We began our month-long tour of northwest Europe with five days in Amsterdam. Photos from our day trip to Zannse Schans, Edam, Volendam, and Marken are in this post. Here are photos from the rest of our time in Amsterdam.
We were fortunate to find a rental apartment just a couple of blocks from Museumplein (Museum Square, although it’s actually a rectangle). Several of Amsterdam’s most popular attractions are at Museumplein – the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, and Concertgebouw.
We visited the Rijksmuseum during our previous trip to Amsterdam in 2013, so we didn’t revisit it. We highly recommend it, though. It’s huge. It’s overflowing with a wealth of Dutch art and history, including works by 17th-century Dutch masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer. After spending several hours exploring everything inside, we were museum-ed out. We intended to visit the Van Gogh museum that day, but we were too exhausted. So on our return visit, we definitely wanted to visit the Van Gogh, which we did.
A temporary exhibit at the Van Gogh (located in the newer round building on the right) highlighted Vincent’s life before he became an artist and the crucial support his family provided, especially his brother Theo. That greatly heightened our knowledge and appreciation for both the art and the artist.
The Stedelijk Museum was … meh. We’ve learned that contemporary art museums can be hit or miss, and this one was mostly a miss. Been there, done that, don’t recommend.
If you have visited the Phoenix Art Museum in the past (at least) ten years, you’ve probably enjoyed the “Fireflies” exhibit by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. This is another of her works. Yes, those are hundreds of phallic objects in a rowboat. If you look closely, you can spot two women’s shoes.
We have no idea what it means. The wall plaque provided no enlightenment.
We didn’t get to attend a concert there, but we assume it’s fabulous inside.
Here’s the street our apartment was on, and the front entrance. While the buildings were probably well over 100 years old, the interior was modern and well-kept. Other buildings on our block were being renovated.
This was right around the corner from our apartment. If you’re a musician (especially a clarinetist), you’ll appreciate the significance. Buffet is one of the world’s best clarinet makers.
Esh Pitabar was our favorite restaurant. We could tell it was a favorite of the locals, too, because it was always full while many of the other nearby restaurants had only a few patrons. We ate there three times during our visit.
On Monday, we took the free ferry from Amsterdam Centraal Station across the Ij River to see the Eye Filmmuseum, The A’DAM Tower, and This is Holland, a flyover adventure similar to the Flyover Canada and Iceland attractions we enjoyed in Vancouver.
The visually and architecturally stunning white building houses the Eye Filmmuseum. The building was much more interesting than the exhibits inside. Their featured exhibit sucked. That was 16€ each and an hour of our lives we’ll never get back.
The A’DAM tower has an interesting story. The black portion of the building was previously occupied by Shell. When they vacated the building, the winning proposal for repurposing the building went to a pair of individuals who envisioned it as an entertainment and creative center. The white floors at the top, offset by 450, were added onto the building during the renovation.
On the right side are swings that enable people to swing out over the edge of the building. We weren’t interested in that, but they also had a virtual reality ride that simulated a high-speed rollercoaster ride through downtown Amsterdam. That was fun!
The top of the building also provided an excellent vantage point for looking out over the Amsterdam area in all directions. Of course, there were plenty of opportunities to buy food and drink at premium prices.
Overall, the A’DAM Tower delivered some value but wasn’t worth the price of 16.50€ each. “This is Holland” was definitely worthwhile.
And there was this. We spotted a few of these during our time in Amsterdam. They would have been handy in Portugal (especially in São Miguel and Madeira) for navigating the narrow streets and tiny parking places, although they probably lack the horsepower to make it up the steep hills.
In conclusion, we enjoyed Amsterdam. Five days was about right. We were underwhelmed by some of the attractions, but we enjoyed the ambiance. Next – Arnhem.