Amsterdam, Netherlands; August 13-29, 2026
We left Chad and Kathy's house at 1:15pm on Thursday, August 12 to Uber to Dulles Airport jumping on KLM/Delta @5:40pm and arriving in Amsterdam at 7:10am on Friday, August 13.
Netherlands has seven regions. Amsterdam is in the Holland region.
Nils and Eva's home, a
2 bedroom, 1 bath on the first floor with a gorgeous garden patio
Eva has a real green thumb....her house is full of plants.
Nils and Eva are staying in our Warrenton home while visiting Nils brother's family in Northern Virginia.
Eva has the cutest birdhouses in her garden.
Eva's garden tomatoes are very delicious...
but their bottoms look ugly.
Eva's native plants at the entrance to their flat.
The neighbors cat
Pure Joy!
The neighborhood courtyard
Larry and I really enjoyed riding
Nils and Eva's
bicycles many miles over several canals passing a lot of name brand stores.
We passed by the LEGO store.
We enjoyed watching the show at the India Festival...
in front of the Royal Palace at Dam Square.
The Netherlands War Memorial
My man is a leo, the lion.
My first day riding the bicycle was a bit nerve racking. Watching out for cars, a million other bicycles, motorcycles, electric bikes, pedestrians, trams, buses....oh my stars....it crazy! But I got used to it and finally began to relax...a little.
Larry loves riding the bicycle as much as I do.
Our neighborhood street
We spent one morning inside the Royal Palace.
The maps on the floors showed the geography of the world in the1700's.
The maps were not accurate due to many areas of the world not having been explored. South America looked well mapped by explorers; however, North America was falsely mapped.
This building was deemed the 8th wonder of the world.
The ceilings had magnificent paintings.
Extravagant chandeliers were everywhere.
Intricate statues
Atlas is holding a celestial ball in the palace
Above is a bust of Napoleon who was King of Netherlands between 1806-1810. He did a lot of decorating to this palace.
Place setting of the Royal family
Heating system...back in the day.
With the high ceilings, I bet you had to wear a coat in here in the winter.
The palace had loads of old original paintings
and lots of statues
The king and queen of the Netherlands...
We stopped at the Sweet Tree Shop.
Dutch Strooplewaffle
We had to try the strooplewaffle.
YUMMMMM!
The Duck Store
Bicycles are parked everywhere.
Dutch Architecture
Magma Plaza
The Magma Plaza
Built around 1895 as a post office, it is a modern shopping plaza now. This is directly behind the palace.
We enjoyed riding bikes through Vondel Park.
We saw lots of wildlife in the park.
Egyptian goose
A local canal was just outside the park.
We enjoyed a leisurely walk around this canal.
Girl with the pearl earring
The flowers were vibrant.
Decorative...
bicycles...
were...
found...
everywhere.
This wooden bicycle is very unique.
Gorgeous flowers thrive with the pleasant temperatures here
in Amsterdam.
The birthday boy....
Happy Birthday Larry
Eva and Nils kitchen is a chef's dream. Modern appliances, all the gadgets a cook could want.
Eva has very lovely painted dishes and superb cookware.
We biked to Prinseneiland, an island that rests inside of Amsterdam that has weighted draw brides, quiet apartments and townhouses, very few cars, and no commercial businesses except a Michelin Five Star Restaurant.
We just enjoyed this peaceful little area watching boats float by us and three women swimming around the island.
Ferry ride to the Lookout Swing.
To celebrate Larry's birthday, he wanted to swing off of the building.
A detailed diagram of Amsterdam
View from the Lookout Swing
YES, we rode the elevator up 22 floors walking up and additional level to 23.
What a view!
The Tower of Love
I followed him with trepidation.
Are we crazy?
Once was not enough.....Larry told the guy running it that it was his birthday and he gave us another opportunity to swing again.
What a fabulous experience!
What a cool way to celebrate his birthday....especially since he loves to swing!
I think I would follow my man to the end of the world!
The birthday boy enjoying a free birthday drink at the top of The Lookout.
He ordered a Manhattan.
We enjoyed a very nice sunset as the ferry took us back to Central Station.
We arrived back home right on the edge of dusk.
The next day we rode bikes to the Van Gogh Museum.
The first painting that we saw was Almond Blossoms.
The Potato Eaters...such a famous painting of his early darker stage of paintings.
Self portrait....Van Gogh did 35 self portraits. There is only one known photo graph of him when he was 19 years old.
These are two of my favorites.
A shadow of Larry and me
A picture on a building outside of the Van Gogh Museum.
My man loves riding bikes almost as much as I do.
Lizards, Lizards everywhere in this square.
Larry looked up the words imprinted...translated...
"Wise men do not piss in the wind."
Many canal tour operators had their boats decorated. This particular one had orange flowers all along the edges.
Our lunch stop....very friendly sandwich shop...known for their roast beef sandwiches.
Sammy and Tommy on YouTube refered us to this spot. Very friendly folks.
Roast beef sandwiches and a cold Heineken....
what else could you ask for?
Lunch with a view! Extraordinary!
This building was definitely leaning/sinking to the right.
We caught the bus to the Central Station to go to the Wild Rooster Festival in the Hague...
a 40 minute train ride.
The trains in the Netherlands are super duper smooth....perhaps because the rails are on cement instead of wood.
We caught the tram to Grote Markt.
The Wild Rooster Festival was in full swing.
The line up
Mildred supporters
Mildred was one of the founders of the festival.
Our liquid refreshment... wouldn't recommend it.
Larry always spots a
Vespa
We visited this indoor shopping mall during our last visit to the Hague.
The outdoor cafes are so inviting.
The Hague also has beautiful canals.
The next day we visited the Ann Frank House. I bought tickets about 3 weeks in advance on line because it is such a popular place to visit. When Larry and I were here in 2012, it had been sold out. Do not wait to purchase these on the day of the visit.
An ariel photo of the Frank house.
Ann Frank's House
What a well kept house boat....with a grass roof.
The Westerkerk Church is one of the most famous in Amsterdam.
We went to hear this and it was cancelled.
We'll save this for the next time.
We did hear the cheerful church bells while in the area.
This stately pipe organ gives free half hour concerts on Sundays at 1:00.
We had a picnic lunch across the street and enjoyed watching the boat tours go by.
Nils and Eva's home is in a wonderful neighborhood.
A windmill downtown in Amsterdam
Miffy, the famous Dutch rabbit that children love.
A small duck house floats in front of this house boat.
Although we are not visiting the Netherlands during the April Tulip season, these tulips were tricked into blooming in August.
Thousands of tulip bulbs were available for purchase.
The Cheese Museum
This young lady was slicing the big wheel of cheese.
Lots of cheese samples were available.
A nice museum was in the basement. It fully described the process of making cheese.
We just had to try on the wooden shoes.
The process begins with grass fed Holstein cows.
The floating Flower Market
We visited the cannabis shop...you name it, they had it.
Hot Lips ...baby sage
Bikes are even parked on a barge.
The Dutch have a unique trash can. Folks put bagged trash in these dumpsters and it is collected under ground. No messy dumpster or trash trucks are ever seen.
The Dutch are holding recycling with high regard.
I wanted to visit an Ice Bar so Larry took me.
Yes it was -9.3 degrees.
The infamous Red Light District....why didn't they have men dancing behind the glass doors?
It was crazy crowdedness here.
During our stay in Amsterdam, we ventured out on day trips to Antwerp, Belgium, The Hague, Utrecht, and on our last day we went to Zaanse Schans, a quaint open air village with traditional wooden houses and numerous working wind mills.
Because it was raining Larry and I Ubered to the Amsterdam Central on Saturday morning at 6:00am to catch the 7:30 train to Berlin, Germany. Arriving at 1:30 we grabbed a quick lunch and boarded another train to Rostock, Germany, arriving around 6:00. We ubered to the Prize Hotel.
We ubered to the MSC Magnifica arriving at 11:00. How fortunate we are to be spending 8 days touring the Baltic Sea to some places we have never visited.
We so excited to be boarding the MSC Magnifica!
