Ah, Amsterdam…a quick Thalys (train) journey from the Gare du Nord to Amsterdam Centraal station. Unfortunately for us, the intensified security in Paris meant that we had to leave our newly purchased Opinel pocket knife (great for picnics!) behind, as the blade was just 5 mm too long. Sigh.
Our time in Amsterdam was great, with plenty of flowers, some family and lots of art. We stayed in central Amsterdam and made plenty of day trips to explore the city and Holland. Some highlights of the trip were:
The Kröller-Müller Museum:
This museum is set in a national park (De Hoge Veluwe) that provides bikes to visitors to cycle around an incredible landscape, complete with shifting sand dunes. The bikes are free and thousands of them are located at the park’s main entrances.
After cycling across the park on very well-maintained paths, the museum is the icing on the cake. It houses the second largest collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world, painstakingly collected over decades by the museum’s benefactors (the Kröller-Müllers). Not many people seem to know about the museum and we had free reign to explore the collection without the usual crowds. The sculpture garden, an outdoor extension of the museum, has a unique collection housed in a series of architectural pavilions, as well as among the plants and flowers.
The Mauritshuis
One of the best smaller museums we have ever been to! There was an incredible interactive “satchel” they had for kids with a mini-treasure hunt as well as activities that encouraged the kids (and their adult helpers!) to engage with the art in a unique and memorable way. Plus, it was refreshing to see a masterpiece like the Girl With A Pearl Earring in a much more relaxed and human(e) way than the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, for example.
We enjoyed exploring The Hague, as well which brought back many positive memories for A who took school groups there over the years for Model UN trips.
The Keukenhof
We were a little worried when we got off the bus from Amsterdam to the Keukenhof, as the weather had been unseasonably chilly and there wasn’t much blossoming in Amsterdam. However, once we arrived, the gardens were filled with an incredible number of tulips, hyacinths, lilies and more. Even more impressive were the inside gardens with hundreds of tulip varieties. They even had a database where you could search to see if your name matched with a registered variety.
Family
This was the first country on our trip where we were able to connect with family members. Two cousins (and their families) from D’s side of the family live in Holland, fortunately, not too far away from each other. Like many Greeks over the years (and especially more recently), the cousins have made careers and lives for themselves outside of Greece. It was wonderful to catch up over a shared meal and hear about life in Holland, trips back to Greece and extended family.
We were even able to take a day trip to Utrecht to enjoy some more time with one of the cousins and his adorable two year old son.
Next stop: Belgium!