Amsterdam Day 1 - Van Gogh Museum and Canal Boat Ride

Well I did not sleep quite as well as I'd hoped. I was wide awake at 3:30 am after about 5 hours of sleep.  Last night was the beginning of daylight savings time here so we "lost" an hour.  I was finally tired enough to fall back asleep at around 6 am but at that point it was too late, we had plans for the day and going back to sleep would not work! Ali was up by 5 am and Dan was too, Connor was the only one who slept until 7 am.

We made breakfast in the apartment, we picked up eggs and bread last night so scrambled eggs and toast were on the menu!

I checked the public transport app that i'd downloaded and saw that the tram schedule looked messed up with a lot of delays.We decided to walk to the Van Gogh museum instead of trying to take the tram. It took us about 25 minutes to walk there at a leisurely pace. It was a beautiful morning!

A lovely morning for walking

We found the I amsterdam sign. It was not too busy yet so we stopped for a few pictures. It was hard to get the whole sign in the picture, I'll have to try again later this week!

Ali really wanted to climb it but settled for this

We arrived at the Van Gogh museum a few minutes after 9 am.  There was already a line to buy tickets.  I'd booked our timed entry online but we needed to purchase our Museumkaarts that we'll be using for all our admissions this week.  The Museumkaart is a museum pass that is targeted mostly at Dutch citizens but it is also available to tourists.  I did the math before leaving home and we'll come out ahead by purchasing the pass.  After spending 15 minutes getting to the front of the line we were told that they only had one "youth" pass and obviously we needed two.  After making a phone call the woman sent us to the "group entrance" around the corner.  At this point Dan was getting a little annoyed, I think after the travel pass incident the night before that this just kind of pushed him over the edge.  We arrived at the group entrance to find about 30 people ahead of us.  I told Dan that they looked like they were all one group and I was right.  Once their tour leader got the tickets the whole group went in.  We were able to purchase our four museum cards and we headed right into the museum.  It was about 9:40 at this point and the museum was already getting busy.

Ali made it clear that she wasn't thrilled to be at an art museum.  Seriously, this girl has been to some of the best art museums in the world but I guess it just isn't her thing.  She trailed along but I don't think she was thrilled about it.

Doesn't she look happy, she poses well even when grumpy

The exhibits were nicely laid out in a chronological pattern. The design of the exhibits really showcase how Van Gogh grew as an artist. We learned quite a bit about his life.  There was even a small section about the "ear incident", Dan and Connor seemed particularly interested in that exhibit.  I wonder if in our modern world if we would have meds to treat whatever mental condition Van Gogh suffered from.  He was so talented but oh so troubled!  We were super fortunate to see two paintings that were stolen from the museum 14 years ago, they were just recently returned after police found them in Italy.  They went on display last week.

After we viewed the exhibits we headed to the museum cafe for a snack.  The cafe had huge windows, I was freezing so it was nice to sit in the sun.  Ali and I shared a slice of apple pie and the boys had muffins.  It was pretty obvious that everyone except Connor was hit hard with jet lag.  I honestly don't know why it was so bad, I normally am able to overcome but I felt like I'd been hit by a ton of bricks.  We talked about our plans for the rest of the day and decided to take a canal boat ride.  We found one close by and headed that way.

We found the location to buy our tickets and were told that it would be about 20 minutes until the next boat.  We camped out near the canal and waited.  Connor quickly spied the Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam and asked if we could have lunch there.  I was not very keen on the idea but relented.  This is one of the compromises you make when traveling with teens.  Connor had been the happiest, most pleasant person in our family all morning and he really wanted to go there.  I would have preferred something less touristy but to keep teens happy sometimes you have to compromise!

Waiting for the boat ride

Our canal boat ride was with Blue Boat Tours, it was a 75 minute in a boat with an audio system in multiple ages.  It was fine, I'm guessing there are better tours if you look but this was convenient and it was fine.  Before we left home I read about tours by Those Dam Boat Guys, they sounded really fun but I'm not sure they would have been great for the kids (mostly Ali).  They are smaller boats and they say that commentary isn't always family friendly.  If it were just Dan and I or maybe if Ali was a little older then we would probably try them out.

The canal boat ride was interesting and it was a great way to get a feel for the layout of the town.  The commentary was informative but a little cheesy.  Our driver was great and added to the commentary.  Ali was exhausted and she slept for about half the ride, I was fine with it because she was so tired.  I think Connor really enjoyed the tour.

Connor enjoying the canal boat ride

Ali napping on the ride.  I think I have a similar picture of her napping on a boat tour in Stockholm!

As promised, after the boat ride we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch.  It was fine, pretty similar to the ones you visit other places.  Dan and Connor were happy to have burgers.

I looked on the transport app to figure out how we were going to get home.  I really wanted to take a tram mostly to find out if our Tripkey cards worked like promised.  The app showed similar delays to the morning but we headed to the stop any way to take our chances.  The #10 tram came quickly and we all used our cards to board without incident.  Yay, the cards worked!!  The tram stop is about a 5 minute walk to the apartment so we were back home quickly.

At this point 3 of us really needed a nap, it was about 2:30 and we were exhausted.  I slept for almost 2 hours and then forced myself to get us so that I can hopefully sleep well tonight.  Ali was a bear to wake up but she finally got up.   Connor didn't nap because he was the only one of us who had slept well last night.

When we woke up we put a load of laundry in the washing machine (vacation is the only time I actually like to do laundry) and Dan and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner.  We decided to make dinner at the apartment. The store was busy but we were able to the supplies to make a good pasta dinner and we picked up some things to pack a picnic lunch for tomorrow.

Cooking dinner in our tiny kitchen went well, luckily the apartment owner left directions for all appliances because without directions we probably wouldn't have figured out how to turn on the oven!  The kids were very happy with dinner.  Having a kitchen is a huge plus for us, I like to eat out but not every meal for a week.  We love having the option of doing some simple meals in the apartment.

Dan and Ali just headed out for a walk, it is about 7:30 pm here.  They might be in search of an ice cream shop.

Overall, today was a good day.  The jet lag was unexpected and definitely slowed us down a bit.  It also made us grumpier than usual.  Nobody had a major meltdown but 3 of us had shorter fuses than normal.  I thought we might go to another smaller museum this afternoon but we napped instead.  This was a day where having a plan was good, but the plan needed to be changed which was OK.  Pushing to do "one more thing" when people are exhausted never ends well.  A relaxing late afternoon/evening in the apartment is just what we needed!

Amsterdam is a lovely city.  Connor has commented multiple times how laid back everything seems, he's my laid back kid so this is right up his alley.  Everyone we've met has been friendly and very helpful

Tomorrow's plan: The Netherland's Open Air Museum in Arnhem (assuming the weather is as nice as the forecast)