Day 5 - Keukenhof and Leiden Windmill Musuem

I've been watching the weather since before we left home.  The forecast for today was beautiful so I decided it would be a perfect day to visit the Keukenhof Garden.  Keukenhof is only open for about two months a year, this year it is open from March 23-May 21.  I had high hopes and expectations for today and Keukenhof did not disappoint!

Keukenhof opens at 8:00 am and it takes over an hour to get there from Amsterdam.  I wanted to get there as early as we could to avoid crowds but I wasn't quite willing to go early enough to arrive at 8.  I actually set the alarm for 5:45 but when it went off this morning I said no way and went back to sleep for another 45 minutes.  We let the kids sleep until a bit past 7.  I was up at 7:00 making a picnic lunch, it wasn't anything fancy but the sandwiches weren't going to make themselves!  We had a simple breakfast and we were out the door by 8:00 am.

We used public transport to get to Keukenhof, we took a metro to the train station, a train to the airport, and then a bus to Keukenhof.  There is a special direct bus that runs from the airport to Keukenhof, it leaves the airport every 10 minutes during open hours.

We arrived at Keukenhof around 9:30.  We'd bought our tickets online the night before so I had the e-passes on my phone.  Keukenhof is one of the few places we visited where you can't use the museum card.  Admission is 16 Euros a person and totally worth it!!

I'd read some reports about the crowds at Keukenhof especially in the indoor displays, they advised going to the Willem-Alexander building as early as possible.  When we entered the building we could see why it was so popular, there were tulips everywhere!  It was just beautiful.  I had no clue that there were that many different varieties of tulips!

We headed to another building to check out the displays and the kids were quickly distracted by a playground.  We gave them two minutes to run over and promised we'd come back later.  The second building was smaller but had some fun exhibits.

A park, of course they couldn't resist!

We walked around the grounds and admired the beautiful outdoor displays, I was happy that some of the early blooming tulips were blooming in the outdoor displays.  At this point our kids were not on their best behavior (I don't want anyone to think our vacations are perfect), they were fighting about who got to be first on the path.  Dan and I rolled our eyes about the fact that they still argue about the same things they did when they were 6 and 4.  You'd think by 14 and 12 they'd be over it but apparently they aren't!  We threatened to take away phones and their behavior improved pretty quickly!

We walked around the grounds until around 11 and then headed to the picnic area to have our lunch.  The picnic area had cute tables and straw bales to sit on.  We enjoyed our picnic lunch.  The weather was sunny and 70, it honestly couldn't have been more perfect.

Picnic Table

After lunch we walked over to the windmill and walked up to look out over the flower fields.  We were too early in the season to see tulips in the fields but we saw daffodils!

We found this fun display called the "proposal" garden.  It was adorable!

Connor had a stroopwaffel and Ali had some ice cream.  Ali made me laugh when she told me she liked the days we had picnic lunches because I buy her more snacks on those days.  I'm sure it is true!

After their snacks the kids went to play on the playground.  I went to check out one more indoor exhibit.  The kids had blast!  There was also a petting zoo.  I don't know how long the kids played, Dan and I hung out on a bench chatting and enjoying the weather.

When the kids were done we wandered around a bit more to take some pictures.  It is so hard to get good shots of the kids together!  I swear if one looks good then the other one closes their eyes.

We left the gardens around 1:00.  We had such a great morning!  I honestly felt like we were walking around a postcard, everything was so beautiful!

Instead of taking the bus back to Amsterdam, we caught a bus to Leiden.  There was a windmill museum that I wanted to visit.  The bus ride to Leiden was pretty short and we were dropped off at Leiden Central Station.  It was a 5 minute walk to the windmill museum.  We were the only ones at the windmill and it is a self guided tour.

Bike Parking at Leiden Station

Windmill Museum

The windmill has 7 stories and you are able to visit them all.  It also has the only remaining millers house in the Netherlands.  At the beginning of the tour there is a short video about the history of windmills, it was actually quite interesting.

Millers home on the bottom levels of the Windmill

The stairs (more like ladders) are really steep.  This wouldn't be a good place for anyone with mobility issues!

After surviving the climb down from 7 stories, we decided to head back to Amsterdam.  We made a quick stop on our way because Ali wanted a smoothie.  We took a train back to Amsterdam and then the metro to our apartment.  We got back a bit before 4:00.

I knew we wouldn't want to cook tonight so earlier in the day I made a reservation for dinner.  After resting for an hour at the apartment we headed to dinner.  We took a tram and then walked to the restaurant in the De Pijp neighborhood. The Thrill Grill serves mostly burgers and fries.   Ali ordered a hot dog and was not a happy camper when it came out covered in pickled vegetables, mayo, and other toppings.  Everyone else liked their meals and we grabbed ice cream around the corner when we were done.  We were back at the apartment shortly after 7.  Everyone was tired from the long day.

Today was a great day!  If anyone is visiting Amsterdam during the months when Keukenhof is open then it is definitely a "do not miss" attraction!

Tomorrow: Alkmaar Cheese market and ???

Day 4 - Rijksmuseum, Albert Cuyp Market, National Maritime Museum, and Nemo

Today was a busy day!  The weather was cloudy but we didn't have rain.  I've been watching the weather forecast all week and decided today would be a good museum day.   

This morning when the alarm went off nobody wanted to get up.  I laid in bed for a long time before I finally got up!  I slept well but I was still so tired.  I was determined to make it to the Rijksmuseum when it opened at 9:00 am so I made sure everyone was up and going a by 7:30.  We had a simple breakfast and everyone got ready pretty quickly.

We left sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 to head to the tram stop.  After a bit of initial confusion we figured out the tram stop heading in the direction we needed was on the other side of the intersection.  It was a quick tram ride and we were dropped off right in front of the museum.  We were a little early so we took the kids back to the I amsterdam sign to try to get a few more pictures.

Wednesday is trash day on our street, you just leave the trash bags out by the street!  

After the pictures we joined the line to wait for the museum opening.  We were about 15 people back in the line.  The museum opened promptly at 9:00 and we were let in.  I'd read in my guide book that we wanted to head to the 2nd floor to the Gallery of Honor to see the best of the Dutch Masters.  It took us a minute to find our way but soon enough we were greeted by Rembrandt's Night Watch.  This painting is spectacular, it is very large and it commands attention.  We were lucky to be able to admire it with no crowd, there were maybe 10 other people in the gallery with us!

The Night Watch

Vermeer's Woman Reading a Letter 

The kids admiring the art

We also looked at the works of Vermeer, Steen, and Hals.  The Rijksmuseum has four (currently three, one is on loan to the Lourve) of the 35 Vermeer paintings that can be viewed in museums.

After we spent time in the Gallery of Honor we spent time in some other parts of the museum.  We found an interesting exhibit about South Africa and Apartheid.  Connor learned a lot, he knew who Nelson Mandela was but didn't know much else about the history of South Africa.

When we left the museum there were tons of people arriving, there were a lot of people with tour groups.  I was so glad that we got there early!

We decided to have an early lunch.  I'd read about a restaurant nearby called Bakers & Roasters, it had great reviews so we decided to try it.  When we arrived at the restaurant it was full, we waited and were seated within 5 minutes.  We had an amazing meal!  The menu is mostly breakfast type items, it is a great menu and I had a hard time deciding what to get.  I finally settled on the Eggs Florentine and it was amazing!  We all agreed that this was the best meal so far this trip!

It is a vacation!

Do I look happy!

So good!!! 

Ali's was really good too!

After lunch we walked to the Albert Cuyp street market.  We had fun browsing the stalls.  There were quite a few vendors with street food but we were all too full to try anything, I'd love to go back when I was hungry.  We did stop and buy some chocolates for later, the kids were amused to see chocolates that were being sold in the form of male and female anatomy.  I guess this is Amsterdam, so anything goes!

We stopped at the apartment for a quick break after our adventure at the market.  I knew after our quiet afternoon yesterday that we needed to really make this a quick break.  I think we stayed for about 25 minutes and then headed out again.  We walked to the National Maritime Museum.  We explored the museum for about an hour, we saw some great exhibits but there was a lot we didn't see.  Outside there is a replica of a ship from the Dutch East India Company, the kids had fun walking around the ship.

After our time at the Maritime museum we decided to visit the Nemo science museum which was close by.  It was later in the afternoon but since the museum was covered by our Museum Cards it seemed fine to go even if we were there just for a short time.  Nemo is a hands on science museum where you could spend hours!  My kids had fun trying some of the experiments and we probably spent about an hour there.  Everyone was tired so we decided to walk back to the apartment.

Nobody wanted to go out for dinner so we had dinner at the apartment.  Dan and Connor went to the grocery store while Ali and I went to the bakery.  We had a simple dinner and a relaxed night.  Tomorrow we have to be up early to head to Keukenhof to see flowers!!

My dinner was super simple, I just had desert from the bakery.  I was still full from lunch!  Dan and the kids had pizza.

Today was definitely a good day.  We had a lot of fun!  We probably pushed a little too hard to get to that last museum but we only have two days left and we are planning day trips both days.

We had some interesting conversations today.  Connor mentioned at dinner that Amsterdam doesn't feel as "foreign" as other places we've visited.  I actually agree with him but I'm not sure why.  Amsterdam just feels like an easy place to fit in!  Both kids agreed that they liked the Rijkmuseum better than the Lourve.  They also agreed that at ages 7 and 10 they were probably too young to appreciate the Lourve.  It made me wonder what I could have done differently that trip so they would have gotten more out of it!  Amsterdam lives up to it's reputation and Ali has already figured out which coffee shops sell coffee and which ones sell pot.  The 18 and up signs on the door are apparently a giveaway!

Tomorrow: Keukenhof and if we have time Leiden