We moved very slowly thru security in Edinburgh and landed in Amsterdam without any issue, and even the ability to check in early to our hotel. This made for a great opportunity to get the lay of the land without having to haul around too much baggage. We passed thru Westergasfabriek, Centraal Station, and Portugalia Tasco before stopping at "Barbraham" for cocktails.
Day 2 began with a somber tour of the Anne Frank house followed by the start of our self guided food tour at PANCAKES Amsterdam. We opted to all go big then divide and conquer with a mix of sweet and savory cakes. Along the way we enjoyed Bitterballen (deep fried little meat gravy ball), poffertjes (smaller airy sweet cakes), a herring sandwich which was much better than expected, stamppot, a stroopwafel, and topped off the evening with Rijsttafel (rice table - kind of like tapas). Needless to say by the end of the day we were quite full.
We bopped thru the Red Light District before stopping at the speakeasy Door 74 for cocktails. After a good night's sleep we hit up the Rijksmuseum, vondelpark, followed up by De Hortus Botanicus.
Here the plants were arranged by how similar of a species they are to one another which made for an incredibly pleasant presentation and stroll thru the gardens. Other than the constant movement which was reminding me to probably get my foot checked out when we get home it was a lovely time. This chill day set us up for what should be a smooth travel day in the morning.
We got to the train station early enough to see the 6:15 train leave and be comfortable with what it would take for us to get on the next one. We waited in the pouring rain until departure time, but as the wind increased people started walking back towards the station rather than out to the train. This train in the past 12 months boasted the longest delay of 4 minutes leading up to our departure. Ours was straight up canceled. After 6 or so hours of waiting, drinking wine, and playing home made coup with board game pieces at a bar we found out we "should try to catch the train tomorrow". We wouldn't have seats on our way to Paris, but were assured it "should be fine".
To their credit, it most certainly was. We crashed for the night in a hostel with toddlers raging thru the night but we're able to sit, stand, and mostly smile our way to Paris the following morning.