ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Two Days In Amsterdam, Netherlands

Updated on March 16, 2015
Two Days in Amsterdam
Two Days in Amsterdam | Source

Visiting Amsterdam, Netherlands? You CAN See A Lot In A Short Time! We Proved It!

In the summer of 2009, our family travelled to Europe for a Baltic cruise. Our disembarkation port was Amsterdam so we planned a couple of days there. I can honestly say that we did not plan to see as much as we did and I was really amazed at how much we packed in in a short time.

Journey with us on our visit to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and hopefully you will take away some ideas that might help you when you are in Amsterdam for just a day or two.

Click here to order this Amsterdam art print from Allposters.

The Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland | Source
The Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum | Source

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam focuses on art, craft and history and owns many paintings from the Dutch Golden Age as well as a large selection of Asian Art.

When we visited in the summer of 2009, most of The Rijksmuseum Museum was closed for renovation. I think that was actually in our favour as the museum had organized an exhibit of select pieces.

We spent exactly the perfect amount of time enjoying some of the most amazing sights that the Rijksmuseum had to offer. Our teenage sons found enough military history in the artwork to keep them interested for about an hour. The Night Watchman was definitely a highlight. It is rather large and impressive painting.

Click here to buy this image of the Rijksmuseum from Allposters.

The Van Gogh Museum

The Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum | Source

The Van Gogh Museum

It is pretty obvious what the focus of The Van Gogh Museum is. It houses over 200 paintings, 500 drawings and more than 750 letters by Van Gogh.

The Van Gogh was high on my list of museums to see but we knew that two museums focused on art in one day after a vacation filled with visiting galleries, museums and palaces, would be pushing the limits of my very patient but nevertheless teenage boys. We chose, therefore, to leave them outside on a park bench reading their books while we went in for a quick peek. We spent about an hour inside and managed to see the better part of Van Gogh's collection.

Van Gogh's work is so common in our culture and is reproduced on just about anything you can imagine. I do like his floral pictures but I decided that my favorite is a picture that I had not seen before or at least was not very familiar with, Wheatfield With Crows.

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius - A Imax documentary film about Vincent Van Gogh's life and works.

Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius (IMAX) [Blu-ray]
Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius (IMAX) [Blu-ray]
Van Gogh: A Brush with Genius is available on blu-ray or DVD by clicking right here.
 

The Anne Frank House

Photographic Print of Anne Frank House
Photographic Print of Anne Frank House | Source

The Anne Frank House was definitely a highlight of our days in Amsterdam, especially for myself who had read Anne Frank's book as a young girl. However, my teenage sons were also able to appreciate what they saw. If you are interested, here are a few additional pages devoted to Anne Frank.

Click here to buy this photographic print of Anne Frank's house from Amazon.

The Historic Canals

The Historic Amsterdam Canals

Historic Amsterdam Canals
Historic Amsterdam Canals | Source


Of course, we had a boat tour of the canals and we really did enjoy it. We chose and paid a bit more for a tour which had bar service. When we climbed aboard that boat, we were tired and ready to rest awhile and have a cold drink...the candlelight and peanuts were a nice bonus. This was the last night of our European tour. We were ready for a break and I cannot imagine a more beautiful resting spot. The canals really were lovely.

If you are travelling with children, tweens or teenagers, you no doubt will have someone that really, really, really wants to have a ride in the paddle boats. Be warned that those paddle boats close earlier in the evening than you might expect. Our 15-year old son was quite disappointed when he and his father wandered over to the canal to rent one on our last night in Amsterdam and found them closed for the night.

The Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam
Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam | Source

The Hard Rock Cafe

The Hard Rock Cafe is definitely a perfect dinner destination for teenage boys!

Definitely not what you might think of as one of Amsterdam's sights but definitely a stop worth mentioning. We had the friendliest and most relaxed service there. We were able to sit outside and unwind. The Hard Rock Cafe was even close enough to our hotel that my husband managed to sneak in some birthday shopping when we were not looking.

The Amsterdam Dungeon

Amsterdam's 25 Best Sights - 25 must see sights in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Fodor's makes excellent travel guides, which I always consult before I leave home. Amsterdam's 25 Best has what you need to enjoy Amsterdam, and 25 of the must-see sights.

"When you get off the plane at Schipol, this is the book you want in your pocket. Aside from the breezy overview and the tips for navigating this delightful city, the book includes a folding map that's water-proof, wipeable and compact. Even an afternoon at the Heineken brewery won't do it any harm. By all means, read all you can before you go, including Fodor's guide to Amsterdam and Holland, but pack this in your carry-on and you'll be ready to enjoy the city as soon as you arrive." ~ Lynn Hoffman

I apologize for the lack of personal photos on this page. Amsterdam was our last stop before we returned home to Canada and our photographer, it seemed, had lost his motivation for taking pictures. Where I did not have one of our own to share, I requested permission to use pictures from photographers on Flickr.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)