Netherlands Trip Day 8 - Amsterdam and Hoorn (Saturday July 27th, 2019)

January 25, 2020

Netherlands Trip Day 8 - Amsterdam and Hoorn (Saturday July 27th, 2019)

Netherlands Trip Day 8 - Amsterdam and Hoorn (Saturday July 27th, 2019)

Today is our last full day in the Netherlands. Our trip is coming to an end. We will spend the full day today covering the major sites of Amsterdam. Our destination in Amsterdam today include:

- Van Gogh Museum
- Dam Square/Centrum
- Ann Frank House/Jordaan

Last full day in town

Starting the day

Young and old cheese, even in Holiday Inn

Quote of the week

Fresh rolls

Fresh eggs

Sweet pastry to add to our calorie counts

Freshly baked bread

Tea and coffee

Frothy drink and muesli

Van Gogh Museum

After breakfast, we took the short walk north of our hotel to the Drentepark station to get on the city metro line 4 then transit to line 3 to Museumplein where the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and many other museums are located. We have reservation in advance for the Van Gogh Museum. So we simply got in line at the entrance right before our reservation time (9:30) and got in to the museum.

Metro route

Museumplein

Entrance to the Van Gogh Museum

Inside the modern entrance to the Van Gogh Museum

Looking out from the window

The museum is organized by the timeline of Van Gogh's work. The earlier work is featured in the lower floors and the later work is featured in the higher floors. There is a special exhibit at the entrance hall where we came in. No photographs are allowed at the museum.

Inside the modern floor plan

An unauthorized picture of the Potato Eaters

Tourist, including ourselves, taking pictures with phones

View from the upper floor

Post cards from the museum store

An unauthorized picture of the Sunflower

Part of the special exhibit - Being inside the mind of Van Gogh

Photo booth shot

After checking off the Van Gough Museum, we were heading off to the city center - Dam Square.

Metro route from around Van Gogh Museum to Dam Square

Dam Square

We plan to take a quick walking tour of Dam Square and then walk over to the nearby Ann Frank House for our 2:30 reservation.

Our first stop around Dam Square is actually an ice cream/confection store - Metropolitan.

Metropolitan is located northwest of the Dam Square right at the edge of the Red Light District. We got to taste an assortment of Amsterdam treats.

Amsterdam city view from inside the metro line

The city metro cuts across the inner canal

Looking out from the back of the city metro

Getting off at our stop - The Royal Palace is in sight

Warmoesstraat - where Metropolitan is located

Metropolitan

Lunch at Metropolitan with Amsterdam city flag firmed planted in the poffertjes

Healthy lunch

Shopping around Dam Square after lunch

The Royal Palace

The National Monument at Dam Square. This Monument was dedicated to lives lost during WWII.

Clogs at nearby souvenir store

After some shopping at Dam Square/Centrum, we started to walk towards Ann Frank House near the Jordaan neighborhood.

Ann Frank House

We had a 2:30 reservation at the Ann Frank House. It's really unreal that we were actually here. It still feels surreal that we were there.

After touring the Ann Frank House, Joanne and the kids walked to Jordaan to get some apple pie. I lagged behind and was taking photos at the edge of Jordaan and Centrum. After getting some apple pie, we decided to eat more Dutch pancake at Pancakes Amsterdam by the Ann Frank House. We just could not get enough of the Dutch pancakes.

View of Westerkerk from Jordaan

Canal View from Jordaan

Dutch Pancakes at Pancakes Amsterdam by Ann Frank House

At this point, a typical family would have called it a day. But someone (me) had the idea of visiting another city. Why not? We have a car so we drove to the sea side town of Hoorn after a short pit stop at our hotel.

Hoorn

Jan Pietersz Coen - hero or villain?