Two Days in Amsterdam: April 18, 2024

Amsterdam is one of the few cities in Europe that I haven’t visited. Although I’ve made connections through Schipol, I’ve never had a strong desire to visit Netherlands, mainly because it’s become such a tourist destination, as have a number of Western European cities. A few months ago, I found a great deal for a round-trip business class trip BNA-AMS/PRA-BNA, so I booked a three-week spring trip to Europe. After two nights in AMS, I’ll spend most of my time in Germany, visiting new cities, before ending up in Prague for my second time since visiting in September 2001.

The flights from BNA-MSP and then to AMS were on time and pleasant. The segment from MSP to AMS was in KLM business class on an older 777, but at least had seats that could be placed in a flat position for sleeping, although I doubt that I slept for more than an hour. My seatmate, an older woman named Tracy, was a pleasant conversationalist. She clearly was leading a comfortable retirement, living in Whitefish, MT with a summer house on Fire Island and a flat in Amsterdam, where one of her four kids previously lived. Coincidentally, she was born in Philadelphia, so we were born within a few miles of each other. Perhaps I’ll get invited to her summer house? She also showed me her boat, which she keeps on the South Shore of Long Island.

We arrived at AMS a few minutes early at the ungodly hour of 5:55. Since my Airbnb wouldn’t be available until 3:00 pm, and my reservation at the Rijksmuseum wasn’t until 10:30, I took the train from AMS to Centraal Station and grabbed a cappuccino at an Illy and hung out reading for an hour. The day was brisk and sunny, so I walked about 2 km. to a place near the museum where I could store my luggage, a great place recommended by my AirBnb host.

I was impressed with the expansive bike lane infrastructure of Amsterdam. Unlike the US, they have built protected lanes throughout the city, with their own curbs. One must be careful crossing streets since there are thousands of riders who don’t stop. They truly own the streets. I noticed that not one rider wore a helmet. An Uber driver told me that was the Dutch way.

The Rijksmuseum was only a short walk from the luggage storage space, so I got there within minutes. The museum is vast. Aside from the huge selection of famous Rembrandts and Vermeers, there is also a whole section devoted to The Hague Impressionists, which was the Dutch version of the French movement. Another floor of galleries was devoted to the Dutch overseas empire, dominated by the mercantile activities of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) and the WIC (Dutch West Indies Company). The Dutch colonized not only parts of India and South Africa; they also had, and still do maintain colonial islands in the Caribbean. Until 1946 they also had Indonesia. They also had a colony in Brazil for a few decades in the late 17th century.

After two hours in the Rijksmuseum, my exhaustion started to take its toll. The crowds were building, including a large crowd of Chinese tourists with selfie-sticks photographing everything in sight. I made my way down five flights of steps and headed outside to the adjoining gardens and sat down to enjoy the sun and briefly dozed off. I then walked across the Museumplein past several more museums, including the Van Gogh Museum, to look at the neo-classical Concertgebouw Orchestra.

After a late lunch, I walked down posh Pieter Cornelisz Hooftstraat where Hermés and the usual luxe brands are located before retrieving my bags and heading over to my AirBnb to check in.

That evening, I booked a 90-minute boat tour of the rivers and canals of Amsterdam which was well worth it for the maritime perspective. The city is uniformly perfectly preserved and maintained. All of the 17th century warehouses have been converted into high-end residential housing overlooking canals and tree-lined streets. The cruise included a trip out through the River Amstel to the port areas and reclaimed industrial land.