Day 2: Bikes, Brews and Curry Fries

Today we met outside the apartment building at 11am so that we could head over to Dappermarkt, a popular street market in the city. It's a good place to pick up fish, produce and cheap souvenirs. I didn't see anything that really caught my attention, but there was a food truck at the end of the street selling freshly made french fries, complete with mayonnaise (a European delicacy!) That idea still kinda turns my stomach, so I opted for curry sauce instead, which was delicious. My buddy, Blake, got the "special" which had ketchup, mayo and onions. I tried one of the fries with mayo on it, and it wasn't bad. It's different from the mayonnaise we have in the States. It tastes lighter, but I don't think I'll be opting for a huge helping of the condiment anytime soon.

Later in the afternoon, we visited Mike's Bike Tours and rented bicycles for a fun, albeit hectic, tour of the city. I say hectic because bicyclists have the right of way in Amsterdam, so getting used to that fact plus veering through tight spaces on the street where you have cars and other bikers speeding three inches from your left side and pedestrians rubbing shoulders with you on your right was tough but worth it. We ended the tour at a local brewery that runs out of an old windmill just a few blocks from where we are staying. Sampling some of the locally made beers and snacks was an awesome late-afternoon recharge.

So now it's time to see what the rest of Friday night holds in store. It's 10pm here, but it looks like it's 2 hours earlier at least. I'm gonna try to catch up with some of the guys from the group at Rembrandtplein, which is a popular eating, shopping and drinking district. I think the girls are all heading out together for some drinks and dancing. There are bars and "coffeeshops" nearly everywhere you turn in this city, so we won't be short on things to do.