Amsterdam Day 1

May 16, 2017

Amsterdam Day 1

Amsterdam Bike

Our first Day in Amsterdam!

We decided to stay in Amsterdam for a few days since Pearce didn't have to start school until the Monday after we arrived and because he had never visited there. In planning for the trip I was a bit too optimistic about how much sleep we'd have on the plane so I had secured a few tours ahead of time to skip the lines and to save some money. We had just enough time to put our stuff down in our cottage before we basically had to turn around and leave to make our Von Gogh Museum reservation at 11 am. So off we went.

Rejkmuseum

Banksy

After a few more buses and trams and really helpful fellow passengers who tipped us off to our stops we arrived at the Museum District of Amsterdam. This area is home to most famously the Rijksmuseum, but also has the Van Gogh Museum, a Modern Art Museum, and many smaller galleries including one showing some of Banksy's art. Too bad he wasn't secretly selling his art in a stall near by. It was very beautiful and historic area and loaded with visitors who had the same idea as us.

The Van Gogh museum was a small, but charming museum filled with his great works as well as a interesting section of paintings of his friends' works. I personally love his paintings and was excited to share them with Lucille. In her typical macabre manner she was less interested in the actual paintings and more his dark personal history. She wanted me to tell her all about the picture of his and his brother's graves she saw depicted there. Even though it was a quick and dirty tour, I am happy we went.

After the museum we headed to our next activity for the day, Blue Boat tours. On the way we stopped to grab a quick lunch at a neighborhood Vietnamese cafe. Luckily there was no one else in the restaurant as our kids were acting up from a total lack of sleep. Plus neither as especially hungry because their appetites were still on Mountain time. After hurrying through lunch we made it to the boat.

I am not sure if the leisurely boat tour along the peaceful canals of Amsterdam was a good or bad idea. Normally it would have been a informative an scenic tour, but because we were so tired it just made it difficult to stay awake. Of course if we stayed home we all would have been wiped out for sure. I was able to power through it by sitting in the back and having the cold wind whip me in the face. Lucille joined me for most of the hour plus trip. She was not as enamored by the historical architecture, but ha fun running back and forth on the boat.

One of the many bridges in Amsterdam

Each of the large house boat barges has a little boat accompanying it

We spent the rest of our day roaming the streets of Amsterdam without any real agenda. The rest of the afternoon entailed buying some fresh baked goods at a heavenly bakery, walking through an outdoor market and finding some hidden streets in Amsterdam.

The sun made an appearance and started warming things up so we stopped to enjoy our first beer of the trip at a ubiquitous outdoor cafe. The experience was made all the more perfect because both of our kids had fallen into an exhausted sleep in the double stroller. We parked them off to the side and enjoy the perfect moment.

Eventually we made it back to the tram and then the bus and then headed out for a local's meal at the market down the street. I have major envy over their market- the cheese display was ridiculous and the beer and wine were so cheap! We somehow made it to 8:00 pm that night and then we finally got some much needed sleep.