I’m sorry Amsterdam – I had the completely wrong impression of you.  I had heard about the Red Light District and drug cafés, and was expecting someplace seedy.  I was surprised by what a charming, pretty, and clean city Amsterdam is.

The first thing we learned on the way from the airport to the hotel is that Amsterdam was built below sea level, and the iconic windmills that can been seen all around Holland were at one time used to drain water from the land.  With modern technology, they are now mostly for decoration.

The second surprising thing to me was all the bikes.  There are more bikes in Amsterdam than people (yes, seriously) and it is their primary mode of transportation.  I saw women in heels, pregnant women, and people on their phones riding bikes, even couples holding hands while riding next to each other.  You really have to pay attention when walking around because the bike lanes are connected to the sidewalks and you can easily get run over if you aren’t paying attention.

I was in Amsterdam for a soccer program for my daughter, so our first night there we attended an Ajax match at Amsterdam ArenA.  Amsterdam loves soccer and their team, and it was fun to be a part of that.  We went back a couple of days later for a guided tour of the stadium (which you can book in advance), and got to go on the field, in the press room, and in the locker rooms.  Soccer fans will enjoy this.

On days that my daughter was in soccer training I had free time to explore on my own and was able to visit some of Amsterdam’s wonderful museums.

The Rijksmuseum houses Dutch art arranged chronologically from 1700 to 2000, including paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer.  Rembrandt’s Night Watch is the most famous work at the museum (and thus usually has a crowd of people around it). I bought my ticket online the night before so I was able to skip the ticket line when I got to the museum.  You do not have to specify entrance time or date – the ticket is valid for 12 months from the purchase date.  I was glad I arrived fairly early because by noon the museum was getting crowded.

In addition to the paintings, I really liked some of the Golden Age artifacts in the museum, such as the 17th century doll houses.  These houses were so elaborate they were just as expensive as a regular sized house.

Behind the Rijksmuseum you will find the famous I Amsterdam letters, a popular photo spot.  So popular in fact that you can’t take a picture without a bunch of strangers in it.

Also in the Museumplein area is the Van Gogh Museum, which I really enjoyed.  Again I bought my ticket online the day before so that I could avoid the line – which was long.  For this museum you do need to choose a specific date and time, and you can enter up to 30 minutes after your reservation time.  I bought the audio tour and was really glad I did.  One of the things I really appreciated about this museum is that they have information from Van Gogh’s letters to his brother describing meaning and what he was trying to show in specific paintings.  So often when I hear information at a museum about symbolism in a painting, I wonder how they could possibly know that hundreds of years after the artist’s death with no record of whether that is what they actually intended.  He painted a dog in the scene to symbolize communism…Really??  Maybe the artist just liked dogs and wasn’t trying to make a political statement!  Sorry, no photos are allowed in the Van Gogh Museum so I have none to share…

No photos were also allowed at the Anne Frank Museum.  In this museum you walk through the actual rooms that Anne Frank’s family and four other Jews hid in for over 2 years during the Second World War.  The rooms are empty now but there’s still an eeriness to the experience.  Starting in spring 2016 admission up until 3:30pm every day is by online ticket only.  After 3:30pm you can get in line to purchase a ticket at the museum, but the line can be really long (I read 2-3 hours long) – so it is definitely a good idea to buy tickets in advance.  Tickets go on sale 2 months before.  They also have an option to buy admission with a 30 minute introductory program, and that goes on sale 2 weeks in advance.  This is the option we went with because admission-only tickets were already sold out when we looked.  The introductory program was very good so in the end I was glad that we went with this option.

Amsterdam is a very walkable city.  I loved all the canals and the historic canal houses.

The Museum Willet-Holthuysen lets you see the inside one of these historic homes and what it was like in the 19th century.  The wealthy couple who lived in this mansion in the late 1800s left the home to the city of Amsterdam on the condition that it be turned into a museum named after them.  The house, which is in the eastern canal ring, has much of its original furnishings and décor.

Taking a canal cruise is a great way to see the canal district.  We opted for a 1 hour daytime cruise, but there are plenty of other options.  As we went through the canals we listened to commentary about the different buildings and areas we were passing.

One afternoon we did Rick Steves’ self-guided City Walk which gives a nice overview of Amsterdam.  It starts at Central Station, goes through Dam Square, the shopping street Kalverstraat, the Bloemenmarkt flower market, and ends in the Leidseplein, Amsterdam’s square with cafés and theaters.  I had Rick Steves’ walking tour in my guidebook, or you can download the audio version here.

One of my favorite stops along the walk was the Begijnhof, a small hidden courtyard that I never would have known was there without the guidebook, which includes Amsterdam’s oldest house.  The “Wooden House” was built in the 1400s, before wooden houses were replaced with brick due to fire danger.

My daughter loved the shopping on Kalverstraat, but many of the stores are ones we have at home.  (I think we counted FOUR H&Ms along the street.)  I preferred the Nine Little Streets area for more unique shops.  I also walked through the Albert Cuypmarkt street market.  I wasn’t overly impressed with the wares available for sale but the food items looked delicious.  I wished had gone through while I was hungry.  The freshly made stroopwafels were very popular.

 

One afternoon we visited two towns in the charming countryside north of Amsterdam.  First, we went to the picturesque fishing village Volendam.  Sure it’s touristy, but we enjoyed checking out the shops and a nice lunch overlooking the water.

The second area we visited was Zaanse Schans, an open air museum with wooden houses and windmills from the 17th and 18th centuries.   You can tour inside some of the windmills (for an additional fee) and visit the small shops and museums that demonstrate how different Dutch items were historically made (e.g. cheese, chocolate, clogs, etc.).

There are many other towns close to Amsterdam that would be great to explore if you have the time (Haarlem, Delft, Edam, The Hague).  People I met in Amsterdam raved about Haarlem, so that is on my list for next time.

I was surprised by how much I loved Amsterdam.  Charming scenery, great museums, history, good food, and friendly people – what more can you ask for?