The last few days have gone all too quickly and we’re now sitting in the Aspire lounge at Schipol airport waiting for our flight home. We’ve both loved Amsterdam – the canals, the museums, the ease of getting around and the food.

With so many world-class museums to see we bought an ‘i amsterdam’ card for three days which is a museum and city card in one. It gives you free access to most museums (with the exception of  the Rijk’s Museum and Anne Frank’s house) as well as a free canal ride and free public transport.

My favourite museums were the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank’s house. Both venues didn’t allow photographs so I have to rely on the lasting impression that each left on me.  Both museums were beautifully done. Van Gogh’s museum puts Van Gogh’s art very much in context, looking at his influences, friends and family and how his art reflected his state of mind.  Anne Frank’s house has a steady stream of visitors and bookings are taken at 15 minute intervals, much like other specialist exhibitions in Australia. A serious mood is sustained because you are led slowly though each room of the house. There are quotations from Anne’s diary,  interviews from her father Otto and at the end a series of interviews by celebrities and ordinary people on the impact that reading Anne’s diary had on them personally. It’s very powerful.

 

 

The Rijk’s museum is housed in a beautiful building and the spaces devoted to Rembrandt and the Dutch masters are amazing but their delph collection was quite small. It’s a bit overwhelming getting in as there are so many attendants and security staff. Make sure you go to the toilet before going in as there don’t seem to be any toilets inside!

 

 

 

Other quieter museums include:

– Hermitage museum which is housed in another beautiful building but cafe staff are very slow and real milk needs a special request

– Museum of Amsterdam is very interactive

– Tulip Museum – my only disappointment was I couldn’t buy the tulip bulbs to take home!

– Stedelijk Museum is a lovely design and modern art museum  with a great shop

– Cheese Museum is not extensive but has lots of free samples and provides an opportunity for dressing up!

 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our canal boat ride that extended from late afternoon to evening. The pace is very slow so you get to savour the sights, watch the ducks and water ripples and peep into the many moored houseboats. The Amsterdam Light Festival was on and the light installations along the canals made it truly magical.

 

 

Amsterdam is cold with daytime temperatures from 1-4 degrees, dropping to -5 at night. We were well rugged up but the cold does get into your feet, hands, nose and ears if you have to wait in the cold for any length of time, eg for the tram or the day we waited half an hour for our canal boat ride.

We stayed in an airbnb apartment in oud-west Amsterdam, a typical residential area with lots of shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. The accommodation has been good but our last day was spoilt by a visit by two inspectors whilst we were still in our pyjamas having breakfast, followed by a neighbour who just barged in uninvited. We messaged Wendal, our host, to let her know that the inspectors had left a letter but came home after being out for the day to find that the spare key had been taken and the letter was gone. The same neighbour knocked on the door shortly after with a peace offering, a bottle of wine. The whole situation made me feel very uncomfortable about staying but we tried not to let it spoil our last night so went out for drinks and a meal.

We had a lot of local eateries nearby so tried out a couple that served great beer:

– Golden Brown is a very popular local bar serving great beers, cocktails and Thai food. We had warming pad Thai and masaman curries washed down with a Bobby’s Blend gin cocktail for me and Hertzoz dark beer for Anthony. Delicious!

– Gollem’s Proeflokaal (or tasting room) on our last night served great beer and comfort food. We both ordered Belgium – Flemish stew with chips and salad and Anthony had his favourite beer, Affligem dubbel, and I had a Bacchus frambozenvier, a Belgium raspberry beer. Anthony even got his wish of a souvenir glass to take home as he asked for and was given one by the waiter!

– Wester cafe for fresh homemade apple pie

– FoodHallen, a collection of fresh food and other shops and cafes similar to one we experienced in Florence. I had a great gin cocktail at their gin bar.