Our accommodation, a large apartment is just out of the centre of the city and bus 48 takes us into central station in about 10 minutes. It was nice to have some space and the washing machine got a real work out. We arrived by plane from Bergen and after settling into the unit we shopped and relaxed. The area was near some housing on the canals.
Our first stop after taking bus 48 was to the central station and the main square area.
Next was a canal cruise as there are thousands of canals in Amsterdam but the cruise went from the harbour opposite the train station and around the centrum area.
We saw the green building science museum, the maritime museum and lots of barges and canal houses .
There are many house boats , one million people and two million bikes in Amsterdam.
We past the waldoff hotel where a room costs a minimum of $4000 per night.
We sailed down the gentlemans canal, the most expensive place to live in and the mayor lives at 502 Herengracht, a 25 million euro apartment.
After the cruise we wondered the canals by foot and we learnt that a coffee shop is for hemp drugs and a cafe is for coffee.
We spent the morning seeing Dam square, the national monument and the Royal palace.
and had pancake for lunch and more sight seeing in the station area, amazed at the crooked and leaning buildings
We spent the afternoon wandering lots of canals and at the De 9 Straatjet area and Jordaan area on the westside.
This was followed by an interesting tour of the Anne Frank museum and house where 8 Jews hid for two years above a storehouse, Anne just 13 writing in her diary of her experience before being caught by the Germans not long before the war ended where she died in a concentration camp. The door behind the bookcase the entrance to their hiding place.
A walk through the Binnenstad (red light area) and back to central station.
Day 2
We visited the Maritime museum
first exploring the replica ship 1848 , a cargo vessel which sunk on its first voyage
Then the royal barge built for king William 1, 1816, and was used by his successors and last used in 1962 for the wedding queen Julianna and prince Bernard. We also visited many other aspects of the museum.
The afternoon was spent wandering more canals and the flower market area which was really just souviner shops. and then after stopping for Amstral beers it was back to central and the bus to the unit.
Day 3
A cold and very windy day we took the bus and then the metro to the Rjks museum
and spent most of the day there seeing thousands pieces of art
Rembrandts the Night watch 1642 ( under repair) and The jewish bride.
unfortunately the night watch was behind bars and an apparatus being used to revanish the painting.
We saw Five Van Gogh paintings but weren,t excited by them the first picture his self portait, also in the museum were ancient ship models, pianos and lots more.
Leaving the museum the rain was pelting down so back to the Metro and home to the unit.
The next day it was off to hire the car and see more of the Netherlands.
Love the hat John