Spring Break 2014 - The Netherlands - Day 3

First on the list for the day was the Anne Frank house.

 

 

This is the church (Westerkirk) near the Frank's hiding spot with the bells Anne listened to every day.

 

The kids were not familiar with Anne's story, so I got them some books to read before hand.  And it's a good thing we brought them to read in line...

because the line was pretty out of control!  Inside was really moving, and I'm glad that the children got to see it.

There's a series of these Oreo signs all over Amsterdam.  The kids were constantly searching for new ones.

Feeding the birds in Dam square:

 

 

We saw these EVERYWHERE.  Sometimes toting kids, sometimes toting groceries, sometimes toting both!

 

 

I hadn't planned on visiting the Rijksmuseum (the Dutch national museum), but the kids were clamoring to see Rembrandt paintings (how can you say no to that??), so we spent our afternoon there.

 

 

 

We did three different tours on our audio guides.  The kids hunted down each piece we were being told about.

 

The building itself is a work of art.  This part is called The Hall of Fame, and leads you to the famous...

Night Watch.  This area of the museum was built specifically to house this piece.

 

Love this.  It's probably about the size of a dinner plate.  After looking at painting after painting, this sculpture just struck me as so cool.  Practically alive.

 

We were on our way out of the museum before we even realized there was an Asian art area.  We came around the corner to find Nico admiring the art.

 

The museum was built to have this pedestrian/bike tunnel running right through it.

 

 

Although I could have spent days here, reading every sign and seeing every piece, it was nice that the kids were excited enough to be here a few hours.  Not a bad way to spend our last afternoon in Amsterdam.  We're leaving in the morning!

 

 

Spring Break 2014 - The Netherlands - Day 2

Putting the tram drama of the day before behind, we set off for Day 2. 

First up?  Canal boat tour!

 

Audio guides rock.

 

A concrete bottomed boat

 

Just hanging up the laundry...

It cracks me up that the symbol on the Amsterdam city crest is 'XXX'

 

 

Back on the tram...



 Not scared of riding the tram (and being left behind!) at all.  :)

 

We stopped off at Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square) to check out this sculpture.  It's based on Rembrandt's famous "Night Watch" painting, arguably his most famous.  Although we didn't learn all that until later!

 

 

Back on the tram and off to Rembrandt's House.  Although very successful during his lifetime, Rembrandt was a terrible manager of his money.  He bought a very expensive house, then couldn't afford the mortgage.  He declared bankruptcy, and they inventoried his entire home.  Those records still exist, and his house has now been restored to how it was during Rembrandt's time.

 

Another audio guide!  This museum had one specifically geared towards children.  There was an activity book with pages for each room, things to find, questions to answer.  It was the best one of the whole trip.

 

The other great thing about Rembrandt House was the demonstrations of Rembrandt's techniques.  This man showed how etchings are made.

 



 

The kids even got to help.

Upstairs in Rembrandt's main studio, this woman showed how Rembrandt's paint would have been made.

 

Highly recommend this museum!

 

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What a better way to end the day than with pancakes?

 

 

 

Charlotte's new obsession.  Powdered sugar shaker!

 

Another great day in Amsterdam!

Spring Break 2014 - The Netherlands - Day 1

And we're off!

 

Favorite thing about the airport in Amsterdam...the KLM shop with life sized engine:

 



We took a train from the airport to the Central Train station, on a pink train no less!

 

And here's where the drama of Day 1 begins.  As soon as we bought our transit passes in the city, I realized I left my clipboard on the train from the airport.  What was on said clipboard?  Every bit of planning I'd done for the trip, all our confirmations, directions to all the places we were going for the week.  Everything.  But I'm a cool, go-with-the-flow girl, so off we hop onto our tram to get to our hotel.  I remembered exactly the stop we needed, so we were all good there.  We sit in the back of the tram, toting all our luggage and head through the city.  The kids were jazzed, and I hadn't been in Amsterdam in years and years.  We were all excited.  We approach our stop and wrangle our luggage to the door.  It was a little confusing with buttons and gates, but we figure it out, and off hops Charlotte as Tom handles her suitcase.  He's about ready to get off....when the doors shut and off goes the tram.  Tom and I FREAK OUT.  Here's our baby outside all alone at a tram stop in Amsterdam(albeit a really nice part).  Her eyes are as big as saucers and we're screaming at her "Just stay there! Just stay there!".  Pulling away from her was about the most powerless I've ever felt.  A very nice gentlemen next to us who saw what happened tells us the next stop isn't too far (although the 1/2 mile or whatever seemed like an eternity), but it might be better to walk back rather than wait for the tram headed back that way.  You think??  We get off at the next stop and Tom proceeds to sprint back to the previous stop.  Nicholas and I followed behind pulling the luggage.  By the time we caught up with them, Charlotte and Tom were laughing and carrying on as if nothing had happened.  Honestly, I don't think she was even phased.  But the mantra of the day (and the trip!) became - Parent, Kid, Kid, Parent.  Parent, Kid, Kid, Parent.  You can bet we'll never let a kid off the tram first again!

We asked at our hotel about a dinner place with great local food.  They recommended one, Pantry, a short walk away.  Gotta love these walkable European cities!

Admittedly, the Dutch food wasn't the most attractive, but it was tasty!

Bitterballen - a crunchy breadcrumb coating filled with a gooey mixture of chopped beef, beef broth, flour, butter, herbs and spices

Stampot - Mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables.  Nicholas chose the one mixed with carrots and onions (stampot hutspot) with a sausage on top.

Tom and I got the stampot sampler - stampot hutspot, stamppot boerenkool (with kale) and stampot zuurkool (with sauerkraut).  The meatball served on my sampler was amazing.

They needed our table (we snuck in promising to eat quickly since we didn't have a reservation), so we left without dessert.  But Tom had spotted a Ben and Jerry's on the tram ride earlier, so we finished off our Dutch meal with good ol' American ice cream.

 

Back to the hotel to rest up for Day 2!