Amsterdam – August 2009

When Visited

• August 28-30, 2009

Getting Around

We stopped and visited Amsterdam in August 2009 on our way to our lengthy vacation in Greece.  We utilized a travel technique which I have explained more in depth in my blog post – All Things Travel > Travel Trips – General. That travel tip involves breaking up a flight itinerary so that you can spend more time at what would ordinarily be just a stopover of a few hours.  In this case, our flight to Athens stopped in Amsterdam for a few hours, prior to continuing on to Athens.  We got off the plane in Amsterdam, stayed there for two nights and parts of three days, and then continued on to Athens on that same connecting flight to Athens.  The only thing different is that we took that same flight … but three days later.

While we normally opt to use a local rental car for transportation while visiting a new city, in this case, we took an airport hotel shuttle to a Holiday Inn near Schipol airport.  We then got on the local light rail at a nearby station and took that into town during the time that we were there.  That worked out very well and I recommend that as an option if any of my readers decide to visit Amsterdam.

Although my wife and I took this trip almost eight years ago, my clear memory of this visit, beyond the famous canals, was the immense proliferation of bicycles that we saw.  The picture at the top of this blog is a pretty good example of this and I also have a few others among the pictures that are out on Photobucket.com.

While in Amsterdam, we took an interesting cruise on their version of the typical Hop On/Hop Off bus that you will find in most other major cities.  However, in Amsterdam’s case, it was a boat – the Canal Bus – that traveled among the various canals.

While we did not visit some of the more typical tourist sites, like the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, we did visit one of the lesser known (and less costly) museums.

Since we were never personally inclined to sample any of their “wares”, we also chose not to visit any of the numerous marijuana houses, nor did we visit any establishments along the very famous Red Light district.

We also recommend stopping at one of the many downtown street side restaurants and sampling local cuisine and local brews … as we most certainly did.

If you have visited Amsterdam, especially if you have visited more recently than we did, and have any impressions you would like to share, please do.  If you have never visited, I recommend a visit, even if only for a few days.

Picture Location on the Internet – Photobucket.com

Pictures from Amsterdam …

http://s937.photobucket.com/user/rwkoehler/slideshow/Amsterdam?sort=4 

Tips when Using Photobucket

• The previous links will take you directly to a slideshow of pictures and collages, related to the locations, which reside on the internet on the Photobucket.com website.
• Once the slideshow begins, the display begins showing slides at a Medium speed.
  • Slow displays each slide for 10 seconds
  • Medium displays each slide for 6 seconds
  • Fast displays each slide for 3 seconds
• To change the display speed, click on the word Slow, Medium or Fast at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To non-display the bottom toolbar, and thereby maximize the picture on your screen, click on the    icon at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To display, or to redisplay a specific slide, you may click on the thumbnail at the bottom of the Photobucket screen.
• To Pause the display at a specific picture, click on the    icon at the lower left of the Photobucket screen.