MuidenSlot Castle & Amsterdamse Bos

Monday was a rainy wet grey day ... Matt & Karen slept in, jet lag had caught up with them.  In the afternoon Karen & I went for a walk, checking out the neighbourhood and seeing what was around, just showing Karen around really.  We walked down to the Albert Cuyp Street Market and, in the rain, meandered our way from booth to store to booth.  We only made it about 3/4 of the way through before they closed down at 5pm.  We bought a few pretty scarves ... and drooled over the other things {including material for you Bev (Pictures are on Karen's camera)}

Tuesday dawned overcast, but being from Portland we are (supposedly) used to the rain and grey, so we ventured out anyway!  Destination: Muiderslot Castle in Muiden.  After a short tram ride and a short bus ride, we were at our destination.  Well the outskirts of the town of our destination that is!  We had to walk about 10-15 minutes to get to the castle, but it was a very lovely little town, and totally worth it.

the two vacationing lovebirds :)

Wednesday morning we headed out to rent bikes and see the sites via wheels.  This was my first time on a bike in about 10 to 15 years, and its true, it all comes back to you quickly.  But boy oh boy was I sore when we got back!  We biked around 20 kms (~13 miles) in about 5 hours.  We headed through the city and down towards the Amsterdamse Bos, an area used for Olympic training and now bike and walk pathways through a wooded area, with some ponds, lakes and canals.

pretty good shot I must say, since I was on a moving bike when I took it!

we ended up near the end of one of the take-off runways 

my lunch - pancake with bananas, chocolate chips and powdered sugar ~ which Matt thankfully helped me finish!

Karen's lunch - pancake with apples, cinnamon and powdered sugar ~ which Matt helped her with as well!

Matt's dessert ... he had some sausage pie as well 

The rest of the pictures from these two days can be found here:

Muidenslot Castle & Amsterdamse Bos Pictures

Paris is up next ...