Our last stop of our trip last fall was Amsterdam. I'm going to come right out and say that Amsterdam was a huge disappointment. I know that part of the reason that we weren't really feeling it is because it rained the whole time we were there. In fact, it rained to hard and so often we never got to ride bicycles anywhere, which was really disappointing. I know also that by this point we were pretty tired, so maybe that was part of it too. And we'd already seen a ton of artwork, palaces, and churches! One of the coolest things we enjoyed in Amsterdam was the houseboat we stayed on. It was so tiny, but it was cool to be on one of the canals. Here's the view we had from the wheelhouse.
You'll have to pardon my lack of pictures, since it rained the whole time, I really didn't take many.
Our first morning in Amsterdam, we started off with a city tour. Again, we did the Free Europe tour, and we learned so much. I really can't recommend them enough! The tour started in Dam Square.
And we walked past the Royal Palace. We talked about going back later to check out the inside, but we never made it back. Palaces were one of the things we'd seen a lot of on our trip so far, so I don't think either of us was particularly interested at this point.
This tour also walked through the Red Light District, but there wasn't much to see since it was morning. We did see a neat church, which looked really cool because it was all kinds of architecture stuck together. The tour guide told us it's because over the years the church has made a ton of money on confessions (being in a port city and right outside the red light district), and so they just kept adding to it. We went back for a Red Light District tour the next night, but you can't take pictures.
After that, we went past the Anne Frank house. We went back later the first day and went through the exhibit and house. The main part of the house and the building next to it are all exhibits now, and the rooms they actually hid in are empty. It was really moving.
One of the last stops was the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Company.
The tour and the Anne Frank house made up pretty much the whole first day, and with walking around in the cold and the rain, we were exhausted.
The next day, we walked over to the museum area to check out the VanGogh museum. It was definitely worth checking out, even though at that point we were up to our eyeballs in art! After that, we went to the Heineken Experience, which was a lot like the Guinness tour we did in Dublin a few years ago. Yes, it's touristy. But hey, we're tourists! Then we went on a canal tour, which was a neat way to see a lot of the city that you can't really get to from just walking around. We even went past our houseboat!
Our last day in Amsterdam we mostly just wandered around and hung out, and tried to get some relaxing time in since we were headed home. Oh, and tried not to get rained on. Blech.
You'll have to pardon my lack of pictures, since it rained the whole time, I really didn't take many.
Our first morning in Amsterdam, we started off with a city tour. Again, we did the Free Europe tour, and we learned so much. I really can't recommend them enough! The tour started in Dam Square.
And we walked past the Royal Palace. We talked about going back later to check out the inside, but we never made it back. Palaces were one of the things we'd seen a lot of on our trip so far, so I don't think either of us was particularly interested at this point.
This tour also walked through the Red Light District, but there wasn't much to see since it was morning. We did see a neat church, which looked really cool because it was all kinds of architecture stuck together. The tour guide told us it's because over the years the church has made a ton of money on confessions (being in a port city and right outside the red light district), and so they just kept adding to it. We went back for a Red Light District tour the next night, but you can't take pictures.
After that, we went past the Anne Frank house. We went back later the first day and went through the exhibit and house. The main part of the house and the building next to it are all exhibits now, and the rooms they actually hid in are empty. It was really moving.
One of the last stops was the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Company.
The tour and the Anne Frank house made up pretty much the whole first day, and with walking around in the cold and the rain, we were exhausted.
The next day, we walked over to the museum area to check out the VanGogh museum. It was definitely worth checking out, even though at that point we were up to our eyeballs in art! After that, we went to the Heineken Experience, which was a lot like the Guinness tour we did in Dublin a few years ago. Yes, it's touristy. But hey, we're tourists! Then we went on a canal tour, which was a neat way to see a lot of the city that you can't really get to from just walking around. We even went past our houseboat!
Our last day in Amsterdam we mostly just wandered around and hung out, and tried to get some relaxing time in since we were headed home. Oh, and tried not to get rained on. Blech.
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