also a cafeteria style restaurant. We ordered a pesto pasta dish, pizza, and salad which were all delicious and our first Italian food for awhile which was a welcome change.
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| Our Magnum bar creations |
The real star of the cafeteria, though, was the Magnum bar booth. For those who don't know what Magnum bars are, they are extremely delicious chocolate covered ice cream bars. In stores, they are sold in various flavors like chocolate, chocolate brownie, and chocolate caramel. At this station in the department store, we could design our own Magnum bars by choosing which chocolate the ice cream bar is dipped in, then choosing three toppings and a chocolate for drizzling. Landon and I shared a bar. He chose popping candy and another white candy, I chose tiny caramel squares. We ordered a milk chocolate coating and white chocolate drizzle. The popping candy was an interesting touch- there was no flavor associated with it, just lots of popping along with the ice cream and chocolate!
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| Getting ready to indulge |
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| Aftermath- each bar had a chocolate Magnum "M" on it |
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| Sad that it is over? |
On our way back to the parking garage, we meandered along some shopping streets. Austin wanted to buy some cheese to sample, and he found a Henri Willig shop where we had a discount. After tasting every cheese, and Landon taking handfuls of every cheese sample, he settled on an original and a pesto cheese. The cool looking wheels were not pasteurized, and so we could not take them back to the U.S. so we had to go with other, smaller wheels.
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| Kid in a candy, or cheese store! |
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| Henri Willig cheese- we wanted a golden yellow wheel, but alas, not pasteurized |
My general impressions of Amsterdam were both positive and negative. Compared to other Dutch cities, Amsterdam is SWARMING with tourists. This means that the city caters more to tourists, but it also means that the streets and the museums and attractions are packed. Marijuana is very legal in the Netherlands, but it seems that only in Amsterdam are there copious amounts of joint smokers blowing smoke in my face. There are so many things to see that it is hard to pick how to fill your time! The buildings all around the city are so iconic and beautiful that every walk is a great one. It's worth it to brave the tourists to enjoy the many things to do in this city.
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