Having taken a few business trips to Amsterdam at the end of the nineties, I have been patiently waiting to take Mary to the Netherlands for almost two decades. The timing was finally perfect during the 2018 holidays. So we flew directly from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson to Schipol Airport and walked out of Amsterdam Centraal on Christmas day.
Yep, those are shadows on the ground. And this is the sun shining on the train station:
We were lucky, we stayed for one week and it barely rained on us. But we didn't see the sun too often after hiking to our hotel. We chose the Grand Hotel Amrâth Amsterdam since it is only a couple of blocks from Amsterdam Centraal and it is perfectly located for exploring the city. Plus it came with a nice bonus: the mini-bar was restocked every night -- gratis.
The Science Museum is a short walk from our hotel. When it's open you can walk up a steep incline to the top, where you get this panoramic view of the city (hotel is a bit right of center):
In the opposite direction, behind the hotel and towards the center of town, is the Red Light District. You are not supposed to take photos there at night (unless you want to chance getting your phone thrown into a canal), so here's a shot during the day. Imagine a mass of humanity on either side of the canal and ladies of night pressing against the glass doors and windows at the lower left in the picture:
It's cheesy and touristy, but if you visit Amsterdam you have to take a canal tour. Heck, they give them away with the 1/2/3-day mass transit passes. Ours was free with the windmill tour we had booked. Now, it's a "plug in earbuds and choose your language" audio tour. The personalized boat tours (sometimes with dinner) and the nighttime "lights tours" cost extra.
The canal tours only take an hour. Amsterdam is not a large metropolis. Which means it's the perfect city for walking around and enjoying the canal homes and the watery homes where you might have to mow the roof:
As folks walk around the city they inevitably arrive at Dam Square, where the Royal Palace resides.
Amsterdam has some fantastic museums. We hit all of the famous places: that Royal Palace, the Anne Frank House (no pictures, can't even take your cell phone out), the Van Gogh Museum, and the Rijksmuseum (which is most famous for Rembrandt's "Night Watch"):
There's now a "3-D version" of the "Night Watch" on the nearby Rembrandtplein square,
I mentioned the windmill tour, but it's much more than that. It was a bus tour of "Netherlands Greatest Hits": Cheese Factory in Voledam, Wooden Shoe Factory in Marken, and working windmills in Zaandam. Highly recommended. The knick knacks at each inevitable gift shop are a rip-off, but their actual products, such as the cheese wheels, are much more reasonably-priced on the tour than inside the city. We learned that Dutch cheese goes great with spicy pepper mustard.
Dutch cuisine ... is ... special. Are you fond of herring? Are you OK with swallowing small spines throughout the meal? Pass. They're also big into pancakes. Already mentioned the cheese, which is terrific. If you have a sweet tooth then stroopwafels are for you. Mary brought some back to have with her coffee. But the best meals I remembered from my business trips last century was rijsttafel, which is not from the Netherlands. It is an Indonesian rice table. This is one time where we believe it's fine to take a picture of your food since it truly is worth a 1K words:
Lastly, when in Amsterdam, try to make the time to sit outside a cafe and take in the city. It's a superb people-watching place. Or go to a "coffee shop" if that thing is more to your liking. Just be careful when you go inside, because not everyone enjoys the same ambience.
P.S. Everyone we dealt with spoke English. And sometimes Spanish as well.
