Our hotel – the NH Barbizon Palace Hotel – is very close to the city center, and right around the corner from the Central Train Station. Next door is the Basilica of St. Nicolas, a beautiful revival-style church, which includes both Neo-Baroque and Neo Renaissance.
- St. Nicholas Basilica
Our hotel itself is quite unique – to build it the NH Corporation acquired several houses in the block, and created the hotel on the ground floor, with elevators and connecting hallways in the interior. Consequently, rooms are either up a few stairs from the hallway, or down.
- My room, as seen from the connecting hallway
- The Basilica seen over the roof tops
- Central Station seen over the roof tops
- Inside view of the connected houses
- Inside view of the connected houses
- Inside view of the connected houses
- Inside view of the connected houses
- Inside view of the connected houses
Because we arrived at the hotel very early in the day (9:30 am), our guide for this portion of the tour took us on a brief walk to acclimate ourselves to the region while our rooms were being prepared.
We walked up and down a few of the narrow streets and over bridges, looking at houses which appear about to tip over, and some of the canal-side houses.
- St. Nicholas Basilica
- Canal Tour Boats
- Canal Tour Boats
- Houses on the canal
- Houses on the canal
- Narrow Streets
- Narrow Streets
- Crooked Buildings
- Crooked Buildings
- Cheese Shop
- SA Major Bosshardt
- Me and SA Major Bosshardt
- Museum of Our Lord in the Attic
- Palace Museum
In the evening, we were treated to a few delicacies and a glass of wine, while we attended a short briefing about our stay in Amsterdam, and then sat down to an excellent meal of salad, roast chicken, and dessert. Since I couldn’t eat the sweet pastries, the staff very kindly got me a fresh fruit plate.
- Pastries & wine with our briefing.
- Prawn & egg salad.
- Broiled half-chicken dinner.
The food looks delicious…well deserved after a day exploring!
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