Day 17: 30 April 2019, Sunday:
We checked out of our Leiden hotel at 7 am, drove toward the Schipol airport. We had an early morning flight back home the next day. So we had chosen to stay at an airport hotel with shuttle service. Ramada hotel at Badhoevedorp 5 km from the airport suited us fine.
Our GPS from maps.me downloaded offline on phone misled us... after a little panic, we followed the GPS in the rental car and reached the hotel.
Dropped our bags at our airport hotel, Ramada and drove to the airport. Huge line of cars... the minute we parked as instructed in a departure bay, a rep from the rental appeared and took the car. They probably have a chip which tells them where the car is. They would have charged us more if the return was after 9 am, but we made it by 8.30
We went into the train station, There are 10 trains every hour from airport to Centraal station.We had already bought the day return tickets online https://www.ns.nl/producten/en/losse-kaartjes-toeslagen took the train to Amsterdam to enjoy the city.
Here's a good self-guided walking map for Amsterdam:
Here's a good self-guided walking map for Amsterdam:
This was how we planned it:
This is the Centraal station. We started our walk from here.
DAM SQUARE:
Dam square lies in the historic center, 750 m south of the Central station. This is the neoclassical Royal Palace which served as the City hall from 1655 till it became the royal residence in 1808
There are pretty canals and lovely architecture and we walked on.
This is Herrengracht
This is Keizergracht (Emperor's canal) is the second and widest of the 3 canals in the center.
Thorbeckeplein, named after politician Thorbecke
Lousy Food and Warm Beer... right here... ha, ha, ha
Rembrandtplein (1876)... Rembrandt square. The cast iron statue of the painter was made in 1852
A bronze representation of his most famous painting Night Watch (1642)was made for the painter's 400th birthday in 2006... it continues to be in the square delighting us....
The painting is famous for three things: its colossal size (363 by 437 centimetres (12 by 14+1⁄2 feet)), the dramatic use of light and shadow (tenebrism) and the perception of motion in what would have been a static military group portrait.
The painting was completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age. It depicts the eponymous company moving out, led by Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and his lieutenant. With effective use of sunlight and shade, Rembrandt leads the eye to the three most important characters among the crowd: the two men in the centre (from whom the painting gets its original title), and the woman in the centre-left background carrying a chicken.
The square is popular with artists
These "çoffée shops" sell cannabis
This is a famous movie theater (1921), the interior and exterior are a stunning mix of styles
Had yummy Freshly fried Belgium fries at this vegan outlet, Maoz vegetarian. They have a nice variety of other vegetarian fare as well. Grab and go place with a couple of benches. Very crowded and justifiably so!
This is Blomenmarkt. it was the world's only floating flower market. Founded in 1862, it is sited on Singel between Muntplein and
Koningsplein in the city's southern canal belt.
When the market
was first established in 1862, the plants and flowers sold there were
brought to Amsterdam on barges via canal from various parts of the
city. It was easier to organize the market on the water than
transport all the plants to land.
Today, fresh flowers are still
brought in every day, but now they're delivered by land rather than
on the canals. The market stalls still rest on barges, but they are
permanently anchored here. It has 15 souvenir and gift shops,
with only a few still selling fresh flowers. Today, the market is one
of the main suppliers of dried tulip bulbs and tulip paraphernalia to
tourists
Again sights of the staples... cheese here
The original walk did not include this sqaure but I felt this square was worth visiting though we did not have time to visit the museums. I was wrong. The square was nothing special, I regret not going on toward Jordaan... that would have been preferable on hindsight.
We had not intended to visit Anne Frank's House but it would have been nice to see the exterior and the church whose bells she found comforting.
We'll be visiting all these on our next visit.
This is Rijksmuseum....
I was exhausted with all the walking and we decided to take a tram to the Centraal station and return to our hotel. I had intended to walk through De Wallen, there was no energy. We had seen a couple of red light windows on our walk though.
We got into a tram which had a huge desk with the control seated. We bought tickets from him using credit card... no cash allowed..
We already had our return tickets to the airport. We took the train and got down at the airport.
We knew there are 2 hotel Ramadas... we took care to board the one with sign airport. The platform to wait was across the regular ones... a little confusing but we made it to the shuttle and got to our hotel
We collected our bags we had kept with them in the morning. We checked in, reserved our slots for the shuttle to the airport in the morning. Called it a day.
Day 18, 1 MAY 2019, Monday:
We took our shuttle to the airport and boarded our flights home.
It had been a GREAT vacation in 4 lovely countries!
