November 2015 - Netherlands - Amsterdam

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Travelling to Amsterdam was seriously easy. The flight from Bristol was 50minutes and the transfer to the hotel was simple by train and tram. My first impression of Amsterdam was my god it's so busy! But once your in the city there are loads of places to visit and see that are quiet and relaxing. I did not know, as dim as it is, that Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands.



After speaking to friends who had visited before they told us to pre book tickets to the major sites as it gets very busy. We did this for the Van Gogh museum but Ann Franks house was booked out till the end of January, so book way in advance to avoid the que. Our hotel was very near the the Van Gogh museum, on Friday evening this was our first stop.



Now I'm not into art and know very little about anything but I found this museum fascinating. It showed a story of Van Gogh's life and how he sought inspiration for his paintings. You can see in his paintings when he was having a mental breakdown as they got darker. There were some odd paintings but also some very good ones. The sunflowers is one that surprised me, it's so much bigger than I thought and also very beautiful, I can now certainly see why it is so famous. One thing that stood out to us that Van Gogh was never famous during his life time. It wasn't until his sister in law and nephew really promoted his life and his paintings that his name and art was well known.



After enjoying the museum we set about finding somewhere to eat. We found a little restaurant called everything on a stick. Literally everything is served on kebab sticks, it was so yummy. We brought into a deal where you eat as much as you can in two hours, we ate a lot!



The city itself is fascinating and is filled it's some beautiful architecture and canals. We headed towards The flower market. We had a quick look round at the stalls and looked at the massive bulbs. It's a shame we couldn't take them home as they would grow into beautiful flowers. The market stalls are set in the side of the street but back onto floating barges, lots of the stalls are selling lots of souvenir items such as clogs and wooden flowers but there are some which just have beautiful flowers.



We walked to Dam Square and looked upon the glorious Koninklijk Palas, where Napoleons brother Louie Bonaparte lived in during the French occupation. Here is were Amsterdam got its name Amstelredam later changed to Amsterdam. The cobbled square also hosts the war memorial and The Nieuwe Kerk (new church).



Not far from here and walking through the pretty streets is the Jordann. This area is full of Canals, narrow streets and tall terrace houses. Sat in a cafe nearby we enjoyed a lovely slice of apple cake and were joined by Saint Nicholas and his helpers Black Peter. The story goes that Saint Nicholas will give out gifts to all the good children on the 5th December. However, all the children that have been bad will be put in a sack and sent to Spain for a year to learn how to behave! This story terrifying! Later we saw them on the boat travelling around the city!



Within the Jordaan we found a lovely market to walk around it was full of fresh veg, cheeses, mushrooms, meat, fish and some leather products. Walking around the beautiful canals there are plenty of places to stop and have a drink we found some lovely little pubs to relax in and get warm from the cold.



We spent a bit of time looking around the Rembrandt square. There was a small Christmas market, it wasn't that great to be honest but we did enjoy some mulled wine in a small wooden hut. As the evening drew in the Christmas lights started to flicker on and these were lovely, the ones down the small narrow pedestrian/bike only streets were the best.



On Saturday evening I thought it would be great to go on a boat cruise and enjoy the light festival. After experiencing the light shows in Berlin I was very excited! However, it was not the same. It was more like lit up sculptures along the canals that sometimes changed colour. It may have been slightly better if it hadn't started raining and the boat not steaming up! The information given about the canals was interesting and was worth it in the end!



The red light district is something that has to be seen if you go to Amsterdam. Personally I don't particularly like the whole prostitute concept, each to there own. Walking through the streets we came across the prostitute museum. Inside the town house you learn about what the girls go through to earn money to pay rents and it looked at the sad truths of trafficking. You get to look out a red light window on to the streets and watch passes by. It was interesting and the collection of souvenirs left behind in the girls rooms were hilarious, especially the false teeth!



The last thing we did before leaving was to visit the Amsterdam museum. It looked back through the history of the city and learnt some of the facts I have written in this blog. It gave information about the construction of the city and how the buildings are set on long poles driven into the ground, they were wooden but now the are concrete. Without the poles the city would sink into a muddy marsh. That's why some of the tall town houses are leaning slightly.



I really enjoyed my trip here and found Amsterdam a fascinating city with so much do and see. I recommend any one thinking of going, just to do it.

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