Day 5: Amsterdam

Another full day with Mars leading the way. Today, we traveled by train to Amsterdam and left the car at the hotel. Train travel in Netherlands is very practical and we were in the big city in no time at all (a little over an hour).

Upon arriving at the train station, we were amazed by its size and details. Just as big as the huge clock tower was a tower with a wind direction dial on it, surrounded by the four elements. It was a wonderful and incredibly busy building.

We then headed off to the info center nearby to pick up a city map and guide. After getting our map, we had some hot cocoa and frites with mayo and planned our route!

We then headed off to the Van Gogh museum. Along the way we saw some very interesting architecture. We saw the Palace of the Queen on Dam Square, the national monument, and more bikes and boats than you’ll ever see in an American city.

Here’s a 4-story bike parking garage as just one small example.

Once we got to the museum we found a super long line, but it went fast and before we knew it we were standing in front of some of the best known paintings in the world.

Debbie found her next car. She’s hoping to unload her big clunker of a Smart car (like the one shown here at left) and trade it in for the car shown on the right here. As you can see, it almost fits in a bike rack.

Not only did the museum have works by Van Gogh, but also contained some of his contemporaries. It was great to see some of the posters I have only seen in books or prints. The best was Le Chat Noir! It is way bigger than I ever thought it was. We could not take photos there so sorry not pictures of that. (As a substitute, please accept this picture of our cat Snowe Flahke.)

After the museum, we headed out in search of a canal boat to take us for a tour. There was a different rental outfit at each bridge. If you didn’t like the deal at one bridge, you just had to walk on to the next one. We found the perfect one. It took us on a 1 hour 45 min tour and dropped us off right at the train station. We grabbed some dinner.

Here is our restaurant’s idea of what the menu said was a “stuffed pepper” dish –yes, those are little fish with their heads on.

After dinner, we introduced Poopsie to the Red Light District. Sorry, no photos there either. We only managed to sneak this one photo of a plate on the sidewalk –even the sidewalk covers are XXX.

After a making our way through the alley ways there, we headed off to the train station for the ride back to the hotel.

Written on the train back to the hotel, more tomorrow from Germany!