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Hi there,
First time of posting a question- so here goes.
I'm coming to Amsterdam on the 21st August and have promised family and friends that I shall buy several Kilo's of salt and sweet "drop". However, I can't remember the name of the market I last bought it from or which district it was situated in. I'm staying near the Amstel Port, can some kind soul please help. Many thanks, Lesley
Dappermarkt.
PJ
'drop' is the national candy, so you can buy it literally everywhere: supermarkets, specialist candy shops, markets, gas stations, train stations, pharmacies, etc., etc.
To make it a little more complicated, and possibly the 'drop' sellers won't even know which contains which: an important ingredient of 'drop' is Arabian gum (from Acacia trees in Soedan). It is often (partly) replaced by a cheaper modified starch. Although opinions differ, Arabian gum makes 'drop' much better.
Just saying there are different qualities as well as flavours and it may be some fun to try and taste before you a big quantity.
You can do that in shops where there are drop counters.
Jamin has good 'drop' and you can help yourself from a very big range of flavours and shapes. So it's no problem to buy one or two little 'dropjes' of each flavour.
Kruidvat (a discount drugstore) has a similar 'drop' counter but with less choice (IMO less quality) and cheaper.
There are also good brands of drop prepackaged in supermarkets.
Let me give you a link:
http://www.dappermarkt.eu/english/
PJ
Thanks so much for replying to my question. Looking forward to sampling some of the drop. once again thanks for your time and thoughtfulness,
best wishes, lesley
Hi there,
Thanks so much for the detailed reply and will be looking forward to sampling some of the salt and sweet drop. Seems I'll have no problems finding places to buy it from. Once again thanks for taking the time to write such a comprehensive reply.
Best wishes, Lesley
For myself, I think that the best time to go to Amsterdam is around May (like we did). We got a Really really nice weather there (around 25 degres), so may be it was special but I will recommend this period to come there. You can see the Liberation day (May 5th) with the commemorations, sure to have flowers everywhere, and may be to be like as us to have a wonderfull weather.
OK, so maybe it's a little tacky, but you CAN'T go to Amsterdam and NOT have your picture taken sitting on 'the seat' at the Sex Museum. You'll know what I mean. Lighten up and have a little fun! Getting lost trying to find where we parked the car: We had great fun checking out the house-boats and window shopping while trying to remember where the car was! Amsterdam is definitely a city for strolling.
The old church is very rich inside. The organ looks very rich, stained glasses are very picturesque and the choir place is very interesting (don't forget to look at pictures that are made on the choir seats). Some pictures of the interior are in my travelogue.
The late 19th century Stock Exchange, designed by the stararchitect of the day Hendrik Berlage (1856-1934), is one of the classic Art Nouveau buildings of Amsterdam - really, for all of Europe. It was considered to be radically modern in its time, a kind of analog of the stripped-down "minimalism" being practiced at the same time in places as diverse as Vienna and Chicago.
Henrdik Berlage was a progressive designer who actively sought to celebrate the "common man" - as much if not more than the stockbrokers who were his clients. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the decorations of the building consistently celebrate the workingman and and the artist - not the capitalist. I've read that Berlage even believed that each of the nine million bricks used in the structure was a symbolic representation of an individual - all coming together to produce a harmonic whole.
Perhaps it's entirely fitting that today - in the 21st century - the Berlage is no longer used as a stock exchange - its original purpose - but instead as a community center, with public space, cafes and a conference center.
I am low on energy today so we decide to check out the millions of interesting things near our hotel. First a quick breakfast at the hotel (they don't call it a Continental breakfast here). We bought our Museumjaarkaart when we went to visit the Rijksmuseum, a few blocks from the hotel. The Museumjaarkaart is a year-long pass to a selected 30 museums in Amsterdam. After a week of use we pretty much broke even on this purchase, i.e. if you are going for more than a week, or are going to focus on the art museums exclusively, buy one. It's nice to be able to re-visit your favorite museum also. If you are going for a week or less, and plan to spend a lot of time doing other things, pay for the museums separately. That's my advice.
We spent several hours in the Rijksmuseum. We vowed to return, it is tied for my favorite w/ the Van Gogh museum. The Rijksmuseum could easily take days to cover. We spent most of our time looking at the Dutch masters--Rembrandt's "The Night Watch", etc. Incredible! We got hungry and planned to return (never did), so we left for lunch. I never did get my sleep cycle straightened out until I returned to CA. My wife had no problem with it, which was great, nice to have one in the party who can sleep. I have had this problem before, even when travelling to the East Coast. I recommend taking some sleep medication that works for you along on the trip, I will do so next time. We found it impossible to find over the counter sleep medication like we have in the States. They did have a tryptophan/melotonin product I considered trying tho. I learned to enjoy myself with less sleep, and my wife let me nap occasionally (not much tho!). Too much fun to have!!!
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