Oosterdok

Oosterdok is a beautiful area in the northern part of Amsterdam. It is the docking area and has lots of boats, bridges, museums, and water! We took a long walk along the dock on Prins Henrikkade and Kattenburgergracht. It was a bright sunny day and the water was just beautiful.



The large green ship-looking structure is the NEMO science center. I'll post pictures and information about it later. For now I'll just tell you that there is a BEACH on top of the building!











The bridge on the right side of the photo is the walking bridge that takes you out to the Botel, Sea Palace and science center. The only other option is to go by boat.




This is the famous Amsterdam Botel. Yep, it's a boat and a hotel. I guess it used to be in pretty bad shape and had a bad reputation to go with it. It was sold and the new owner has really put a lot of work into and the place looks pretty nice now. It would be great for a short stay.



This is the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese/ Indonesian restaurant. We ate there the other night and it sure was delicious! It was neat to see the water and boats while eating!



The kids (especially Journey) loved the restaurant decor - lots of gold statues, rich vases, candles, chandeliers, and even Chinese antiques (enclosed in glass). We ordered from the Din Sum menu - they brought tons of different dishes and appetizers for us to sample. It was a ton of food! The kids loved that the food was placed on a circle in the center of the table and we could spin it to reach the foods we wanted. Of course Journey had a bowl of tomato soup as his appetizer!