Amsterdam

Dec 10, 2014 11:01

Last weekend my sister and I took a trip to Amsterdam. Three days packed with museums, sightseeing and some shopping. While I had been to town before it had usually been for daytrips in order to shop or to visit a museum, so this was a new experience.

At the airport I was greeted by two Zwarte Piet due to the 5th being Holland’s Nicholas day. We spotted further ones all throughout town.
Since Friday was a half day for us we were happy to realize that the van Gogh museum stays open until 10pm on Fridays thus buying us some more time. Thus we first headed to the Rembrandthuis. The museum combines reconstructed rooms, artwork and workshops. We participated in a half hour etching class and were able to take away our own little print at the end. Still having some time before dinner we explored some of the close by shopping streets on both sides of the Amsel. One of the shops we discovered can only be described as a chocoholic’s heaven.
If you love chocolate Pucini should be a must visit. After dinner we headed to the van Gogh museum , which also hosted performance art that evening in form of rearranged James Bond music set to virtualized art experimentations.

Saturday was bright and reasonably warm so we spent the entire day, with the exception of a Grachten tour, outdoors exploring the Dam area, Begijnhof, the 9 Streets and Jordaan. Loads of little shops, a good chunk of them rather quaint, some lovely cafés and hilariously warped houses made our flat feet worth the while. We also discovered to yummy spots to eat: Mazzo and Ku Kitchen.

While Saturday’s weather had favored us, Sunday decided that dreary and rainy late autumn weather was the call of the day. Hence we commenced the second leg of our museum itinerary. We started with the small houseboat museum and then headed over to the Grachtenhuis. The Grachtenhuis is a museum dedicated to the development of the canals and Amsterdam as a city. We both loved the way they used modern technology to highlight planning, building and living in the city throughout the centuries. Our last stop was the Amsterdam Museum that introduces the visitor to the history of the city using artefacts, films and plenty of information.
We ended our trip with a huge mug of cocoa at the central station’s Starbuck that is well worth a visit in order to take a sneak peak at the wonderfully restored original ceilings.


museum, amsterdam, exhibition, holiday

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