In mid-April, Kelley, Sandy (her mom), and I had the opportunity to explore the charms of Amsterdam. Kelley was traveling with Sandy earlier in the week in Paris, another amazing European capital! After walking hundreds of thousands of steps through the Parisian streets they hopped on a train to Amsterdam where I met them on a warm Wednesday night. Amsterdam was founded in the 13th century as a small fishing village developing around a dam along the Amstel river. Beginning in the 14th century the city developed quickly and the golden age of Amsterdam was in the 16th and 17th centuries when it was the world’s richest city. Today Amsterdam looks much like it did during the golden age with its ubiquitous canals, townhomes topped with gilded gables, tulips, hipsters, coffee shops, and lots of bikes. Okay perhaps the last few are modern inventions. We were all taken by its charms and laid back energy, making it one of our favorite European capitals yet!

Kelley and Sandy were pretty museum-ed out, so we opted out of seeing many of the fine museums in the city, instead we decided to experience the city by exploring its labyrinths on our own two feet, trying to avoid the throngs of bikes coming from seemingly all directions, and via boat with Those Dam Boat Guys.

Another highlight were the food markets around the Joordan neighbourhood, which were recommend by some friends that lived in Amsterdam for a couple of years. They did not disappoint! Kelley and I were quite hungry as we were browsing the stalls and inevitable got a little carried away with our food purchases and it was delicious!

Some other highlights where we lack photographic evidence (so I guess it does not count) were the following:

• Anne Frank House – It has been quite some time since I read the diary and I recollected the general gist but could not recall the specifics. The museum helped bring the tragic story to life. Be sure to book ahead!
• Red Light district – Amsterdam is a place of contrasts and what better place to exemplify this then in the Red Light district where you can have any sort of sexual experiences.
• The Pancake Bakery – Amazing traditional Dutch pancakes!
• Winkel 43 – Equally amazing apple pie!

What about the tulips???!!! To see the famous tulips we took a bus to Keukenhof, which was incredible! We provided countless collective flower-gasms throughout the day!

 And Kelley subjected me to several cheesy photos…

Sandy was a much more willing participant 🙂

We had a great time together and look forward to many more adventures to come! #coolestMILever #bestsoninlawever #onlysoninlaw #stillthebest #happywifehappylife