SATURDAY--TO MARKET TO MARKET!

We woke to beautiful sunny skies today--what a nice way to start our day!  Our plan for the day: to visits a couple of Amsterdam's wonderful markets.  There are markets every day of the week, but Saturday is the big market day.  We always enjoy a good market!

We didn't get an early start, we left our apartment about 10:30 or so.  We caught the tram right around the corner from our apartment, and it was an easy trip to our first stop.  We are liking tram travel in Amsterdam--it's actually easier than subway travel in Paris--no stairs and no long transfers! Another big plus: we aren't zipping around underground like a couple of moles!  The trams all have big windows, so we get to see many different parts of this beautiful city during our travels.

View from our tram window this morning:

Our first market was a Local Goods Market--where local artists and food producers sell there wares.  It's set up in an old tram station, call De Hallen.  There weren't too many vendors this morning, but we still enjoyed looking at the goods.  There were also a few permanent store fronts, as well as a theater and denim manufacturing shop in the space.  It's a pretty nifty use of space!

The main hall:

Outside the main hall there is another market selling local produce and goods.  We did a quick stroll through, and bought two kinds of goat cheese that looked interesting.

This cabbage made me smile: "Cone Head Cabbage!

After our browsing around the market, it was time for lunch.  There's a really cool food hall in De Hallen--lots of different ethnic foods and a couple of bars with a good selection of locally brewed beers.  It was a very busy place this Saturday--lots of locals enjoying a Saturday lunch out.  We chose a local made, natural hot dog--they were good, but not great.  David's was the better of the two--it was a lamb hot dog.  Our beers were really good, though!

De Hallen Food Hall:

After our lunch, we were off to our next market--an antique market!  I swear, I can find one in ANY city!  David is always remarkably patient with me while I browse to my hearts content.  This market was a combination of a regular "fixed" antique mall and a Saturday "flea and antique market" with temporary vendors.  I found a couple of folding rulers to add to my ever expanding collection! Total spent:  5 big Euros!

After the antique market we took the tram back over to the Albert Cuyp Market to pick up another loaf of that delicious brown seed & nut bread for our breakfast.  It was crazy crowded on this Saturday--wall to wall people making it almost impossible to walk!  We found our bread vendor, then headed right out of there!

We decided we would tram back to our apartment, drop off our packages, and spend the rest of the day exploring the streets to the north and west of our apartment.  We haven't crossed the canal to the waterfront yet,  and today was a good day to go exploring.  We wandered a three to four block area--it was mostly residential, with just a few high end restaurants.  We walked down to the waterfront, which is an interesting mix of commercial boats, sail boats of all sizes (some really BIG ones!) and even a few houseboats.

The waterfront and piers near our apartment:

We strolled back past our apartment and up to the pretty square about 3 blocks away.  We thought we'd explore a couple of different streets in the shopping area--but didn't find much of interest.  We did find a nice sidewalk cafe, and enjoyed a glass of delicious red wine and some great people watching.  That's one of our favorite things to do in Europe!

We decided we'd eat dinner "in" tonight.  We had a cheese & sausage platter with some crackers--just right!  We are loving the delicious goat cheese we've found here.

While we were eating dinner, we watched a pretty swan right in front of our balcony.  She was chasing a pair of mallards around--being pretty aggressive and putting on quite the show!

We also enjoyed lots of boat traffic this evening.  I'm guessing it is a regular occurrence on a pretty weekend evening--lots of locals out in their boats, enjoying a glass of wine or beer while cruising around.  It's a very festive atmosphere.

We've also noticed there are tourist canal cruises that pass this way.  I get a kick out of waving to them from our dining room window, using my best "pageant wave", and they always wave back!  (I'm trying to pretend that I LIVE here, you know!)

It was a lovely day in Amsterdam!

Tomorrow:  Another museum day---Dutch Masters!