We had an inglorious start to our first day in Amsterdam, as we started out the morning foraging for food. This is my fault. The hotel was charging quite a bit for breakfast, so I decided it would be better to just stop at a cafe for a quick bite. This would have worked in Italy, Britain, or Austria. Not so much here, however. Even though the hotel is near the most expensive stores in town, it isn’t anywhere near a cafe. We eventually found something but it wasn’t great.
From there we went to the Anne Frank House. This was a humbling experience. It is hallowed ground. It is so incredibly personal and moving, that I am at a loss for snark.
Ok – well there was at least some mild amusement to be had. I sometimes worry about mom’s balance – she has had some significant falls over the years, and as we were climbing the stairs I was a bit concerned. They are steep – very steep. They are, for all intents and purposes, ladders by the time you get to the top of the house. I had mom climb in front of me and basically kept a hand on her bottom to help maintain stability. Fortunately we made it through safely.
The importance of this site as a place of pilgrimage was reinforced for both of us when we noted a frail woman, older than mom, walking with a cane, who made the same trek.
After this we stopped at the Tulip Museum. It had flowers so I thought mom would like it, and I guess she did. It was cute, with a brief overview of the history of the tulip that was fairly interesting.
From here we stopped at the cafe down the street and had lunch. Mom had mushroom soup and bread with Brie.
After considering my options I had a local beer and the meat croquettes. Today’s croquettes were much better. I still don’t know what the vaguely Asian flavor is, but these paired fairly well with mustard and I would get them again.
I offered mom some options for sights, and she wanted to go to the flower market, so we found ourselves walking through stalls with incredible arrays of bulbs. As a bonus, the prices are inexpensive. Unfortunately, however, there were few that we can take back home, which was a disappointment to mom, so we were left to browse and covet.
After the bloemmarkt we found ourselves far from the nearest tram, so were forced to begin walking toward our hotel quite a ways away. The walk took us past the original Heineken brewery. For numerous reasons, including very positive ratings on TripAdvisor, we thought it reasonable to stop in. As it turns out, TripAdvisor reviews are largely written by 20 year old students who are impressed by beer, and I will therefore never trust it again. I just paid how much for a Heineken commercial? Wow that sucked. The only revelation is that Heineken tastes much better in Amsterdam than it does in the US. Still, I could have learned this anywhere in the city.
From there we were ready to start thinking about dinner. I had made no reservations so turned back to TripAdvisor (what?!), but now considering the content and tone of the reviews more closely. I have had difficulty finding traditional Dutch food, so the next closest is Indonesian. We found a restaurant, Kartika, near the hotel and headed over.
We ordered a rijstaffel, which means “rice table.” It is a Dutch take on traditional Indonesian fare. The menu listed a few options and we trusted the waitress who recommended one of the cheaper ones as being a better introduction.
What arrived are a number of dishes I mostly can’t identify, except for the satay, which was the best, by far, that I have ever eaten in my life.
This was an outstanding meal, and I am thrilled with our choice.
Tomorrow, Van Gogh.
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January 16, 2026
So much to unpack in this little post.
First, I’ll admit that I’ve made a few contemporary modifications in my use of language, but decided to leave the description of the Heineken museum as “that sucked” intact. I do remember it being quite disappointing and not worth the time. It is a lesson that has stuck with me, although I would later go on a much better brewery tour in Antwerp.
These early posts were often very linear and tried to tell the story of the entire day, and that’s the problem with this one. Really the key scene here is the elderly woman with the cane making the pilgrimage to the top of the Anne Frank house. I still recall climbing to the top with mom and seeing her there. The power of the pilgrimage is extraordinary. Everything else is peripheral.
Another thing that stands out in this post is my use of the word “snark.” The tagline of the blog was originally “A lot of travel, a fair bit of food, and a goodly dose of snark.”
In general, as I look back at old posts the snark hasn’t held up well. It mostly just seems grumpy. Over time, I’ve mellowed and the blog has similarly become more thoughtful. Several years ago, I therefore changed the tagline to “A lot of travel, a fair bit of food, and a goodly dose of rumination.”
Of course, there’s plenty of rumination today, with less frequent mentions of food.
It may be time to rewrite that tagline.
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