We finished our day in Amsterdam by wandering around looking for a place to eat. Near our hotel was a Hard Rock Cafe (no--we didn't think about eating there!). There were lots of bars and ouside eating areas, and looked full of tourists. There was a very loud live band playing (see short movie below), playing old American songs.
So, we kept walking. A few blocks later, we discoverd a small set of tables set on the edge of a canal. There were 15 tables or so and we thought it looked like a pleasant place to eat. After checking the menu a bit, we decided it looked quite interesting and took a table. You can see the tables behind Caroline.
As you can see, Caroline was sitting on a railing, but I was sitting just next to the canal with no barrier. Caroline thinks I am a bit of klutz and was worried I would fall in. I managed to stay dry.
The restaurant was Peruvian and the menu was quite different than any other restaurant we have eaten. For starters, Caroline had a corn meal dish with pork, one olive, and a boiled egg inside. (she didn't eat the pork) I had a ceviche like dish with the fish in thin slices rather than chunks. Both were very tasty (according to my taste buds). For main courses, Caroline had a chicken dish that looked like a curry, but had much different spices. I had a shrimp soup with rice, peas, a poached egg and green onions that was wonderful.
The canal was very busy with boats full of people enjoying drinks and appetizers, or even dinner while they cruised the canals. There were several dinner cruises that came by, but most of them were private boats with groups that were enjoying a beautiful night on the canals. This short movie will give you an idea of the traffic on the canal. You can see another restaurant on the other side of the canal. That also looked insteresting, but not as exotic as Peruvian food.
The sky was beautiful and full of contrails from jets leaving the Amsterdam airport. It was a very nice evening in the city.
On the way to the shipping terminal the cab driver gave us some very interesting facts about tulips. First off, tulips do not all originate from Holland, as we have always believed. More than 80% actually come from Turkey. The name “tulip” comes from the Russian language and has the same root as the word for turban. There is a resemblance between a tulip and turban. Holland is where the tulip has been modified with new colors and forms developed(variegated and multi-colored bulbs for example).