Amsterdam, Holland

Day 2 of our adventure

The ferry arrived in Rotterdam at 8.30am, and although disembarkation was delayed by Dutch Customs for some reason, we reached Amsterdam at 11.30, with just 5.5 hours to see what we could.
Unusually (for us), we had some plans so quickly found a canal boat tour with English commentary headsets. After an hour on board, the kids had got a flavour of the city because they hadn't been before, and we had a few photos (spoilt by the boat's grubby windows).
Our next stop was Anne Frank's House, online tickets had sold out, so we had to try the queue. Unfortunately, with our limited time, waiting in the 50m+ queue wasn't an option, so we headed for plan B, the Amsterdam Museum. After spending a pleasant hour and a half there viewing a Rembrandt, learning about the Amsterdam Orphanage, and the history of the city, we retraced our steps to search for the tiny pancake shop we had passed earlier. The tiny shop had been full earlier and still was, but after a chilly 5 minutes outside, we got a table and enjoyed the best pancakes we've ever had.
With only 35 minutes left before pick-up time, we flew into de Bijenkorf (the Beehive) department store, to buy some edible souvenirs and gifts from our trip.
With our sightseeing complete, a light snow started to fall just as the coach pulled away.
The whole time was packed with sightseeing, as there is something to see on every street and along the pretty canal banks. Amsterdam - I love it! (and the kids were pretty impressed too)