The train ride to Amsterdam was smooth but as soon as we exited the central station we knew that we were no longer in Rotterdam. We had been warned by Madelon that we were going to see a lot more people and that it was going to be much more crazy. It was over a kilometer walk to our house so we took a bus for a few stops to get us closer. Even from there the walk was more than enough. Amsterdam has these skinny little sidewalks with narrow streets and the whole thing about the bicycles, it is true. There are fewer cars than I expected but the number of bicycles is crazy. You can't really utilize the sidewalk because the parked bicycles are taking up most of it. Dragging heavy luggage through the busy streets was not fun. In fact it was about as fun as dragging said luggage up three more flights of stairs to get to our apartment.
This was our building in the "Jordaan" neighborhood area, which was a very nice part of Amsterdam compared to other areas that we saw. We again chose this based on direction from Madelon. We had the upper floors and our windows looked out over the neighborhood that had a small Italian restaurant across the street and a playground in the middle median of the street.
That evening we put our feet up and had a rest after our day of touring and travel. The kids went outside and played on the playground with the neighborhood families. The apartment owner actually uses our apartment when it is not rented. He also has the second floor space and lives just in there when the rental space is occupied. The apartment had a nice kitchen with good appliances and he had a lot of audio/video equipment in a large living room space. All of the bedrooms were up another flight of stairs and there was only one bathroom for all of us on the main level. Having one toilet and shower was not the problem, it was that we had one toilet and one shower in a quarter size space. The toilet and shower were separated by a wall, which was good; but when you can't pull your pants up without bumping your head or knees or something else it is a problem. It was the same with the shower, there was enough space in the shower, just nowhere to dry off or get dressed. It was part of the experience I guess, otherwise the apartment was great.
We did venture out that evening to a traditional Dutch restaurant not too far from our apartment. We got to see some of the canals in Amsterdam for the first time.
The next morning it was Friday. This was looking like our last day of good weather so we decided to head out of the city to see the famous Keukenhof tulip gardens. It is only open for two months each year and has over two million visitors over that time. We happened to plan this trip during that stretch and wanted to see it. We had to walk to the central station to catch a ride back to the airport where the Keukenhof shuttle bus would pick us up. These pictures are of the central station (much different than the Rotterdam station) and the surrounding area.
We tried to get an early start, but once we found the shuttle pick up spot at the airport we quickly realized just how many people were going to be there. The snaked line was backed up past the barriers and within a few minutes of us arriving the line got much longer. We had to wait for the fifth bus before we got on one to make the drive. On the drive we saw many fields of flowers. When we got close to our destination it was a traffic jam. It was a traffic jam due to all of the buses and cars headed to the same place that we were going. Our driver actually turned around and drove another twenty minutes to approach from another direction. We finally arrived and walked in.
I thought this was just open fields full of tulips, but it was more like the botanical gardens in Dallas where you have these manicured lawn and garden areas with all sorts of flowers, plus the tulip fields in the distance.
We started walking through the gardens first and quickly realized that we were a few days too early to see this in full bloom. There was a lot of greenery and you could see the flowers forming but not many opening up yet.
They had a large green house area that did have many blooms on display.
The big attraction was the rows of tulip fields in various colors as far as the eye can see. The kids and I went up to the top of this windmill to get a view. There was almost nothing to see. The picture above was only possible when I zoomed in all the way, 250mm, to some distant fields. It was confirmed that we were too early for this too. Most of the fields close by we dirt even, it was really disappointing.
We took a break and tried this Dutch sandwich with hot pork and a fresh roll, it was good. We also tried out a waffle.
This was the only tulip field that had any blooms and close by you can see a few other colors that were getting ready to bloom. This field was closer but the picture is still zoomed in at 106mm to get the shot. Below was one of my favorite displays in the gardens with the mixture of flowers and colors. Overall we were pretty disappointed. It was a really pretty place but we did not get to see what we came there for. I have to think that literally hundreds of buses and who knows how many cars going to this one place in the middle of the countryside most of the people were anticipating seeing the tulip fields. I also think that a large number of these people were overall disappointed too. The place was very beautiful and will be even more when all of the flowers are in bloom, but I did feel a little bait and switch for my entry fee. It was still a nice day spent outside and we had more on the agenda for the day.
We made it back to the central station and Madelon took us on a walk around the city center. We strolled around the Red Light District known as "Wallen". There were various sites and smells around this area to take in. Eventually we made it to the main square in the city center. Pictured below is the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and a 15th century church to the right of the palace, in the background. There was a shopping area and a memorial to the people that died in WWII. It was very crowded with people enjoying the sun.
We continued making our circle and heading in the direction of our apartment. Here we came across the Anne Frank house and this memorial. We did not go inside since the line was so long and the online tickets were sold out. Also, they recommend children be over 10 years old to enter. Instead we found a canal side table and sat down to take in the sun and some Dutch treats.
Madelon introduced us to Bitterballen at this cafe. It is a meatball looking thing that is very different and hard to describe. We sat here for a while and enjoyed the weather and beverages. After that we continued our walk past another cafe that has a Dutch style type of apple pie that Madelon wanted us to try. It was also very good.
That evening we picked up a few groceries and Madelon made some dinner that we enjoyed along with our Rotterdam port and some Dutch goat cheese in the apartment. The kids played outside for a while and we had some music playing for what was our last evening of the trip.
Saturday there was rain in the forecast but that did not stop us from having a full program once again. We packed up everything and left our bags in the apartment. The flight was not until this evening so off we went.
We first went to this market in the "Pijp" area of Amsterdam. Along with souvenir shopping and Cindy buying a selfie stick, yes she did, we tried some more food. David found churros again, he loves them after getting them at the Texas Rangers game a few years ago. We found them in London and he has seen them several times in Holland. We also found some fresh stroopwafels that are round caramel like syrup filled cinnamon waffle things. There was a little bit of rain starting while we were at the market. After a coffee break at a cafe we headed towards the museum square area.
This area has the Van Gogh, Stedelijk, and Rijksmuseum among others. The tulips were blooming here.........
In front of the Rijksmuseum are the I amsterdam letters that are popular for tourists.
We hung out here for a few minutes. For now the rain was holding off.
Down the street a little ways we decided to take the Heineken experience tour. We have been to several brewery tours in Germany, this one turned out to be a little different.
Along with the history of the brand and the common explanation of the beer making process they had some interactive experiences. There was a 4D experience where the group was participating in the process of becoming beer. It was a screen with a moving platform that blew wind and sprayed water while we became beer.
Above the kids are singing along to a Dutch song superimposed into this video from a green screen.
Cindy and I got into it with the Dutch bicycles and a green screen. You don't know when the picture is going to be taken, so below I look like I am scared of Godzilla or something, not sure what was going on there.
Cindy's knowledge of beer paid off as she quickly answered all of the questions about beer and won additional tasting glasses full of Heineken. So this was a great success, even the kids had fun at the Heineken experience.
By now the rain had moved in and the wind was really blowing. Madelon found a close by cafe that served these plate sized pancakes. I had one with bacon cooked into it with the thick dark Dutch syrup. We waited out the rain for a bit then figured out that a tram stop was pretty close by.
We made it back to the apartment and stopped at the Italian restaurant across the street. We had a little bit longer to burn before heading to the airport. We shared a little food and decided this would be the last meal until we made it home. The rain was gone and the sky was clearing. The kids played on the playground one more time. Madelon found out that the trains were not running to the airport today due to construction. Luckily we had our apartment host set up a taxi service for us to get there. In the end I am glad we made this decision. It would have taken multiple bus changes to get there otherwise. Instead it was a quick easy ride to the airport.
The airport process was fine and our plane left on time and arrived early into Munich. There we found out that Bernhard was trying to get to the airport via train to meet Madelon. Something was wrong and the trains were not running. Instead he got into their car and came out. After we got our bags we stood around trying to figure out what to do. The trains were not running but there was not really information posted to tell us if they would be running soon. It came down to a few people could ride in the car and the rest take an expensive cab ride. There was no way we could get three huge suitcases, three backpacks, a laptop bag, two purses, and six people in the small car the Kellers own.......or was there? To all of our surprise it fit!! I cannot say that everyone was secured properly and I am sure that the backseat occupants were very uncomfortable. Bernhard took it slow and safe for the short trip home. It all worked out in the end and Bernhard got credit for the airport save. It was after 11pm after a long day or touring and travel at the end of an exhausting trip. We were all glad to get back. Big thanks to Madelon too for her great planning and making the trip so fun and memorable.
This week we are back to our routine, kind of. The kids are in school and Cindy is working. The difference is that it is spring time in Bavaria and the weather is nice. David has started outdoor baseball again and he is going to play games with two teams. Also, we have started our plans for transitioning back to Dallas. We have a few more short journeys planned for our remaining time here, otherwise we are thinking about getting back home in July.
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