Amsterdam, The Netherlands: No one slept through the night - maybe because we went to bed at 8p, and were all asleep by 8:01 - and we all woke early in the morning and dozed on and off until about 6a. Interesting that we all woke starving. But as I try to write this column tonight, I am literally nodding-off… so lots of photos and captions?
There are one thousand and one bakeries around our hotel. They all seem about the same and serve coffees and pastries to-go. We walked to one and the kids had sugar for breakfast.
Not gonna lie, this was not a healthy breakfast, so we walked a bit and watched the city wake. Street cleaners were out scraping-off and sweeping-off the remnants of last night’s revelry, shops were receiving early morning deliveries and regular patrons were stepping into the bakeries, grabbing their usual. Shopkeepers were opening their stores and restaurants, placing signs outside to lure customers.
After returning to the hotel for a refresh, we headed-out for a full-day of activity. I had planned out an interesting walking route that would give us pretty views along the canals and a visit to the oldest stroopwafel bakery in Amsterdam, Hans Egstorf (linked below), but the kids actually groaned when I mentioned stroopwafels after their super-sweet breakfasts. More walking then and we did pop into a few shops. Lucy likes a magnet for her school locker as a souvenir. Magnets are everywhere, so that was an easy task. Our route took us through the floating flower market and either I was a much better photographer 20 years ago (our last visit to Amsterdam) or maybe because we were here in late summer, but the market was bursting with flowers then and today it was bursting with tulip bulbs for sale, tacky magnets, mugs, etc.
While Lucile wanted a tacky magnet, Leo wanted to eat at a McDonald’s while in town. Wanted to see the difference in menus, etc. As long as they had sugar for breakfast, let’s have junk for lunch as well! Actually the McDonald’s he chose was very nice - several stories tall - in an ancient leaning (physically) Amsterdam house. Same touch-screen ordering as in the states, but many different options. The special sandwich o-the-moment was an Italian crunchy chicken thing, but Leo ordered a Big Mac.
and sodas drinks came in paper cups.
Lucy went into the restroom only to find an attendant. Fancy. Thing is, we are not finding Amsterdam that expensive - even though the US dollar is tanking against the Euro. When I think a meal is expensive, I have to remember it was for FOUR people, not two.
Fully nourished, we continued over several more canals until we reached our big event of the day - The Rijksmuseum - the largest and best collection of Dutch art in the world..
Since we had purchased tickets weeks ago, there was no line (1p) and we were straight-away into this amazing museum. Not just the art, but the building is outstanding, built by the same architect who designed the Centraal Train Station in Amsterdam. The guide told me the museum was built outside the city limits, yet now one can reach the Rijks from the town square in 20 minutes if walking directly (not the snaking-route we chose this morning). A person can ride their bike from one side of the town to the other in 30 minutes!
Below the restaurant is the very nice gift shop.
The museum is laid-out with the big-ticket paintings in a main hall and then different rooms hold porcelains, armor, religious art, ships (the Dutch ruled the seas for years and were prolific spice traders), children’s toys, ceramics, wood carving, statues, hundreds of paintings, metal work, etc. Lucy found a wooden ship model, about 30 feet long, where visitors could look into the interior of the cargo area.
But the most amazing part of looking into the ship was to watch the holograms of sailors doing their daily chores on board. The captain and officers were “before the mast” enjoying a much easier life (having a hair cut!) while the crew were behind the mast lifting heavy bags of cargo and trimming sails.
It was even better when a museum guide told Lucy and I we could stand on the platform in front of the display so we could actually see everything - we thought they only had the top level of moving sailors. Nope, it went down to the bottom and even included animals! Wondering if that nice man has to stand there all day looking for children and short people to help?
Definitely more interesting than just seeing the painting.
After our “highlights of the museum” tour, we went outside into the warm (if you call 55 degrees warm) sunshine to visit the beautiful garden behind the museum. The trees are just budding and the tulips are trying.
By now it was time for the final activity of the day (except dinner) - a canal cruise with Captain Jack. This trip had also been booked several weeks ago and a 60 minute ride in a covered/heated boat had been reserved. When we showed up, it was an open boat with an open bar. Our guides, Thom and Tim said it was due to the lovely weather. (It was exactly double the Amsterdam temperature at our house today.) No matter, we were all happy (and surprised) to see a member of our flock also on the boat:
No telling how many canals we traversed and I will never remember everything they taught us about the leaning/tilting canal houses, the houseboat culture, the pot culture, but we already knew how lovely the Amsterdam people are - so friendly.
One of the oldest (and most leaning) buildings in Amsterdam, this was the house for a the watchman on a lock. The lock is no longer there/needed, so now it is a very popular pub/cafe.
By the time we arrived back to the dock at the Rijksmuseum - 90 minutes later- we were pretty chilly. Lucile was in a puffy jacket and she was cold. We walked back to our hotel as fast as we could and had a bit of time to warm up before going out again for a 1/4-mile walk to our dinner reservations at Van Speyk. This beautiful restaurant vends traditional Dutch meals and is set inside a gorgeous brick building with fabulous crystal chandeliers. Our servers were so friendly and attentive and were very kind to the kids.
After our fantastic meals (which also included Bitterballen, beef carpaccio, lamb chops, and a few other tidbits to share, we walked back to our hotel as fast as our feet could carry us! Long day.
Please forgive any typos. It’s late.
Pedometer: 15,683 - over six miles.
Until my next update, I remain, your artsy and nautical correspondent.
LINKS:
Hans Egstorf Bakery
Rjiksmuseum
Floating Flower Market
Captain Jack’s Canal Cruise