where we sleep at night in Amsterdam

We loved our bed and breakfast! We found ourselves making rest stops back to the B&B in the middle of the day to recuperate from all that walking, we're not very efficient tourists, but the rest stops are so restful that no one objected.

The hotel was nothing fancy, but Very Clean. Good breakfast, fresh croissants and juice, the croissants are hot and ran out pretty fast, so we made it a point not to sleep in for too long and be late for breakfast. Amusing owner, we couldn't tell at times if he was sarcastic/mean to us or just trying to crack a joke or two, until we realized he was the same with all the guests.

Located in a quiet neighbourhood, the major museums are one street away. The only times when it was noisy were when the kids were let out of their kinder schools. NO kidding, pun intended, they are on steroids and play hard.

The other guests are mostly American, the hotel was highly recommended by tripadvisor, which I suspect alot of Americans used in their hotel search. I used that website too, so that could be why we all ended up in the same place.

There was one guest that looked amazingly like the Paul Frank monkey. Nice guy who smiles alot and kindly took our family picture outside of hotel. There were also two visitors from the UK who had the old-man nasal accent, they did the UK old man thing and were lounging by the reception area (just like how they would lounge by the pub, by the garden, or by the tobacco shop), they were friendly and informed us that we missed our taxi to the airport.

All the older Amstgerdam houses are long and narrow, this was because in the distant past, house owners were taxed based on the width of their houses. As a result, alot of the houses are extremely narrow, and creatively expanded upwards. The staircases are correspondingly narrow. When we first arrived, we were told our rooms were on the second and third floors, which was ok until we got our first glance at the staircase. Narrow and steep. Lugging luggage was going to be a real pain in the ass, until the hotel employee mentioned there was an elevator. We were relieved for about 5 seconds until we realized the elevator was small and claustrophobic for anyone bigger than a dwarf. We got used to it quickly though, so it was ok. Tall Sam avoided it politely.

As the houses are very narrow. All big furniture are transported to the higher floors from the first via the pulley system. Hooks were attached to the roof, and the big items are pulled up. Almost all Amsterdam houses come fitted with one hook each.