My husband and I returned from the Netherlands this past Sunday. We had lousy weather but a wonderful time!
Flew into Amsterdam at 6am on the 18th. VERY crowded NW flight, jammed into middle seats and an hour late Still were excited to get there! Got on one of the supremely convenient trains to Leiden for the express purpose of seeing Keukenhoff (sp?) but found it wouldn't open for hours. Hopped back on a train to Delft to my brother's house.
Spent a few ours unpacking and relaxing then got back on the train to Leiden. Keukenhoff was scheduled to close that day and I was detemined to see it. Bought a bus/admission ticket at the Leiden train station which apparently is cheaper and saves you standing inline once you get there.
Keukenhoff was beautiful, although obviously past its full bloom. The only disappointment was not seeing any of the tulip fields - all mowed already. We spent 2-3 hours looking around.
The next day took a train to Utrecht. We loved it. The canals are set much lower (like Venice someone said), there is a lively energy about the place. We climbed to the top of the Dom tower (my legs ache just thinking about it!) - interesting tour and a wonderful view. Did run into some rather rude teenagers but they are probably a universal problem! Afterwards collapsed onto the nearest cafe terrace because legs were shaking ;-)
That night, back in delft, biked into the centrum and went to the Be Bop Box a lovely little dark hole in the wall bar. Music was soft enough for conversation and the bartender very friendly and full of advice and insights.
The next day was our big day in Amstedam (by train 34 euros for 2 round trip tickets fom Delft). A viit to the VVV in Central Station was very worthwhile. We bought 1 day passes that got us admission into every museum besides the Anne Frank house, tram/bus travel, and a coupon book filled with restaurant discounts of 25%, vouchers for canal rides, etc. They were 29 euro and were worth every penny. Also available in 3 or 5 day passes.
Hit the Van Gogh museum first (ater breast at The Pancake Bakery). Got an audiotape tour of a very interesting exhibit ("Through Vincent's Eyes). Had many peices Van Gogh kept in his rooms as well as pieces he reinterpreted or that inspired him. fascinating to see the originals and then his. I had no idea the variety of things he had done. Also a wonderful introduction to other artists. Good audiotour!
Next to the "Our Lord in the Attic" Catholic Church that is hidden in a canal house in what is now the red Light district. Wish I could remember the name (starts with an A!) now, don't want to wake hubby rummaging through things. Very cool museum. Amazing to walk past girls in windows and clouds of marijuana smoke and then into this wonderfully preserved/restored home.
Afterwards went to the Anne Frank House. It was around 5:30pm and we had no line to wait in. Very moving and a well done museum.
Lets see, did a canal tour with Holland International. It was ok, not as detailed as I would have liked. All pre-recorded so there was no chance to ask questions and sometimes the recording didn't synch with the speed/location of the boat. Sister-in-Law recommends Lovers nighttime tour, would try that instead.
Dinner was at Cilubagu - it was a beautiful little Indonesian restaurant . Had a lovely dinner wih probably 20 dishes on the table! Recommend the fried banana - delicious!
This is getting lengthy - will post Part II in AM.

Thanks shaya, looking forward to part II!

Thanks for the report. You had such bad luck with the weather. Starting this past Monday, and expected to continue for a while, it is sunny, about 22 C and blue skies.

For those who want to know, the 'church in the attic' is called Museum Amstelkring... and I'm looking forward to visiting it in September!

Okay, so here is where it gets interesting! We debated going to a jazz club but it had been a long day and we didn't want to keep my family up waiting for us. So we caught a tram back to central station. It was about 10:30 PM and the tram was crowded. We settled into our seats among some rather rough looking characters. The guy next to us (across the aisle) proceeds to pull out a piece of tin foil, drop some brown material onto it and light up. My husband quietly points this out to me, we share some mild amazement. The guy then starts spitting onto the window next to him and talking loudly, apparently to my husband, in rather angry sounding Dutch. We ignore him. As soon as a seat opens up we move into the next part of the tram. I comment that this will be an interesting story for us to tell (little do I know...). As we pull into Central Station we stand up to get off the bus. My husband says "That guy is out there LOOKING for us." Naah, I think, he's probably disoriented or looking for a buddy. So we step off the tram and this lunatic comes running at us, spitting loogies (how DO you spell that?) at us. He is momentarily distracted by a women in her forties who becomes the target of the next few loogies, poor thing. She tries to ignore the spit flying at her head and walks away trying to protect herself with her hands. He then refocuses on us. I see a couple of cops on the corner and tell Ben we should run for it. I run towards them but look back to see my husband still back near the tram drop off with this guy coming at him. I run back to them, my husband grabs my jacket and pushes me behind him. I am terrified that violence is about to break out. My husband chooses to start screaming obscenities at the madman ("You liitle piece of s***, get the f*** off of us&quot. Rather abruptly the lunatic drops his head and shuffles away, still spitting ocassionally. We trot into the station and onto our train, still feeling he may be around any corner. WHEW! That was an adrenalin rush. And while it certainly seems fairly comical now it was nerve racking. Very glad my dear husband chose to yell and not punch (apparently he had quite an internal debate over running away from a guy who was assaulting women v. yelling at him v. just letting the punches fly). The rest of the trip back to Delft was delightfully placid. We scrounged up some old newspapers to wipe the disgusting spit off of our jackets. This guy had very good aim and distance!
I, unfortunately, am off to work now - but stay tuned for Part III with a special guest appearance from the Lunatic Spitter!

Shaya, what happened to part #?? Enquiring minds want to know!

Oops -- I meant part 3 (hit the shift key by accident ;-).

Shaya,

You truly are a sport! I can't wait to hear about the next encounter with the lunatic spitter.

My apologies! I got busy and never posted Part III...
Suffice it to say that a few days later we had recovered from the trauma of this encounter and decided to try our luck in Amsterdam again. Had another lovely day. Actually made it to the aforementioned jazz club, had dinner, etc. As we wandered around the plaza, looking for the tram stop we heard a sudden pounding of feet and screaming. We glanced up and there he was, the Lunatic Spitter. We didn't hang around to see if we were his targets this time. We, without saying a word to each other, veered into an alcove and turned our collars up. He ran right past us...yelling and laughing like a maniac. We took ourselves back to Delft. The humor of it came much more quickly to us that time! What are the odds...?