Early next morning I was woken by the rumble of a passing freight train seven floors below which in my half sleep sounded like my next door neighbour putting the wheelie bin out and for a moment I was transported back home and had forgotten to put the refuse out and in an unnecessary panic this woke me completely.
I lay for a while reflecting on the first day in Amsterdam and planning the second and I began to regret that we hadn’t booked a second night in the city because we didn’t have enough time to do all of the things that we would have liked to.
Have Bag, Will Travel 
It’s a great shame they don’t have Persil voucher tours any more. Do they even have Persil any more? The super clean Dutch would welcome anyone who gets here thanks to using lots of soap.
I agree that the Van Gogh Museum can be a bit of a let-down, though there are fabulous temporary exhibitions there from time to time.
I like Rembrandthuis very much and must get to the newly renovated Maritime Museum.
We have annual Museum Cards (excellent value at EUR40 and I recommend them to visitors spending any time in town) which get us into any museum in the country as often as we like. So we can duck in for 20 minutes to look at one painting, and not feel we have to spend hours looking at things we don’t like or understand, just to get our money’s worth.
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Good tip for a future visit – thnks!
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I can think of so many places where I regretted not having enough time to poke and explore. Too many wonders, never enough time….. but I enjoy the armchair travel through your pictures and stories. Thanks!
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Thanks for the comment
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Andrew – Your reminiscence of the tourist excursion to Volendam that you made 30 years ago, leads me to wonder if you remember the hazardous three point turn that ALL coaches used to have to make there back then?
The back of the bus used to hover over the 10 foot drop into the water, and the back wheels were only 2 feet from the edge (when the reversing manoeuvre stopped).
Gosh, all the coach drivers needed maximum concentration at such moments.
Shades of the closing scene in The Italian Job.
BTW, I am with you on Edam. It has always puzzled me how this cheese outsells its far superior rival GOUDA at least 2 to 1 here in Britain.
The 400g GOUDA slices on sale here in LIDL represent the best tasting cheese slices that I can find ANYWHERE, and are great value to boot.
Looking forward to our walk tomorrow.
Kindest,
Dai Woosnam (Grimsby, UK)
daigress@hotmail.com
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Hooray! You’ve got me singing “Tulips from Amsterdam” and clog dancing round the kitchen. Quite ruining my husband’s Easter. Have a good one!
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Thanks – you too!
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Like the clogs. Is that you?!
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Thanks for reading – Yes, that’s me in 1977!
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Love the tall masted ship!
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Wonderful isn’t it? Thanks for reading!
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Hi,
It really would be a shame to see some traditions fade out, but I suppose over time it is inevitable as generations do their own thing.
I love museums, no matter where we go I always want to visit the museum, there is always so much to learn about the history of the area.
I totally agree with you about paintings, I don’t really know much about art, but I know what I like, and I can see two different paintings from the one artist, and love the first one, and not like the second at all. 🙂
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Thanks for reading!
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I love the picture with the clogs! I too bought some clogs in Holland (many moons ago, when we used to live in Germany) and they were heavy and uncomfortable, don´t know how the Dutch manage to walk on them or still sell them to unsuspecting tourists.
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Thanks for the comment.
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I really enjoyed the van gogh museum when I went and I don’t remember seeing any gaps, but then we are talking 25-30 years ago. Is that Maritime the newish museum (well, it was new more than 30 years ago) somewhere near the water or is that a different one?
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Same one – just reopened after a refurbishment.I think I was unlucky when I went to the Van Gogh and a lot of the paintings happened to be in London! I shouldn’t complain though because last year I went to Castres in France and there was a Goya exhibition which must have meant that art galleries in Madrid were short of a few exhibits!
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