We came to Amsterdam with our oldest daughter Jen, her husband Rob and son Jack in July of 2019. We took the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam for a two night stay. Rob’s mother Kiki came with us to visit her mother’s gravesite in The Hague. On that visit while having lunch canal side Sandy declared that we were going to return to Amsterdam for a three month stay, and here we are.
On May 4 Jen, Rob and Jack arrived back in Amsterdam to spend a week with us. Jack opted to forgo the creaky small elevator and chose to climb the 70 stairs up to our unit. Sandy followed.First stop was our fav Cafe De Sluyswacht for some brews and per Sandy “best French fries in the world”. Rob was a bit disappointed at the puny size of his beer.May 4 is National Remembrance of the Dead Day in Amsterdam when people gather together to remember and commemorate the casualties of WW2 and subsequent armed conflicts. After the wreaths are placed at the National Monument in Dam Square by the King and Queen a two minute moment of silence is observed in all of the Netherlands.
We took a walk to see the stage set up in the Amstel River for Freedom Day which is on May 5 every year and celebrates the liberation of The Netherlands from the Germans. In this video a performer is practicing her song for the King and Queen who will be riding in this flowered covered boat that she is in. The video is a bit long but her voice is amazing.
We saw this group of men go by from our window. Not sure what they were celebrating though, maybe a bachelor party.We took a “free” walking tour of Amsterdam that began at Dam Square.Our guide Paul was born in Amsterdam. His father was from Suriname and his mother was German. They met in Amsterdam and lived in the Red Light District when Paul was born. His tour focused on the history of Amsterdam. Our first stop was to show us the last remaining portal gate of the city. Amsterdam literally means “the Dam on the River Amstel “, it is the capital and most populated city of The Netherlands. Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the “Venice of the North”, for its large number of canals and is now a Unesco World Heritage Site.This is an Amsterdam Gable stone. In the days before house numbers and when people could not read these colorful signs held clues about various buildings’ purposes. This probably denoted a butcher shop.This Gable Stone represented a bank and stock exchange.Paul stopped at a store and ordered Pickled Herring for us to sample which is a local delicacy of raw fish served on a piece of bread with pickles and onions.Rob, Jack and Jim all enjoyed this delicacyFor Remembrance andFreedom Days celebration the Dutch flags are on full display everywhere.We refer to these canal houses as the Leaning Ladies or Dancing Houses. Amsterdam is built on clay soil, which is very soft and can shift about. Very much like our home in Beacon Hill these houses are supported on wood pilings which need to remain under water or they will rot. The difference however is that in Boston they are on a more solid foundation so the Beacon Hill Row houses do not lean. In Amsterdam the canal houses are also purposely built to lean forward so when they hoist up furniture to bring in the house through the window it does not crash into the windows on the way up.Jenn, Rob and Jack took a two hour canal boat tour with Captain Storm. It had a self serve open bar and platters of cheese and crackers.He also made a stop along the way to pick up freshly made Bitterballen which is a meat-based snack made by making a stew thickened with roux, bone marrow and beef stock and generously loaded with meat, refrigerated until firm then breaded and fried and served with a mustard sauce on the side. Not exactly the healthiest snack but you must try one, or at least a bite of one while you are here.
Watch this video as they had Captain Storm go by our place so we could wave at them as they went by.Sandy waved the orange leis out the window to capture people’s eyes to look upwards while Jim took the above video and Rob took this photo as they went by on the boat..There are colorful flower decorated bikes attached on many of the canal bridges which adds to the flavor of this charming city.Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam originated in 1905 and is one of the favorite locations for locals and tourists. It is open six days a week and has 260 stands selling everything from shoes, luggage, clothes, souvenirs, food and typically dutch treats like pickled herring which is what Rob and Jim are sampling for the second time here, prepared by the guy in the white coat.On May 6 we went to Keukenhof Garden to catch the final days of the tulips which ends May 12.There were still plenty of beautiful floral displaysA beautiful mother/daughter display also.Rob was the only one who went up in the Windmill but then he is half Dutch as his Mom was born here and lived in The Hague.Orchid greenhouse.Azaleas blooming and reflected on the lake water.Yup he is definitely dutch.Photo taken for us by a random stranger who managed to eliminate most of the flowers in the background but at least got everyone with their eyes open and smiling.Spectacular sunset photos on our roof deck.On May 7 we all went to the Anne Frank house.Anne Frank’s actual diary.We could only take these pictures as it is requested not to take pictures of the house and hiding space.These brass plaques are placed in front of the homes where victims of the Holocaust lived. These plaques are pictured in the museum, the actual ones are in Medwedeplein Square in Amsterdam which is where the Frank family lived a happy life until they had to go into hiding when the Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany. This is from a photo in the museum, below are the actual plaques taken when we went to the neighborhood and house they lived in.Theses are the actual “stolpersteine” or stumbling stones which are brass plaques that are placed in front of the last known residence of those lost in the Holocaust. The Frank family lived at # 37 Merwedeplein before going into hiding in the annex of the father’s shop at 263 Prinsengracht which produced and sold pectin for jams. Rob and Jen always manage to enjoy themselves no matter where they are.
Coming up next is our two day trip to Bruges and Ghent before this family leaves us. This blog is titled Amsterdam with family 1, as we still have two more offspring coming to visit us.
[…] have spent time with us in Paris in 2017, London in 2019, New Orleans in 2022, San Diego in 2024, Amsterdam in 2024 and now Copenhagen and Croatia. Jackson flew by himself to Paris in 2017 when he was 15. […]
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