Walking in Amsterdam

Ninety percent of the Dutch speak English, and they’re very helpful when asked for directions. Wear comfortable shoes! I see all these European women walking around in heals, but I couldn't walk those cobblestone streets in heels...I would break my ankle. I also recommend packing an umbrella...just in case. The Red Light District is pretty safe, just keep your eyes open. I wouldn't walk around down there at night, by myself, but groups of 2 or more people is the best way to go. Don't try to take pictures of the 'ladies of the night' because her pimp will be close by, to smash your camera. Bathrooms are fare and few between, I suggest finding a hotel and walk in like you know where you're going. Otherwise, you'll have to use a cafe or restaurant, but usually you'll need to purchase something. The shopping is great, and the architecture is amazing. Take a canal tour. As touristy as it is, it's a wonderful way to see the city and learn about it's history.

Public transportation in the Netherlands is so easy and convenient. If you're not walking, you're taking a train, a tram, or a bus...sometimes even a bike. But I loved walking around this beautiful city.

Quick Tips:

Check with your hotel concierge for any discount coupons they may have for guests. They also know all the good shopping and eating areas. Locals are nice and would be very good at making recommendations as well.

Best Way To Get Around:

The tram system is great and will take you everywhere, even drop you off right in front of your fave museum. Get your strippenkaart (ticket for the use of all local public transportation) for about € 7 (.15) at any post office, tobacco shop, or at Central Station. There are tram maps to help you decide where to get off.

There are cheap bike rentals around the city, and bikes have the right of way all the time. Don't be surprised if you’re crossing a street and bikers fly by ringing their bells. They won't stop for you, so keep your eyes open at all times.

This hotel is right in the heart of Dam Square, right across from the Royal Palace. There are 468 hotel rooms and 36 fully furnished apartments. They offer a business center and a lounge with great comfy couches and chairs. There are 3 restaurants, 1 Japanese, 'Edo/Kyo', 1 fine dining 'Restaurant Reflet' and the famous Winter Garden where a sumptuous breakfast buffet is served every day.

My room faced a busy alley, with shops, coffeehouses and fast food outlets. I was on the 3rd floor, but I could still hear everyone on the street below. It finally quieted down about 3am. My room was very nice and spacious, with hard wood floors. I had a desk with Internet and a closet safe.

The bathroom was nice and big, and the amenities were nice...I like the lotion a lot. Robes and houseshoes were also in the closet. I was on a nonsmoking floor, I believe the first 2 floors are smoking.

The breakfast buffet was really nice, with champagne and all, but of course because it's in a hotel, it's very expensive, especially when my room overlooked a pastry shop. I think it was almost 20 euros per person for breakfast.

Centraal Station is a 1KM walk and KLM has a shuttle service to and from the airport, every 30 minutes. PERFECT for those who aren't familiar with the trains and trams of Amsterdam.

I enjoyed my stay, but the street noise was a little much.

The Amsterdam Sofitel is in a great location, right behind the Damrak and all the noise that accompanies it, and it’s just a short walk from Centraal Station, but that's about it.

I was charged the rate of 179€ ($220!) for 1 night, including breakfast. Because I’m familiar with Sofitel, I assumed I was staying at a four-star property, but I got not at all what I expected.

My room was very small and badly needed a makeover. But then again, you don’t go to Amsterdam to stay in your room. I’ve read in other reviews that it’s a little noisy due to the traffic on that street, but our room faced a courtyard, so it was VERY quiet, except for the maids slamming all the doors on my floor. The thing I found slightly odd was there were no washcloths in the bathroom, only towels… strange.

We had a cocktail in the lounge and encountered THE rudest bartender in the world. I didn’t catch his name, but he was an East Indian fellow. When we sat down, there was no one else in the bar. He walked right by us and started clearing off another table. No, "Hi" or "I’ll be right with you;" he just walked by and ignored us. We were in a great mood, so we just sat and waited.

When he finally came to our table, we ordered our drinks and waited - and waited (good mood). After we got our drinks, he never asked us if we needed anything else or even stopped by to ask if we wanted another. Anyway, when I complained about it at the front desk the morning when we checked out, the response I got was, "Oh yeah, he’s like that." Hmmm… strange response.

I noticed I was charged for two breakfast buffets at 20€ a piece, even though my rate included breakfast. When I brought it to his attention, he tried to tell me that their rates don’t include breakfast. Luckily, I had my printout from the reservation I made on their website. I was right, and he reprinted my receipt and took the breakfasts off.

This is a good hotel for the location, as it’s literally a 2- minute walk to Dam Square and not far from the Anne Frank house. It’s not as noisy as the hotels on the Dam, and the tram stops right in front of the hotel to go to the train station or into the city. There are several restaurants within a 5-minute walk, a small grocery store across the street, and two souvenir shops where the merchandise is less expensive.

I stay in Sofitels all over the place, and this didn’t have the quality or service I’ve come to expect. I would probably give it another try when I return to Amsterdam because I REALLY like the location.

WONDERFUL place! Right on the canal at Nieuwmarkt. Typical Dutch cuisine and atmosphere. The place is lined with candles and high candelabras, which makes for an awesome sight to see at night. The menu has some excellent choices--from venison to sea bass, duck, and chicken. The crudités plate as an appetizer was great! It came with three dipping sauces that were so wonderful, yet so different.
They have a website, In De Waag .

For about 1 euro, you can have a fresh, hot burger or chicken sandwich, fries or kroket, at any one of the numerous Febos around the city. The food is made hot, and you just look into the window, put in your euro, open the door, and you have a fresh, hot snack anytime of the day--not too bad for assembly line food. Don't miss the fries with mayo and raw onions--my FAVORITE! You can get these anywhere on the street as well.

After eating typical Dutch food for a couple days, we craved for something from home. We saw a pizza place right next door to our hotel, The Sofitel Amsterdam. We decided to give it a try. To our awe, this place was REALLY good!

This was a small Italian restaurant that had a pretty big menu. Pasta dishes, pizza, salads, sandwiches, beef and chicken dishes, and appetizers: it was all here. We played it safe and ordered a pepperoni pizza, but to start off, we had shrimp scampi, which was surprisingly great, with big, fat prawns in a rich, garlicky butter sauce, served with hot garlic bread. Now, the bread is what really stood out. It was a loaf of crusty Italian bread, sliced and served with a dish of garlic herb butter. OH MY GOD! I could have eaten three or four loaves of it. The garlic butter spread was such a welcome departure from the ordinary bread and butter you’re served with meals in Europe. The bread was warm and crusty on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. YUM!

Our other appetizer was a nice big antipasti salad full of tasty salami, cheese and pepperoncinis. Our pepperoni pizza was quite good. It was really cheesy, and the crust was thin and crispy.

I was pretty impressed with this little place. It’s off the main square, and it was pretty empty on this Monday evening. As with all restaurants, it allows smoking, so it can get a little stuffy and smoky, but it was good, inexpensive food, a huge factor when you’re on vacation. Our bill was around 30€, and we had beer and wine with our meal.

The restaurant is two doors down from the Sofitel hotel on Neiuwe Zijds Voorburgwal, two streets over from Damrak. The tram stops right in front of it. Take tram nos. 1, 2, or 5.

To learn about the history of the city, the canals, and the architecture, take a canal cruise. There are several different docks to choose from in different parts of the city. We used the one right on Damrak for about 8€ per person. The trip lasts just over an hour and is a nice way to see the city and get some great pictures.

The boats can seat quite a few people, and the announcements were in both French and English. I'm sure they have recordings in other languages as well. The windows slide open for picture-taking, and the roof is also glass. The boats do have a SMALL bathroom at the rear of the boat, just in case you need it.

No food is allowed, but you can bring water bottles.

Take a step back in time as you pass by the Anne Frank House, the narrowest house in Amsterdam, and other landmarks.

In a city as beautiful as Amsterdam, it's almost impossible for me to imagine German tanks rolling through the streets, looking for Jews. The Anne Frank house gives you a look into what life was like over 60 years ago. Looking into the Franks' living situation is a very sad experience. Eight people sharing a few small rooms with almost no privacy for 2 years is amazing.

Imagine having to keep absolutely silent during the day and cooking meals only in the evening, after the warehouse workers below leave to go to their homes at the end of a workday. Because the waste pipes for the toilet run right through the warehouse, the toilet is flushed as little as possible.

Imagine never being able to go outside or even open a window for fear of being discovered.

With the aid of family friends, Bep Voskuijl was one of the people who would bring food, supplies, and news to the families hidden away. At the end of the tour, you get to find out what happened to each person who was in hiding.

If you don't feel any emotion during this tour, you are not human. This is a self-guided tour, so you can take your time. The museum has a lot of very skinny staircases and no facilities for the handicapped. It's a life-changing place.

There's a bookstore and small café at the end of the tour.

HOURS:
Jan 2-March 24, 2005
Daily from 9am-7pm
March 25-Aug. 31, 2005
Daily from 9am-9pm
Sept. 1-Dec. 30, 2005
Daily from 9am-7pm

Between 2 canals,Koningsplein and Muntplein, is a floating flower market. Bloemenmarkt is a great place to spend part of an afternoon just browsing through the many different types of flowers, plants, planters, christmas trees and anything else that has to do with horticulture. Shops line the canal and gift shops and restaurants line the other side of the street, so you're never too far from a snack. If exporting bulbs out of the Netherlands, you need to look for a certain stamp that comes from the Dept. of Agriculture. ASK before you buy, because different countries have different agricultural standards and stamps. Don't get stuck at the airport with bulbs without the correct stamp... customs agents will take them away. If traveling by tram, get off at Muntplein and walk around the corner.

If you like good beer, the Heineken Experience is for you! This was a working brewery until 1988, but now it's a museum and beer hall. Learn a little a history about Amsterdam and the brewery's namesake. See inside actual mash coppers and an explanation of the brewing process. The best part is getting to sample the fresh beer at two bars on the tour.

The tour is self-guided, so you take as much time as you want. You learn about how, at 22 years old, Gerard Adriaan Heineken borrowed money from his mother to build a new brewery on Stadhouderskade, and how Heineken became one of the most popular beers and one of the most respected names in the world. There's a virtual ride that takes you down the path of a Heineken bottle, from empty to full to nightclub. There's another that takes you through the streets of Amsterdam on a clydesdale-driven carriage.

There's an Internet cafe that lets you take a picture of yourself and email it to someone and a small giftshop at the end of the tour. Also, everyone who goes through the museum gets a free gift on the way out.

It was a nice way to spend an afternoon. It's very easy to get to from anywhere in the city. Take trams 24 or 16 and get off at Stadhouderskade.

If you arrive in Amsterdam by train, you pull into Centraal Station. A mini-Grand Central Station, all signs and schedules are in both Dutch and English. There is an information desk just inside the front entrance and a few fast-food places to get a bite to eat or drink. There are a few souvenir shops in the terminal as well.

The tracks or "spoors" are numbered and easy to spot. Steps take you up to your track...only a couple tracks have an escalator. Double-decker trains take you to local cities beyond Amsterdam.

Centraal Station is very easy to get around in, and most of the residents speak English.

Outside the station, you can grab a tram to take into the city. Centraal Station is the terminal point for 11 of the 17 tram lines.

In the courtyard across from the Hard Rock Cafe, there's a chess game that lasts all day with life-size pieces. I watched for about half an hour, but it seemed like some of these players stay all day.

What you've heard about the coffee shops is absolutely true. Cannabis is not LEGAL in Holland, but it is TOLERATED. Depending on the coffee shop itself, they may serve only coffee, or they may serve alcohol and/or food. Free Adam is a Rastafarian place that's very small, and the music is, of course, reggae. They did serve sodas, beer, and other usuals. It was very mellow given the nature of the place, and it was crowded on a Monday night.

I recommend that everyone visit at least ONE coffeehouse. I personally do not smoke, but it was interesting to be in a place like that.

Just down the street from The Anne Frank Huis is a public memorial for the lesbians and gay men who were harassed, imprisoned, or executed during the Nazis' occupation during WWII. In 1970, gay activists were arrested for attempting to place a lavender wreath on Dam Square during the annual national memorial service. The wreath, which was intended to draw public attention to the homosexual atrocities, was removed by police and denounced as a disgrace. This wreath-laying continued throughout the '70s with some moderate success. In the early 1980s, Dutch gay and lesbian organizations finally secured government approval for the memorial and began the huge task of raising the money necessary to complete it.

Every 4th of May during the annual national memorial service, gays and lesbians gather around this monument in the evening to remember all the victims of gay hate. This is one of the world's foremost monuments for homosexuals. The monument was designed by Karin Daan and consists of three large triangles of pinkish granite that together compose one giant triangle. One triangle extends over a nearby canal and is used mainly to leave flowers in memory of the persecuted.

It's a very peaceful place to be, even if there are a hundred people there. You should make the stop there before or after Anne Frank.

Trams are a great way to get around the city or to locations too far to walk to, like the flower market, the Heineken Experience, or some of the museums. You can get a tram almost anywhere in the city, and like subways or metros, they're numbered and go to different destinations. The tram costs almost 2€, and you can either pay the driver or get a Strippenkart at either the Centraal Station or at any tobacco shop on the street. A Strippenkart is a card with 2 to 45 strips on it for rides that are stamped each time you board a tram. It’s up to you whether you want to use one. Some people find them convenient, as they don’t have to dig for change every time they board.

The city is divided into several zones, including Centrum, West, Oost, Noord, and Zuid. Most of the tourist attractions fall in the Centrum, or central, zone. This is the area called the Old Center. Trams operate from 6am till 12:30am every day.

Hop on one and take a trip. Trams clanging their bells and forcing walkers to step out of its way is a fast way to get somewhere.

Getting on the right tram is very simple. You can get a map of the trams and the stops at Centraal Station or from the concierge at your hotel. Just look for a tram stop marked by a sign, like a bus top here in the US. Just jump on when it stops and off you go. Trams usually announce each stop, but I have been on a couple where I didn’t hear an announcement. The tram stop will also be displayed on a digital readout at the front of the car so you don’t miss your stop.

While you’re wandering around Amsterdam and admiring the architecture and the age of the houses, notice how all the facades lean forward a bit. There are a couple reasons for this. The first reason is that they were built at that angle to keep the rain off. The top floors protruded more than the bottom ones so that the rain ran off the facade without soaking it.

The second reason is due to the hoisting beam you’ll see at the top. Back when the houses were built, you were taxed on the width of your house. In order to keep the taxes down, people built long, skinny houses, resulting in skinny staircases, making it impossible to move furniture in and out. The hoisting beams were added to lift furniture and other items that were too heavy or too big for the stairs with pulleys, and the lean prevented the hoisted items to hit the wall or break a window. The hoisting beams are still in use today (as in the pictures below), as most of the houses are original. Of course, the more modern buildings don’t have them.

I just thought it was interesting how and why the buildings leaned. You learn something new everyday.