Evening Walk in Amsterdam

After a quick dinner we went back to the center of town for a evening walk along the canals - it was well worth it and one of the highlights of the trip

Day 3 in Amsterdam

 We started our last full day in Amsterdam with a stop at a bubble tea store that we also now from China

Then we checked out the street market that was about flowers the Bloemenarkt where we could have bought tulip bulbs

We had to rush to get to the boat tour of the canals we had booked earlier in the day - but we made it

After the cruise we took the metro to another famous market the Cuyp market the largest and most famous of Amsterdam’s many outdoor markets which stretched for about a kilometer

 Mia tried some waffles

Then we were off by metro and train to Zaandam just outside Amsterdam to see some interesting architecture 

 

For lunch we stopped at a famous indoor eating place - Foodhallen - but it was a bit too touristy and crowded for us

Keukenhof

The second item on Mia's list of places to see was the Keukenhof which is only open two months a year when the tulips are in bloom. The place is about one hour west of Amsterdam and we booked a tour that includes the transfer by bus. The weather was beautiful and so were all the flowers

 

One could take literally take hundreds of pictures

 

Of course everybody else was taking pictures as well:

Outside the park there are tulip fields:

 On the way back we could see some of the modern architecture along the highways

Trip to Amsterdam

On Easter Monday we made the three hour drive to Amsterdam. Mia has never been there and the weather forecast looked really good with lots if sun. 

 
On Mia's wish list was a visit to the Van Gogh museum for which it is very difficult to get tickets - but with some luck we could snap up some in a one minute window at 5 pm the evening before when some extra tickets became available online.

Two of our favorite pictures -  the sun eset one is from Paul Signac shown in a special exhibition called Yellow - Van Gogh's favorite color

One of his many self portraits

The architecture of the museum was also impressive

One of Van Gogh's last paintings: Almond Blossoms - a present for his brother for the birth of his son

After the museum we headed to the busy Vondelpark nearby - next to a very fancy neighborhood

Then for dinner we looked for a Chinese restaurant in the center not far from the main train statio

 

Back to our hotel  at the outskirts of Amsterdam with the very modern metro.