We caught the train from airport into Amsterdam Central train station. From here we had to find our way to the Ibis Hotel which is right next to the train station. We got completely lost and ended up walking in circles. Eventually we found our way there. Our room was not ready, not surprising as it was only about 8am, so we put our luggage into storage and headed out.
We had been given advice to visit “This is Holland” which is an attraction where you go on a “5D” ride over parts of Netherlands. Firstly we had a catch a short boat ride across the canal, then a short talk to the attraction. It was just opening when we arrived so we were in the first group for the day. They take you through two different rooms with audio/visual displays about the history of Netherlands mainly with respect to how they tamed water and reclaimed much land. Then we had the ride which was incredible, the seats hover in mid air and move in all directions with a full 180 degree view of where you’re flying. Sorry no photos but it was an amazing experience.
See https://www.thisisholland.com/en/
Next we went and purchased two day tram passes and headed off to a kitchen supplies shop I wanted to visit called “DEKSELS! koken & bakken”. Actually our first ride was on a bus, which took us to one end of a long road called Haarlemmerdijk. We must have walked along there for an hour, it was full of loads of interesting shops especially many selling wonderful foods like we’ve never seen. So we grazed on a few things along the way. The kitchen shop was small and cramped, full of people, but for its size it had an amazing selection of items. We purchased about 200 euro of kitchen utensils to replace old stuff at home.
We wandered back to the hotel closer to midday, and were able to get a room. So we took a chance to unpack, shower and change clothes. We were then booked on a boat ride around the canals leaving at 4:30 and it was a half hour walk to the meeting place. Each year Amsterdam has festival of lights with many light sculptures all located on various canals. The boat we want on was small with about a dozen passengers, and the tour was around 90 minutes. The guide was very funny and talked about not just the lights we encountered but also general history about Amsterdam and the canals.
On completion we were quite cold, it was 2 degrees, so we could a restaurant nearby to grab some burgers and warm up. After that we were home and in bed by about 8am.
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