Amsterdam - Days 10-11 (Tuesday June 3rd, Wednesday June 4th)
- ledzeppelin6896
- Jun 5
- 4 min read
Tuesday morning began with our traditional Amsterdam breakfast of coffee, tea, and pastries. Don't tell Katie, but I miss our bacon, eggs, cheese and bread from Bruges, but the pastries in Amsterdam are delicious!!
After breakfast we traveled to Dam square in the central part of town to do some some souvenir shopping and to take in the sights. We successfully navigated the 25 minute walk without getting trucked by any of the ten million bicyclists. There seem to be more bicycles in this city than anywhere else in the world! Anyhow, we loved the energy of the square and were happy to pick up a few items to somehow fit in our luggage for the long voyage home on Thursday. It was a bit touristy in the square but it was an ideal place to find gifts and to people watch.
Following a quick trip back to the room to drop off our purchases, we walked to our next item on our list: a canal boat tour of Amsterdam through "Those Dam Boat Guys." Our tour guide was originally from Sunderland (near Newcastle) in northern England and she was a total hoot! For 1 1/2 hours we drifted up and down the canals and learned all about the city's architecture, history, geography, and culture. We were on a smaller boat and only had 6 other people with us, which made the voyage a bit more personal and enjoyable. After the tour, we stopped by the local pub and had a cold local beer.
Once the tour and beverage break were complete, we decided to take our chances and brave the city's infamous Red Light district. I'm not too sure how detailed I can get here, but it was interesting to say the least. Did we laugh at some of the gawking tourists? Yes! Did we laugh at some of the things that we saw? Yes! Did we spend only about 20 minutes there and then high-tail it to a local shawarma place to pick up some to-go food to take back to the room? YES! I suppose now we can say that we've been there, and to be honest, it wasn't as graphic and seedy as we had imagined. Afterwards, we went back to the room and ate the aforementioned shawarma while watching a bit of the French Open tennis tournament on TV.
The following morning we began the final day on our vacation and we appropriately labeled the day "museum day" as we visited the Van Gogh museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Dutch Resistance museum. After a chilly 25 minute walk, we arrived at the Van Gogh museum. We've previously seen numerous Van Gogh paintings at the Louvre and Orsay museums in Paris, but to have an entire museum devoted to Mike's favorite artist put him over the moon! The museum did a great job detailing everything from his childhood to his early influences throughout his brief, and somewhat troubled life. We saw many obscure paintings as well as his better known works such as Bedroom in Arles, Sunflowers, and Irises.
After finishing at the Van Gogh museum, we grabbed a quick lunch and went across the street to the Rijksmuseum. The museum has numerous different exhibits, but we focused on satisfying Mike's inner AP Euro nerd and concentrated on famous works from Dutch masters Rembrandt (The Night Watch, Syndics of the Drapers' Guild, etc.), Vermeer (the Milkmaid), and Judith Leyster, who was one of the first professional female painters in the Netherlands. Once we were finished we walked over to the Dutch Resistance museum to learn all about how numerous citizens during World War II were instrumental in opposing Nazi occupation of their country. This museum is a hidden gem and provided countless examples of resistance by ordinary citizens, many of whom risked their lives helping to save the country's Jewish citizens from certain extinction at the hands of the vile Nazi invaders. The museum also had a special exhibition about the American "flapper" from the 1920's, Josephine Baker. We both learned that she was much more than a performer. Throughout her life she spent much of her time in France due to racism in the United States and eventually she was instrumental in the French resistance movement against the Nazis during World War II. She later was also an important figure within the civil rights movement in the US.
Once we completed our museum blitzkrieg, we finished our amazing day by going out to a delicious Indian dinner down the street from our room. The perfect ending to a great day and a wonderful vacation.
We very much enjoyed this trip and want to thank you all for following along with us. Thanks also for the likes and comments on the content. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us directly as most of the comments left on the posts were anonymous.
I imagine that you're somewhere over the Arctic Circle right now, winging your way back to Seattle. It sounds like it was a really fulfilling, educational, fun and delectable vacation, and I'm so happy for you both because of it! I just realized based on your final comments that I had not attached my name do anything that I wrote. That might be because I generally write those comments at three or four in the morning while riding my exercise bike! Anyway, maybe you are able to tell who it was regardless because of the chocolate comments if nothing else. I'll be looking forward to catching up with you once you're home and over your jet lag. Hug each other…