Must see sights in Amsterdam...

[TwinMominTX]

I will be traveling to Amsterdam in November with my 7 year-old twins and husband. Dh will be attending a conference and the girls and I will be free to sightsee. Any things we absolutely must do or see?

 

Thanks.

[Jane in NC]

The Rijksmuseum has a wonderful Rembrandt collection--time for a unit study? Then there is the Van Gogh Museum. If your daughters were older, I would recommend the Anne Frank House, but I think not at age seven.

 

Maybe a canal boat ride?

 

Jane

[jeri]

so I think it would be ok with 7 yos as long as you explain it to them. You could take a tour of Amstel Brewery (maybe your girls wouldn't really get into it, but it would be interesting and you would get a free glass of brew!), and I remember a reallyl good canal tour that we took many years ago. Probably kind of touristy, but really neat! Have fun! I'm envious!

 

jeri

[Mrs Mungo]

I agree with everything that has been suggested so far. We took our kids through the Anne Frank museum and they were fairly young. I don't think it was particularly disturbing or anything. If you can take the train to Delft that is pretty cool too. It's too bad you won't be there when Keukenhof is open, it is so beautiful!

[KidsHappen]

a trip to a cheese making farm, a windmill trip, the Delft factory, a diamond exchange/jewelry manufacturer, a lace making place, maybe a few more. We also did both museums, the Anne Frank house and a canal boat ride.

[Happy]

All of the above are great.

 

My nine year old went through Anne Frank's house easily. If I remember correctly, there are some age appropriate books about her life you could read before hand.

 

I recommend you stroll through the flower market area. It's not something you see every day (in Texas, at least).

 

Amsterdam is one of the classiest AND one of the sleasiest cities on the planet. Grab a Rick Steves guide to help plan your trip.

 

Have a blast!

[~Kirsten~]

I'll third or fourth the Anne Frank museum. Amazing place, if you're comfortable introducing the subject.

 

I didn't get to see the Rijks Museum, though I would have liked to have had the time, but I did go to the Van Gogh museum, and I loved it! We were only there overnight, so I don't a lot of suggestions. It's really a wonderful place, though, and I'm sure you find lots to do! Have a fantastic journey (and tell us all about it when you return)! :001_smile:

[Jane in NC]

Well after reading all of these posts, I guess I'll withdraw my concern about the Anne Frank House. I went there when I was a college student--same summer I went to Auschwitz so my memories are a bit clouded.

 

But I did have another idea: reistafel! (Indonesian food is the thing to eat in Amsterdam!)

 

Jane

[Puma Mom]

Zaanse Schanse is similar to a very small Colonial Wmsbg in that it has several demonstration areas of typically Dutch things: a windmill with an oil press, cheese making, clog factory, etc. It is reachable from Amsterdam by train and a 10-min walk.

[saw]

you want to do Amsterdam-type things or just things that are fun that happen to be in Amsterdam:

 

Van Gogh museum has kids classes on the weekends.

 

Rijksmuseum isn't what it used to be.

 

We like the Amsterdam Historical Museum.

 

If you're church-going or interested in the Pilgrims, visit the English Reformed Church in the Begijnhof off the Spui. It was the church the Pilgrims attended when they were in Amsterdam before moving to Leiden. It's now a Church of Scotland Church.

 

Go skating on the Jaap Edenbaan. It should be open then; it's open-air and you should be able to rent skates.

 

Eat pancakes (not for breakfast but for lunch or dinner) at the Boerderij Meerzicht in the Amsterdamse Bos. It will be open on the weekends in November and one weekday, can't remember which.

 

If you're doing the Anne Frank house, you might want to visit the Portuguese Synagogue or the Jewish Museum

 

For fun:

 

Tropenmuseum is a museum of ethnography, good for kids.

 

Nemo is a hands-on science museum for kids.

 

Artis the zoo is nice but not if you have access to really fantastic zoos at home.

 

Outside of Amsterdam:

 

The Kroller Muller museum on the Veluwe has great Van Goghs and is in a beautiful location. There's also the Openair museum Arnhem, which is fantastic. You can walk around and see all sorts of buildings etc from Dutch history.

 

Haarlem is nice to walk around in.

 

Madurodam in the Hague -- miniature of the country, very popular tourist attraction. Kids love it.

 

Leiden has a good natural history museum (Naturalis) and a very small but interesting Pilgrim museum.

 

Go to Zandvoort and take a walk on the beach and eat at one of the restaurants on the beach.

 

If you want more info on any of the above, please pm me.

 

Sophie (in Amsterdam, if that weren't obvious)

[TwinMominTX]

Thanks so much everyone! I ordered a guide book for Amsterdam, but you guys are a much better resource of information.

 

We travel extensively, but this is the first time we've had any real advance notice of our travels so I am excited to do a little reading/studying before we leave.

 

Thanks again for the great suggestions - keep them coming!!

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I'm jealous that you get to go.

 

Definitely go to the Anne Frank museum, Haarlem was a lot of fun for us--we were able to visit Corrie ten Boom's house and stand inside the hiding place in her room and the cathedral there was fun, we loved our canal ride (so pretty), the Van Gough museum was under reconstruction when we were there so we went to the Rijksmuseum and got to see the VanGough art there definitely go to the Van Gough museum. We also took a train ride into the countryside to see the windmills and tulips, but, we were there in the spring so everything was blooming. Another fun place was the floating flower market on the canal (I don't remember which one, but, it would be easy to find out) the flowers there were so unusual and pretty to see.

 

Have a great time!

[Michelle in MO]

I'm jealous that you get to go.

 

Definitely go to the Anne Frank museum, Haarlem was a lot of fun for us--we were able to visit Corrie ten Boom's house and stand inside the hiding place in her room and the cathedral there was fun, we loved our canal ride (so pretty), the Van Gough museum was under reconstruction when we were there so we went to the Rijksmuseum and got to see the VanGough art there definitely go to the Van Gough museum. We also took a train ride into the countryside to see the windmills and tulips, but, we were there in the spring so everything was blooming. Another fun place was the floating flower market on the canal (I don't remember which one, but, it would be easy to find out) the flowers there were so unusual and pretty to see.

 

Have a great time!

 

My roommate and I visited Europe after college; you should not miss the Rijksmuseum, and I also felt that the visit to the Anne Frank house was very worthwhile. Haarlem is just a very short train ride away from Amsterdam, so you should also visit Corrie ten Boom's house, although it is now a clock/watch shop owned by another family entirely. You can still go inside and look around the shop, and back in the 80's (when we visited---I'm dating myself here!) they still had the sign "ten Boom" posted outside the shop.