Mr. T has wanted to go to Amsterdam since I’ve known him, which has been a really, really long time. And the more I learned about Amsterdam, the more I wanted to go. Plus, it was close to Bruges, another city I’ve wanted to go to for years. So off we went!
I wanted to be in the Netherlands to see the tulips, which means going in April or May. We decided to go in April, and planned on spending five nights in Amsterdam, three nights in Bruges, three nights in Brussels, and four nights in Cologne. I used TripMasters again to book the flights, hotels, and trains, which made the travel planning a lot easier.
We flew overnight direct to Amsterdam Schipol from Chicago O’Hare and arrived in Amsterdam around 10:00. A quick (but pricey) taxi ride got us to our hotel, the Apollofirst Boutique Hotel. Our room wasn’t going to be ready until 3:00 PM, but no problem, we had scheduled an afternoon food tour that started at 2:00 PM. Unfortunately for me, I was completely jet lagged, even to the point of feeling nauseous. Luckily Mr. T was feeling all right, so he got to eat most of my food!
We walked out of our hotel and had our first experience of the bike culture in The Netherlands. Even if you are jet-lagged make sure you are NOT walking in the bike path or you WILL get run over! Even an experienced bicyclist like Mr. T didn’t want to rent a bicycle in Amsterdam.
We headed to the nearest tram station, which was about a 10 or 15 minute walk. The public transportation system in Amsterdam is super easy! If you can remember to purchase a multi-day card at the airport or main train station, you will save a little bit of money. Otherwise you just tap your credit card on the reader when you enter the tram, and then tap again when you get off. We used the tram every day and it was wonderful!
We met our food tour guide Joeri at Gastrovino, a charming cheese/chocolate/wine/deli/sandwich shop. We sampled several types of Gouda cheese here, from young to aged, as well as cheese made from sheep’s and goat’s milk. A plus was sampling the gouda with a nice port wine.
After the cheese shop we strolled across the street and not too far away to a serene park kind of hidden away behind some houses, called the Begijnhof. It is one of the oldest courtyards (founded during the Middle Ages) in Amsterdam, and was originally created to house beguines (sort of like nuns, but they did not take religious vows). There are two churches in the courtyard, the Begijnhof Chapel (Roman Catholic) and the English Reformed Church (Protestant). Also of note is Sister Cornelia Arena, who chose to be buried in the gutter of the Begijnhof rather than be laid to rest in the Chapel, which had been converted from a Roman Catholic chapel to a Protestant one after Amsterdam came under Calvinist rule.
Back to food! We left the Begijnhof and walked to Herring Stall Jonk to taste herring (of course). Herring is traditionally eaten raw with onions and pickles. The Dutch will eat a whole fish in three bites – we didn’t do that. The fish was cut into smaller pieces for us squeamish tourists. Even with my queasy stomach I thought it tasted fine, and Mr. T loved it! I think it is something you definitely need to try if you are going to be in the Netherlands.
Our next stop was at PANCAKES Amsterdam Westermarkt, located in Jordaan adjacent to the Anne Frank House. We were served poffertjes, which are small pancakes but somehow taste better than pancakes, and I have been craving them ever since!
After this we went to a small liquor store to sample the local Dutch spirit call genever. This liquor is gin-like, due to the juniper flavor, but not gin. It is like gin and whiskey got together and had a baby (even though genever is older than gin 🤔). I thought it was delicious, and an interesting story.
Next up was Heertje Friet Amsterdam for french fries and bitterballen, which are similar to a croquette. The french fries were heavenly, but I’m not a big fan of bitterballen. Could have been the jet lag ? Many people love it though, so give it a try when you are there!
And finally, we ended the tour at the Hans Egstorf Bakkerij for the famous Dutch stroopwafels. They were making them fresh, and so delicious! I don’t know if I can eat them any other way now.
It was around 5:00 PM so we headed back to the hotel to check into our room. The room was nice and plenty big for the two of us. I took a short nap, then we went down to the hotel bar for a drink and to review our plans for the next day.
We started Day 2 with a visit to the Van Gogh Museum. The museum is located in Museumplein, about 15 minutes from our hotel. There are several museums in this area that are “must dos” if you are in Amsterdam. For the Van Gogh Museum, it is highly recommended to purchase tickets in advance since it is super popular.
In preparation for our trip I read The Secret Life of Sunflowers, which is a novel based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent Van Gogh’s sister-in-law. When Vincent, then Theo (Johanna’s husband) die, Johanna makes it her mission to share the brilliance of Vincent with the world. If it had not been for her, we may have never been exposed to the art of Vincent Van Gogh. It’s a great book about a woman I knew nothing about, and now have so much admiration for her tenacity and courage.
I was pretty surprised at how small the Van Gogh Museum was – and it seems much smaller once you are inside with the crowds of people. We chose a fairly early morning entry time (9:30 a.m.) and there were tons of school-age kids there. It was difficult to maneuver around the crowds to see the progression of Van Gogh’s artistic style through the years. That being said, it’s definitely worth going to, and I would like to go back when there are less people there.
That afternoon we met up with one of our friends, Patrick, who was in the midst of his whirlwind European vacation. We were so excited! He was staying basically across the street from the Museumplein, at the Max Brown Hotel. We met him at his hotel after lunch. The Max Brown Hotel looks super trendy and cool, and really fit Patrick to a “T”. On a side note, there are several steep stairs you need to navigate to enter the hotel (though I did hear there was a side entrance with no stairs). I wouldn’t want to try to do that if I had a couple of glasses of wine in me 😁! But Patrick’s room was very hip, and it would be a hotel I would recommend for anybody (especially hipsters) coming to Amsterdam.
Patrick is what I would call a Renaissance Man – he plays the carillon, knows classical music (really all music), art is also his thing, and he is a tremendous foodie and wino. Amsterdam is the perfect place for him!
We were hoping to hear some carillon music at Oude Kerk (Old Church), but just got there for the tail end of the performance. Oude Kirk is Amsterdam’s oldest building (first built on this site in 1213), and newest art gallery. We walked around the massive church and viewed the exhibits, which were mostly video, audio, or some other type of media art. It was really cool to see these rather “new” artistic concepts being shown in contrast with the “old” church.
And something else – we were technically in the Red Light District! But we didn’t know it until we left the church to find a place to have a glass of wine. A young lady in a window was trying to attract Mr. T and Patrick’s attention to no avail 🤣!
Patrick and I had researched ahead of time a restaurant to go to that would have great food and wine but not break the bank. We chose Kaagman & Kortekaas, and this place was amazing! We had the best food, service, and overall experience – I could not have been happier! We all chose to have the six-course tasting menu, and added the oysters as a starter or seventh course. The wine served with each course was divine and enhanced the food experience. And a plus for me, duck was featured in several of the courses 😋. We had the best time and would definitely do this again!
The next day I was feeling a little nauseous (too much rich food or wine?) so we got started a little later than we intended to. Our first stop was the Rijksmuseum, another “must do” museum in Amsterdam. We had not purchased tickets ahead of time, so when we got there, we had to wait about 45 minutes or so until our allotted entry time. No problem! The garden area around the Rijksmuseum is very serene and beautiful.
Unlike the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum is huge. Even when there are crowds of people it doesn’t feel that crowded, and since there are so many paintings done by the Dutch masters, not everyone is crowded around a few paintings. I really enjoyed our time here. They also have a nice cafe in the museum where you can get a snack or lunch, and the food was really good.
In the afternoon we had scheduled a canal boat tour that included all you could drink and all the cheese you could eat. On our way to where the canal boat tour started, some people in our group decided it would be a good time to experience one of the coffee shops in Amsterdam. PSA – they don’t serve coffee in coffee shops! 🤣 I think they enjoyed the tour just a little more than I did 😁.
That evening we had purchased tickets to see a concert at the Royal Concertgebouw, which is really close to the Museumplein. It has superb acoustics and a reputation as one of the finest concert halls in the world. There were a couple of things going on there that night, and we chose to go to the Adele (not really Adele) concert. We didn’t know what to expect … the singing was fantastic, but probably over 50% of the program was the singer talking in Dutch to the audience. We had no idea what was going on! And one lady in our section was a particularly loud talker, and she was sitting behind Mr. T … well, let’s just say to avoid an international incident we decided it would be a good time to leave early 😬. Luckily for Patrick two kind ushers let him in to see the last of a string ensemble.
Thus our time with Patrick had come to an end … he was off to Berlin the next day, and we were off to see some tulips. We had such a great time and can’t wait to travel more with him!
The next day we had booked a tour that would take us out of Amsterdam to Keukenhof, known as one of the world’s largest flower gardens. The park covers an area of 79 acres, with over seven million flower bulbs planted annually. These gardens are only open for about six weeks, while the tulips are blooming. It was slightly overcast that day, with occasional misting rain, but that didn’t slow us down. The flowers were just beautiful – there is no other way to describe it. These gardens shouldn’t be missed if you happen to be in Amsterdam in late March to early May.
We were there for a couple of hours, and even had enough time to grab a quick lunch. Then our tour headed to Zaanse Schans, a neighborhood within Zaandam best known for its collection of wooden houses and windmills. People still live in this neighborhood, so I thought it was kind of weird that there were tourists trekking up and down the narrow streets, practically in their front yards. We visited a clog workshop, a cheese farm, and a working windmill. It was just kind of “meh” to me, and really geared more toward kids.
The tour took most of the day, so when we arrived back in Amsterdam, we took the tram to Leidseplein and found a place to have a hamburger 😋!
The next day was Friday, our last day in Amsterdam. We had scheduled a lecture and tour of the Anne Frank House for that morning. If you plan to go to the Anne Frank House while in Amsterdam, it is essential to book early – we got up at 2:00 a.m. the day the tickets went on sale to make sure we would get them.
I thought the lecture was excellent. The guide first spoke about the conditions in Germany after WWI, which once you add in the Depression, set the stage for a man like Hitler to come into power. Still, it is astonishing that this could happen – we, as people of the world, need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The Frank family, along with another family and a single man, hid in the annex of one of Otto Frank’s businesses for two years. The space itself covers a few floors, but is small. In each of the rooms there are mementos from the occupants. It is a very somber tour, and ends with an exhibit on why democracy is so important.
After the tour, I decided I needed more information about Amsterdam in WWII, so we went to the Dutch Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum). We did not book tickets in advance, and were able to get right in. It is a good museum to complete the picture of the Netherlands in WWII, and understand the extreme conditions every day people were living in. I came away from there wondering if I would have been brave enough to resist … and it’s a question I hope I never have to answer.
I wanted to learn more about the Dutch in WWII, so I downloaded a book called Three Ordinary Girls, which tells the story of three young female resisters. This book was so good, and a great supplement to what I had already learned at the two museums.
Lots of heavy stuff! We stopped for a quick late lunch at a restaurant next to the museum, and then decided to do something completely different – go to the Heineken Experience. Those of you who know Mr. T know that this is his favorite beer – this is what he always orders when he is out and about.
It was packed! I did not realize it was going to be so popular, so I would advise to get tickets in advance, especially if you are going during the weekend like we were. We got lucky and didn’t have to wait very long to enter. The tour is kind of “meh” (if you’ve been on a beer tour you know how beer is made), but Mr. T was able to get us up to the rooftop bar. We had great views of Amsterdam, plus a few more beers.
We left Heineken and ventured back to our hotel. We stayed in the neighborhood for dinner that night, going to a little wine bar that also served some food. It was a great way to end our time in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam was awesome! Even though we were there for five nights, I could have spent more time. We both loved the ease of getting around, the museums, and the beauty of the city, and found the Dutch people to be friendly and very funny. This is a place I would definitely come to again.
The next day we were traveling to Bruges, via Gouda – stay tuned!
