Category Archives: Interesting Things I’ve Seen

A Trip To Vondelpark

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Vondelpark

I’ve been researching the various parks here in Amsterdam looking for a park that is close by and is dog friendly. So far I have found that nearly all of Amsterdam is dog friendly as Harriet goes into stores and restaurants all the time (she is not allowed in the grocery store though). The closest park of any size is Vondelpark. It takes Harry and I about 30 minutes to walk to the park, another 15 to get through the park to the area where all the dogs are playing and then another 45 minutes to walk home after playing. Needless to say, there is a lot of walking involved! We will need to start using the bike to go to the park soon I think.

Happy park dog

There are several open areas where the dogs are allowed to play. The park is actually 100% off leash but so far Harriet has been kept on her leash as there are too many tempting children and she thinks that she needs to greet each and every one of them with a big wet kiss on the face. Needless to say, not every Amsterdam child is happy about this!

The park has a lot of really nice features….water for the dogs to swim in, lot’s of pretty bridges, fountains, sculpture (no one jumping off a building thank goodness), restaurants, playgrounds, lot’s of trees and most interesting – Ring Neck Parakeets!

Vondelpark Parrots

The parakeets are escapees that found other escapees and have manage to adapt to the weather of Amsterdam. You see them in the city from time to time but there seems to be a rather large flock at Vondelpark. So now Harriet and I look for them as they are fun to watch and are a gorgeous green color.

Don’t Jump!

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Don't Jump!The other day M and I were in the car going somewhere in Amsterdam when we went past this building that had a this elaborate “sculpture” attached at the top. My first thought was that this was very odd construction scaffolding and then I thought “gee, it looks like a person who is ready to jump”, and finally I thought, “no way would anyone create such a thing as it is kinda creepy”. I asked M about it and she said that yes, it really was a person who was about to jump.

That’s when she told me that the building houses a Psychiatric Center.

Amstel Beer Delivery

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Amstel Delivery

Today, I was out walking Harriet and an Amstel delivery truck pulled up to the restaurant that is next door to our building. The street is very narrow as when it was built, cars did not exist! Apparently, it is difficult for bars and restaurants to find a place to store full and empty kegs of beer so, some beer companies, like Amstel, are now using tanker trucks to deliver beer.  So Harry and I go to watch as this truck pulled up to the restaurant, the driver hopped out, connected a hose to the truck and pumped beer into a tank in the restaurant. Pretty cool!

A Trip to Ikea

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Today we stopped by the local Ikea store. If you didn’t know better, you would think you were in Ikea Seattle…well, except for a couple of small differences such as:

  • The Women’s room is “Dames” and each stall is its own little room.
  • Ikea is actually prounounced “Ik” as in icky, “kay” as in okay, ya or Ik-kay-ya.
  • They serve milkshakes in their snackbar along with meatballs in a cup and ice cream cones in waffle cones for 0,50 euro. You can go back for as many servings of ice cream that you want!!!
  • They have an all you can drink policy for fountain drinks in their restaurants (including the lingonberry).
  • A pretty nice salad bar.
  • They sell beer, cider and wine in their restaurants and in the food department.

Yep, Ikea has been holding out on us Americans!