Door de ogen van een Amsterdammer (“Through the eyes of an Amsterdamer”): Day 5

Martha and I started our day (really, really late) with coffee at—where else?—Two for Joy. We then got our shopping on at Noordermarkt, a big, outdoors market held every Monday morning on the Noordermarkt square and the Westerstraat street in the Jordaan area. From textiles to curiosa, this local market had it all. While there, we also snuck in a visit to the seventeenth century Noorderkerk church, which was enveloped by the market stalls.

Martha and I then met Tijs near the Peskens’ old house on the Brouwersgracht (which dates back to 1696!), and hopped on the family boat for an outing along the canals. Despite the temperamental weather, this private canal cruise was the highlight of my stay in Amsterdam, for the city was truly built to be seen from this perspective.

Martha, Tijs, and I headed to Da Portare Via for supper, where we grabbed two thin crust pizzas: the “Don Floert,” topped with tomato, parma ham, rucola, ricotta, and parm, and the “Sofia,” with tomato, mozzarella, ricotta, pancetta, spinach, nutmeg, garlic oil, pepper, and sea salt. Between the homemade lasagna from the night before and tonight’s take-away pizza, Amsterdam set the bar pretty high for Italy. I haven’t had an Italian pizza yet (!), but I do hope Gera Lario can deliver!