Layover in Amsterdam Centraal

So having four hours in between flights at the Schiphol provides plenty of opportunities, well two to be precise: an attempt to sleep in sitting position at the airport, or going into the city (Amsterdam Centraal). We of course chose the latter. However, we didn't have as much time considering our flight time and level of consciousness, so we had to settle for a mere two hours actually in the city.

Original Door of Amsterdam Centraal Station

We took a shuttle directly from the airport into Amsterdam Centraal. I had forgotten how beautiful Dutch architecture was and therefore the Amsterdam Centraal Station was made a primary victim to my mediocre photographic abilities.

West Wing of Amsterdam Centraal Station

Front of Amsterdam Centraal Station

A linguistic note:

After spending about 30 minutes in Amsterdam, I began to notice how I was able to read most of the signs (in Dutch) around the city. The similarities between German and Dutch are really quite apparent. Having learned quite a bit of German, Dutch was only a short step further. For example, in German there are major prepositions such as vor, mit, and unter. These are reflected in Dutch by voor, met, and onder. Much of the language runs like that.

These similarities made reading quite easy, but the aural pronunciation was quite drastically different from German. Dutch sounded much closer to Swedish, or another Nordic language, when spoken. I was able to detect some of those aural differences and comprehend bits of conversations around me.

By the end of our time there, I learned some basic Dutch phraseology and vocabulary.

St. Nicolaaskerk

Am Damrak (links)

Am Damrak (rechts)

These similarities made reading quite easy, but the aural pronunciation was quite drastically different from German. Dutch sounded much closer to Swedish, or another Nordic language, when spoken. I was able to detect some of those aural differences and comprehend bits of conversations around me.

By the end of our time there, I learned some basic Dutch phraseology and vocabulary.

Am Damrak (voorkant)

Am Damrak (voorkant)

Voorkant Dam

Afknotten Dam


The next picture made it to my Desktop photo.

Plaveisel voor Dam

Having just got off the plane with nothing but smoked almonds (peanuts on airplane is far too mainstream for Netherlands) in stomach, we ended up stopping at a Hotel on the Damrak for breakfast. European coffee never fails to please!

Voorkant Dam

Dam met Nieuwe Kerk

Nieuwe Kerk

Nieuwezuds Voorburgwal

Nieuwezuds Voorburgwal

Nicolaas Straat

I ended stopping again for coffee at the café pictured below (Illy brand). A two euro espresso ended up tasting as good as it cost, but that might just be because I hadn't had good espresso in a while. #lookingforwardtoItaly

Nicolaas Straat

After our two hours in Amsterdam, t'was time to leave. Off to Turkey!

Nieuwenduk Straat