July 18

As I mentioned in the previous post, we have been in Amsterdam many times and already have a plethora of photos, so I don't have city photos to add.  It rained off & on during the day as we walked to the Jordaan area and then to Leidseplein for lunch.  Yesterday at Hoppe we had ossenworst, Amsterdam's version of beef tartare with special spices, so today we had regular beef tartare and Dutch sausage.  The tartare was chopped rather than ground and it was excellent - one of the best ever.  While we were eating, the bicycle perking police came by and collected bicycles parked outside of the marked areas.  Bikes chained to a lamp post were no problem as they have a battery grinder to cut through them.  The waitress said that it costs around 100 Euros to reclaim a bike and many of the bikes aren't worth that much.  They put the bikes on a truck and hauled them away.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Wynand Fockink, a tasting bar dating from 1679 and a regular stop for us when in Amsterdam.  It's hidden in a narrow alley off the Dam Square  that goes from the right side of the Grand Hotel Krasnapolski to the Red Light District.  They have numerous liquers and genevers to taste.  The glass is filled to the top and you MUST bend over and take the first sip without touching the glass with your fingers.  We sampled some old favorites and tried a couple of new ones and bought a couple of bottles to take home.  We had also picked up some aged Dutch Gouda cheese, stroopwafels and chocolate to add weight to our bags.  Fortunately we're flying business class so we won't be overweight.  We ate in the concierge lounge since we weren't very hungry and it was raining again.