Amsterdam

Amsterdam … and a visit with Anne Frank and Van Gogh

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The Anne Frank Museum and the Van Gogh Museum were hands down … at the top of my Amsterdam bucket list when I was planning the trip! Even more important, as time is so fleeting when you travel, was to purchase our tickets online before leaving home. I hate to stand in long lines and the Anne Frank House in particular is notorious for VERY LONG LINES!

First, the Anne Frank Museum is located in the Joordan area of Amsterdam about a twenty-minute stroll from the Central Station. Before you leave home, make a commitment to the day and time you will be there. Museum tickets are 9.50 euros per adult. Decide if you want to participate in the 30 minute introduction lecture (add 5 euros to cost of an adult ticket) before you hit the “purchase” button. Even if you have read Anne’s entire diary the day before your visit, you will learn so much you didn’t know! Personally, I’ve read her diary twice and never knew the museum is actually located in the factory Anne’s father owned. Among other things, Mr. Frank was the inventor of pectin, an ingredient that canners will recognize that is so crucial to the whole canning process. Mr. Frank carefully planned the hiding place located in his factory. It was worked on little-by-little in one of the upper stories of the factory/warehouse as the war was raging around Holland.

As is the case in most museums, you can’t take photographs. Oh, and beware there are steep stairs. Walking through the “bookcase entrance” into the hidden rooms that was their hiding place is but a small part of the museum. The message of the museum … never forget.

The museum’s bookshop has Anne’s diary in many languages. Allow 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Van Gogh Musuem mural "The Bedroom"

As for the Van Gogh Museum, you can also purchase tickets via email for 15 euros per adult ticket. Your eticket lets you enter via the fast lane entrance. Again, no photographs are allowed. There is a huge poster-style mural on one of the floors of The Bedroom. You can snap a candid picture of that if you like! I totally didn’t recall that Van Gogh was such a tortured soul. The museum really shows the progression of his art through his career. Van Gogh produced lots of art, although I believe his brother was the only one to actually purchase one of his paintings during his lifetime. Some of my favorite Van Gogh art included Sunflowers, Almond Blossom, Irises, The Potato Eaters and several Van Gogh self-portraits. Also, don’t go looking for The Starry Night. It is at the MOMA in New York City. You can’t have everything.

The museum has a lovely and well-stocked cafĂ© and … as with every art museum I have ever visited … a fantastic gift shop!

Mimi and her Van Gogh lunch boxes

Which brings me to the story of Mimi’s lunchbox. Several years ago our oldest daughter traveled to Amsterdam on business. Of course, Katie visited the Van Gogh Museum and brought back a Van Gogh Sunflowers lunch box for Mimi, her sister. For several years, Mimi has carried that lunch box back and forth every day to her day center. Several years’ use has seen a few dents and little rust on the inside. During our trip this year, I was able to replace Mimi’s lunch box with a new Van Gogh … this time Poppies and Butterflies!

When things go RIGHT regarding Amsterdam

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Lovely Joordan areaToday was a pretty good day! I received in the mail from our credit card company a letter regarding our dispute with the dude who double booked the apartment we were to rent in Amsterdam. See my previous post from September 21. The temporary credits were made permanent! Note to all those reserving accommodations … use a credit card … and keep all correspondence, etc. regarding the rental. I really credit my awesome husband with writing down the entire scenario on his iPad the day of the event while tempers were red hot and details laundry fresh while I was on the phone with the credit card people for hours disputing the charge. There is justice!

Also, today is the second anniversary of my blog! Go ahead … have a piece of toast … or if you would rather … toast to another year of blogging! Statistics for the past year include 35 posts, 554 followers, 4,502 blog views (doubled from last year) with 52 countries viewing from as far away as Iceland and Hong Kong!

When things go wrong in Amsterdam

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The above photographs show the area of Amsterdam where we were supposed to stay. Pretty nice looking right? When we started planning our trip to Holland it was always with the intent of renting an apartment, as our son and daughter-in-law from California would be hanging out with us. Months before we left, I sat in front of my computer for hours looking for just the right spot on VRBO.com. The one I eventually rented was in the Joordan neighborhood, with 2 bedroom, 2 baths, laundry facilities and kitchen. We envisioned the trendy neighborhood known for specialty shopping, cafes, restaurants and art galleries. It would be perfect!

A week before arriving in Amsterdam there was a flurry of emails back and forth between me and the apartment owner. Final arrangements! Then two days before the dude asked if I wanted to check-in early, for a fee of 50 euros to cover the early housekeeping fee, as his renters would be leaving the night before. After a little hesitation … I knew he was gouging me … but I said yes anyway. The upside was it would give us all an opportunity to perhaps nap and adjust a little to the time change before meeting my cousin and her husband for lunch. My last two emails with the owner before I turned off my computer and left for the airport was … we would meet between 9 and 9:30 am at the apartment to get the key.

Many, many flight hours later, Hubby and I arrived at 9:15 am and knocked on the apartment door. We rang the bell. No answer. We didn’t panic. The dude still had a little time to arrive with the key. Pretty soon it was 9:45 and still no dude … and it was starting to rain. We found a bench two doors down and covered slightly with scaffolding. When 9:15 turned into 10:30 and still no guy with the key, we started to worry. Ricky and Kate showed up and a hug-fest ensued. I guess they could tell by the steam pouring from my ears that I was a teapot about to blow. We had the owner’s phone number but our phones were not cooperating. When a nice lady that lived on the block offered to help call the owner for us, we were hopeful. After several tries and leaving messages, we were finally able to chat with our missing-in-action owner.

“Oh so sorry, but I’m an hour away. I’ll give you the key code and you can let yourself in,” he said.

Hubby pushed some numbers on the key pad and opened a little door that was to hold the key. Only there was no key. Suddenly, from behind the door to our apartment, the blinds lifted. There was a scary-looking lady in the window. After a short conversation, she confided she was locked in by her apartment mates, who had left for a few hours, and besides, they were not set to leave until the next day.

“This has never happened in the three years I’ve owned the apartment,” said the owner when we got him back on the phone.

His offer was for us to stay at one of his properties in another part of Amsterdam … for a night … then move back to the Joordan apartment tomorrow afternoon. Geez, we were already going to lose one day of our vacation because of this guy … why not go for two? Did we take him up on his offer … nope!

My son, our travel logistics expert, found us a couple of hotel rooms on Hotels.com before the taxi pulled up a few minutes later. The Room Mate Hotel was located in the UDock section of Amsterdam. The location was not ideal, the hotel was built on a new artificial island, but it was only a 10 minute walk to the train station and we made it work.

Why am I telling your this story? Because if you are going to rent an apartment, be sure and charge it to a credit card. We were able to dispute the charge. The credit card people do an investigation, and basically, if the apartment dude is deemed an idiot, the “temporary credit” becomes permanent.

The rest of the trip was awesome!

Five things I learned while in Amsterdam

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We recently returned from our fourth trip to Europe. Did you know that early September is generally a great month weather-wise to visit Europe? We started traveling to Europe in 2008. We’ve been to Italy twice and then Paris for our 40th anniversary in 2012. Every two years we head for parts unknown … at least to us! We can’t let our “world traveler” kids have all the fun.

This year we went to Holland, with a little side trip to Bruges, Belgium. My mom was born in Holland and I really wanted to experience the country. Holland did not disappoint … amazing cheeses, museums, canals, bikes and interesting architecture! Our son, Ricky, and lovely daughter-in-law, Kate, also joined us for the Holland part of our trip.

Amsterdam was totally not what I expected. The guide books never really prepare you for when your boots actually hit the ground. The airport is nuts. But people are friendly and most speak English! I now know how it feels to, as the famous playwright Tennessee Williams wrote, “… to rely on the kindness of strangers!”

Although Kate and Ricky landed 15 minutes later than we did … different flights, different terminals … we never could seem to tag up with them at the airport. It didn’t help that our cell phone programmed for international travel failed us. As Plan B was always to meet at the apartment I had rented in the Joordan area of Amsterdam, no big tragedy.

So here is my list of five things we learned while in Amsterdam:

We never met a piece of cheese we didn’t like! The weight of hubby’s carry-on backpack when we left for home can attest to that.

We learned that the wide bike paths found everywhere in Amsterdam are for bikes and you could get run over if not extremely careful!

A tulip museum, like a cheese museum, is not really a museum. It’s a shop that sells tulip bulbs.

Public transportation is your friend! Learn how to use it! Purchase a day pass (or multi-day pass) good for trams and buses. Very reasonably priced. Swipe your card when you get on … and off public transportation! It’s a two-step process. I have no idea why.

Purchase your tickets for the Anne Frank House and busy art museums before you leave on your trip! There is no way I would have stood in the long line outside the Anne Frank House. And let’s face it … if you go to Amsterdam you must pay the house a visit!

Next time I’ll share how to be flexible on your European vacation … especially when things go wrong!