Due to a potential scheduling problem, we may not be able to spend a few of days in Copenhagen next year on our way to Belgium.
The next best Icelandair flight option from BOS to Brussels is via Amsterdam (BOS-KEF-AMS-BRU). I’m tempted to fly BOS-KEF-AMS and then take a train to Brussels, rather than fly the last leg.
I’ve never had much of a yen to visit Amsterdam but I am not opposed to it.
We will have been up all night flying, so our memories of whatever we do our first day are bound to be hazy. We know someone who lives near Amsterdam who would like to come see us for drinks.
What do you think is the most compelling reason to hang out in Amsterdam for 1 or 2 days?
We like beer, cheese, museums, but don’t let that limit your recommendations of why you personally think someone should want to spend 1-2 days in Amsterdam.
Dutch breakfasts. Butter and bacon on yummy rolls. Lots of other things on yummy rolls.
Rijsttafel. Indonesian “rice table” I’ve had in other major cities, but Amsterdam does it best. A big bowl of rice and lots and lots of small bowls of delicious things to eat with the rice.
Go to a nightclub and smoke hashish.
I haven’t been in Amsterdam since I was 19 in 1980, but I have fond memories of a beautiful canal city hazed with cannabis smoke. And the Melkweg (Milky Way) nightclub, with rooms full of marvelous music plus live and film presentations. And a hashish bar.
I suppose you could buy diamonds. How many diamonds do you have already?
Amsterdam’s cool. You can tell people you visited the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house, when you really went to the sex museum and smoked hash all day.
Take a leisurely boat ride up and down the canals and ogle the architecture.
The art! Oh the art! Take the opportunity to see in person some of the greatest works of Western art.
Definitely take a little tour of the “adult entertainment” district. Yes, it has a very ugly underbelly just out of sight, but the openness of the whole sex trade thing there is a cultural phenomenon that you should see.
Find an Indonesian restaurant (there are many) and order rijsttafel. It’s an array of tasting size dishes suitable for sharing. Indonesian food is similar to American Thai - lots of veggies and spices- so if you like Thai at all, you’d like this.
I found the Anne Frank house disappointing, but your mileage may vary.
Diamonds.
Drugs.
Hookers who will dance “performance art” through picture widows to get you to come in.
Museums.
…And, on occasion (depending on You) someone who actually likes You for You.*
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*I’m an American, and I’m not Pretty.
No Woman on Og’s Green Earth would pay 2 seconds attention to me unless paid to.
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Bar None.
I forgot about Anne Frank. Maybe I will actually go there on day 1 because I am emotionally susceptible when jetlagged. And I don’t smoke but I do like the smell of pot and hash.
This. Brussels is pretty unimpressive on the whole; once you get outside of the Grand Place and the surrounding area, it’s not a very touristy city, as in there aren’t things to see in general.
Amsterdam is a city with lots to see- museums, churches, canals, events, etc… . plus it’s a great day-trip base to anywhere else in the Netherlands.
Good call on Ghent though; much less touristy than nearby Bruges and generally more pleasant, I thought.
I remember seeing an article some years ago that said that Amsterdam’s oldest remaining architecture is in the red light district, due to the fact that it is a red light district and thus not often redeveloped.
So there’s your fig leaf. “No, no, I’m not going into this brothel to get laid; I’m going in to, umm, look at the dentil molding.”
I was in Amsterdam at the end of July. It’s well worth a visit. It was very wet when I visited but there were plenty of museums both large and small. The big three are the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh, and the Hermitage, of course, but there are many more. The food varies according to your budget. I stayed in the Mercure hotel in Noordestraat (?) and there was a fine dining restaurant, Fyra, within a 50 metres, and just beyond that a steakhouse. Food at both was delicious. I’m sure the canal cruises are wonderful, but it was belting down at the time, so I spent my time inside.
We will probably be spending more time in Ghent than Brussels, though.