Continuing our city breaks we went to Amsterdam for my birthday. It’s so easy to get there now on the Eurostar. Just four hours from Kings Cross straight into the centre of Amsterdam with no changes.
A top money saving tip is to get the first train of the day at 6.15am and make sure your return is the first out of Amsterdam (6.40am) as the train fare is dirt cheap. We stayed at the Travel Lodge at Kings Cross the night before. Here I am in my favourite pub in Kings Cross, the Benjamin Arms, enjoying a lovely zero percent Guinness (game changer by the way if you haven’t tried it).
The other advantage of getting that train is that you arrive in Amsterdam really early. The disadvantage is you get really unlucky like us and have 2 people who think its a great idea to chat really loudly for the whole 4 hour journey. Its 6.15am! Why do people not see that’s really annoying. I know, I’m getting too miserable in my old age.
We walked from Amsterdam Centraal station to the B&B Kate had found. I was very dismissive of her booking it as it was a tiny B&B in a back street. But I was wrong. The place, called The Lastage Inn, was class. It was owned by an English guy called Matt and his German partner, and they were great value. He was from Islington so a big Arsenal fan but never mind. The house was beautiful. Very Amsterdam. Tall and thin. Top rated on Booking.com. I forgot to take a photo but here is a different similar looking house to give you an idea.
The bedroom we had was perfect, and his breakfasts were out of this world. The only shame is that the Dutch government are trying to limit tourists so they have started to tax places like this massively. Its meant that they are having to sell up and buy a chateau in France which is a real shame. But we will definitely be going there when it’s open.
Amsterdam is just a beautiful city. It’s unique like say Venice with all its canals. A really lovely place to just walk around.
On our first day we booked straight onto a 2 hour walking tour. It’s always a great way to start a city break as you really get to see the city properly as opposed to wandering round aimlessly like we sometimes do. There were about 8 of us on the tour and we really enjoyed it.
It’s very funny wandering past the coffee shops smelling the weed. I think my main thought about Amsterdam was how liberal their laws are on things like drugs and prostitution, but how strict the laws are on things like Airnb which is pretty much prohibited. And the crazy taxes that Matt was telling us about on businesses. I do understand though that they want to limit tourism where they can and preserve the culture.
That first evening we did an organised tour of the famous red light district. Obviously photos are strictly prohibited. I don’t know what my thoughts are on this aspect of the city. Our tour guide emphasised how well looked after the prostitutes are and how it’s seen as just another type of business. He was less complimentary about the trafficking that inevitably goes on which is pretty depressing.
After an amazing nights sleep we woke up the next morning to a fantastic breakfast in the B&B. Fresh fruit followed by lovely granola followed by a poached egg and bacon with chives. Delicious. The coffee was top quality too. Grinded coffee beans!
We had booked a tour of the Van Gogh museum. Kate and I are not known for our massive appreciation of art. I thought we’d last half an hour tops, but we actually really enjoyed it. He was such an interesting person, and it’s so sad to think how poor he was when he was alive trying to make a living selling his paintings and how much his paintings are worth now. I think we found it interesting because it was focused on the story of one person and the love and support he had from his brother and sister in law, even when he became so depressed at the end of his life. Here are some of his paintings. Who knew we’d appreciate them so much?!
After that we rented bikes but it didn’t go too well for me:
Actually that’s a joke. We went on a boat tour and saw this along the way which apparently is pretty common. Not as common as bikes actually going in the canal, not too mention drink English guys also going in the canal on stag weekends. Some people just can’t handle Amsterdam!
The boat tour was really good and interesting. Here’s a few photos
That night we went to an amazing fish restaurant recommended by Matt called The Seafood Bar. I had the seafood platter for one and Kate had the salmon. Beautiful! Not so beautiful was the wine but as usual that was our fault for going too cheap!! It was a really unusual building. It was once the stock exchange hence the really unusual walls and ceilings.
The next day we went to the famous Rijksmuseum. Here we did last our customary hour or so. There was just too much there for us and I think because it wasn’t dedicated to one artist we soon lost interest which is obviously a reflection of us not the world renowned museum. But we did make sure we saw the famous Rembrandt’s Night Watch painting plus another Van Gogh one they had:
As you can see the Night Watch is being renovated so here is a copy right next to it if you like your art.
In the afternoon we were meant to wander around the famous walking area called The Jordaan. But it was lost on us and we really weren’t there for long. So instead we did this:
We rounded off our trip in the late afternoon at the Anne Frank museum. I won’t write too much about this other than you have to go if you visit Amsterdam. It’s a really sobering experience that everyone should do. The audio tour is incredibly well done. That’s all I want to say.
In the evening we went to a different restaurant recommended by Matt. A cheap but very cheerful Chinese called Nam Kee. The speciality is oysters in black bean sauce. Quality. We’d highly recommend this place.
The next morning we were up crazy early to catch the 6.40am train back to London. Not the early night we needed for me but how often are West Ham on telly winning 6-0 away!
Overall a thoroughly enjoyable little trip. I always forget how interesting these European cities are. I guess this photo sums up the quirkiness of Amsterdam.
And here are a few random shots:
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