Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2009

Iamsterdam!

We only had one day left of the 2009 trip, and we used it to take a day trip to Amsterdam. One of the great things about Europe is that it is so easy to use train system.  We jumped on one of the early trains in the morning from Brussels and luckily arrived around 10:00 a.m as it was a work day and the train was full of commuters.   It was a very beautiful ride.  As you can see from the photo, the tulip fields were just starting to come into bloom.  

Lucky Windmill Photo!

 

Before leaving the states for vacation, my friend Didi told me that she and her friends rented bikes when they visited Amsterdam and that it was the best way to get around.  She also proceeded to tell me that all the bikes look the same and that if you do rent a bike, it doesn't really matter what bike you return just as long as you return one.  I thought this might be a little farfetched, but once I arrived, I realized that Didi might be right.....  There were entire parking structures three and four stories tall dedicated to bike parking!

Tulip Fields from the train window

We actually decided not to ride bikes that day as it was raining.  Instead we chose to take the water canal taxis.  Now, they did get us from point A to point B, however I don't think that they were worth the money.  We spent more time walking around than using the canals.  My suggestion to anyone going is don't use the water taxis.....They are just a tourist attraction and not worth the money.

Bike Parking Structure

We only had about eight hours to spend in Amsterdam, and we knew that wanted to see two attractions specifically.  The Anne Frank House Museum and the Van Gogh Museum.

Since it was raining, I was glad to get into the Van Gogh Museum first.  We had pre-purchased our tickets to go to the Anne Frank House and our entry time was a few hours away.  I really don't know that much about Van Gogh, but as it turned out, Starry Night just happened to be on exhibit for the month that we were there.  It was actually really awesome to see.

Amsterdam Canal

As I mentioned before, we pre-purchased tickets to see The Anne Frank House.  As boring and sad as it might sound, I was very excited for this specific museum.  I read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was a kid in school, and was interested in the small lving space that I had read about.  The museum has been built up into a very modern museum built around the actual space that the families lived in, but the basic structure is still there on the inside.  I encourage anyone who goes to Amsterdam to take at least an hour and stop by The Anne Frank House and take the time to see this amazing piece of history.

Jason being a dork!

On my last blog, I said that I wasn't sure how to tell the story of Amsterdam.  And even though I've told almost every detail of the few hours we had there, I've decided that Amsterdam is a little like Las Vegas....What happend in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam.  Let's just say, that the "bartenders" are very helpful and the train station is a very safe place to leave a friend for a nap if you still have sights to see and not everyone is up to the challenge!

2010's trip was in London and Southern Ireland.  Stay tuned!!