HurricaneMaine

If you have a chance to go outside of Amsterdam, you should! It is beautiful. There are many tours to see parts of the countryside, but if you get the Amsterdam pass, the hop on hop off tour is included. There are 6 stops including the tour office and you can get off in as many or as few as you want. There is about 45 minutes between buses and you can stay in any one location as long as you want. Of course we had it planned out down to how long we would spend in each place.

The tour office is called This is Holland and is just after you get off the free ferry from behind Amsterdam Centraal. A’dam lookout is there (which wasn’t open when we got there but we visited afterwards) as well as the Eye, which is an art museum.

First stop is Zaanse Schans. It is a neighborhood in the Dutch town of Zaandam, near Amsterdam. Historic windmills and distinctive green wooden houses were relocated here to recreate the look of an 18th/19th century village. There are houses that showcase different aspects of Dutch life from cocoa to cheese making.

The windmill that is used as a mill was also a gift shop.

We visited a Henri Willig farm where there is also a cheese shop.

We tasted some awesome cheese! Not the plastic stuff shown here but really awesome cheese like the baby sheep (Becca’s favorite) and original sheep cheese (my favorite).

I had been hungry for ice cream and for licorice and was lucky to find…

You guessed it…

Licorice ice cream. Very tasty. The ice cream had a hint of licorice and only the pieces of licorice mixed in provided enough taste. I loved it. I always look for a unique ice cream or potato chip wherever I go to try.

Areas of Zaanse Schans smells like chocolate. There is a chocolate boutique there that sells exquisite confections. I resisted.

We skipped the Edam stop and instead started on the bus until the next stop, Volendam. This is a very quaint fishing village.

We walked down to the water. Originally this water was salt water from the Zuiderzee inlet of the North Sea. A series of dykes reclaimed land and created a fresh water lake called Markermeer instead.

More cheese tasting.

We visited a wooden clog museum which is very interesting why they were used as shoes for so long (they insulate and can withstand many weather conditions with the bonus of knowing where your kids are) and how they are made both by hand and by machine.

Back along the waterfront.

We stopped at a street vendor selling salted herring. We split a sandwich of herring. I am up for trying anything new.

We skipped the Henri Willig cheese stop. I know, but we had enough cheese for the day.

Last stop was Monnickendam. It is a classic ancient Dutch town and you can tell by looking at how some walls lean differently from adjoining walls.

The stone on the roads and sidewalks are amazing.

The old church.

We stopped at a couple boutique cheese and chocolate shops.

I found beer made from salt water. It was very mellow and mild. Being dehydrated I drank it pretty fast.

The town was beautiful.

Now to head back to Amsterdam for more sight seeing. All in all we spent about 4 to 5 hours on the tour.

This will be probably more than one part as there is a lot to share.

Early morning run outside the city center through Artzuid, sculptures scattered throughout connected parks. I stopped to snap a few pics of ones I thought were very interesting.

Next on the agenda was food but it was a long walk to Amsterdam Centraal where the mass transit is centered. Behind the station is Pancakes Amsterdam. They have Dutch and American pancakes and they were delicious. In the back of the picture is berry and in the front is a savory smoked salmon.

A quick ferry ride across the section of water between North Amsterdam from the old city is all that separated us from the countryside tour.

Some sights around Amsterdam as we were walking to breakfast:

The royal residence.

Inside the tunnel to get to the back of Amsterdam Centraal.

Next post is the countryside tour.

July 25. After getting in a little later than expected (our original flight was cancelled as the airport had refueling problems and limited the number of planes that could arrive. We were lucky to get a different flight quickly as the flight was cancelled mere hours before take off.) With our rooms not ready, we left the bags and started sight seeing.

At the airport.

Before we left we planned what we wanted to see and mapped out our days to see what we could fit in. Becca is going with me and we are obviously alike. We purchased the Amsterdam pass for two days (you can get a mobile download instead of a card.) It gets you a lot. Many of the things we wanted were covered in this pass.

The first thing we used the pass for was a free trip on bus 397 from the airport. It makes many stops near hotels and attractions. The closest to the Apollo Marriott was the museumplein stop. We walked the rest of the way to the hotel.

After dropping off our luggage we walked back up to the museums. The first in the list was the Moco museum that had contemporary art like Banksy and Andy Warhol.

This is in front of the museums. The van Gogh museum is in the background.

Mickey snake. Or is it Mickey swallowed by a snake?

The museum is in an old house and loved this above the fireplace in one of the rooms.

Another artist created interesting art eroding areas of the art for effect.

Next was the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of Netherlands.

Lots of drinking horns…

Ships as this was a shopping powerhouse back in the day…

Originally Belgium and Netherlands were one land. When unrest let to a split, artists fled North to what is now Netherlands. It was always known that Belgium was known as a land of heavy drinkers and drinking games and ornate vessels for drinking games. The second from the right is a vessel that looks like a book.

Many paintings including those from Rembrandt. This painting shows the good from Jerusalem burning in the muted background.

Beautiful tapestries.

The ceilings and stained glass were gorgeous.

The museum is actually in two halves, split at the street level. A bikeway cuts through it.

Next we are walking to the Jewish quarter. Amsterdam is beautiful.

The Holocaust museum. What were we thinking? What are we thinking today labeling people and making them less than human?

The Jewish quarter.

The holocaust memorial.

On the walk back to the hotel. This was outside the Rijksmuseum.

Musicians outside the Rijksmuseum.

Early night as we are exhausted.