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This trip was a bit unexpected for us–there’s was a snafu with my husband’s vacation time request for a trip to Montreal, and the colleague that he was conflicted with suggested he go to a meeting in Paris a week earlier instead. I’d been to Paris twice (this is my review of the last trip) and he’s been there three times, and we really hadn’t planned on going back anytime soon. But who are we to say no to a trip like this! We decided to go to Amsterdam for a few days at the start of the trip because I’ve never been and it seemed like an easy thing to tack on to a trip to Paris.
Amsterdam
As I just said above, I’d never been to Amsterdam. Part of the reason for that is because I thought tourists only went there to smoke pot and walk through the Red Light district to see hookers in windows. Boy was I wrong! Amsterdam is a beautiful, walkable, almost relaxing city once you get away from the seedier bits and major tourist areas. There’s also pretty much no language barrier since English is the default language for anything related to tourism, and from what I could tell even among some locals. We arrived on a Sunday morning (Easter morning to be exact), and left on Tuesday afternoon for Paris, so we had to be pretty focused with our visit since we didn’t have much time.
Hotel
We arrived on Easter morning. The day after Easter is a holiday in Europe, and with Queen’s Day (April 30th) a week later, finding a hotel proved a bit difficult. We ended up at the Museum Suites. This is a boutique hotel located down the street from the Van Gogh Museum. It’s relatively new, which is why I think we could still get a room there, but it seemed full and with so few rooms I’m sure it won’t be easy to book for long! We really enjoyed staying in this neighborhood because we were close to not just the museums, but also Voldenpark, a large lovely park just outside of the central tourist areas.
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Stuff to see:
OV-chipkaart: This handy little card allows you to ride public transportation options in Amsterdam on an unlimited basis and can be purchased for however many days you need. It’s activated the first time you use it. We tried to buy these at the airport, but I mistakenly went to the train ticket windows to get one when we should have gone to the visitor information desk (VVV). It wasn’t a wasted trip because the card doesn’t cover the train from the airport to the city. Instead we got ours at the VVV office next to the central train station in Amsterdam. You could also elect to get an iAmsterdam card, which includes admission to a bunch of museums and some other goodies in addition to transportation, but this is pretty pricey and we decided it wouldn’t be worth it for us since we only wanted to do the Van Gogh Museum.
The trams in Amsterdam are incredibly easy to use. They’re sort of like buses in the sense that they’re supposed to come every 10 minutes or so, but there were times we had to wait longer, and then they were bunched up. If you decide not to get the chipkaart, most of the trams we saw had attendants selling tickets.
Van Gogh Museum: We did this right after we arrived while we were waiting for our room to be ready. The very nice woman at the hotel got us tickets online so we wouldn’t have to wait in line. However, since it was Easter and a beautiful sunny day, even the line for people with reservations was big (although not around the block like it was for tickets!), and they were only letting people in in bunches. This was a little annoying because the line to buy tickets was orderly while the line for people who already had tickets was just a mob. And for what it’s worth, when we went by on Tuesday there was absolutely no line. As for the museum itself, it’s very well organized and includes works by artists that either inspired Van Gogh or were considered peers. Definitely worth a visit.
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Heineken Experience: I was excited to do this because it seems like everyone I’ve ever known who has gone to Amsterdam tried to tour the Heineken Factory and couldn’t for whatever reason (closed, sold out for the day). But I think that was back when this was an actual factory and not just a tourist thing–notice it’s called an “experience,” and not a “factory tour.” If you’ve been to the Guinness Storehouse tour in Dublin it’s pretty similar to that (although the bar at the end is nowhere near as nice in Amsterdam). It’s basically a rather slick tour that’s like one big commercial for Heineken. You do get to do a small tasting halfway through, which is nice, and then you get two beers at the end. We had gotten tickets online and printed them out at home because you can use them at any time, but this wasn’t necessary because there weren’t any lines for tickets. It was fun but if you’re not that into beer I think you could skip it.
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Flower Market: My mom lives for gardening and loves tulips, so I was very excited to buy some bulbs for her in Amsterdam. I, however, don’t garden at all, so I had no idea you’re supposed to plant tulip bulbs in the fall. Because of this all the bulbs available in Amsterdam when we went had been grown in greenhouses and were “forced” so they could be planted immediately. So if you’re really a hardcore gardener that’s something to keep in mind. Something else to keep in mind is that you’re only supposed to bring home bulbs that have a sticker on them denoting they’ve been inspected by U.S. Agriculture. We did find one place in the flower market that had these, and I’ve heard that you can get them at the airport, too (we flew out of Paris). We also stopped by the Tulip Museum when we wandered by, and they only sell bulbs in the fall. But they have tons of other tulip-y stuff.
Anne Frank House: We actually didn’t do this, I just wanted to post this picture of the line. This was on Tuesday, not one of the holidays. I was pretty relieved one of my co-workers told me it wasn’t a must-do unless you’re really into the book and can’t pass up the chance to see this.
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Train from Amsterdam to Paris
We booked our tickets for the Thalys train at http://www.nshispeed.nl/. We just printed out our tickets at an internet cafe in Amsterdam the day of our trip. Thalys trains are a little different in that even with a 2nd class reservation you get an assigned seat in a specific car. I overheard someone on the platform ask a conductor about using some sort of pass, and she said that it wouldn’t work for Thalys and that you need a specific reservation for them. We had to ask for help at the train station because the ticket printed in Dutch and we had no idea which ones were our coach and seat numbers. Once we had that we were all set! Amsterdam Centraal is a pretty straightforward station. The trains are announced about 15 to 20 minutes before they depart, and then the trains are at the platform for just a few minutes to board. There are numbers on the platform for the Thalys to correspond to the coach numbers so you can board quickly. The seats were pretty comfy, and we had just a few quick stops before getting to Paris about 3 1/2 hours later. Some of the itineraries have you changing trains in Brussels, so watch out for those, and the items in the snack car were quite pricey, so bringing your own would be a good idea.
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Paris
Hotel Relais Bosquet: This is the same place we stayed last time (read my review here), and we still really liked it. We stayed in a smaller room this time and it was still fine, and cheaper.
Stuff to see
Le Bon Marché: I was looking for a birthday present for my nephew while in Paris, and while looking around online I saw that this department store had a big kids section. It was walking distance from the hotel, so I strolled over. If you’re like me and a little intimidated by designer boutiques, this place is for you. They have gorgeous clothing displays, but you’re not being glared at by a clerk who knows you’re “just looking.” When I did buy something and had a question about sizes, the woman assisting me didn’t speak the greatest English but she was still nice and helpful. The children’s section is indeed enormous and has toys, games, and books in addition to clothes. The best part was the food hall across the street, La Grande Epicerie Paris! While wandering around the main store I had been starting to feel a bit tired and my feet hurt, but I still managed to walk around La Grande Epecerie Paris for a good hour. I even grabbed lunch and ate it in the park across the street from the main store. I don’t think Le Bon Marché is a must visit for a first timer or anything, but it was fun.
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Sacre Coeur: Two trips to Paris and this was my first time to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur! It’s very pretty but it was covered with tourists. Fortunately we tried walking around the outside of the church and found a quiet little park where we could admire the view of the back of the church. Like Notre Dame, I liked this view better than the one from the front, and there were hardly any people back there. We then just meandered down the hill through Montmartre, which was pretty pleasant, and wound up in Place Pigalle. It was a pretty darn nice way to spend an afternoon! If you’re wondering whether to take the funicular up to Sacre Coeur, eh, if you’re in reasonable shape it’s really not that many stairs.
You can pretty much stop reading if this entry is in the distant past for you, but if it’s not, two timely things we discovered:
There’s a Manet exhibit at the Musee d’Orsay. We paid the extra few bucks to see it, and then when we got in we saw that you have to wait in a huge line inside for it. We didn’t do the Paris Museum Pass on this trip so we’d already been in line outside for an hour, so we just didn’t bother. We peered in a bit and it looked like a madhouse inside.
We went all the way up to the front door of the Picasso Museum only to find out it’s closed until Spring 2012. At least we got a bottle of absinthe nearby at Vert d’Absinthe for a friend and had a good lunch at Casa San Pablo, so it’s not like the trip was a waste!
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