Amsterdam

McKneff

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

The Van Gogh museum is definitely worth a visit - 4 hours we spent in there! See if your hotel offers a discount for tickets booked in advance.

The Bols museum is also really good, you get a free cocktail and two free shots - if you go with someone else you can get different shots and try even more flavours.

Personally we found the Anne Frank house really boring and disappointing...

I have heard it is also depressing, I personally didnt want to go anyway, I knew what happened to her:eek:

Mr_Wang

McKneff wrote: »

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I have heard it is also depressing, I personally didnt want to go anyway, I knew what happened to her:eek:

Anne Frank's father, Otto, refused to let his daughter Margot be turned over to the Nazis and so hid his family for 2 years in an annex behind his work.
They lived in secret and ultimately were given away whereby Anne, her mum and sister were taken to Auschwitz. There they witnessed untold horror and watched their mother feed them, rather than herself. She died.
Anne and Margot were moved to Bergen - Belsen where eventually both died. Anne was 15 years old.

Could that ever not be depressing? through her Diary Anne Frank was said by TIME to have lent "a searing voice for humanity" - A phrase which will stay with me for a long time.

Anyone that visits the haus and finds it boring has done so due to their morality and intelligence levels. Anyone even half capable of appreciation and understanding will find the haus a reminder of man's capabilities, desperation and above all will find it a truly haunting place that is rightfully and thankfully confined to the realms of history.

totallybored

Eating out and bars can be very expensive. For a cheap ish but good lunch one of the department stores (I don't recall the name but it's on the left of the shopping street after Dam square) has an excellent food court restaurant that is reasonably priced. There is a place for chips on Dam Square next to the big hotel, get chips with mayo and curry ketchup! Plenty of Indonesian and Chinese restaurants too.

There are loads of bars and some nice small ones around the church behind the red light district.

Hiring bikes are fun, on a nice day buy a picnic lunch and sit by the side of a quiet canal.

Hema is a great shop if you like cheap house stuff, excellent tea towels (yes, I buy strange stuff on holiday). It has a cafe that does sausage rolls too. And Xenos is the best tat filled house shop ever.

I've been more than 10 times but the most cultural thing I've done was 10 minutes in the Van Gogh museum shop. I wasn't even aware there was a zoo!

C_Mababejive

I wouldnt say the Anne Frank Haus is Boring. I mean,it isnt meant to be a tourist attraction/place of entertainment.

Its a bit like the Terror Haus in Budapest. Not a place of entertainment,more a place which gives you a moment of pause..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Terror

hanwellmike

Of the art galleries I preferred the Rijksmuseum which is a beautiful building & has a lot of the old masters (Rembrandt etc). Google it to check the website http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/.

The Red Light district is worth a stroll as there are some good lively bars in that area and window shopping there is amusing if nothing else.

As previously mentioned the Indonesian restaurants are very good.

GlennTheBaker

Kantjil & de Tijger is a superb Indonesian restaurant.

jm2926

We really enjoyed the boat tour and the visit to the canal boat museum, which didn't take long but was very interesting. Also a great insight into the history and people of Amsterdam was the Chapel in the Attic and the museum Van Loon.

Voyager2002

Begin with a visit to the tourist information office: there always used to be one on a boat very close to the main railway station. One of the things you can pick up there are leaflets giving directions for several walking tours (they tell you where to walk and what to look at, with brief details about the various places of interest). I strongly recommend the walk around "Jewish Amsterdam".

The red light district occupies much of the historic centre, so if you enjoy art and architecture it is hard to avoid. Don't let the sex shops put you off: I remember noting (from the windows of the attic church) that the building above the sex show opposite was actually full of artist's studios.

Indonesian food is affordable and delicious.

dickydonkin

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

Personally we found the Anne Frank house really boring and disappointing...

Disneyland it isn't - but (this is only my opinion) I think it is important to teach our kids about Anne Frank and what lessons we have (hopefully) learnt from history.

Auschwitz is another place which some may find depressing, but brings to the fore how evil the human race can be and I believe is a place that should also be visited.

sarah69696pink

I loved Anne Franks house - I've been twice now and find it such an emotional/inspiring place.

We loved the art galleries - Van Goghs was great and we also went to smaller local galleries to see local artists works.

A barge trip is fun.

Just walking around is lovely - on certain mornings you can see markets and things which is just lovely.

I also enjoyed the heineken museum.

We also did a bit of shopping that was nice.

You could also book day trips to other places if you liked - like to see tulips depending on time of year.