A city of canals and bikes

What a huge day we have had exploring Amsterdam today. We walked 14.7km – 21,889 steps – and saw heaps. We woke up to a grey, drizzling day, temperature about 8 degrees, and after breakfast in the apartment headed out at 9am.

First stop was the Van Goh museum so we walked across town enjoying the sights of Amsterdam including the Smallest Bridge on the way. We decided that we could really do with some umbrellas so ducked into a supermarket to get some of these on the way. Got to the Van Goh museum just after 10am and decided a coffee was needed before we tackled any artwork! After our coffee we spent the next 2 hours immersed in Van Goh’s life and artwork and thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent here. We had packed lunch before leaving the apartment this morning so decided to sit in the museum foyer and eat this before venturing on.

On leaving the Van Goh museum we discovered the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to show itself. As we wandered, we came across a pop up market area with ice skating rink, food stalls and souvenirs. After sampling some of the local wares we walked back passed the Rijksmuseum to the tram stop. On our way we passed a group of 5 men playing classical music on violins, accordions and a type of guitar. They sounded fantastic so we stopped for a while and enjoyed this impromptu concert. Then we jumped on a tram back to the central train station.

Next on the day’s itinerary was an hour long canal cruise around Amsterdam. This was a great way to appreciate the sights of Amsterdam and gave it all a different perspective from the water. The buildings are amazing and so picturesque to look at. Some of them lean at quite alarming angles due to the timber footings they are built on. We passed a barge that had been dredging the canals and the number of bicycles that it had on the back was amazing – just goes to show how many bicycles end up in the canals each year.

After the cruise and a coffee stop we decided to go to Anne Frank’s house to see if we could get a ticket to look inside. We had tried to buy some online last night but there were none left and a guide book at the apartment said that after 3pm you can queue to buy tickets on the spot. As it turns out this is not the case – they release more tickets online starting at 9am and continue to release small amounts through the day. So we will try again tomorrow morning but in the meantime we did the obligatory photo outside her house. It generated some good conversation with the girls about Anne Frank and the second world war which was great - I was impressed by how much they knew about this time. So instead of going into Anne Frank’s house we decided to take a walk to the red light district!!

We had a lovely stroll through town admiring the sights – stopped to buy some souvenirs and to gaze at the many cheese shops – and after a few wrong turns finally found our way to the red light district. Witnessed an altercation between two guys on a moped and a guy on a bicycle on the way but didn’t hang around to get involved in the fracas. The red light district was an eye opener – very scantily clad women standing in their windows, flaunting their wares – most of them obviously enhanced by a plastic surgeon – and saw a few men

exiting the premises as well!!

By this time is was nearly 7pm and we were all feeling tired, foot sore and ready for dinner. Headed back to Rembrandtplein and randomly decided upon one of the many restaurants for dinner. After a very enjoyable meal we had a quick stop at the supermarket and then it was time to head back to our apartment for some chill time before bed.