So I think it is safe to say that the first image that comes to mind when someone mentions the city of Amsterdam is something like this...
or perhaps like this...
And yes, both prostitution and legal marijuana smoking happen in Amsterdam in large quantities. But, aside from the few blocks where all of this takes place there is quite a lovely city waiting to be explored.
I have to admit that choosing to explore Amsterdam on New Years Eve was probably not the best with an almost 3 year old in tow, but it was not a disaster either. We woke up early Friday morning to drive from Germany to the Netherlands, and arrived in the city just after lunch time. Amsterdam offers a €6 Park and Ride program (http://www.amsterdam.info/parking/park-ride/). So we parked our car, hopped a bus, and were to the city center by 1pm. *More about how the P + R turned into a festering turd later.
Our first order of business was the Science Center NEMO (http://www.e-nemo.nl/en/?id=1). If the building alone doesn't impress your children, what's inside surely will.
Although the museum is recommended for children ages 6-12, there are plenty within the 5 floors of the museum to keep both young and old occupied. Mairin particularly enjoyed the physical science section on the first floor which included hands-on experiments about Soap Bubbles, Electricity, Chaos Theory, Sound, and Magnetism. You could spend a few hours at NEMO or a few days depending on who you are with.
From NEMO, our original plan was to visit the Van Gogh Museum, but we found it to be closed although the website had informed us it would be open until 10pm. Disappointed, but not discouraged we decided to find some dinner. This is where things took a turn to negative town due to the date on the calendar not the city itself. Fireworks are legal in Holland, as well as most European countries, and they are popular for celebrating New Years Eve. Admittedly I do not enjoy loud noises, but firecrackers, sparklers, and Roman candles I can deal with. But, what we noticed is that the closer you came to the red light district the louder the fireworks were becoming because there people were not lighting pretty sparkly things, but rather what sounded like quarter sticks of dynamite and bottle rockets. Not really where you want to be with a small child.
We had a delicious dinner at a small Italian restaurant, but were dismayed at both portion sizes and price. We have spent enough time in Europe to know that portion sizes are much smaller than in the US; which is fine, but they are usually commensurate with price. Amsterdam defies this rule completely! Mairin ordered garlic bread (her fav!) with her pizza that she was sharing with me. I didn't think €9.50 for the pizza was so bad (about the size of a large dinner plate), but €5 for 3 canapé-sized pieces of garlic bread?!?! Drinks were even more outrageous.
New Years Eve in Amsterdam culminates with residents in all parts of the city setting off fireworks. We had originally thought it was going to be a fireworks "show," but a kind man on the street informed us that it was every man for himself from about 11:30pm - 2am, and to get the hell off the street before people start wandering around in their "quaalude induced comas." So at about 10pm we decided to hop a bus back to the P+R to retrieve our car so we'd be able to watch the show from within the safety of it's 2 doors. This is where the P+R epic failure begins. The P+R website neglected to say that bus service would be interrupted between 8pm-midnight on New Years Eve. Whoops! So after learning this information from a kind passerby, we scored a taxi (only €20 for a 20 minute ride in heavy traffic) back to the parking garage. We were also informed that the garage would be open late that evening in order for people to get their cars after the festivities had ended. FAIL! Garage was closed and locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Managed to enter through the attached hotel, and pay the intended rate at the automated machine with some help from the person on the other end of the call button. (Thanks again anonymous phone lady!) We returned back to the city around 11:30pm just in time for the fireworks extravaganza to begin. Although this was not a true "show" it was by far the most amazing fireworks display I've EVER seen!
The following morning we woke up and grabbed breakfast at one of Amsterdam's oldest pancake houses (http://www.pancake.nl/), and began our sightseeing once again. Enjoying the warmer temperatures (around 50ºF) we enjoyed just walking the canals.
So all-in-all Amsterdam gets my thumbs up for a family friendly city. At least from what we experienced the Dutch were very willing to help, many Dutch speak close to perfect English, and with the exception of the red light district there were no other places I didn't feel comfortable taking my child.
or perhaps like this...
And yes, both prostitution and legal marijuana smoking happen in Amsterdam in large quantities. But, aside from the few blocks where all of this takes place there is quite a lovely city waiting to be explored.
I have to admit that choosing to explore Amsterdam on New Years Eve was probably not the best with an almost 3 year old in tow, but it was not a disaster either. We woke up early Friday morning to drive from Germany to the Netherlands, and arrived in the city just after lunch time. Amsterdam offers a €6 Park and Ride program (http://www.amsterdam.info/parking/park-ride/). So we parked our car, hopped a bus, and were to the city center by 1pm. *More about how the P + R turned into a festering turd later.
Our first order of business was the Science Center NEMO (http://www.e-nemo.nl/en/?id=1). If the building alone doesn't impress your children, what's inside surely will.
Although the museum is recommended for children ages 6-12, there are plenty within the 5 floors of the museum to keep both young and old occupied. Mairin particularly enjoyed the physical science section on the first floor which included hands-on experiments about Soap Bubbles, Electricity, Chaos Theory, Sound, and Magnetism. You could spend a few hours at NEMO or a few days depending on who you are with.
From NEMO, our original plan was to visit the Van Gogh Museum, but we found it to be closed although the website had informed us it would be open until 10pm. Disappointed, but not discouraged we decided to find some dinner. This is where things took a turn to negative town due to the date on the calendar not the city itself. Fireworks are legal in Holland, as well as most European countries, and they are popular for celebrating New Years Eve. Admittedly I do not enjoy loud noises, but firecrackers, sparklers, and Roman candles I can deal with. But, what we noticed is that the closer you came to the red light district the louder the fireworks were becoming because there people were not lighting pretty sparkly things, but rather what sounded like quarter sticks of dynamite and bottle rockets. Not really where you want to be with a small child.
We had a delicious dinner at a small Italian restaurant, but were dismayed at both portion sizes and price. We have spent enough time in Europe to know that portion sizes are much smaller than in the US; which is fine, but they are usually commensurate with price. Amsterdam defies this rule completely! Mairin ordered garlic bread (her fav!) with her pizza that she was sharing with me. I didn't think €9.50 for the pizza was so bad (about the size of a large dinner plate), but €5 for 3 canapé-sized pieces of garlic bread?!?! Drinks were even more outrageous.
New Years Eve in Amsterdam culminates with residents in all parts of the city setting off fireworks. We had originally thought it was going to be a fireworks "show," but a kind man on the street informed us that it was every man for himself from about 11:30pm - 2am, and to get the hell off the street before people start wandering around in their "quaalude induced comas." So at about 10pm we decided to hop a bus back to the P+R to retrieve our car so we'd be able to watch the show from within the safety of it's 2 doors. This is where the P+R epic failure begins. The P+R website neglected to say that bus service would be interrupted between 8pm-midnight on New Years Eve. Whoops! So after learning this information from a kind passerby, we scored a taxi (only €20 for a 20 minute ride in heavy traffic) back to the parking garage. We were also informed that the garage would be open late that evening in order for people to get their cars after the festivities had ended. FAIL! Garage was closed and locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Managed to enter through the attached hotel, and pay the intended rate at the automated machine with some help from the person on the other end of the call button. (Thanks again anonymous phone lady!) We returned back to the city around 11:30pm just in time for the fireworks extravaganza to begin. Although this was not a true "show" it was by far the most amazing fireworks display I've EVER seen!
The following morning we woke up and grabbed breakfast at one of Amsterdam's oldest pancake houses (http://www.pancake.nl/), and began our sightseeing once again. Enjoying the warmer temperatures (around 50ºF) we enjoyed just walking the canals.
So all-in-all Amsterdam gets my thumbs up for a family friendly city. At least from what we experienced the Dutch were very willing to help, many Dutch speak close to perfect English, and with the exception of the red light district there were no other places I didn't feel comfortable taking my child.
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