Amsterdam

We loved Amsterdam, with it's old buildings, history, art, canals.  Viking River Cruises arranged our pre-trip by reserving a room for us at the Movenpick Hotel, near the Central Train Station, and offering a guided walking tour.

We figured out the tram system and by late afternoon our first day, we started out for the Anne Frank House -- one of the things I really wanted to see.  Long line, so went to one of the many little restaurants in the area for dinner.  Back to Frank House, and the line was even longer! We were told it was a 2-hour wait in line, and by the time we got to the entrance, the house would be closing at 9:00 pm.  Plus, standing in line in the rain was not our cup of tea, so we didn't get to go in the Frank House, unfortunately.

Slept wonderfully that night -- so well, in fact, that by the time we woke up at 11:00 a.m. the next day (we'd hardly slept for 36 hours and are on a different time zone), we had missed breakfast and the guided walking tour we were supposed to have been on.  But we did go to the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum -- both were wonderful.

The next day we went to an Amsterdam History Museum -- learned how much of Amsterdam is built on pilings because it is under sea level.  Learned about the 60,000 Jews who were killed during the Holocaust.  Wanted to go to the Jewish Resistance Museum, but we ran out of time.

And more bicycles than I've ever seen -- gazillions, as one person described it.  You have to be very careful as a pedestrian to watch out for the bicyclists.  Bicycles are their main form of transportation (after the trams and trains) since gas is about $8-9 a gallon.  Not so many people have a car. 

We also took a canal boat ride.  Much of Amsterdam is built with canals, and quite a few people actually live on house boats on the canals.  The last day we were there it turned really warm -- forget cool and rain.  We sweated during the canal ride.


We got caught up in the World Cup enthusiasm for The Netherlands against Argentina.  Orange balloons and soccer ball (they say football) decorations on many of the stores, and people painting their faces with orange.  (I wore an orange shirt that day to keep in the spirit of the day--then realized we couldn't really go into an Argentinian restaurant for dinner that night, which was one of our choices!)  Found a lovely Asian Bistro for dinner that was wonderful, sitting at practically the same table as a gay couple about the places they had traveled around the world.

People were friendly, helpful, and engaged with each other.  We liked Amsterdam.