Amsterdam

For the 2nd time, we spent Xmas in Amsterdam (the first was for Xmas 2004). As you recall from the last episode, Kari was in Paris with her friend, Tom, and they took the train from Paris to Amsterdam to meet up with our dashing hero, Kevin...

We really enjoy Amsterdam at Xmas, because most restaurants and museums are open, and the place isn't overrun with tourists. Just the silly ones like us who can bear the freezing temperatures...

Kevin was a happy camper during our walks through Amsterdam as he rediscovered a treat called ollibollen, which are these deep-fried dough balls covered in powdered sugar. They sell them at little snack kiosks in various locations and we had to stop whenever we passed one. The last time we were there, he discovered them for the first time, and as we got closer to our trip this year, he was hoping very much to find some again.

We found some great little bars and restaurants to eat in, and on Xmas night, we had dinner in this Italian restaurant that was done up in Art Nouveau style--absolutely gorgeous. And the food was really good, too.

Some of the trip's highlights included:

The Church in the Attic
This was a hidden Catholic church built in the attics of 3 townhouses during the 17th century during the Protestant reformation in Holland. Being the tolerant country that Holland was and continues to be, they let the Catholics worship as long as it wasn't really visible. When you approach the street where the church is (which is funnily enough in the middle of the Red Light district), it just looks like a bunch of houses. They have kept the house furnished as it might have been during the 17th century, so you get an idea of how things were back then.

This isn't your grandma's attic...

Organ concert at the Oude Kerk (Old Church)
On Christmas eve, we went to the old cathedral to hear an organ concert. They have 2 organs there, a small one and and really huge one, so the concert was split in half, with the organist playing a couple of pieces on the small one first, then switching over and playing on the large one. The church was under a multi-year renovation, so there were some areas blocked off, but you could still get a sense of how nice it is when it's not covered in scaffolding. There are approximately 10,000 people buried in the floor of the church, which is a bit creepy when you realize that you can't walk on the floor anywhere in there without stepping on someone's grave. Yikes. This is also the only cathedral we've ever been in that has it's original, intact wooden roof.

Oude Kerk

Gregorian chant
On Christmas night, we went to another church, this one just across from the main train station to hear Vespers, which was a service that was sung all in Gregorian chant style. It was really beautiful to hear and the church itself, which didn't look too exciting from the outside, was gorgeously decorated on the inside. There were 6 men who sang and they provided the text of the service so you could follow along. It was in Latin and Dutch, so it was not like we necessarily understood exactly what they were singing about, but the overall atmosphere took you back centuries. (At least until people got up and left halfway through the service...) The men were dressed in white monks robes with rope belts, and during part of the service, they walked down the middle aisle, and up each of the side aisles as they sang.

Haunting and beautiful

Haarlem
The day after Xmas, we took the train the Haarlem, just so we could have a chance to see something different. It's only a 15-minute train ride. So we bundled up on the freezing, sunny day and ventured forth. When we arrived, the tourist office was closed, but they had this cool little machine where you could enter two places in the city and it printed out a city map with a route for you. Kevin had heard of a great, big church in Haarlem, so we thought, why not? Turns out everything was closed. Shops, cafes, and even the churches. So we made our way to the big church and then decided we were about frozen through. We managed to find a little sandwich place open on our way back to the train station, so we had some hot drinks and soup to try and warm up before heading back to the train. It seemed like a nice town, so we were a bit bummed that everything was shut.

Our quest ends...and it's closed.

All in all, another good trip to AMS.