By day 5, the record setting heat wave had us rethinking our plans to ex-patriate… then we went on an awesome bike ride, ate the best apple pie ever, and spent the rest of the day in a beautiful park, swimming, drinking beer, and eating ice cream. Well done, Amsterdam. Well done.
Day 5 Highlights:
Carbed up at our neighborhood Bagels & Beans before heading to our bike ride
Set off for our countryside bike tour with We Bike Amsterdam. Definitely a highlight of the trip, despite the heat. Our fantastic guide, Leon, led us on a 30km loop from downtown, through North Amsterdam, and around the picturesque Dutch countryside.
Stopped at Het Schoolhuis halfway through the ride to hydrate and promptly devour the best dang apple pie I’ve ever tasted.
Made it back home sweaty and exhausted, but our apartment was way too warm to spend much time in, so we trekked out to Westerpark at the suggestion of our awesome AirBnB hosts. The kids had a blast swimming in the man-made stream that runs through the park, while Jared and I popped a squat on the shady banks, wishing America did parks the way Amsterdam does parks.
Walked over to Brouwerij Troost for dinner and beers. Finally had bitterballen, though it was vegan so I’m not sure that counts.
We’d more than earned some ice cream by that point, so we stopped into Ijscuypje for a cold treat before catching the tram back home.
Day 6 Highlights:
Visited Rijksmuseum. Beautiful art + air conditioning for the win.
Ate lunch on the rooftop of the NEMO Science Museum. The museum was at the top of Emma’s must-do list for Amsterdam, but she got sick during lunch and we had to punt NEMO to the next day.
After a bit of rest, Emma was back to normal and we all headed out to the neighborhood fountain again to cool off.
Burgers & ice cream for dessert capped off the last day of the heat wave. Hooray!
