GR-ah-Amsterdam

Quote of the trip:

"You know if you just add a G-R it will be Gr-ah Amsterdam."

It was spring break for the family and we decided to take off for the home of art, canals, windmills and the infamous “coffee shops.” Why not go to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It is the world’s most liberal city and very receptive of we vagabonds.

We started early in the morning with a trip on the high speed ICE (intercity express) train. This is our first long trip on the train. It was long awaited by Graham. We sped along the Rine River and into Holland as day broke. It is a very easy way to go.

Upon reaching Amsterdam and our hotel, we went into the city saw row after row of canals and 5 story canal houses. We walked and used the city tram line to find the Museum Square. Flanked by art galleries and concert halls, it is green lawn of about 4 blocks that included a café and playground. It is a great place to stretch our legs from the crowded city sidewalks.

While on the play ground Tess found a Middle Eastern family to play with. She was able to sucker them into pushing her on the huge swing, and they seemed to take an interest in our little one. With some limited English, They asked if she was from the UK. Tess did not give a good answer and the family continued to swing her and ask questions about the UK. Then they asked her to sing and song. Tess unresponsive till this point sings a song in German, at which point they proclaim "She's Deutch!" Our international kid of mystery left that poor family all confused.

We went to the Van Gogh Museum. Compared to rest of the city it is very modern and open. After a brief moment of protest, we paid Tess off with 25 cents to ride in a stroller, and she was asleep after about an hour. Graham did great and even showed some interest. The Museum showed the great changes that van Gogh made in the course of his ten years of painting, and it was wonderful to see so many of the famous paintings up close.

We chose to explain to Graham that the often present smell of burnt skunk in the city was not tulips, but was pot. Luckily, he was fully against drug use. While curious, we did not stretch our luck with a trip to the Red Light District. We could have pulled off that the ladies in the windows were underwear models, but the trip itself would have knocked us out of the parent of the year running.



On Saturday we took a bus trip out of the city and to the famous Keukenhof Gardens. We saw some of the land that was reclaimed from the sea, windmills, and several tulip fields in bloom. The Gardens themselves were almost in full bloom, and are a sight to the see. The flower beds were laid out in elaborate patterns with a Russian Theme. Of course there are thousands of varieties of tulips on display. Some were taller than the kids with blooms as big as a soft ball. We spent 5 hours walking the paths. There was also a restored windmill that we were able to go into, and the kids found a zip line to ride near a petting zoo.

These trees look like they are upside down! No trip to Kuekenhof is complete without a picture in front of the iconic tulip bulbs and of course wearing a pair fo wooden shoes. Graham and Tess are sitting in the middle of a single tree. We aren't sure what kind of tree it is, but there were several of these.

Angie: I remember a few of these little blue things popping up in my Aunt Kay's front/side yard each year. I always wondered what they were, and there were never this many!

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On Sunday we went to an open air art market, and to the bakery for breakfast on the main shopping street. We walked from open squares and along the canals. This is one of the really bizarre (and funny) street performers that we saw in Dam Square...Is that an awesome mullet or what? Once we moved away from the central Dam Square Area, the city is cleaner and is filled with relaxed cafés and fun shops. Almost everyone speaks perfect English and they are very friendly. The city runs on bicycles so watch out when crossing the street.

In the evening we visited the Anne Frank Hiding Place, it was a moving and informative place. It humanized the cost of the Nazi ideas.


For dinner Angie had been wanting to go to a french fry shop all weekend, and it was great. This shop was called Mannekenpis and had "1e Prijs Beste Frites Van Nederland." I know that a full meal of fries sounds bad, and in the whole picture it is, but they were good. In our defense, we did not know how much we bought until they gave it to us.

We give Grahamsterdam 4 stars.