Ciao, Bella! Blog: Day 1 - Wednesday

The few days before our trip were a blur of happiness (Mom arrived!), stress (all the loose ends at home and work), and sickness (poor Declan contracted hand-foot-mouth the Saturday before our trip.) But after a few days of doctor appointments and the throes of separation anxiety, everything seemed to be on the mend.

Wednesday morning, we all woke up with Declan to get him ready for daycare and sent him off with Mom since nobody wanted to see me ugly-cry dropping him off. Actually, I applauded myself on only crying a little bit – mostly because I hadn’t packed A SINGLE THING and we needed to leave around lunchtime. No time for tears when there’s an empty suitcase!

After a whirlwind morning of packing and last minute details, we were on the way to the airport and our next adventure. It was hard leaving Declan (understatement), but we definitely were in need of a break – especially after spending several days with a sick kiddo. (Thankfully, he definitely seemed on the mend that morning, which made leaving much better, too. Although my poor mom could probably write her own blog on getting him to get over separation anxiety.)

On the way to the airport, we rode the parking lot shuttle with another couple who were traveling with a baby close to Declan’s age. As we exchanged small talk – and as the guilt built as we eyed their happy mini-traveler – they mentioned they too were doing a “parents-only” trip to Puerto Rico in a couple months. “You have to be people too, even when you’re also parents,” the mom said. We wholeheartedly agreed.

After arriving at the airport early, we flew through security and enjoyed our first “parents-only” drinks and snacks at an airport bar. Then we loaded the plane and buckled in for a somewhat uncomfortable flight, despite snagging a 2-seat pair and not having to share elbow room with strangers.

It was remarkably easy to get to the hotel – we shrugged off the inevitable taxi-imposter and found the airport-approved taxi queue. The line attendant was about to shepherd us into a minivan-taxi when our lucky stars aligned and a larger party showed up to get the Mom Wheels. While we snagged the next taxi in line…. A TESLA!

Thanks to my specific requests and TripAdvisor.com knowledge, we checked into a hotel room that featured a French balcony canal view (and a partial view of an ugly government building, but oh well, I was happy enough to have one of their few balcony rooms…)

We freshened up and set out for our first afternoon. Slightly sleep deprived, we figured we could power through the afternoon and evening and try to adjust to our new time zone to ward off jet lag.

After a walk through a commercial gauntlet and the somewhat-depressing and dirty Dam Square, we quickly veered away from the commercial center and soon found ourselves in the Jordaan neighborhood, guided by our trusty Rick Steves podcast.

Once again, Rick saves the day.

Jordaan is exactly the type of neighborhood you envision when you think of Amsterdam. Quaint canals, quiet (ish) streets, lots of sidewalk cafes and so many bicycles parked along pretty bridges. As long as you watch your step – bicycles are EVERYWHERE and traffic rules apparently don’t apply to them – this neighborhood was the Amsterdam we were looking for.

After enjoying Rick Steves’ podcast/walking tour throughout the neighborhood, we were officially starving and found a canal-side café for a pre-dinner snack. After a couple beers and bitterballen (a popular Dutch snack/fried balls of goodness), we almost didn’t feel like it had been 24 hours since we slept in a bed.

Since we were nearing dinner time, we walked the 10 minutes back to the hotel to freshen up and headed out for our dinner reservations at The Pantry, a restaurant featuring traditional Dutch cuisine. We enjoyed the restaurant’s lone window seat, which was miraculously vacated right after we arrived.

Then, it was time to head back to the hotel and crash. Nearly too tired to miss Declan – although that didn’t stop us from calling Mom quickly to check in -- we had much exploring to do.

And sleeping without a baby monitor? Well, that wasn't too bad either. :-P

Dam Square - crowded, dirty, touristy. Good thing we know better than to judge a city by first impressions.

Plugged into Rick, happily walking farther and farther away from Dam Square. Jordaan was only 5 minutes away but felt like a different world!

The Jordaan neighborhood! The Amsterdam we were looking for!

Statue of Anne Frank in the Jordaan neighborhood, near the home where the family hid. You can see the Westerkirk (West Church) in the background. This was the church she wrote about, whose bells reminded her of the outside world.