Our First Taste of Amsterdam

Our first full day in Amsterdam didn't exactly begin the way we had planned.

We spent the morning working on Son #1's phone, which meant hanging around the hotel rather than getting out to explore the city. It was a little frustrating knowing Amsterdam was waiting for us outside, but the alternative would have been finding an Apple Store and spending part of our day there.

And no, we couldn't just put the phone in the suitcase and deal with it when he got home. Knowing it was still hanging over us would have made it difficult for any of us to completely focus on the experience and enjoy our time in Amsterdam. We really needed to get it sorted and put it behind us.

Finally, around noon, we were ready to head out.

Our plan was to walk through the Nine Streets and then take a canal tour of the city.

The Nine Streets

The Nine Streets, or De Negen Straatjes, are a collection of nine little streets in Amsterdam's historic canal district. They run through the area between some of the city's main canals and are filled with small shops, cafés, galleries and restaurants.

We wandered through the Nine Streets, stopping to look in a few of the little shops and taking in the old buildings and homes along the way. 

We stopped for lunch at a sweet little café where we could grab something fairly quickly but still be nutritious.  Afterward, we made our way over to where we would pick up our canal tour boat.

Amsterdam From the Water

Taking a canal tour seemed like the perfect way to see the city, especially since so much of Amsterdam's history and daily life is connected to the water.

The canal system we see today dates largely from the 17th century, when Amsterdam was expanding rapidly. A planned network of canals was created around the older centre of the city, helping with transportation, trade, drainage and the development of new neighbourhoods.

I’ve been to Venice, so I don’t know why I’ve been so surprised at the amount of boat traffic on the canals. Many of the larger boats seemed to be offering tours, but there were also a large number of smaller private boats making their way along the canals. 

We also passed plenty of houseboats that were lining the sides of the canals We had seen pictures of them before coming to Amsterdam, but it was so cool to see them in real life, and to realize just how many there are. Some were quite elaborate!

Seeing Amsterdam from the water gave us a completely different perspective. We were able to sit back and watch the city go by rather than weaving our way through the streets. We travelled through several of the canals and eventually out onto the Amstel River, taking in the beautiful old buildings, bridges and all the activity along the water.

Anne Frank House

One of the more significant moments of the afternoon came when we saw the Anne Frank House.

The building is where Anne Frank, her family and four other Jewish people hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It was here that Anne wrote much of the diary that would later become The Diary of a Young Girl.

Today, the building is a museum and a place of remembrance.

Unfortunately, tickets to tour the house have to be purchased well in advance. We had tried to get tickets about a month before our trip, but they were already sold out, so we had to settle for seeing it from the outside.

Even so, it was a powerful moment.

Standing in front of the building and knowing what had happened inside, as well as what happened outside on the very streets that we were walking on, made it feel very different from simply visiting another historic site. 

We stood there for a while before continuing on.

We ended our day by eating at a Thai Restaurant not far from our hotel.  The food was good, and the conversation was even better as we talked about what we loved so far and what we hoped to see tomorrow.