Leidseplein

Himself had a birthday. We decided that in honour of this occasion, we would go somewhere we hadn’t been yet; Leidseplein!

With a high concentration of bars, pubs, clubs, and cafes, we knew we’d be sure to find something that suited us.

The first place that had looked likely in an online search provided us with pre-dinner drinks.

Not the cocktails we were hoping for, but it was the poor nervous barmans first night on the job and he was a touch clueless. Sweet, but clueless. By the way, that is how you get mixed drinks in Amsterdam. If you’re lucky it’s the liquor (vodka) in one glass and a bottle of what you decide to mix it with. If you’re unlucky it’s a glass of each. They turn up as 4 separate items on the receipt too!

We were the only patron in that bar and it was 8:30. It was also a Tuesday night. We shuffled on.

ambling up the road a bit we stumbled across an Italian Trattoria. You’d think after Leichhardt we would have had enough Italian food, but in we went. Himself likes Italian!

We began with a wine selection

Then antipasto

Followed by calamari fritti

And as usual, we were too busy eating it to get a photo of the veal saltimbocca. (Veal with prosciutto and cheese) Trust me, it was delicious.

We were the third couple in there. Of the other two, one were English tourists, and the other were American tourists, and as we were leaving another group of Americans came in for pizza.

The two staff who were on seemed very taken with the fact that we were practicing our overly rusty Italian on them. We all had fun. 🙂

The fountain outside hotel Americana puts on a good show too.

Then it was time to take in the final sights as we waited for the tram to take us home.

Thank you Leidseplein, it was a truly lovely evening.

And happy Birthday Himself. May the adventures only continue My Love. *smoochies*