Monday, June 17, 2019

Netherlands Trip Report Day 17: Amsterdam

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:


This was how we planned it:



This is the Centraal station. We started our walk from here.












SAY CHEEEESE...
Orange clothes for the King's day

Of course, the ubiquitous tulips...

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
Near the Royal palace is the Nieuwe kerk... new church...
This Madame Tussads is the first foreign branch of the British institution of wax models of famous people





This is the National Monument , a white stone pillar erected in 1956 to memorialize victims of World War II





This is the Old church square... Oudekerksplein... with the 14th century church. Rembrandt was a frequent visitor to the Oude Kerk and his children were all christened here. It is the only building in Amsterdam that remains in its original state since Rembrandt walked its halls.
Oudekerksplein lies at the heart of the RED LIGHT district of De Wallen. There are some 35 windows behind which prostitutes offer their services. This statue 'Belle' says Respect prostitutes all over the world.
Bronze relief set in the cobblestones...prostitution is legal in the Netherlands.


There was cleaning crew in many streets even at 11 am and noon, the noise, the litter, the harsh smell of the disinfectant being sprayed made it unpleasant for a stroll. Guess it's because of the previous day celebrations for King's day.

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.






Statue of Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher, mathematician. The quote at the base reads The goal of the state is Freedom.








Prinsengracht (Prince's canal) the longest canal






Thorbeckeplein, named after politician Thorbecke
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

Cheese shop...

Munttoren (Mint tower) in the background...
Munttoren (Mint tower) here... it was built as part of the medieval city wall between 1480-87. It was used to mint coins. Rebuilt in 1620. The carillon has 38 bells which chime every 15 minutes

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


 Diamonds...
 Located at the Museumplein (museum square)are three major museums – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, and Stedelijk Museum – and the concert hall Concertgebouw. House of Bols, Diamond Museum, Coster Diamonds, Moco Museum. We are huge museum fans and have enjoyed Rembrandt and Van Gogh in our Houston museum as well as countless museums around the world

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! 

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