Holland : Part 3 - Day 3 Evening: Amsterdam Town

Day 3 (Evening) of Holland Drive

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 3 Evening. 

17/7 Day 3: Zurich, Holland -- Amsterdam Town 

Must-Incur Costs

None

Optional Costs 

(1) 17/7 Dinner - Vegetarian pizza and cherry puff (EUR7.60) 

(2) 2 hour parking in town - EUR8

The Story

170717 Evening : From Zurich, we drove on to Amsterdam. We detoured for a while to Vijhuizen Park and continued the drive to Amsterdam Town. It was about 8pm when we arrived and it was still bright. It is summer! Days are longer. 

Prof Sweet Tooth found parking behind Quill building which is close to Marqt building. The first place to visit in our general itinerary was Marqt - a Farmers' Market. 

When we walked in, Prof Sweet Tooth laughed and suggested that if I wanted to go to a market of such, he can bring me to ICA (which is a chain of grocery store in Sweden). Yes, I was disappointed when I entered here too. When I read Farmers' Market, I imagined an outdoor place or actual farmers selling their produce. I found this place as one of the must-visit places as it sells fresh produce but I forgot it is common to have quality fresh produce in Europe or Scandinavia. We did a quick walk-around and I found some Asian items which are costly when I convert them to Malaysian Ringgit.

Chinese 5 Spices is a commonly used spice in my home cooking, well not my cooking, but by my late grandmother and my aunt. It gives amazing flavour to the food. I used to buy this at the grocery shop near my grandmother's house. These spices were usually used to marinate duck or chicken. Anyway, I never knew what was 5 spices made off. I just know it as 'ngow chiang hung' - 5 spices powder in Teochew - whenever I tell the shopkeeper. Yes, I fail in the kitchen. Haha! I just googled Wikipedia and found out the ingredients that make up the 5 spices. Very good stuff. 

5 Spices is made up of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. Well, that is the common mixture. Other recipes may contain anise seed, ginger root, nutmeg, turmeric, Amomum villosum pods, Amomum cardamomum pods, licorice, Mandarin orange peel. Source from Wikipedia. 

So, I saw this spice in the store and I gawked at the price. EUR3.49 for 30g... I did some simple conversion. RM17. Homaigawd.. and I had to take a photo.

They even have pepper from one of the states in Malaysia. Black pepper from Sarawak. I had to convert again. EUR2.59 = RM13 for 40g. 

We did not buy anything from the market. Next, we went to explore Amsterdam Town. I am sure anyone who has been to Amsterdam will agree they have beautifully preserved old buildings. Cobbled streets. Hooks at the top of the buildings - which act as a pulley to lift things to the top because lifts do not exist back then. Lots of canals. Lots of bicycles - one even has to give way to cyclists. Lots of tram and their cables in the photos. Lots of boats. Such a sight. Anyone who aspires to go to Europe usually has Holland in their itinerary. 

You must be wondering where did we sleep that night. Well, I admit it is pretty difficult to find a spot to park in Amsterdam. One has to drive away from the town. Prof Sweet Tooth looked at the map and suggested driving to the beach which was about an hour's drive away. To our surprise, there were parking charges at the parking lot in the beach! There were many camping operators close to the beach too. That will be in my next post. Fortunately, Prof Sweet Tooth found an empty parking space close to a bus stop which was near the beach. Its name - Bloemendaal Parking. It was 1am by then.