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Two Days In Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Visiting Amsterdam, Netherlands? You CAN See A Lot In A Short Time! We Proved It!

In the summer of 2009, our family travelled to Europe for a Baltic cruise. Our disembarkation port was Amsterdam so we planned a couple of days there. I can honestly say that we did not plan to see as much as we did and I was really amazed at how much we packed in in a short time.

Journey with us on our visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and hopefully you will take away some ideas that might help you when you are in Amsterdam for just a day or two.

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The Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam focuses on art, craft and history and owns many paintings from the Dutch Golden Age as well as a large selection of Asian Art.

When we visited in the summer of 2009, most of The Rijksmuseum Museum was closed for renovation. I think that was actually in our favour as the museum had organized an exhibit of select pieces.

We spent exactly the perfect amount of time enjoying some of the most amazing sights that the Rijksmuseum had to offer. Our teenage sons found enough military history in the artwork to keep them interested for about an hour. The Night Watchman was definitely a highlight. It is rather large and impressive painting.

Photo by Jassy-50.

The Van Gogh Museum

It is pretty obvious what the focus of The Van Gogh Museum is. It houses over 200 paintings, 500 drawings and more than 750 letters by Van Gogh.

The Van Gogh was high on my list of museums to see but we knew that two museums focused on art in one day after a vacation filled with visiting galleries, museums and palaces, would be pushing the limits of my very patient but nevertheless teenage boys. We chose, therefore, to leave them outside on a park bench reading their books while we went in for a quick peek. We spent about an hour inside and managed to see the better part of Van Gogh's collection.

Van Gogh's work is so common in our culture and is reproduced on just about anything you can imagine. I do like his floral pictures but I decided that my favorite is a picture that I had not seen before or at least was not very familiar with, Wheatfield With Crows.

Picture by hoszi.

Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Crows

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius

A Imax documentary film about Vincent Van Gogh's life and works.

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius is a beautifully made Imax documentary film about the painters artworks. It is notable because it focuses more on the painter, his artwork and the locations in which he painted rather than his illness.

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius (IMAX) [Blu-ray]

Amazon Price: $15.38 (as of 05/28/2012)
List Price: $24.98

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius is available on blu-ray or DVD by clicking right here.

Release Date: 11/02/2010

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The Anne Frank House

Anne Frank's House

Definitely one of the best parts of Amsterdam was our visit to Anne Frank's House. I will admit that my guys did not know nearly as much as I did about Anne Frank when we arrived but the house and the attached museum had plenty to hold their attention for our entire visit there and they were moved by Anne's story.

There are two important things to know if you go to visit Anne Frank's House. Firstly, you can book your tickets in advance. Doing so will keep you from having to join a long line outside when you arrive and secondly, photography is not permitted in the house.

You can read more about our visit to Anne Frank's House on my page dedicated to it:

The Historic Canals

The Historic Amsterdam Canals

Of course, we had a boat tour of the canals and we really did enjoy it. We chose and paid a bit more for a tour which had bar service. When we climbed aboard that boat, we were tired and ready to rest awhile and have a cold drink...the candlelight and peanuts were a nice bonus. This was the last night of our European tour. We were ready for a break and I cannot imagine a more beautiful resting spot. The canals really were lovely.

If you are travelling with children, tweens or teenagers, you no doubt will have someone that really, really, really wants to have a ride in the paddle boats. Be warned that those paddle boats close earlier in the evening than you might expect. Our 15-year old son was quite disappointed when he and his father wandered over to the canal to rent one on our last night in Amsterdam and found them closed for the night.

Picture by Dmoutray.

The Hard Rock Cafe

The Hard Rock Cafe is definitely a perfect dinner destination for teenage boys!

Definitely not what you might think of as one of Amsterdam's sights but definitely a stop worth mentioning. We had the friendliest and most relaxed service there. We were able to sit outside and unwind. The Hard Rock Cafe was even close enough to our hotel that my husband managed to sneak in some birthday shopping when we were not looking.

The Amsterdam Dungeon

The Dungeons Amsterdam

What more could a teenage boy want?

We usually pass up sights that we deem to be very touristy like The Dungeons and actually, my husband did pass in order to go shopping in the diamond district. (Although no diamonds were purchased.)

You know what? He missed a great adventure and the rest of us labelled this stop one of the best of our trip. I almost lost my head here! What more could a teenage boy want?

Read more (and see me losing my head) on this page:

Amsterdam's 25 Best Sights

25 must see sights in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Fodor's makes excellent travel guides, which I always consult before I leave home. Amsterdam's 25 Best has what you need to enjoy Amsterdam, and 25 of the must-see sights.

Fodor's Amsterdam's 25 Best (Full-color Travel Guide)

by: Fodor's

Amazon Price: $6.28 (as of 05/28/2012)
List Price: $11.99

"When you get off the plane at Schipol, this is the book you want in your pocket. Aside from the breezy overview and the tips for navigating this delightful city, the book includes a folding map that's water-proof, wipeable and compact. Even an afternoon at the Heineken brewery won't do it any harm. By all means, read all you can before you go, including Fodor's guide to Amsterdam and Holland, but pack this in your carry-on and you'll be ready to enjoy the city as soon as you arrive." ~ Lynn Hoffman

Release Date: 02/08/2011

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More Information For Your European Travels

Have you been to Amsterdam, Netherlands?

I apologize for the lack of personal photos on this page. Amsterdam was our last stop before we returned home to Canada and our photographer, it seemed, had lost his motivation for taking pictures. Where I did not have one of our own to share, I have requested permission to use a picture from a photographer on Flickr.

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sukkran Aug 10, 2011 @ 9:34 pm | delete

yet to visit amsterdam. thanks for sharing your tour experiences. ~blessed~

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Titia Feb 13, 2011 @ 4:21 am | delete

I've been there a lot, I'm a Dutchie, I used to live in Haarlem, close to Amsterdam and the sister of my mom's mother lived in Amsterdam, so I visited her quite often. I don't like to go there now, too many people, too crowded for my taste.

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Margaret_Schaut Aug 1, 2010 @ 8:23 pm | delete

I didn't make it to Amsterdam when I've visited Europe, of course it is very hard to see everything you want to when travelling. Beautiful page!