We were originally planning on a trip to The Hague this week, so we decided to add on a few days ahead of time and head to Amsterdam for a long weekend. Then the trip to The Hague fell through, but we decided to do the Amsterdam portion anyway.
First question: How to get there? If we were going to The Hague, we'd drive - just easier that way. Without going to The Hague this week though... we could drive, we could fly (bigger pain in the butt than it's worth), we could take the train, or we could take the bus (which the wife and daughter enjoyed so much last time).
I didn't bother checking flight prices.
A train would be ~€350 (~$380) for both of us, round trip. Let's see what else is out there.
Driving, it'd be about 300 miles, and gas is right around €1.80 per liter - let's convert that, shall we? Euros to dollars, liters to gallons... carry the one, light a candle, say a quick prayer to the gods of floating currency exchange rates... about $7.40/gallon (assuming I did the math correctly), 20(ish) miles per gallon, so... about $110 in gas, and a 5 hour drive.
Bus would be ~€100 (~$108) for both of us, round trip. About a 7 hour bus ride.
So... driving or taking the bus would be about the same cost, with the bus taking about 2 hours longer (not counting getting to the main station from the house)... but with the bonus of both of us just being able to sit back and "enjoy" it. That sounds pretty good to me, time to start working on the wife.
Wonder of wonders (mostly to get me to shut up, I think), she finally acquiesced.
We left late Friday morning and walked to the local subway station, and took it down to the main station in Frankfurt.
The ride there was uneventful from my perspective, but the boss didn't have the best trip, mostly due to a miscommunication. Our bus on the way there departed at 1:00pm for an 8:00pm arrival. Our return trip was a little earlier, 10:00am to 5:00pm. Somehow the 5:00pm number got stuck in her head, so on the trip there, she asked how much longer we had, and I gave her the remaining time until 8:00pm. She was mentally prepped to be on the bus until 5:00pm, so when I added on 3 hours out of nowhere, it made the trip seem even longer for her. Also, for one or two legs of the trip, there was a crying baby a few rows back. By the end of the journey, she was questioning all of the life choices she'd made to put her in that situation. I, on the other hand, had my headphones on and watched a few episodes of a show. Didn't even hear the baby. Or the three fellows loudly speaking in another language. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. The boss, not so much.
Amsterdam has an absolutely superb transit system (which we'll talk about a few times a little later), but we didn't feel like dealing with it (the wife was pretty much over it at this point), so we just took an Uber to the hotel.
When we got to the hotel, the lobby was completely full, fifteen people waiting in line. Rather than waiting in line, we checked in online via the app and sat in front of the fireplace until the online check-in processed. When the line died down, she went up to the desk; turns out with the weather issues going on in other parts of Europe, multiple flights had been cancelled, and the airlines hadn't booked enough rooms for all their stranded passengers... so all of those folks had just hopped on a random hotel shuttle from the airport hoping to get rooms. Spoiler alert: they didn't.
We did. Not sure how it worked out this way, but we ended up with an upgrade to a "Penthouse Room" on the top floor, with a king sized bed and a balcony. Sometimes there's a glitch in the matrix and a blind squirrel really does find a nut.
Sometimes the showers in our hotels haven't been worth talking about; this one definitely merits a quick mention. I've discussed my favorite hotel shower in the past (the luxurious triple headed thunder dome at the Hilton in The Hague), this one was the second best shower I've encountered over here. Well sealed shower enclosure, tons of pressure, lots of hot water... come to think of it, my number one and two showers were both in upgraded rooms. Perhaps that's a pattern that needs more investigation. I'll report back to the class when I have more data. At our upgraded suite for our first visit to Salzburg, the shower didn't make that much of an impression on me, so perhaps it's just luck of the draw. I guess we'll have to stay in some more high end rooms to get a larger sample size. I'll talk with the boss about that.
After breakfast Saturday morning, we headed out. Our hotel was a couple of blocks down from an R-Net station... I need to break off and talk about the transit system in The Netherlands (with that pesky CaPiTaLiZeD THE) for a moment.
All of the transit systems in The Netherlands use a card. You can buy a rechargeable card, or just use a credit card. You scan your card when you enter the system (get on the bus, enter the metro station, etc.) and then scan when you leave the system (exit the bus, etc.) and it decrements the amount on your transit card or charges your credit card. With our frequent trips to The Hague, we got some of the transit cards that we recharge occasionally and just keep them with us - makes getting around over there much easier! Those same cards work on all of the transit systems in all of the cities, so having them this visit to Amsterdam made transit much easier this time around (we hadn't gotten the cards yet last time, so we just used our credit cards).
Now, Amsterdam's transit system in particular. Amsterdam has trains which connect to other cities, subway lines which travel throughout the city, trams and buses which navigate some of the more major streets within the city... and then they've got something cool called "R-Net." They're normal buses, but for some of the route they travel on dedicated streets which run (sometimes) next to main streets. They have long sections of elevated roadway specifically for the R-Net system, dedicated tunnels... but the buses jump over into regular traffic for parts of the routes too. One of the coolest transit systems I've seen. Last time we visited Amsterdam, we caught a specific bus on the R-Net system (#300, if you're wondering) on an elevated platform about a quarter mile from our hotel.
This time around, we were about 5 miles (as the R-Net drives) from where we stayed last time, and it was on the same line (the aforementioned #300). The R-Net stop was about a quarter mile away from our hotel, across the main highway. Fortunately, there was a dedicated underpass for pedestrians and bicycles. Unfortunately, it had been wet, and the temp had been hovering around freezing for a few days. The boss discovered a patch of ice... she discovered it with her butt though, because her eyes evidently didn't catch it as she approached. No damage to anything but her pride, thankfully.
So we got to the bus stop and waited for our friend, the #300. We got on a few minutes later, and misremembered where exactly that bus would be taking us. We ended up riding it to the end, a major subway station a ways out of town. We took a subway train back into town, and promised each other that we'd look up our route next time, rather than just assuming.
We had tickets for something later - we'll get there, hold your horses! - so we had to burn a little bit of time. I got my "spidey-sense" reoriented and we wandered in the right general direction. In our travels throughout the city, we passed a mall that we hadn't had a chance to visit last time we were here, and y'all know my affinity for malls, right? So we went in, expecting... I don't know, possibly some stores? There were "some" stores. I think the absolute minimum number of stores that you could have and still be considered "some," rather than "a couple." I think there were 3 stores. One of them was a cheese store. Oh, cheese stores. Let's talk about those for a second!
We have a cheese store that we visit every time we're in The Hague, it's part of our routine. They have over 30 locations across Europe (including one here in Frankfurt). Amsterdam, though... they've got some cheese stores. I think there are 13 stores from this one company across Amsterdam. We saw 6 of them during the time that we were there. One of them was in that mall.
While wandering, we found a little cafe on a canal and had some gluhwein. We didn't get to keep those mugs though. They were just plain glass mugs. Eh.
Our ticketed time was coming up, so we headed over to... the Anne Frank Museum.
Everybody has heard the story of Anne Frank, so I won't turn this into a history lesson. I will say though - if you're ever in Amsterdam, do yourself a favor and go through the museum. We paid an additional €7.00 each for an introductory program that I'd highly recommend. One of the docents from the museum takes your group back into one of the classroom areas and gives about a 30 minute talk, giving a good overview of The Netherlands during World War II, why the Jewish people flocked to The Netherlands as war approached, and the plight of the Jewish people in The Netherlands during the war. Then she focused on the Frank family, the people who were in hiding with them, and the people who helped them stay hidden for over 2 years. After covering the story, she took some questions, then led us out to the museum itself.
Buildings in Amsterdam were historically taxed by their width, which explains why most of the buildings you see are so narrow. The spice factory where the Frank family hid was no different. The building is no more than about 20 feet wide, but 4 stories high, and quite deep. The offices and factory were in the portion of the building toward the canal/street, and in the bottom 2 floors of the back half. The hidden apartment was only reachable via an opening behind a bookcase on the second floor (third floor for us Yanks). The apartment is around 450 square feet total. That's the equivalent of about a 21 x 21 room. For 8 people. For 2 years.
The tour through the factory had an audio guide where you'd hold your guide up to a plaque on the wall, and the audio would tell you about that room or picture. At the point where you entered the hidden apartment, the audio guide stopped, which I think was a good idea, honestly. The silence had more impact than an audio guide could have.
All of their possessions were removed from the apartment, and Otto Frank (the only one who lived through the war) didn't want anything else put in there, so all of the rooms are empty. The only things remaining from their time in the apartment are cut out pictures from magazines (that I haven't been able to verify, but we believe are the original items), and a couple of maps that they used to track the movements of allied soldiers in their efforts to defeat the Germans. All of the pictures on the walls of the apartment are covered by plexiglas, and the boss and I agree that to the best of our knowledge, they're the original items... but I've been unable to confirm that (just to be 100% honest with y'all!).
Quite a sobering place. Normally, I don't get too into the normal tourist spots (I tend to go more for quirky places like Pig Museums), but I'd highly recommend the intro and tour if you ever have the opportunity.
Afterward, we wandered around for a while. The wife had heard about an "Amsterdam Light Festival" canal tour, and decided she wanted to do it. We wandered over to the main harbor area, but the area where the boats left from was an absolute madhouse, so we figured we'd buy tickets online for the next evening.
We hadn't purchased any cheese at any of the myriad shops that we'd passed (because we didn't want to carry it through the museum), so we got a bite to eat at a local restaurant then visited a couple of cheese shops to sample (and buy) some of the current flavors.
We walked to the central station and took the subway to a major station closer to our hotel, then boarded our trusty #300 steed. As we got off the bus, we heard some pretty loud explosions nearby... as we started toward the hotel, a group of "kids" (early 20's, by the looks of them) were setting off fireworks on the walking path that led underneath the main roadway. Luckily, they stopped as we approached, but by the time we got halfway under the main road, they'd started up again. Oddly enough, once we got back to the hotel we didn't hear them again, but I don't know if they just got tired of being jackasses, or if the people in the nearby houses called the police.
Sunday after breakfast, we walked to the bus station and bused into town. The wife wanted to check out one of the big museums (the Rijksmuseum) so we got off there. It's in the same area as the van Gogh museum that we went to last time we were there.
One of the buses we rode, we saw the cutest little girl, probably around 4 years old, riding the bus with her dad. She was singing "Wheels on the Bus" in Dutch.
Being a foreigner in all these countries we have visited has helped me develop a healthy respect for foreign languages; while Dutch is linguistically quite similar to German, the tone used by most native speakers of Dutch unfortunately makes their language sound to me like the gibberish used by the Swedish Chef on the Muppets.
Now, picture an adorable 4 year old girl using that language to the tune of "Wheels on the bus." You may or may not find yourself amused, but I had a hard time not giggling good naturedly at her.
While we've been over here, the wife has developed an affinity for Vincent van Gogh, so we have to check major museums in every city to see if there are any of his works there. In Amsterdam there's a dedicated van Gogh museum that we visited last time we were there. She thought there might be some works of his at the main museum in town, so of course we had to go there as well.
There was a line to go in, and we were able to figure out while waiting that tickets had to be bought online. We stepped out of line and visited their web site, bought tickets, then got back into line. We went in and got our audio guides and headed in the direction of one of the wings. We started wandering through, then I turned around and my wife had disappeared. A few minutes later, I got a text from her that she'd meet me at the info desk in an hour and a half.
That's right, my loving and devoted wife dragged me into an art museum and ditched me.
She told me later that she had a list of things that she wanted to see, and since we only had a limited amount of time she figured it'd make more sense if she just took off on her own. Sounds really "loving and devoted," right?
I wandered around on my own for a while, encountered Rembrandt's The Night Watch and a bunch of other old paintings.
As an aside, I find it interesting how artists are popularly addressed:
- Vincent van Gogh: van Gogh
- Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (literally "Leonardo, son of ser Piero from Vinci", because there must have been several other guys named Leonardo, son of ser Piero): Leonardo da Vinci (because those other Leonardo, son of ser Piero guys didn't end up amounting to much)
- Claude Monet: Monet
- M.C. Escher: Escher
- Gustav Klimt: Klimt
- Johannes Vermeer: Vermeer
- Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn: Rembrandt
At the appointed time, the wife showed up at the info desk and selected me from the crowd of significant others patiently waiting, like a Lost & Found for the uncultured. I guess I should consider myself lucky that she picked me, rather than one of the others waiting - she could have traded up instead!
We had tickets for a tour of the Heineken building, so we walked over there next. Our tickets were for "The Heineken Experience," which is basically a tour of their old beer making facility - all of the grain silos, still room, etc. There are portions of it which are guided by one of their employees, and portions which are self guided. You listen to info given by one of the guides, then wander off further into the building. After going through a couple more areas, you'll find another employee spouting off random information. Then more self-guided stuff. Well done, informative displays... honestly, we've been through a few brewery tours and this point, and... this was a brewery tour.
One fun thing: the day before our tour, I got an email from them which included the following video (which we really liked!)
After our tour, we had tickets for the "Rooftop Experience," which is an exclusive little bar that they've got on top of the building. As you saw in the video (you DID watch it, right?!?!?) it was in the mid forties while we were there, so we didn't spend a lot of time outside, just walked out to see the view, and then went back in to the bar area. They had 4 different "mocktails" made with Heineken... well, 3 different "mocktails" made with Heineken and 1 made with alcohol free Heineken, so I guess a "mock-mocktail?"
You remember that "Light Festival" I told you about earlier? She had talked me into buying tickets online for it, so we walked across town and arrived just in time for our boarding. She hadn't heard anything about the festival except for the name, so she assumed that the "Light" portion of the name referred to Christmas lights (what with Christmas rapidly approaching and all). That wouldn't have been too bad.
Instead, we were crammed into an overloaded tour boat for a 90 minute (!) tour of a modern art installation. At several points throughout the city (I can't be bothered to check how many, but it was probably close to 20), there were AI generated artistic light installations, usually with faceless glowing white figures standing in random positions. The captain has several interesting little Amsterdam facts he shared with us, but mostly it was a computer generated voice telling us about how we (as a society) have let technology take over our lives, while seeing installations on the sides of random canals... like a featureless white face press its way out of a featureless white rectangle that's supposed to signify a cell phone screen.
I'm not the biggest fan of "this is art because I say it's art," so I didn't enjoy it much. It was too hot (with way too many people crammed into the boat), and way too loud - it seemed like people were shouting to be heard over the running soundtrack, so you couldn't even hear the TikTok voice telling you all the random interpretive BS about the art installations. One of the girls sitting across the table from us was intent on getting video of all of the installations, so she'd frequently open the window, which would then spatter us with snowflakes. Not harmful in any way, but I was already a little annoyed, and she didn't help matters much. 0/10, would not recommend. We took the metro and bus (the trusty #300 again) back to the hotel.
Monday morning, we took an Uber to the bus station (so we didn't have to drag the luggage down the side of the road).
The bus ride was mostly uneventful, but we drove through a bit of a snowstorm, and all the roads were a little slushy. For most of the time from Cologne to Frankfurt (normally 2 hours), we were in thick traffic, and I was extremely glad that we'd left the driving to someone else. It took closer to three and a half hours to get home, and sitting in traffic that long would have driven me crazy if I was the driver. This way, neither of us had to deal with it. We took the subway home from the main train station and walked home in the snow from our local subway station.
You may have noticed a dearth of pics in this post... the boss sent me a handful of pics but... they were just of things around town. Here are a couple of them, just so I can say I included some:
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So, that's it for now, but we'll have another entry within the next week or so!
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