Prinsengracht

More photos from Amsterdam in my gallery. Shots from my latest trip start from #20, and are mostly on the second page.

The primary purpose of my recent trip to Amsterdam was of course the marathon, but since it is one of my favourite cities I thought I’d write a separate note. I also visited Utrecth for the first time, although very briefly. Utrecht is a mere 25min by train from Amsterdam and seems like a nice city in its own right, although I didn’t have much time to explore. I hope to change that in January 2012 when I’m going to the Indeterminism Ltd (ERC funded project) kickoff workshop. I’ll post more details about the workshop when they come available (and when I’ve decided what I’ll talk about), but I’m pleased that I was invited to it, as it looks very interesting. The project is led by Thomas Müller, who has another(!) very interesting project going on as well: ‘What Is Really Possible?’. I had the opportunity to meet Thomas and three other people working in his research groups in Utrecht — all very nice and hospitable. I look forward to visiting Utrecht again in January.

Keizersgracht

As to Amsterdam, I’ve been there many times before. Twice for a conference, and two or three times (yes, I’ve lost count!) just for tourism. This time I was staying near Museumplein and had very little pressure for actual tourism, as I’ve been to all the major museums. I had looked up a number of interesting restaurants and pubs, and really I just wanted to explore them and indulge a little bit after the marathon. Fortunately the weather was pretty good as well, so I managed to get a few decent shots too (link to more photos in the beginning of the post). I stayed out of the very centre of the city, quite consciously, as Amsterdam can get overly busy with tourists. I mostly explored the Eastern side, and the beautiful Prinsengracht in particular. Restaurants and cafés of note include the following:

De Bolhoed

• Deshima A macrobiotic lunch place where I had a decent piece of tofu cheesecake. The interior is not the most inviting though.
• Vliegende Schotel I.e., ‘The Flying Saucer’. A very nice veggie restaurant hidden away in the side streets east from the centre. I had their spicy goulash with seitan. They improvised a vegan dessert for me (since there were none on the list): some fresh fruit and nuts, quite plain but nice enough. The selection of good local bottled beers is worth noting as well.
• De Bolhoed A Delightful café on Prinsengracht with some light veggie food and bakery. Vegan bakery is labelled and the staff were helpful. I had their chocolate-pear cake, which was baked into a pie crust. Tasty, although a bit much for my taste.

A bottle of Natte at 't Smalle

I wish I could’ve visited more of the excellent pubs of which there are plenty in Amsterdam, but here are just two which I quite like:

• ‘t Arendsnest 30 Dutch beers on tap on Herengracht! I had time for just one though: Jopen Extra Stout. The pub is lovely, but my selection of beer was maybe not the best: very light for a stout, almost watery. Produced a lovely head though. Well, the Dutch are not known for their stouts, so perhaps it wasn’t a huge surprise. You’re usually better off with a Belgian style double of some sort.
• ‘t Smalle

One of the oldest pubs in Amsterdam, I believe. I’m pretty sure I’ve been to this one before. Their beer selection is not the best, but they do have 8 taps and six or so bottled beers, including a couple of very good local ones. It’s the interior which is the best thing about ‘t Smalle though — this is what a pub should look like. It’s rather small, at least when it’s time for the afterwork beer, as it was when I was there, but friendly. I had the Zatte Tripel from tap (8% ABV, maybe the most drinkable triple I’ve ever had) and Natte (Dubbel) from bottle (6.5% ABV, a darker and much sweeter double, quite rich due to caramel malts), both by the brewery ‘t IJ. These served as excellent appetisers! Later on that night, during dessert at Vliegende Schotel, I was pleased to discover that they had another beer by the same brewery: Columbus (9% ABV, a very strongly flavoured ‘special’ amber beer, would love another taste of this).

A peculiar houseboat

That’s about it — I focused on the eating and drinking culture. As to the notorious coffee shops, it’s a pity that they indeed are pretty notorious: full of tourists and not very inviting at all. Probably there are some hidden gems out there but I’ve yet to find them…