Last week my cousin and I had an amazing trip to Amsterdam – b”H! This was a special experience and I couldn’t wait to share details.
We flew out on Sunday afternoon and landed Monday morning at about 7.
Monday
After landing and going through passport control, we Ubered to the Royal FloraHolland warehouse, which was close by. This is a huge operation where flowers from many countries are delivered, auctioned off and prepared for shipping. There is a looong walkway for visitors to observe the hustle and bustle on the floor below and we were there about an hour. The most amazing part was the scent!
From there, we Ubered to Rimon, a small kosher grocery store with a bakery counter, and had bagel toasts for breakfast. We chose our hotel because it was near the kosher stores so we were able to walk from breakfast to the hotel. We stayed in such a quiet, lovely neighborhood, and during our time in Amsterdam, we saw many frum people in the neighborhood which was so nice.
At the hotel, we had to wait a bit for our room, then went up and rested a bit/got ready for the day. From there we took the tram to the Rijksmuseum for our 12:45 tour (Vermeer, Rembrandt, etc. – this had to be booked a few weeks in advance), and following the tour, spent about another 45 minutes walking around the museum. Then we had 3:00 tickets to the Van Gogh Museum (also booked a few weeks in advance), where we spent about an hour. We were very tired (that unavoidable Foggy First Day) but it was still lovely in a slow-paced way.
From there, we took a tram to Dam Square and did parts of the Rick Steves Amsterdam City walk. It was so nice to see pretty canals and really feel like we were in Amsterdam. Finally, we Ubered to Pizza and Co. for supper (we loved this and went back every night for supper) and then crashed in bed!
Tuesday
This was tulip day! In the morning, we Ubered to the KeukenhofBuzz (the direct bus to Keukenhof Gardens – also booked a few weeks in advance) and got to the gardens around 9:20. This experience exceeded my expectations. The gardens were so, so, SO GORGEOUS!! The colors! We could not get over how beautiful this was! I had planned this trip for late April which is the peak of tulip season in the Netherlands, but because it was an early spring this year, most of the fields surrounding Keukenhof had actually been cut down already. This was a disappointment to me, but the gardens made up for it. And honestly, I really hope to do this tulip pilgrimage again, and hopefully go back earlier in the season and get to see the fields in bloom, which must be an amazing sight!
At 10:30, we went on a boat ride through the canals near the gardens (also pre-booked, the theme of a trip to Amsterdam apparently), which was really peaceful and enjoyable as well. By the time we got back to the gardens, they were jam-packed, so we stayed only a bit longer and then took the bus back to Amsterdam.
From the bus, we took the subway to Amsterdam Central Station, and bought train tickets to go to Zaanse Schans. There was some confusion (different information people told us different things) and we ended up missing a couple trains but eventually made it. We walked from the train station towards Zaanse Schans and then had quite the odd experience — the drawbridge over the river malfunctioned and got stuck in an open position, and long story short (involving a confused Uber driver and an attempt to find a ferry), we ended up going back to Amsterdam. You can’t plan for every eventuality, apparently!
At that point my cousin decided to stay in Amsterdam, and I took the 30 minute bus ride from Central Station to Edam. This is the absolute sweetest village and I loved walking around (with Rick’s guidance, obvi). Edam is very small and I was there about 45 minutes before heading back to Amsterdam. From Central Station, I took the subway and a tram to Pizza and Co. for supper.
Wednesday
We parted ways for the morning and I went to the Holocaust Museum. This museum is really well-presented and it was just a really meaningful visit. My grandfather‘s brother escaped Vienna during the war and ended up in hiding in Amsterdam, where he was ultimately discovered and deported to Auschwitz, where he was murdered at age 35. He was an engineer and a brilliant person who never had the chance to get married and have a family. The older I get, the more connected I feel to my grandfather’s family’s story, and I felt this connection with an immediacy I hadn’t expected during my time in Amsterdam. After the museum, I walked to the Auschwitz Monument and the National Holocaust Names Memorial. It occurred to me that although my grandfather’s brother was Austrian, he had been deported from the Netherlands, and I found his name engraved on a brick on the monument (there are 102,000 names for all the Jews of the Netherlands who were murdered during the Holocaust). This was a very moving moment for me and I felt it was the closest I would get to being able to visit my great-uncle’s matzeiva.
Following this, I went to the Portuguese Synagogue, which was amazing, especially viewed from the ezras nashim, and the Jewish Museum. Then my cousin and I met for lunch at Machane Yehuda. After lunch, we did part of the Jordaan Walk from Rick Steves’ guidebook and went on a one-hour canal cruise, which we loved. We walked some more around the neighborhood, and passed the Houseboat Museum which was closing but the woman working there kindly let us pop in to take a peek.
Finally, we went to the Anne Frank House (booked, crucially, in advance). I feel so privileged to have gotten to do this. I read Anne Frank’s diary when I was 12 and though I tried to read it again before this trip, every time I picked it up it felt so painful to me, and I put it back down. I may try to read it again now. It was incredibly surreal to actually stand inside the secret annex.
Afterwards, we took the subway and bus back to Pizza and Co. for supper. (And there I discovered that I had somehow lost my Rick Steves guidebook! This was disorienting but we were able to manage the next day without it, in part because I had read it so many times, lol).
Thursday
Every day was so long and full on this trip, it felt like we had been in Amsterdam for ages by the time our last day came around. We had breakfast at Rimon and because of the Zaanse Schans washout on Tuesday, we tried Ubering there instead. It was very cute and packed with tourists. We saw a clog workshop and almost bought clogs for ourselves before remembering we’d have to tote them everywhere for the rest of the day. We climbed a windmill and went to two museums and some cute shops. After about three hours, we Ubered back to Amsterdam Central Station. Then I took the train to Delft (my cousin stayed in Amsterdam).
It took about an hour with one transfer to get to Delft. Once there, I walked 15 minutes to the Royal Delft Museum and spent about 90 minutes walking through the museum and gift shop. From there I walked into the older part of Delft and wandered the streets and canals for about an hour. It felt like a smaller, quieter Amsterdam and was a nice, pleasant way to while away the late afternoon. (The canal cruises were done for the day but if I…go back to Delft, I’d try to time it so that I could take a canal cruise.)
Finally, I took the train back to Amsterdam, then a subway and a walk to none other than Pizza and Co. where I met my cousin for our finale dinner. And then it was time to go back to the hotel and pack!
Friday
Our flight home was 9:15 in the morning so we left the hotel around 6. Because of the time difference, we landed stateside at about 11. And then I went to my aunt for Shabbos to extend my trip just a little bit, and on the way I printed pictures at Walmart and bought an album at Michael’s, which was nice to have over Shabbos.
This trip was so special and I am very grateful. We had unusually perfect weather (bright blue skies and 75 degree temps every day) which was an amazing gift. I know that saying this gets old but — I really do hope I’ll be back. I hope you’ll get to go, too.
Ah, I just love this beautiful great world.
(Photo credit: Marcelo Verfe/Pexels)
