MM4.Travel

Paris to Amsterdam – Day Eleven

Wednesday September 11 – we head back to Gard de Nord to catch the Eurostar to Amsterdam. We really enjoyed Paris and definitely could have spent more time there. Next time.

Cute. Dogs being placed into special backpacks, seen while waiting for our train.

Belgium

We don’t stop and it flies by at 300km an hour.

Antwerp. In the foreground is the Port Authority Building by Zaha Hadid Architects. Though not visible here it sits over a historic building. I have always wanted to see this building, so this was unexpected.

Amsterdam

We make several stops along the way, and the train is delayed by a couple of hours, so we get in around 4pm. Google Maps has been a godsend on the trip so far, but its algorithm is aimed at the most direct route. This takes us through a couple seedy & narrow cobblestone lanes with our bags in tow, which wasn’t ideal.

Exploring Amsterdam

A friend of ours Sanne was kind enough to give a list of places to see and do in Amsterdam and nearby towns.

Wonky houses. The house on the corner is particularly wonky. The houses are built on wooden piles. Our friends Elana & Renzo both architects from Amsterdam, mentioned that repiling is big business here.

Herengracht. Very cute. We guess that houses were combination of house & warehouse? We also notice the front of the houses lean forward slightly, perhaps to allow goods in more easily?

We headed to the nine little streets or De Negen Straatjes.

Cafe in the De Negen Straatjes, Amsterdam’s crest is pressed into the biscuit. It was good.

Tiny. It’s this big, as demonstrated by myself. Apparently it’s the smallest electric car in the world. We believe it.

Westerkerk has a crown in its spire. Cos why not.

We head to see the Hermes store, it was designed by the Dutch architects MVDRV.

It’s a bit hard to see in this picture but the bricks on ground level are made out of solid clear glass.

We find a passable pizza place on the way back to the hotel. We had been a bit spoiled by a great Italian place down the street from where we were staying in Paris. But with it getting late and the weather packing in we grab what we can get.