Amsterdam

Date: August 25, 2018 – August 31, 2018
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

We took a train from Bruges, Belgium to Amsterdam, Netherlands.

In Amsterdam we stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn that we booked with a voucher, so the entire week was free of charge! It was right on the water.

The hotel opened in January 2018. Our room was close to the corner with windows from floor to ceiling.

This is the view we had from our room.

We got free welcome drinks, so Brian decided to take a couple artsy photos.

On our way to get groceries we saw a group of women partying as they slowly pedaled their way down the street.

Amsterdam has a lot of canals and house boats.

The streets had rows of bikes locked up. We saw many more bikes parked here than we did in Copenhagen.

Many of the houses along the canals are tall and narrow.

We went to the Tulip Museum.

We learned about the tulip bulb growing industry so tulips can be exported. In 2014, 2 billion tulip bulbs were exported.

We also learned about the history of tulips and tulip mania. Tulips with multiple colors were the most sought after. In 1637, the price of a single tulip bulb was over five times the price of an average house.

After the Tulip Museum we did a cheese tasting class at Reypenaer.

We had 6 cheeses that were paired with wines. 2 cheeses made with goat’s milk and 4 made with cow’s milk.

We tried the cheese in order of youngest, aged 4 months, to oldest, aged 3 years. We could eat as much of the cheese as we wanted. There was also plenty of wine including a port wine.

After tasting 6 cheeses we got certificates as an expert in cheese tasting.

One night at the hotel there was a happy hour where we got free snacks and drinks.

On August 28, 2018, Brian stayed at the hotel and worked on a side project. Not a bad view for doing some work!

Meanwhile, I went to the Royal Palace, Koninklijk Paleis.

In front of the Royal Palace is Dam square. In the square is the national monument that is a memorial to the World War II victims.

The Royal Palace building was built to be the town hall in 1648. It was changed from the town hall to King Louis Bonaparte’s palace in 1808.

The large room in the center of the building is Citizens’ Hall. On one side of the Citizens’ Hall is Atlas.

Carrying the sky.

The other side of Citizens’ Hall above the entrance is the Amsterdam Maiden.

I liked the ceiling in the Moses Hall room.

This is one of the bedrooms that is still used during state visits.

House of Bols

On August 30, 2018 Brian and I went to House of Bols.

The experience starts with the history of the company and Lucas Bols.

There is a room to see the process of how Bols liqueur is made to get all of the flavors.

There is also an area where you can smell each liqueur.

The experience includes a free cocktail.

There were many cocktails to choose from. Brian had a Red Light Negroni that was stirred. My cocktail was shaken and was really good. It was called a Caesar.

You can also buy cocktails for 5 euro so we had a second drink. Brian again went with a stirred drink and had a Smokin’ Pineapple.

My second drink was a shaken Pink Panther. Bols cocktail receipts are available here.

After the House of Bols, we went towards Rijksmuseum where the famous Amsterdam sign is in front of.

Rijksmuseum is the only museum in the world that you can bike through. It has a lot of bike traffic, too.

Amsterdam is a large area. There was construction going on near our hotel as it looks like the city is undergoing a lot of expansion. The bikes and bike paths are everywhere!