Day three started a bit late for us. Ok it was 1:30 in the afternoon, but after two days of walking around all day, we were freakin tired!
Today, we took the tram to Centraal station and hopped on a train to the outlying “tourist trap” of Zaanse Schans. This place has a bunch of cool, old-world dutch stuff like windmills and bakeries, and the first ever Albert Heijn (it’s a grocery store). The windmills were relocated here sometime in the 1970’s though, and now the whole site has a reputation for just being one of “those tourist places.”
Honestly though, I’m all for a place that lines everything up nice and neat for you to take pictures and have fun. Zaanse Schans has a ton of good information, and was a lot of fun to visit. The weather was beautiful and sunny, and the fact that it was all covered with the I Amsterdam card made it even better!
After walking through the site we headed back to the train station – already pretty tired and hungry. We made our way back those beautiful Golden Arches in Dam square for another quick pick-me-up of good American food (and probably chemical) engineering.
We tried to go in to the New Church, but it was closed. We tried to go visit the Royal Palance, but it was closed. We returned to the Red Light District and tried to visit the Old Church. I saw a sign that said ‘Open’ with an arrow pointing through the church doors, but they were locked. I was starting to get mad that all these places were closed, but then we found the correct side entrance – whew, rant averted! The church was very cool, and had a distinctly naval style and feeling on the inside.
We then headed back to Centraal station to catch the canal boat tour that is included with the I Amsterdam card. This experience was actually very disappointing. We stood in line for about an hour and a half waiting to get on this boat. Turn’s out you can’t really see out the windows that well, and the seating is a free for all so if you happen to be towards the back of the group you are screwed.
Here is the lovely old Italian couple that decided to take up both window seats so they could see better. They didn’t move from there the whole time – lovely.
Finally off the boat, we headed back to experience some more of late night Red Light District before the skies opened up with a cold torrential rain. After three days of intense touristing, and almost two months of great weather and great times, Amsterdam was telling us “it’s time to move on!”
Overall the I Amsterdam card was worth it. It lets you in to a ton of great museums and sites, gives you free GVB tram transportation all over the city, and includes a bunch of additional non-Amsterdam sites and discounts. We are exhausted from three days of bustling around, but I also feel like we are capping this whole trip off with a set of great travel experiences. We head back to the States next week, and I’m looking forward to what comes next!
