Postcard from Amsterdam 9-12 May 2012

After a short flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam, I met up with Sue and our group from Friends of Welsh National Opera.  We made our way to the coach and had a trip across the city to our hotel with our guide keeping us informed as to what we were seeing as we travelled.  In the evening we had dinner with the group and then seven of us broke away and had a few drinks before returning to the hotel.

The next morning was wet and miserable but twenty of us set off on a walk around the City.  It was more of a wander than a walk, but we saw a fair bit.  We visited the Amsterdam Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue.  We all split off for an hour’s break at lunchtime and then we started walking again in the afternoon – to start with through the Red Light District, where we saw ‘delightful’ ladies wiggling themselves in windows! We then visited the Old Church and the Amstelkring Museum where we found a small church on the top floor.  Sue and I then walked back to the hotel and prepared ourselves for the evening.  We taxied across to the Opera House and found ourselves a little restaurant nearby for dinner.  Then we went to the Opera House for a performance of Verdi’s Don Carlo, which was a little much for me, but some good singing!  I nodded off a few times!

On Friday morning we all went on a Canal cruise, after which Sue and I visited the American Hotel for a hot chocolate.  We then walked up to the Royal Palace to find it was shut, and so walked on to Westerkirk to find that was shut too, as there was a concert in the church.  So we found a watering hole and then arranged to meet up with our friends Andy and Jan for lunch there.  After that we visited the Anne Frank House, which all seemed very different to my last visit 35 years ago!  We then found a delightful little cheese shop and invested in some good cheeses to take home before walking back to our hotel to relax for a couple of hours.  In the evening we walked to a trattoria close to the hotel for some supper before returning to the Opera House to see an excellent performance of Giselle, which I much enjoyed. 

 On the final morning we walked to the Flower Market, which was a bit of a disappointment, and then we eventually managed to get into Westerkirk, before returning to the hotel to pack up for our flight.  Before we boarded our coach for the airport we went out for a light but typically Dutch lunch.

This was a good visit but Amsterdam is completely spoilt for visitors by hundreds of cyclists coming at you from all directions, interspersed with trams coming at you from other directions!

AMB 12/05/12