Amsterdam : You gotta go and drop it like its hot

Introduction

If Snoop Doggy Dog goes to there there's going to be something about the place. Given that I was travelling as a family, dropping like it hot was slightly difficult to say the least. But here goes a more conventional trip to "the Dam". 

The key thing to understand if you're driving to Amsterdam is PARKING - there is a serious art to parking. Parking in Amsterdam is pretty expensive hotel parking in the center can easily be in the EUR 30-50 range. Parking in hotels outside the city centre maybe cheaper. But do factor it into your budget.

I got a nasty surprise with my parking bill coming to EUR 155 for 4 days whereas I thought I had parked in a car park that would cost me in the region of EUR 25. Needless to say it took a long time to negotiate it to a more reasonable EUR 50. But parker beware!!! Look up P+R parking for the best rate but do watch out they are restrictive

What we did ?

We were in Amsterdam for about 4 days. Given we went there during Easter driving in from Luxembourg. Our days were spent as follows:

1. Kuekenhoff Gardens
2. Rijks Museum, Canals and Dam square and surroundings
3. Van Gogh Museum, Ann Franks House and Red-light district and more city centre stuff
4. Drive through the flower route and Kinderjik

So here goes a quick tour of the sights of Amsterdam that we saw.

Keukenhoff Gardens

The garden are open from April to the end of May and showcase daffodils, tulips and other spring flowering plants. The gardens are set over a very large area and will take you half the day to cover at normal pace.

If you do go this is what you will see:

Amazing flower displays as you walk around the gardens

Magnificent tulip colours

Phenomenal varieties with every size and colour

No this is not a painting - these are the actual flowers.

Keukenhoff has a lot of facilities and going around the gardens is easy for anyone. Behind the gardens are some very colourful tulip fields. Ideal for photographs. The fields at Keukenhoff weren't as well developed when we visited there were limited flowers in bloom.

So we had to wait for few more day for the classic tulip fields.

Rijks Museum and Canal Tours

The biggest museum in Amsterdam was the Rijks Museum. The museum is located just outside the centre and but very accessible by trams / buses that serve the city. If you are a Rembrandt fan this is the place to go with a number of his works of art on display including the famous "Night watch". Key advice is either go early or book on line. We had an hour wait and we were queuing from 9am.

This advice goes for all the museums in Amsterdam you need to book early to have an chance of getting tickets. We were lucky we booked the tickets over the phone while queuing for the Rijks museum. With the benefits of free wifi we planned to go to the Van Gogh and Ann Franks museum the following day and booked the tickets. Here are some of the things we saw around the city.

Row houses along the canal

View from the Canal Cruise

Dam Square

Ann Franks House, Van Gogh Museum and Red light district

No pictures in this section as its largely museums and the Van Gogh's museum does tell Vincent's life in a great deal of detail and takes you through his extensive works of art.

Our visit to Ann Franks house is an educational trip down memory lane. Just the sheer gravity of what's happened there during WWII is enough to make you think about your decision making and prejudices. We had a bunch of kids of varying ages and its makes for an intriguing visit for them. The key piece of advice is plan the visit and book the tickets. The queue for the Ann Frank museum is over 2 hours on a good day.

Now to the Snoop Doggy dog topic the streets adjacent to the red light district are safe for children. There are side streets where there are curtained off rooms - if your kids understand the meaning of this then by all means take them. Its educational for girls to see what some people do for a living and its educational for boys in teaching respect irrespective of people professions.

A number hemp products are available to purchase for myself I steered clear apart from the shear infused hemp flavoured lollypop. Believe me it was more sugar than anything else.

Flower (Bloemen) Route

We started our journey back home via the famous flower route in Holland. The route starts off in Harleem and is sign posted from the start so follow Bloemen or Bollenstreek route. You will follow the route south and you'll see tulip fields either side of the road at regular intervals. Take your time to stop take pictures / have a picnic. We followed the route in this link until the Hague and then veered off home.

Kinderjik

We veered off the main connection road between Amsterdam and Antwerp to look at the Kinderjik windmill farms. This is a great area with a number of picturesque windmills that are still in operations.

The best thing about going to Kinderjik is that you can rent bikes from a store and cycle along the canal look and visiting the windmills that are open. The path run between town in the area and is easy to navigate. The main windmills are located in the first 750m strip along the canal. Other are slight further a field but well worth the bike ride out there. Bike are cheap to hire but be aware you'll need a hefty deposit (Cash) and some form of identification.

Conclusion

I'm reliably told that Snoop Doggy dog goes to Amsterdam twice a year to do his stuff given its legality in the city. You don't need to go for the cannabis the city has a lot to offer across the range of ages.

With that said, myself and the Mrs do have a visit to pay there and do a Snoop when the kids have flow the nest. But lets see !!!!

In any case a visit is well work it whatever shape or form it takes.