After we returned from our trip to Holland in April, I was discussing with my friend Erin how I had been a little disappointed that the outdoor tulips and tulip fields had not yet been in full bloom when we visited. She mentioned that she and a couple of other ladies had been discussing taking a trip to Amsterdam and to see the tulips in mid-May, and I would be welcome to join in! We jiggled Paul's work schedule around to allow for him to watch Charlotte while I took the trip, and the plans were in motion.
We flew out of Stansted to Amsterdam early one morning in May -- the other ladies were kind enough to pick me up on the way, so I wouldn't have to backtrack 30 minutes from their arranged meeting spot. (So kind -- I felt guilty for having gotten so much more sleep than they did!) Our flight was easy, and when we arrived into the Amsterdam airport, we grabbed some coffee and found the bus to Keukenhof. I have so many tulip pictures, I'm going to save that part of the trip for another post. It was amazing to go back and see the tulips in full bloom!!
After we finished up a few hours at Keukenhof, we took the bus back to the airport, then found a taxi to our hotel in Amsterdam. Oddly, we were initially approached by people wearing "Official Airport Taxi" clothes, who (it turns out) were not actually the official airport taxi company. Luckily, an employee of the airport interrupted and directed us to the official taxi queue. I still don't know who those guys were, but I'm glad that we 4 single-traveling ladies did not end up getting in those cabs... at best, they probably would have overcharged us.
We stayed at the Conscious Hotel in Vondelpark, which was right on a metro line, making it easy to travel about the city. We went to a wood-fired pizzeria for dinner, which was quite hot inside (bless Europe and its lack of air-conditioning!) but tasty too. After dinner, we headed down to the waterfront and caught an evening boat cruise around the canals. By this point, we were all absolutely exhausted and I was even feeling a bit sick and headachey from fatigue, so I didn't get many pictures. But it was a nice way to see the city, and I would recommend it... just maybe not at the end of such a long day :)
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| My one photo from the canal tour... oops |
The next morning, we woke up and headed across the closest canal in Vondelpark, and ate breakfast at a sweet little local cafe. It was a great view, looking at the canal and watching the bike commuters -- especially when the drawbridge went up to allow a boat through!
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| Drawbridge up! |
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| Delicious brunch! |
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| View from the cafe |
After breakfast, we headed to the Anne Frank house & museum. What a fantastic place to witness and learn about -- an absolute must-do in Amsterdam. We had purchased tickets ahead of time, which I would definitely recommend doing, and we entered almost immediately. The house does not have furniture in it, but there are pictures that show you what each room looked like at the time that Anne and her family lived there in hiding. It was moving to be in the bedroom where Anne Frank herself slept and to see the doodles she had done on the walls. I also was stunned to see the actual diary in one of the rooms, opened to a page where you could see her actual handwriting. It really gave me tingles to see such an everyday object, with a red plaid patterned cover, that has become one of the most famous books in the world.
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| Views of the canal houses |
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| Rembrandt's house |
After finishing the house tour, we went to a Dutch pancake house to eat lunch. They have large open pots of traditional syrup on the table that you can ladle out for yourself! After lunch, we walked across town to see Rembrandt's house, which has now been converted for other purposes. We then started looking for a metro to the Van Gogh museum, but we noticed that the metros were just sitting on the tracks. We asked one of the metro drivers, and he said there was a delay up ahead. As we had a timed entry for the Van Gogh museum, we started booking it toward the museum on foot, and then hopped on a metro once they started moving again! We got to the museum just a few minutes before our entry window closed, which was perfect (although a bit stressful leading up to it!).
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| Unique bridge of Amsterdam |
The museum was lovely! We ended up using the audiotour, which gave several options. I used the "highlights" option, which led you to almost 20 different paintings in the museum with detailed descriptions about the artist's life, influences, and techniques. I learned a ton about the artist, and about how he continued working so hard to become a better artist despite the mental illnesses that he struggled with. Impressively, during the last few months of his life, when he was living in a mental institution, he was painting an average of more than one painting per day... and they were amazing pieces of art. It was so neat to learn about this fascinating man and his work!
After finishing up at the museum, we decided to seek out some food before returning to the hotel to grab our bags. We struggled a bit to find a restaurant, but ended up at an outdoor cafe along the main drag to our hotel. Finally, we took a train to the airport and headed home! It was a super busy two days, but we really enjoyed the trip -- it's always a real treat to be able to travel briefly without Charlotte as a getaway. So thanks to Paul for making it possible :)
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| Kate & Erin |
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| Kayla & me |
