His only request and his reason for this trip was that he had to see the Van Gogh Museum. He’d like a private tour of the museum to get the most out of it. And perhaps time enough to return to the museum on a second visit. Done.
I added the Rijksmuseum to our list. And I wanted to see the Anne Frank House as well. He was less enthusiastic about the Anne Frank House. But, he would go for my sake.
I learned that advance tickets needed to be ordered for each of the above museums, often weeks in advance. The weeks were closing in on us as we closed in on the calendar to determine dates and duration of this trip.
I have read 3-5 days in Amsterdam should be enough. But, we didn’t want to rush it. And what nobody tells you is that you actually lose a day or two to travel there. It is a 7-hour flight. And a 5-6 hour time change. So, if we left at 7am on a Tuesday, we would arrive at 7am on Wednesday, their time (2am our time). This was confusing at first. I started booking things for Tuesday afternoon and evening, not realizing we wouldn’t actually be there until Wednesday.
Easy enough to maneuver around our plans. But, confusing nonetheless.
What made it more confusing was that Amsterdam changed their clocks back for daylight savings time a week before we did (October 26th vs November 2nd). So, the time difference was 5 hours ahead flying there, but 6 hours behind flying back. Not to mention jet lag.
We thought 6-7 days might be a better time frame. That would give us more time to see everything we wanted to see without feeling pressed for time. We wanted to see Amsterdam at our own pace. In our own time. Leaving plenty of down time to explore neighborhoods at our leisure. So, no structured week long tours with strangers (we may or may not have gotten along with) on crowded buses that don’t allow a minute in edgewise, where you are seeing the city through a tour bus window.
And no other cities or destinations before or after Amsterdam. Paris and London would be there for another trip, should we decide to do those in the future. Let’s focus on Amsterdam for this trip.
We decided to leave on Tuesday, October 28th, returning Tuesday, November 4th. A week’s time. With time enough between the NC wedding and Thanksgiving. Fall in Amsterdam. It might be a little chilly and rainy, but not too wintry yet. Similar weather to New England this time of year.
Further research revealed there was a Rembrandt House there as well. Add that to the list. And over 70 other museums and galleries to boot.
Wanting to find an attraction that wasn’t just about art, I found the Heineken Experience. Heineken has an old factory building there that they have turned into a Museum. Although we are not beer drinkers, this sounded like fun. And Heineken was an important part of Amsterdam’s history. So, we added that to the list.
When my partner’s grown kids got wind of our trip, they gifted him with a gift certificate to a Michelin star restaurant in Amsterdam by the name of Mont Blanc for his birthday. Lovely!
And after we watched Phil Rosenthal’s Amsterdam episode on his popular Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, we decided we had to add the Rijks Restaurant at the Rijksmuseum to our list, another Michelin star restaurant. Our week was filling up quickly.
Most guide books will recommend taking a sunset canal boat cruise while there. Add that to the list.
And, if time allowed, we could do any number of side trips to:
- Utrecht
- Haarlem
- The Hague
- Delft
- Rotterdam
- Volendam, Edam and Marken
- Zaanse Schans
- Bruges, Belgium
But, we were not entirely sure time would allow. So, we left that open.
The itinerary was shaping up:
- Van Gogh Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Anne Frank House
- Rembrandt House
- Heineken Experience
- Canal Boat Tour
- Dinner at Mont Blanc
- Dinner at Rijks Restaurant
I started researching & booking tickets and tour dates. But, where should we stay?
