Another aspect of my experience in Amsterdam is based on what was probably a 24-hr travel-revenge bug! After a particularly exhausting, up-hill march from the train station to our hotel we set out to find a freshly-brewed Heineken and some Dutch goodies. We ended up in a crowded "Brown Bar" (so named because the interior has been stained brown from literally hundreds of years of tobacco smoke) which nauseated us both with the smell. We then found a popular, crowded restaurant which we didn't enjoy due to the nauseatingly huge pile of grated raw onion which topped our salads and which we were only partially successful in removing! BE CAREFUL when you order food in a foreign language and culture!

To be fair, though, what I perceived to be nauseatingly bad might have been really the preliminary onset of a virus or other gastrointestinal malady combinded with having pigged-out on very rich cheese and pate` the night before in Brugge! At any rate, we were both sick that night and the next day.

Despite this bad turn of luck my better half went sightseeing to see Van Gogh, the Anne Frank house, and the Jewish museum--all very worthwhile. I had planned an excursion to the Heineken brewery, but I settled for looking out the hotel window from my sick bed, watching the horse-drawn Heineken beer wagon making its' rounds, and staring at Queen Julianna's flag fluttering in the blue sky over the palace. I had no food all day but my kind wife brought me a warm can of Heineken!

I was also surprised at the large amount of garbage floating in the canals along with those beautiful canal boats, and the behavior of the bicyclists. Evidently, bikes have absolute right of way at all times! If you should mistakenly stand in a bike lane (which it is almost impossible not to) you will hear the "ding ding" of a thumb bell accompanied by a get-out-of-my-way-you-idiot stare from an urban Amsterdam bicyclist. In fact, one gets the feeling that they might try to run you over. This is curious because otherwise the Dutch appear to be very friendly to travelers. Perhaps, this would also be the observation of Europeans who might try to cross an American city street while auto traffic is heavy!

We escaped the following day, finding a tram to the train station, and then heading out across the beautiful Dutch countryside to Berlin. All in all an interesting experience!

I can't say enough good things about the Tulip Inn, our hotel! It is a modernized establishment with friendly, courteous and helpful staff, a very nice breakfastroom (I couldn't eat but the coffee was great), and large, "American-style" rooms with bathrooms, and very modest rates. I believe the comfort of our room and the helpfulness of the staff in allowing us to extend our stay enabled us to recuperate so successfully! I might also say that the staff of the bar, restaurant and the travel assistance office at the train station were also very friendly and helpful to us. My wife assures me that My entire experience was unusual and should be much more enjoyable next time. I must agree, since I can think of some situations in other cities that would have been extraordinarily miserable had I been sick.

The Tulip Inn on Spuistraat!
Restaurant Haejes Claes on Spuistraat!