From Brussels we continued north to Amsterdam. We left a little later in the morning to, unsuccessfully, avoid traffic; it was gridlocked all the way out of the city. We narrowly avoided an accident when I drove through a red light. The roads and signs are really confusing, so I found myself in the middle of a large intersection with cars flying at us and horns blaring. All I could do was floor it and dodge.
The traffic all the way to Amsterdam (250km) was heavy, it flowed but with a huge volume of vehicles, particularly trucks – the slow lane was like a 200km long convoy.
Once in Amsterdam we had to park on the outskirts (Zaandam) due to our car being diesel and therefore not allowed in the city. A train and tram later and we were finally at our hotel.
We had a little time to explore, what a fabulous city, vibrant with activity everywhere we walked.
We didn’t know which way to head, but eventually found the perfect place to enjoy the afternoon sun.
The following day we joined a 3 hour Bike tour. Bikes are everywhere, and we are constantly trying not to get run over, so what better way to see the city than by joining them.
It was a great tour and a really good way to get a feel for the city. We started with a brief history, showing where current day items like the train station would sit on a 500 year old map. It’s quite an old city, and will be celebrating its 750th birthday this year.
We then toured roughly 12km covering a lot of the important sites and monuments.
Following the tour we made our way through the city to meet up with a school friend of Josh, Steve Gadsby, and had a great afternoon at what Steve said is a local institution -Hanks Boom, located on the harbour. Highly recommended.
We had a full schedule the next day, with 3 bookings back to back. It didn’t start well though, when we arrived at the Rijk museum and it was being evacuated!
We eventually made our way in, and it was worth it. We followed the “best of” tour on the audio guide, which covered masters Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Vermeer and many others. It also had a pre renaissance and Indonesian gallery from colonial days.
My favorite was The Milkmaid, such a beautiful painting that I could have looked at for hours. So much detail, the light is incredible. I might buy it.
Enlightened but hungry we joined a canal boat tour, without time for lunch due to the evacuation. Luckily we had selected the wine and cheese option!
It was a fun experience and gave us another perspective. The city is a lot like Venice but not as compact. The canals, compact tall canal houses, and canal houseboats create a hive of activity that has places to enjoy in every corner.
Next was another mad rush across the city to our final tour about Anne Frank. Along the way we finally found a herring stand and had a chance to try it.
It was great, like fresh sashimi, with onion and pickles.
Along the way we also had our first venture into the red light district. Not that I was aware until while looking at google maps, I heard a knock on the window next to me, and when I looked up there she was waving at me. A very funny moment made even more awkward when I had to walk back past because I missed my turn.
We eventually made it to our tour, right on time, and walked from the Jewish quarter across the city to Anne Frank house.
The tour was well done, giving us insight into Anne’s story before arriving at the house that she and her family took refuge in for two years. We weren’t allowed to take photos, but it was a surreal experience, an amazing young woman.
Our last day in Amsterdam was spent at a much slower pace, just doing a final explore and a bit of shopping.
We checked out “9 little streets”, a boutique shopping area and bought a painting there as a souvenir – an abstract depiction of cyclists.
We passed a couple of long lines into TikTok famous venues. One was Chun, a bubble tea place, the other was Fabel who makes fries – we were told not to bother by a local we met in Reims.
We then ventured out of town a little by tram to the Albert Cuyp Market. It’s a long street market that goes for about a kilometre.
Back in the city centre Bel left me at a nice little wine bar to blog while she hunted for some souvenirs.
We finished our stay with another visit to the red light district, for dinner at a restaurant our Dutch friend had recommended. A very nice Italian place. Thanks Levy, a great recommendation!
We loved Amsterdam and certainly enjoyed everything it had to offer ;-). So much fun!