The wife, our 14 year old son and myself are just back from Amsterdam. We had a great time, Having our son with us meant I was not able to spend nearly as much time in the coffee shops as when it is just the wife and I.
Instead of giving a minute by minute account of our time I'll just give brief details and upload a few pics we took.
Mon 28th July - Fri 1st Aug
Accommodation:
Victoria Park Plaza (top of Damrak) , great location, nice hotel, helpful and friendly staff.
Places we visited/things we did:
Canal Cruise (Linbergh Damrak). Different route than we had been on before, well worth the 7 euros fare.
Anne Frank Museum, wife and son visited the museum whilst I sat outside on the edge of the canal. If you want to avoid the ever present large queue, book and pay online and you get to go in another door with no/little queue, great value.
Gassan Diamond Tour, pretty much the same as the other diamond tours we've been on and its free !!
Vondel Park, walked from our hotel in the sweltering heat on the Wednesday, had a picnic, enjoyed the atmosphere, lovely place !!
Saint Nicolas Church, turn right at the top of Damrak, even if you're not a religeous person (we're not) this is a church with stunning architecture and beautifully presented inside.
Nemo Science Centre, 5 floors of all things scientific, you don't need to have huge love of science to appreciate this centre, well worth the 11 euros entrance fee.
Tour of Red Light District, our 14 year old son's eyes were almost popping out of his head, the RLD is in our opinion the most scenic part of Amsterdam.
We also did all the usual stuff like shopping, walking around, sat down in Dam Square a couple times to soak up the unique atmosphere. We also met the cop who appears in all the Amsterdam Nights shows which are usually shown on Virgin and Bravo channels. (see pics below). Very friendly guy.
Coffee shops I visited:
My wife won't have a smoke whilst our son is with us but I got away now and again when they went shopping and late at night, here is a very quick rundown of the ones I visited.
De Kroon Just off Damrak. First thing I notice is that there's a few tokers using tobacco in their joints, the guy behind the bar tells me this is ok. Had some excellent AK47 and Silver Haze (both 15 euros for 2g). Great smoke. I also tried the Cheese at a whopping 30 euros for 2g but I did'nt think it was any better than the AK47 or Silver Haze.
Xstace RLD, had a pre-rolled white widow joint and smoked it at the door as they don't allow tobacco to be mixed in joints, so so !
Freeworld Just around the corner from the Victoria Hotel. This is one of my favourite haunts, but they have installed a partition where all the tokers have to go smoke and it feels like you're sitting in a holding cell in the cop shop. Had some afghan, very nice.
Route 99 Off Damrak, bought a 4 euro space cake and did'nt get very high, well what was I expecting for 4 euros ???
Not much of a tour of the coffee shops but I was in De Kroon quite a few times, the weed in here is superb, there's a young bunch in their early 20s who seem to hang around here all day, but they were friendly and did'nt mind a 41 year old fart like me being in their company.
Places we ate at
La Modonna , opposite the Freeworld, nice Italian food, good value for money.
The Italian Steakhouse and Pizzeria Just off Dam Square heading into RLD, great service, great food and very good value, we ate here 3 nights running !!
The Italian Restaurant, Damrak, great steaks and pizzas, very good value.
Breakfast was at the French Pastiseeire, Damrak, get them to heat up your chocolate coissants ..... great start to the day all washed down with a cup of tea.
Lunchtime was a mixture of picnic, MacDonalds, and an English cafe in Niuewendijk.
All 3 of us had a great time, we cannot wait to go back (hopefully in October). I've uploaded some pics, here are the thumbs and links below, 3rd pic down is the cop from Amsterdam Nights, (all pics are between 700-800kb in original size):
on the 'Dam. May your son live long and prosper.