Welsand's in London

Tulip Time in Holland

For our trip in May we traveled to Amsterdam, Holland which is part of the Netherlands. We had four days to explore the city and culture of the Dutch. It was incredible how well everyone in the country speaks English. We finally had decent weather for this trip. While it rained a bit everyday, it didn't affect our plan which was a relief.

Wednesday, May 17
We arrived in Amsterdam in the morning after a quick 45 minute flight from London. After a short train ride and then a tram ride we made our way to the hotel by 11 a.m. Thankfully were allowed to check into our hotel room early. Afterwards, we ventured out to get some lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a little cool, but felt good to enjoy our meal outside.

Taking a cruise to view the canals and waterways was recommended to us by several people and our travel book, so that was next. We couldn't have picked a more perfect time to do this. The sun was out and it was actually hot! Amsterdam has almost 50 miles of canals, our cruise covered only a few of them in the hour, but it gave us a great view of the city. Sophie loved seeing all the ducks and coots in the water, and Jeremy saw a stork!

After the cruise we walked around the center of the city, shopping a bit, and finally making our way to the Anne Frank House. Sophie had fallen asleep in the buggy so Jeremy was kind and walked around with her while I visited this by myself. This was the actual hiding place of Anne Frank and her family. It was an emotional experience and one that makes you think could something like this happen in our future?


Thursday, May 18


On this day we ventured by tram, train and then bus to the Keukenhof park, the most beautiful spring park. It was gorgeous! While we were past the peak of bulb season, there were still so many tulips and other spring flowers blooming it was overwhelming and the most amazing displays of flowers we had ever seen! Unbelievable! We spent the entire day at this park, enjoying every minute of it! Sophie could not get enough of the flowers, smelling them, trying to pick them; she even "hugged" them. And, her most favorite teddy right now is a frog she has named Tad (given to her from Auntie Jill) smelled as many flowers as she did! This was the 57th year of the flower displays at Keukenhof.

There are many different garden styles ranging from the English landscape garden which Keukenhof is based, to the historical garden with old tulip types, the the nature garden with a unique combination of bulbs, perennials and shrubs to the Japanese country garden. In addition there were beautiful sculptures throughout the park which enhanced the experience for us, if only we could have afforded one...There were many pavilions in the park as well, each included a different display of flowers. Our favorite was the orchid pavilion. We had never seen so many different types of orchid in one location, all equally beautiful and unique. Jeremy and I each picked our favorites for photos, or we would have taken several rolls of film in just that building! We took over two rolls at the park as it was. This was by far the highlight of the trip for us and well worth the hour plus trip outside the city it took for us to travel there. If you are a flower lover this is a must! We did miss the bloom of tulip fields in the country which was a bummer, late April-early May would be the absolute ideal time to go, more crowds, but also more flowers. To view all the pictures we took, check out our photo site at http://welsand.shutterfly.com

Friday, May 19
This day was our "museum" day. We started with the Rijksmuseum, the country's largest national museum which houses 17th century Dutch art. The museum possesses 7 million pieces of art, but only a fraction is on display. And the main building is currently being renovated so only the Philips Wing was open. However, the positive is that the wing displayed the most important and popular pieces and was very manageable to get through within an hour. The museum's most prized possesion is The Night Watch by Rembrandt. It was a large piece, but was originally even larger but it was drastically cut down in 1715 when it was moved to the town hall and the other pieces were lost. In 1975 it was slashed but repaired. It was interesting to learn more about the Golden Age in the 17th century in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.

Next, we took a free tour of Coster Diamonds. I didn't realize that Holland is so well known for its diamonds. Diamonds are one of the top 10 souvenirs to purchase; I don't think that Jeremy understood that! The tour was less than expected and was literally a guided walk up to the showroom. We did learn about all the shapes of diamonds while on the walk up.

In the afternoon, we visited the anticipated Van Gogh Museum. This museum has the world's largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, housing more than 200 paintings, including many of his masterpieces. In addition, there are pieces by other 19th century painters and sculptors, but of course the highlights were the pieces by van Gogh. Sophie has several books with paintings by van Gogh in them which we took along to keep her occupied. She had a great time identifying pictures on the walls that were in her books (as did mommy!). We really enjoying this museum, it was well worth the money spent on admission! There was a band playing classical music in the atrium which we could hear throughout the museum which was fantastic and added to the visit.

Saturday, May 20
During our last morning in Amsterdam we visited the Amstelkring Museum or also known as Our Lord in the Attic. It was listed as #4 on the top 10 highlights of Amsterdam. It is Amsterdam's oldest museum. It is a 17th century town house with a church in the attic. In 1661, Jan Hartman, a merchant, bought three adjacent buildings. His family lived on the ground floor and the loft he converted into a secret Catholic church, because at that time it was officially forbidden to celebrate mass. In 1888 the house became a museum. Our Lord in the Attic is the only hidden Catholic church to have survived practically in its original state! It was very interesting and the church itself was small but gorgeous! I could just imagine people congregating in secret to worship in it, how that must have felt, that I can't fully imagine.

Food in Amsterdam
There were so many options of food in Amsterdam it was fantastic! There were almost too many restaurants to choose from. Jeremy had the best steak he has had in a long time. I savored the nachos I got at a Mexican restaurant one night. Of course the pancakes aka pannenkoekens were delicious, Sophie really loved them!

Other notes from Amsterdam
Of course Amsterdam is known for its Red Light District, but since we are old and traveling with child, we did not experience the "party" side of Amsterdam in any way shape or form which was okay with us.

The city was quite expensive, comparable to London, more expensive than we anticipated. We did manage to purchase a few gifts, including some traditional wooden shoes for Sophie that cost $30, which seemed a bit pricey to us.

The architecture in Amsterdam is interesting and unique. The buildings are so tall and thin. Love all the shutters! The canals are gorgeous, but a bit dirty, as in any major city with water, wouldn't want to take a swim in them. The culture was extremely nice and child friendly. Sophie got extra attention from servers, children on the bus, and passerby's, all of which she loves--she can be such a ham! While Jeremy did have to work a bit, we managed to relax and enjoy ourselves in Holland and overall had a great trip! Again, all photos from this trip can be viewed at http://welsand.shutterfly.com. Cheers!

posted by Chris @ 1:59 PM