Day 24 & 25 Amsterdam

I like Amsterdam! All started with a free room upgrade to a fantastic suite on 9th floor. Great views. Amsterdam is quite quaint (except for the red light district – bit of an eye opener). Pretty much spent the day walking around getting a feel for the place. Canals are quite beautiful. As you can see, Rick continued his European beer tasting challenge with a Texel (Dutch Island) beer as we took a breather in a pub on the canal. Went through Anne Frank’s House – very busy and a little too touristy – but having read her diary many years ago it was quite surreal to be standing in her bedroom with the pictures she put on the wall there and to look at the attic where she wrote. Walked back to Dam square and went into the Royal Palace. Not as big and opulent as the ones we have seen, but it did have incredible beauty in its simplicity. I thought the Grand Hall was stunning – the photo does not capture the beauty. Walked around the red light district – sleazy. Hookers sit in window boxes waiting for action. A lot were fat and ugly...ewwwww. Didn’t want to eat in any of the restaurants there so headed back to our hotel (10 minute tram ride from centre of Amsterdam) and found a great Turkish Restaurant.
As we were keen to drive out into the country and just drive around, we decided to head for Zaanse Schans which is known for its windmills and typical Dutch style houses. A little gimmicky, but the windmills were workable – not just for tourists. The cheese shop was delicious – sampled quite a lot of the different goudas, especially a pepper one and saw an incredible array of clogs – gumboot clogs, roller clogs, bridal clogs etc. Even found Alex’s next soccer boots – Nike clog boots. After a nice walk along the canal with the windmills doing their thing, we made our way to Volendam, a fishing village on the shores of what used to be called Zuiderzee. It was lovely – even though as we got out the car it rained. Had delicious kipperling (cod), lightly COOKED in a batter and Rick had a disgusting RAW herring roll....
Got back to Amsterdam later in the afternoon so decided that we would end our stay in Amsterdam with a trip to the van Gogh museum. I had been waiting for this given that van Gogh is my favourite artist. This was certainly worth the 20 minute walk in the rain. Got the history as well as 200 of his paintings (including Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, Self Portrait), also saw some Monet. Tomorrow off to Texel – the island Rick’s dad is from. Will stop off at Alkmaar on the way to den Helder where we catch the car ferry. Alkmaar is supposed to be famous for its cheese (and soccer team).