I have used this forum SO much . . . in fact, I can honestly say that many of my trips would have been FAR less fabulous had I not had the benefit of this forum. I have constantly told myself to post a trip report, and I always manage to procrastinate so much that it's just too late. so, here goes!

My husband and I met four friends in Amsterdam for a last-minute weekend trip. We knew this was not enough time to be comprehensive, but we figured it was worth it (airline prices are a steal!).

We arrived at 7am Saturday. Our group intended to visit the Keukenhof gardens; however, it was raining and the line to get tickets was SO LONG! We decided to table that idea and just wander around Amsterdam.

After puchasing a coat at Espirit on the way out of the airport (the best shopping is AFTER customs, not before) because I had accidentally left mine at my office, we took the train into Amsterdam. It proved slightly difficult to purchase tickets, though. In case you don't know, the train kiosks only take coins or cards, not bills. So, if you would like to trvel to the Centraal train station, you need 4 euros in coins. Of course, we only had large bills because we had just exchanged money! Fine, we decided to use credit cards. Once again, in Amsterdam, you must have a pin number for your credit card! oh no! We, of course, did not have one (yes, this is what happens when you plan a last-minute trip - you don't reseach these things!). Finally, we figured out the loophole. if you have a debit card that can also be used as a credit card, you can use that. Simply use it as a credit card (NOT a debit card), and then when it asks the pin, use your ATM pin. yea! tickets purchased!

Ok, we trained to the central station and then we had to walk 15 minutes to our hotel - the Radisson SAS Centre. My friend found this hotel, and I normally would have complaned about staying at a "chain" . . . however, it was very nice, and a great price for a business room with free breakfast buffet and free wireless internet. And we met a whole host of scots visiting for the big football match! As we were walking to the hotel, we started looking around, and . . . we were smack dab in the middle of the red light district!!! oh yes, scantily clad women standing in the windows along the canal. Very interesting. Turns out we didn't have to "search out" this area. Anyway, we checked into the hotel and then headed to the van gogh musuem!!!

along the way, the group decided we were hungry. So, we went to the Pancake Bakery (right by anne frank house). Frankly, I though it was overpriced and not anything special. I agree with the people who have said the panckaes are just like a parisian crepe only more expensive. Don't get me wrong - they were good - I just didn't think it warranted 20 dollars a person for a crepe and coffee. I split a banana nutella pancake and a bacon and apple pancake with a friend. ok, the bacon and apple was quite good, but the banana nutella was a pancake with a FEW banana slices in it served with a packet of nutella! umm, they don't even apply the nutella for you??? very poor. Regardless, we enjoyed the break and watching the cooks. Another tip for the uninformed - Europe is becoming more and more accustomed to serving tap water to customers (maybe just americans?). While it costs around 2 euro for .3 litre of water (basically a shot glass worth), any restaurant will bring you tap water if you just ask. Our tour guide (during our Sunday bike tour) informed us that Amterdam water can actually be bottled and sold in southern europe according to EU standards as it is that clean! wow! He said he never pays for water! We agree - the water was great.

Finally we made it to the van gogh musuem. We didn't have timed tickets, but only had to wait in line about twenty minutes (and it was VERY crowded). the museum was 15E per person, and this included the special exhibit that continues through June. worth EVERY penny and more! This museum is fantastic! fan tas tick Make sure not to miss the top floor, either. Although it is not van gogh, it showcases many other artists that influenced Van Gogh's work. so wonderful. I also enjoyed how the bottom floor of the main exhibit organized his work chronologically. It really allowed you to see the progression of his talent and work and then his descent into madness. i loved every second of it. I am glad we visited the main exhibit before the special exhibit - a collection of his nightime work – because it helps people who are not as familiar with van gogh to really learn about him. The special exhibit was also wonderful - I had never seen the "potato eaters" before and found it so beautiful. I was disappointed that the Kroller (museum) had declined to loan this gallery Van Gogh's "Café Terrace on the Place du Forum" for the exhibit. Thus, I found the exhibit incomplete. Nevertheless, the exhibit was great - I loved how it showed Van Gogh's sketches of his paintings that he included in letters to his brother and friends. WOW! Oh, and "the Sower" was amazing, too. In case you can't tell, I am a huge Van Gogh fan. This was actually why we decided to take the last minute vacation.

After Van Gogh (and spending too much money at the very nice musem store - they ship to the U.S.!), we decided to pop into the Rijkmuseum. The museum is partially closed (due to open december 09), but a very nice collection is on display - incuding some very nice rembrandts. We only spent an hour here (everone else was getting museumed out), and then decided to wander about for a few hours.

Amsteredam is so picturesque. The beautiful canals are often compared to Venice, but I found the architecture much finer and the canals cleaner, and the area much less closed in. Granted, I love Venice, but it is completely different from Amsterdam - other than canals, I can see no similarities between the two. Oh, and we loved how biking friendly it was! old-timey bikes are EVERYWHERE! oh, they will run you over, by the way. The pedestrian, in my short experience, NEVER has the right of way - even if there is a green walk light. Look out for cyclists!

Anyway, after the museums, we simply wandered about seeing what we could see. This is my favourite thing to do in a new city. We visited the western church, the new church, and walked through the main shopping area. Finally, we wandered back to the hotel and freshened up. We asked for a recommendation for dinner from the hotel (stressing we wanted something reasonable). He recommended an Italian place, but the menu showed it was not what we were after. Instead we found a pub and got local food and enjoyed seeing all the visitors in town for the football match. Imagine thousands of Scottish men wlaking around Amsterdam in kilts – it was highly entertaining. They were so friendly (Holland won 3-nil, though).

After dinner we walked through the red-light district again at night. It was about 10pm and we felt fairly safe. It was dirty and loud and not my thing, though. I found it very, very sad.

The next day we were finished with breakfast by 8am. We went to the Old Church to take pictures (which is right by red light district, interestingly). Then we headed to Dam Square for pictures, etc. At 9am on Sunday morning, the city was still deserted! I think Amsterdam is a late-awaking city. I really mean deserted. We were able to take pictures at many sights with no one in them! We stopped in a café and had yummy coffee and watched the city start to awaken. Then we visited a lovely artists market (very talented, but a bit expensive, I thought) and then headed to the flower market. Ok, you can’t buy anything at the flower market if you are returning to the U.S.! I found this distressing. Buying bulbs or tulips in the airport costs three times as much! Ugh. Oh well, it was interesting to walk around and see the tulips (from the hot houses) in all the varying colours. We spoke with some of the market keepers and they uniformly discouraged us from “wasting” the day at Keukenhof. All told us that no tulips were blooming yet and the rest of the flowers were the same we could see in any arboretum in the U.S. I was glad for this advice and we scratched it off the list.

Instead, we decided to take a bike tour! We went to Mike’s Bike Tours for the 11am countryside tour. I have taken this company’s bike tour (and the related company, Fat Tire Bike Tours) in several European cities and highly recommend them. The tourguides are always knowledgeable and fun and slightly irreverent – perfect for my group! The tour was fabulous. We did a bit of biking and history in Amsterdam central, and then headed outside the city to visit the 16th century windmill that had been donated to the city in the 50s by a private citizen. It was on the site that Rembrandt painted a similar windmill. Loved that. Then we biked along some trails and saw blooming daffodils everywhere. Yea! Finally we visited a cheese farm and I bought some yummy cheese. We also went through Vondel Park, which I really enjoyed (open and supposedly safe 24 hours a day. Also has several restaurants and bars where you can sit and watch the world go by). Latly, we cycled by the Hilton where Lennon and Yoko staged their famous bed in (you can actually still see the graffiti and signs through the window that lennon posted!). I can’t stress how great this tour was and how great our guide Shawn was. His father is dutch and he has lived here since he was 12 or so. He had great knowledge and perspective of the city. The tour was four hours long and you bike quite a bit, but nothing too strenuous - maybe 10 to 12 miles or so?

After the bike tour, we returned to the old church to climb the tower for supposedly the best views of the city – but it doesn’t open until Wednesday! Ugh. Yep, the tower is only open from April to November. Oh well, we continued walking and stumbled on the gay area of the red light district. Yes – purple lights mean something . . . we stopped at a local bakery for “stroopwaffles” these are basically waffle type cookies with syrupy goo sandwiched in-between. Mmmmmm.

We then decided to visit the only working windmill in Amsterdam – which happens to be a brewery! Interesting, yes? We had to take the tram there, which was a great experience. Another tip – you can by one strip card (7.60 euro for 15 strips) and multiple people can use it. Just get on the tram and tell the worker where you are headed and how many people you have – he will stamp it accordingly. That way you don't have to buy a separate strip for eac person - this is helpful if you don't plan on using the tram much. After all, you can walk pretty much everywhere in Amsterdam in under 20 minutes The trams are VERY clean and nice.

We visited the brewery and the windmill is much different from the one near the park that we saw on the tour. It was much larger and had its own character. The brewery is open from 3-8pm. We visited that and then decided to eat at the small diner next door. I would NOT recommend this diner. It had only four choices for dinner and I think they just survive on the fact that it is right by the brewery and the brewery only serves appetizers and such. However, it had live music and that was very enjoyable. The strings trio (base and two guitars) played “gypsy” style music that was very enjoyable.

We then headed back to central Amsterdam for our 7.30 reservation for the Anne Frank House. What a great idea! We sooo didn’t need reservations. We had passed it two times before (while wandering) and it had a loooong line. At 7.30, there was NO line and we just walked right in. I highly recommend visiting this place around 7 or so. You have plenty of time, but less crowds. We truly were able to experience this house with only a few other people . . . made it easier to envision what it was like. It was so sad. We all were bleary eyed toward the end. I had been the only one in our group of six that really knew about anne frank and this history, but everyone was enthralled. I recommend visiting the website for background on her and her family before the visit. I didn’t find the room posts particularly informative. I mean, they told you parts of her story, but left so much out. Plus, if you didn’t already have an idea of her story, the boards were a bit cryptic and seemed almost out of sequence. I was able to fill in a lot of background for everyone and that was good. It was a moving experience and not to be missed.

We ran by a pancake house after that – very, very good. I don’t remember a name – I’m sorry – but I think if you find one off the main canals, you can get really good pancakes for very cheap!

We stopped by Albert Heins on the way home – GREAT place to buy food souveneirs. The stroopwaffles we purchased there were half the price as in the bakery. And, honestly, our group liked them better. They had a stronger taste. Yum. We bought some local mustard, chocolate, stroopwaffles, and other small gifts.

Got up early the next day to head back to reality. All in all a great trip – I must go back for longer!

Great report! I've never been to the Netherlands and it's high on my list of places I want to go.

It sounds like you put a wonderful amount into the short time you had. Way to go!!

We enjoyed Mike's Bike tour also. My favorite place in Amsterdam was the Tropenmuseum.

Hi, really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for posting.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. The ticket machines at the station don't take credit cards - they took money from your account using it as a debit card.
I'm glad you found a cheaper (and hopefully better!) pancake house.
You didn't have too much trouble with the football then? That is probably why Amsterdam was still asleep on Sunday morning - plus the clocks changing confuses everything. But we all like to have a long slow breakfast together on a Sunday morning. There is no need for us to get out early - it's Sunday after all

Good report, dcm.

Thanks for sharing.

I'm heading to Amsterdam May 13 for the first time, so I really enjoyed this report. I'd love to do a bike tour, but I haven't been on a bike (other than the stationary one at my gym)in probably 25 years! I would hate to look like an idiot!

I really want to try pancakes while there, so thanks for the tip about the overpriced Pancake Bakery. I'll have to scout out the smaller places.

Great report!

Thanks for the fun report.
We will be there in Sept.

The bike tour sounds fun.
I too havent been on a bike in years.
BEWARE

Glad you decided to post your first trip report. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I agree with you about the canals and the comparison to Venice. I found Amsterdam to be much cleaner than Venice (which is one of my least favorite places in the world). I think Brugge and Amsterdam are much more similar to each other than Venice and Amsterdam (although Brugge has the nickname "Venice of the North"!)

I hope you'll be able to visit the Keukenhof next time. The flowers there are so breathtaking.

Thanks for posting your trip report, dcm58. Amsterdam is on my top 5 favorite European cities to visit, so I always enjoy reading about other people's experiences while visiting there.

Concerning van Gogh...<i>"I also enjoyed how the bottom floor of the main exhibit organized his work chronologically. It really allowed you to see the progression of his talent and work and then his descent into madness. i loved every second of it.</i>

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm a huge van Gogh fan, having visited the museum 3 times. We're planning a trip to Arles, France this fall (hopefully), and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the inspirations for his work.

I'm so sorry that you didn't get to visit the Keukenhof... on this visit. It's a good excuse for a return trip.

Robyn

thank you for the positive feedback! I kind of thought my report was too vague and kind of silly, so thank you for posting nice comments!

hetismij - I am sure you know this better than I do . . . but at the kiosks, when I ran my credit card after choosing the "credit card" button, it took. it just asked me for a pin number (which I didn't have). Then, when I ran my debit card after choosing the "debit card" function, it didn't accept it. When I ran my debit card using the "credit card" function, however, it took, asked for my pin, and completed the transaction. So . . . not really sure what that means. Just trying to share how I got it to work for me!

artstuff - I so agree!!!! I have been to Arles, and you will love it. I already can't wait to go back and visit not only the Keukenhof gardens (during tulip season) but back to the van gogh museusm! who can get tired of it?

jetsetj and sherhatfield - you should try the bike tour!!! Mike's bikes has two different tours - one is a city tour which has FAR less biking (and I think you would do absolutely fine) and then the countryside tour has more biking. I have done mike's bike city tours in barcelona, paris (now is fat tire) and munich and they really didn't have that much biking. i think the crowd is mainly student/hostel ages, but I took my parents in barcelona and they loved it! like I said, it is a more irreverent tour - not as scholarly as some - but it is still informative and so much fun! gives a good overview of the city. google it and take a look at the website . . .

Thanks so much for a great report. My daughter and I leave May 8th for Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris. We had planned on the bike tour in Paris but I was unaware of the one in Amsterdam.

What hotel did you stay at?

I'm just now planning a trip to The Netherlands and Belgium, where I have not been before, and to Germany to cruise the Rhine, which I missed on my last trip because of rain. I found your trip report very readable and enjoyable. However, what's with the pancakes? I haven't come across that yet in any guidebooks. I love Parisian crepes and look forward to trying Amsterdam-style pancakes. Thanks for your detail on this.

Carmar - we stayed at the Radisson SAS Centre . . . I found it in a good location and very walkable to everything. It was actually the first time I stayed at a chain in Europe! There are so many deals around - I am sure you will find something good.

MKE - don't feel bad. I hadn't heard of pancakes either . . . I actually posted a question on this forum after a comment by a friend! personally, I think parisian crepes are better . . . shhh, don't tell.

Thanks for your trip report, I enjoyed it!

We are Californians currently living in Amsterdam for a year (got here last August and have to go back to the States this coming August). I have always had a thing for men in kilts (I blame it on my Scottish grandfather). Anyway, who knew that one of the perks of living here would be thousands of men in kilts? My husband said he was afraid to turn me loose that weekend. I read that 8000 Scots had tickets to the game (a World Cup qualifying match between Scotland and the Netherlands) and they estimated another couple of thousand came too. At first I thought I was seeing things as I did some shopping chores and first saw a sprinkling, and then a deluge, of the handsomely kilt-clad as I walked around downtown. But it wasn't a fantasy, it was a dream come true! ;->

I do recommend Keukenhof on your next trip, I have to say I completely disagree with the flower vendors you talked to: Keukenhof would be worth seeing if there weren't a single tulip in the place - it really is a beautiful garden - gorgeous trees, fountains, etc. I'm glad you got to do the bike tour. For others who might be interested, riding our bikes in the countryside around Amsterdam has proven to be one of the real joys of our stay here. Now that the weather is nice it's how we spend most of our free time. And I'm a fifty-something not-majorly-athletic person, so if I can do it ... Remember it's VERY flat here - so basically no hills to contend with.