Gezzelligheid in Amsterdam

We have landed in Amsterdam! This marks the start of a month-long European leg, and I think that the destinations after Amsterdam are going to have a hard act to follow. Amsterdam just seems to have it all worked out: there are lovely buildings; it has nice water features (the canals); we have seen virtually no overweight people; the only traffic congestion is from the hordes of people on bikes; and we haven seen very little poverty.

Yesterday was a day of museums: The Rijksmuseum, particularly for a spot of Rembrandt, and the Van Gogh museum for a spot of Van Gogh. The museums were lovely, but rather a lot to take in in one day.

Today, we took a slightly different approach - we became (well almost) locals. Basically we hired bikes. First place of exploration was the Jordaan, and some markets with great lunch delicacies, and lots of little tasting plates out, which are always the best part of food markets. Then after a nice cycle around the streets of the Jordaan, we headed to central station to sort out trains. Though this is not exciting in itself, it was exciting to park our bikes in a multi-story bike park complex!

This arvo we went to a couple of photography galleries, one of which was in a lovely old canal house. This evening we went to a bar in De Pijp for the particularly Dutch quality of 'Gezelligheid', which according to my guide book, is variously translated as snug, friendly, informal, companionable and convivial,. Whatever it is, Amsterdam has copious opportunities to experience Gezelligheid!