Are you getting somewhere or did you get lost in amsterdam?

As always, let's start with the food. Dutch food isn't exactly world renown. It's like British food. Simple, not terribly mouth watering, it's more of a stomach filler.
Still, it's a good place to start, and after consulting my trusty library copy of the Lonely Planet, I discovered there was a little neighbourhood place just round the corner of the Hotel Hestia, which I should add is a great B&B near Vondel Park with a sweet cat named Gregory. It even has a lift for the stairphobic but it only fits two pieces of luggage and one person.


A choice of meat, potatoes and veg for under 8 euros at Hap Hmm. Not bad for a stomach filler.


Amsterdam's got great bakeries and some really good bread.


After finding our way to the De Pijp area, where the Albert Cuypmarkt (it's a flea market) is, we stopped at the Chocolate Bar for a light lunch, where I had fresh mint tea and a mozzarella toastie.


Then cake and coffee at the cheerful De taart van m'n tante


It's got an amazing window display!


And sometimes we just had cheese and wine in the hotel room - thankfully it was large enough for three beds and a little sitting area.


A typical snack - bitterballen. Must admit I didn't like it that much. Its got some meat and some broth and flour and rolled into a ball and coated with breadcrumbs. We ate at this in the town of Leiden, after visiting the flower show at Keukenhof. Unfortunately we were probably a couple of weeks too early as the tulips weren't out yet.


Still, it was pretty.


And the usual touristy thing is rijstafel or rice table. And we hit Kantjil and de Tijger in Spuistraat for that. Not too bad as it had a good variety. Of course the spiciness was toned down.


Another popular dish found at cafes - open faced sandwiches, this one is topped with carpaccio. Surprisingly a bit tasteless despite the dressing... This was at the lovely Cafe Rotterdam, in erm, Rotterdam.


The view of the Erasmus bridge from the cafe's painted windows.


Piet Blom's famous cube houses.


And what's a post about Amsterdam without pictures of canals?


And bicycles.


And windmills - this one's been turned into a house!

I would say it was a week well spent in Amsterdam - we hit the essentials: the Van Gogh museum, Rembrandt's house, Anne Frank's House, Albert Cuypmarkt, ate pancakes (too dark for photos), drank great Belgian beer, wandered the red light district, shopped at Dam Square, rode the tram, took a canal cruise, saw a concert at the Concert Gebouw, wandered around the Leidseplein. And even took trips out to Leiden and Rotterdam.