Falling in Love with Amsterdam

We took the train from Bruges to Amsterdam changing trains in Antwerp and Rotterdam. The trip took about 4 hours. The apartment we rented in Amsterdam was in the Indische Buurt neighborhood, a 15 minute bus ride from Amsterdam Central Train Station. We used airbnb to find the apartment. We’ve had really good luck using airbnb, and this was no exception. Other than getting situated and going grocery shopping the first night, we went for a short walk around the neighborhood and then ended up in the Eastern Islands/Eastern Docklands district for dinner. We ate at a great little place, Café de Cantine. The atmosphere was welcoming, the people working there were super friendly and the food was amazing. We also had some great beers from the nearby Brouwerij 't IJ.

Brouwerij 't IJ: Great brewery located next to the beautiful De Gooyer windmill.

I had maybe the best goat cheese salad in existence at this wonderful cafe.

The temperature was in the mid-90s in Amsterdam the first two full days we were there, much hotter than normal. Because temperatures rarely get that high, many places don’t have AC, including the apartment we rented, making it a very hot couple of days. Luckily Amsterdam is amazing which made the heat much more bearable. We started the day with a bike ride across the city to the Jordaan district, using the bikes that came with the apartment (such a great deal!), to the Boom Chicago theatre to buy boat tour tickets for Sunday. We had lunch at Pancakes! Amsterdam and spent most of the afternoon walking around the Medieval Center, Dam square and the Red Light District. We left our bikes parked near the Royal Palace much of the day and went back to get them in the evening. Biking around Amsterdam is very easy, but due to the crowds, walking is easier in the center. After moving our bikes near to the Anne Frank House, we walked through the Jordaan neighborhood again and ended up at a bar with great outdoor seating for dinner. Again, the food was amazing. We read somewhere later that it is typical in Amsterdam for people to take great pride in the food they serve, even at bars or casual restaurants. We certainly noticed and could not stop talking about the food.

Great food at this bar in the Jordaan neighborhood.

 

The pancakes did not disappoint!

 

The National Monument on Dam Square

 

Oude Kerk (old church) is Amsterdam's oldest building and is located a block from the famous Red Light District.

After dinner we walked over to the Anne Frank House. We showed up at 9:15pm (open until 10pm). They were just closing the line as we walked up, and we were really disappointed because it was a great time to fit in the Anne Frank House to our schedule without waiting in a long line. The guy working there decided to let us in the line before closing it after seeing our disappointment. There was still a small line, so by the time we got our tickets and got inside, we had about 35 minutes. It’s the sort of museum where you just go one way through the house and there are a few places with videos and things to read. We felt a little rushed. Arriving at 9pm would have been perfect, but we would definitely have chosen being a little rushed to being crammed in the space with no air-conditioning after waiting in line for hours. 

Dusk on the beautiful Prinsengracht canal.

The canal-side facade of the building where the Franks hid from 1942-1944.

The Anne Frank House was very interesting to see. I started reading The Diary of a Young Girl right before the trip and was only half way through the book when we arrived in Amsterdam, and although I read it in junior high, I remembered almost no details. There isn’t a lot of background explanation at the Anne Frank House, especially in the beginning so doing some research or reading the book in full before going would be advised. It was fascinating and heartbreaking nonetheless and standing in Anne Frank’s bedroom and other frequented parts of the house made finishing the book so much more vivid. After leaving there right at 10pm, we rode our bikes back to the apartment along the water north of the city, which is beautiful at night. 

Our second full day was even hotter than the day before, so we decided to go out on foot/bus instead of biking in an attempt to stay a little cooler. We started that day at the Dappermarkt, not more than a 15 minute walk from the apartment. This market had absolutely everything you could imagine wanting to buy at a market, and it wasn’t overly crowded. We did not mean to walk all the way from the Dappermarkt to the more well-known Albert Cuypmarkt, but we just kept wandering and ended up there. The Albert Cuypmarkt was definitely larger than the Dappermarkt but essentially had all of the same things. We enjoyed the market, but with so many people walking through there and the black asphalt under our feet, it was excruciatingly hot. We were drenched in sweat when we walked out the other side of the market. We planned to visit the Rijksmuseum next because we knew we would be in the area and in desperate need of some air conditioning. 

The colorful and manageable Dappermarkt in a wonderfully eclectic neighborhood.

We enjoyed a great take away falafel picnic lunch in the beautiful and relaxing Oosterpark.

  

The huge Albert Cuypmarkt in the De Pijp neighborhood has everything from live lobsters to shampoo.

When we arrived at the Rijksmuseum at 4pm, we were told it closed at 5pm. The guidebook said it closed at 6pm so we were expecting to have a little more time. The woman selling tickets said we could see the main attractions in 45 minutes, so we decided to go for it. Again I think we could have benefited from a few more minutes, but it was enough time to see most of what we wanted to see. We were able to see the most famous paintings including the grandiose main attraction, Rembrandt’s Night Watch. The museum’s air conditioning revived us, and we felt ready to continue exploring Amsterdam. 

The famous I amsterdam letters with the stunning Rijksmuseum in the background.

We spent some time people watching in the museumplein behind the Rijksmuseum and wandering before walking through Vondelpark. We had a wonderful picnic dinner under a tree in Vondelpark, and it seemed like everyone in Amsterdam was doing the same thing. After dinner, we hopped on a tram back to our neighborhood and strolled down Javastraat before going back to the apartment. We were immediately smitten with Amsterdam. The canals are beautiful and the people we interacted with were unbelievably kind. Being such a bike friendly city makes it even more unique and lovable and even on the second day, we were already getting sad that we didn’t have more time to spend in Amsterdam.   

Vondelpark reminded us a lot of Central Park in Manhattan.