Blog

Without a moment to spare we were up early and ready to explore the City of Amsterdam! Our first stop was the Tourist Office where we picked up our “I AMsterdam“ cards. This entitled us to entry into many museums, canal boat cruises, transport on the trams and buses and discounts at an array of restaurants and shops over a 24hr period. It was well worth it and we most definitely got our money’s worth! Our first stop was the Canal Tour. As we floated through the City our attention was fixed on the amazing architecture and breathtaking bridges. Many of the houseboats caught our attention as well; for example the one called “Ana Conda”. An over the over-the-top decorated houseboat with the fake palm tree out front). The one thing that really fascinated Michelle was the number of bicycles in the city. Yes, Amsterdam is known as a city one cycles around, but at the station we came across the bicycle parking lot so to speak, which could hold 2500 bicycles. We did wonder how they ever remembered where they parked their bike.

Our next stop was to be the Van Gogh Museum. In order to preserve our feet, we decided to try out the public transport. A local saw us trying to read the map and figure our way around and offered her help. She was so sweet and so kind and after confirming the Tram we should be taking, she came back and told us she’d done some researchon her smart phone and found a better way for us to go that would save us quite a long time. The Van Gogh was wonderful and seeing some of the Painter’s well-known pieces as well as some surprising favorites, was a highlight of the day for us. We popped into the Rijks museum which is across the street (our I AmSterdam includes entrance to all the museums) with the intention of quickly seeing “The Night Watch”, but found ourselves enthralled by some of the other incredible Dutch pieces of art. So much to take in! We could not visit Amsterdam without taking in some Tulips, and Amsterdam is home to the one of the best loved floating flower markets in the world. It is said that one can find any flower they love here….and it’s true, we even found Proteas here! After much “ooing” and “ahhing” by Ellen – an avid Tulip grower – we moved onto the Tulip Museum. We did have a bit of a laugh as we realized that what we thought was the Tulip Museum was actually a private home. We came so close to knocking on the door and asking to see the Tulips! We soon realized our mistake and eventually got to the actual Tulip museum where we learnt a lot more about the history of the Tulip!
A long walk home and we were quite excited when we saw the clock tower near our houseboat. As the clock tower appeared closer and closer we could taste the red wine and cheese awaiting us on the boat. With mere meters to go ….so we thought…we glanced up at the clock tower and announced with joy – “there it is!”, but upon turning to the right we spotted a tower that looked exactly the same to the one near our houseboat. Not sure which way to go next, we turned around….and our hearts sank a bit as we spotted yet another exact clock tower in the distance. Deep breathing and focus and we were sure that the first clock tower we had seen (and the closest) was ours. Thrilled with our brilliant map-reading and self-trust, we made it home….poured some wine, got out the Kaas en Brood and sat on our deck in a balmy November eve in Amsterdam. Perfect end to an extremely touristy day!