Overview: Two Days in Amsterdam

Our first view of Amsterdam off the train, on a sparkling summer morning.

As with Delft and The Hague, August 2012 became  my second trip to Amsterdam. Tony and I departed from Rotterdam early on another beautiful summer morning, drowsily riding the high-speed train for just under two hours. When the flat, green farmland outside of our window began giving way to suburbs and apartment buildings, I knew we were getting close. And when we emerged from the darkness of Centraal Station, Amsterdam spread out ahead of us in all directions, all sparkling water, flat boats and spires.

We only had two days in Amsterdam at our disposal, and planned to make the most of them. Our agenda included the city's biggest draws, of course: The Riijksmuseum, the Red Light District, the Heineken Experience, the Anne Frank House Museum, perhaps a cafe visit. Sounds doable, right? Unfortunately, we came quickly to realize that had really underestimated the size of the city and our ability to get around it unaided. We hadn't looked into getting metro or tram passes, thinking we could easily walk to wherever we needed to be. While Amsterdam is certainly a walkable city, and walking is a wonderful way to experience its charms, our determination only to walk it almost became our undoing.

We really should have taken some time to orient ourselves with the city before we went, but we had brought along a map lent to us by Co, and figured we could make our way once there. We knew that everything we wanted to see was down below the sprawling Centraal Station on the outskirts of the city, so we decided to walk straight ahead of the station and work our way into the heart of the city. We were starving, though, having nothing but a small breakfast at the train platform in Rotterdam, so we ducked into an open cafe for breakfast. There, over wonderfully crisp and melty paninis and small cups of black European coffee, we unfurled the map and saw just what we were in for. The museum district was at the very bottom of the city, quite a long distance from our current location.

We spent a frustratingly long time wandering back and forth in the hot sun as we tried to find the Riijksmuseum, but we did get to see a lot of true Amsterdam long the way: the bicycles artfully leaned against buildings, the old houseboats creaking gently at their tethers, the locals coming and going out of townhouses with their shopping, children balanced precariously in seats (with no restraints or helmets) on the front of their parents' bicycles.

Finally, finally, we started seeing signs for the Riijksmuseum, and began following the brass arrows. And at long last we found ourselves in the cool shadow of the palatial museum, and made our way to the museum's annex to gain entry (but more on that later). 

Finding our way to the Heineken Experience after the Riijksmuseum was luckily not nearly as much of a challenge; we made our way there quickly and easily and spent over an hour enjoying the center's various charms. After that, however, we were back to square one. After asking a Heineken employee for directions and scouring multiple maps, we still had no idea where to find our hotel. One of the more memorable moments of the trip when I, infuriated by our inability to find our hotel, juggling city maps and guidebooks in my hands in front of a city map on a street corner, declared:

"We are the only people in the world who could stand in front of a map, with three other $%#&ing maps, and still have no idea where the hell we are!" At the time it was just true, but luckily, it later became funny.

After another near hour of aimless wandering and frustration, through many of the same streets we had traipsed hours before, we were nearly at the end of our patience and our endurance. I took out the borrowed cell phone and called two cab companies whose numbers I found in our Amsterdam guidebook; I couldn't get through to either one. Now feeling truly hopeless, we made our way back to the Symphony Hall area, where we thought we could find a cab.

And luckily for us, we did find one. Tony showed the driver the hotel's address and asked if we were close. "No, not at all," was the response. But luckily he knew where to find it, and we embarked on a nail-biting ride across the city, dodging pedestrians and bicyclists, and at one point narrowly avoiding a tram as we coasted dangerously along the edges of its tracks.

A well-established Amsterdam houseboat docked in the shade.

Our hotel was on the edges of the Amsterdam World Trade Center, some distance from the center of the city. And so it was that our second day in Amsterdam began with a 30-minute walk to the museum district, where we waited in line for over an hour before taking in the delights of the Van Gogh Museum.

Given the experience of the previous day, we were not only exhausted but completely sick of walking and trying to find our way around. So after Van Gogh, we took the advice of every guidebook we'd ever read and decided to invest in a hop-on, hop-off Canal Tour.

BEST. DECISION. EVER. We were able to bask on the warm deck of the flat boat and watch Amsterdam's beautiful buildings pass by from the level of the water. Even better, it took us all the way back up to Centraal Station, where we departed in search of the Red Light District. Once that little excursion was complete, we made our way back to the dock and then coasted along the canals to the Anne Frank House.

If only we'd had tram access that first day, or shelled out for the boat tour; we would have had the energy to try to cram in some more things into those two days in Amsterdam. By the end of those two days, we were so exhausted that we barely made it back to Centraal. And once in Rotterdam, it was a long walk back to Dierdre and Co's place where, after the customary offered Heinekens, we gratefully fell into bed.

So, take our advice: BUY A TRAM PASS. We had looked into the MyAmsterdam pass, which would have provided us unlimited access to public transit for the duration of our stay, but we decided against it since the amount of museum and attraction discounts we could amass in two days did not seem to make up for the cost of the pass. Now we know, however, that the availability of public transit alone would have made the pass worth it. it won't be valid on any of the canal cruises, but you'll be glad to spend a little extra money for that when you find that you still have energy to take in some Amsterdam nightlife; I'm pretty sure that Tony and I, as a result of the miles we'd walked that day, were soundly sleeping in our neon-lit hotel bed by 11 PM.

Park at the rear of the Riijksmuseum, with the famous I Amsterdam sculpture in front.

There is plenty more Dutch ground to cover, so stay tuned for updates on the Riijskmuseum, the Heineken Experience, Qbic Hotel, The Van Gogh Museum, The Red Light District, and the Anne Frank House.