Best galleries in Amsterdam?

[sharklet]

We're now sorted as to where we are going for our short break. We're going to Ghent in Blegium first to stay with freinds - then we're going to Amsterdam. We're renting a houseboat just outside the city and will have three days to spend exploring. Does anyone have any recommendations for the best things to see. I don't won't have time to do all the galleries and museums and am currently a bit spoilt for choice!

Emma xx

deffo the van gogh museum

the rijksmuseum is the biggie

Lucky you Sharklet, I have spent a lot of time in Amsterdam -

Van Gogh Museum
Rijks Museum (you have to see the Nightwatch)
Museum of Modern Art

All of these are very near to each other on Museumplein!

In 3 days you can see tons of stuff as Amserdam is small enough to walk around with maybe the occasional tram ride (get a Strippenkart of tickets from the Information Centre near Centraal Station or any newsagent).

Another must is the Anne Frank Museum - when I first went there it was just the house and the Council were thinking of redeveloping it Luckily it was saved for posterity and now has a visitor centre, shop and cafe attached to it to cope with the huge number of visitors.

Lots of fab places to eat, drink and be merry.
You can enjoy just walking along the canals and going across the bridges, its like ToyTown. And don't forget to check out the tall blonde Dutch boys as they cycle past!

are these\ suitable for a 9 and 6 year old?
we are going there at half term, staying with friends in Rijswijk.

I took my dd to see them all when she was 6, the Anne Frank house was a good introduction into all sorts of things. But the subject matter may not be suitable for all children.

In taking children to Amsterdam I would absolutely add the zoo, its called Artis and has an interesting collection of animals inc. giraffes, penguins, etc. Plus an outdoor play area and places to eat etc. In fact you could spend most of a day there as its set in a big park.
There is a planetarium there too but as the commentary is in Dutch we didn't do that!

Another good spot for children is the Vondelpark which is really "just" a park with a lake, we have spotted heron there and its only a short walk from the Leidseplein. Its also interesting to note the enormous Dutch mansions dotted around the edges of the park - diamond merchants houses.

Thanks guys, We leave first thing tomorrow morning and I am all excited now. Not been on holiday in a year and even that was visiting our family in the US so am looking forward to getting away just us and doing some cool stuff.

Have made copious notes of your suggestions and will be found nosing around as many galleries as possible, maybe more if it rains! We'll be going to the Zoo too as DD will be with us too.

See you all in a week

Emma xx

have a lovely time shatrlett

is kirkenholf(sp? right name?) on about now too? hmmm, you may just have missed it. we went 9-9-99 (how dod i rememeber that date??? lol) and it was beautiful

it says

Mar 21 to May 20 only

but we definitly went in september and saw all the autumn flowers

Have a fab time Sharklet and family.

Eat some applecake for me (its nice in the cafe at the Museum of modern art)

Love Cam xxxx

So, Sharklet, how did your trip go?

Hi Cam,

We had a wonderful time. We rented a houseboat in a peaceful part of town, and explored the tthree days we were there. We had DD with us who is 20 months so it did make somethings a bit more tricky though. We visited the Anne Frank Huis which was interesting and touching. I studied her diaries in detail at college when I staged "The Secret Annexe" with my Teaching Practice students.

I was dissapointed with the Reikjsmuseum which was mainly closed - a teensie fraction of it was open and although you did get to see the cream of thier art it was they thought was the best and I tend to like to see the other works too. It was a shame they didn't have many Vermeer paintings on show.

We did also visit the Van Gogh Museum which was wonderful and full of a rnage of things and a lot more than I expected. Other than that we found a dity farm and Bel got to feed the goats and a very fat pig and we ended up wandering through the Red Light district with Bel in her stroller.

Can't wait to go back now - we wished we'd stayed there longer instead of stopping with friends in Ghent on the way which was an unmitigated disater in every possible way!

Got to persuade DH to take me to Paris now - I'm on a promise!

Shame about the Riksmuseum, seeing its full glory could take 3 days all by itself. Glad you liked the Van Gogh Museum, its one of my favourite art galleries in the world!

You didn't go to the zoo? That's worth a visit next time.

Surprising Amsterdam so the locals call it - I always think so.

We'll definately be going back. It was such a lovely place to visit. We found all sorts of cool places like the spanish riding school which DD adored. The city farm and some very cool and strange shops. Wel ost DD's badger puppet in the Vondelpark and DH was mortified- she now has badger mark II thanks to a website I found which had an identical replacement - more for him than her!

Anyway it was a wonderful visit. Am hoping we'll be off to Paris soon - I'm on a promise, so I'm going to hold him to it!

SHARKLET sorry to crash thread, please email me regarding hotel bookings for London

SHARKLET sorry to crash thread, please email me regarding hotel bookings for London