O'Hare to Amsterdam

After months of anticipation and planning, the start of our Northern European adventure was finally at hand. We had an afternoon flight out of O'Hare so we started off our day with a stop at J. Alexander's at Oakbrook Center for some calamari and chicken fingers, not knowing when we might eat next. Then it was off to the airport. Check-in was largely uneventful, but there was a moment of panic when the agent could not get J. R.'s new passport to scan. But another agent told her to wait a few moments and then it processed. Security lines were light so we had several hours of sitting around the airport before boarding our KLM flight to Amsterdam. The flight to the Netherlands was smooth. We all tried to sleep a little on the plane but didn't have a lot of luck, so we made use of the seat-back entertainment, especially since our "window seat" was really just a blank wall.

Amsterdam

We arrived at Schipol airport in the early morning hours of 30 July, a little earlier than expected. The customs and immigration lines were light, but baggage claim was slow. J. R. and Rebecca walked a kilometer and a half to find a restroom and the bags had still not arrived. Janie then spotted a toilet just a few meters away.

All three bags arrived and we walked out to meet our driver. It took some time to find the meeting point and we were about a half hour early for the driver from Rudy's Taxi. He showed up on time and told us he had been waiting for us at the exit of customs because he didn't realize our plane was early. Oh well. We walked quite a distance to the parking area and our driver loaded our bags into his BMW and we were off to downtown Amsterdam. Our driver was very friendly and spoke fluent English. He pointed out a number of sites on our way to town and gave us some advice on what to see.

Our hotel was the Grand Amrath Amsterdam, which is located in the former customs house near the waterfront. Our room was not ready, but we expected that, so the front desk clerk checked our luggage for later pickup and we walked a short distance to Amsterdam Centraal Station to catch a tram. We wandered around a bit until we found the right kiosk to buy two day transit passes and then caught one of the trams.

The first destination was the Bloemenmarkt, a place where they sell tulip bulbs and wooden tulips. Becca wanted wooden tulips in a vase so we checked the place out with plans to come back later since we didn't want to carry anything around all day. After a quick stop at McDonald's for a Diet Coke and a cup of coffee since none of the cafes were open yet, we walked over to the nearby Heinen Delfts Blauw store. Delftware is found in many Dutch households and is enormously popular. The store had over 1300 different delft blue products and we found several we would be picking up later.

We caught another tram to the Museumkwartier (museum quarter). Our first stop was the Diamond Museum, as the ladies are always up for looking at shiny things. The museum was informative about how the diamond industry began and how diamonds are cut and polished. They had some replicas of famous diamonds and a few original pieces as well.

Moco Museum

Afterwards, we walked past the Moco Museum which features modern, contemporary and street art, which is not really our style. The museum was currently showing artwork by Bansky prompting simultaneous Tony Stark quotes from J. R. and Rebecca: "He did a Bansky at the crime scene."

Museumplein and Van Gogh Museum

Next we walked past the Van Gogh museum. We had decided we did not want to spend a lot of time or money on museums so we took in the architecture of the buildings instead.

Rijksmuseum

After a stroll across the courtyard, we ended up outside the Rijksmuseum. This ornate building contains paintings from Dutch painters including Rembrandt and Vermeer, but not being art fans, we instead enjoyed the old building, the Van Gogh gift shop.

Rijksmuseum Gardens

We took some time exploring the gardens surrounding the structure, including scaring Becca with the large spider structure in one of the courtyards.

Lunch

It was now time for lunch so we hopped a tram to Leidseplein to find somewhere to eat. We finally settled on a place called Bulldog and soaked in all of the aromas of Amsterdam while having some toasties and a Heineken. It wasn't really a true Amsterdam eating experience, but we had that planned for tomorrow.

Prinsengracht Canal

Following lunch, we took another tram to the Westerpark area where our first stop was the Tulip Museum, a small exhibit behind another tulip bulb vendor. This was less interesting than the Diamond Museum. They explained how the tulip was introduced to the Netherlands in the 16th century and the rise and crash of the tulip trade, but we were disappointed there weren't any real tulips on display.

Next door was the Amsterdam Cheese Museum. They had a small free display of cheese making equipment, but more important, samples of various Holland cheeses. We tried a few and found some we liked and would circle back to purchase a couple for dinner.

We had some time to kill before our 15:00 appointment to tour the Anne Frank House so the ladies found a pastry shop and J. R. bought some soft drinks at a grocery store and we sat on a bench and scared away the pigeons before finding another spot beside the canal to sit and wait for our tour.

Anne Frank House

Promptly at 15:00, we were let into the Anne Frank House. This was the actual dwelling where 15-year-old Anna Marie Frank penned her journal while hiding for months in a cramped attic space during the Nazi occupation of Holland. We had a superb talk from one of the curators who used pictures and artifacts from the house to walk us through the history of the Frank family, the Nazi invasion and the conditions Frank and her sister endured while hiding with their parents. Frank was found and taken to a work camp on the last train from Holland and she died there shortly before the camp was liberated.

Grand Hotel Amrath

After our tour of the house, we walked back to the cheese shop and picked up a couple of blocks of cheese, some crackers and some Stroopwaffles which would be our evening meal. We caught another tram back to Centraal Station and walked to our hotel. A porter helped us take our luggage up to our room, a charming two room suite overlooking one of the canals. The room was set up with three beds, two pushed together in one room to make a king and the other a rollway in what was usually a study. Becca got the honors of using that room, with a large wooden desk for her to work on her college applications. The room included a complimentary minibar with sodas, whiskey, vodka and rum, which we would take advantage of. The only downside was the lack of air conditioning in the room. The large windows had heated up the room throughout the day and it took awhile to cool off. Becca was also sad the pool was closed for repairs. It had been a long night and day after an overnight flight, so we turned in early after eating a little cheese and crackers and enjoying a bottle of champagne.