Amsterdam with Rick Steves

We used another day of our Eurail pass to make the trip out of Koln's busy train station. The high speed ICE train required reservations, and whisked us across Germany and into another new-to-us country. We arrived at the historic Amsterdam train station for our first day in The Netherlands.

This Sunday afternoon the streets were already crowded with locals and tourists wandering through another of Europe's most popular cities. We wouldn't know where to start our exploration of Amsterdam, but we had a secret weapon this day. We had downloaded an audio tour from the Rick Steves web site. We became fans of this famous travel guide when we visited Europe over twenty years ago. He's still the best source of good information in his iconic "Europe Through the Back Door" handbooks and guides.  Some of his information is free, like the audio guides for Rome, Paris, Florence, Amsterdam . . . As we started the audio guide, it told us to turn with our back to the central train station facing south to see the city streets that spread out like a fan. We were instructed to walk down Damrack Street--which was once a river.

Because we weren't spending the night in Amsterdam, we were wheeling our suitcases around for this stop. In hindsight, we would recommend finding a luggage storage spot, as we really looked like tourists as we made the stops recommended in our Rick Steves' audio tour. For example, this was the entrance to a tiny shopping mall at #68 Damrack. Thanks Steve, for reminding us to fill our water bottles from the fish fountain here.

We each had one airpod in one ear as we listened to the directions and commentary that our favorite Europe tour guide provided for free. Rick led us to Dam Square, ringed with historic buildings in this city that has been here since 1250. The Royal Palace here was Holland's most recognizable building. 

After a couple turns, our next stop was right next to McDonald's at #58 Calverstradt. This hidden Catholic Church was behind a very plain small door in a very plain neighborhood. It was built and used when Catholics had to hide to worship in this country.

Rick's next stop would take several more twists and turns to a hard-to-find entrance into the Begijnhof community. Now it is a quiet neighborhood built around a church. But it was built to house poor widows dedicated to God who lived pious lives in Christian poverty. The last Begijnhof died in the 1970's, but single women still live here and tourists are forbidden from taking their pictures.

We stepped into the small church that was the center of their community.

Rick gave directions (that were sometimes hard to follow) down to one of the many canals that fan out from central Amsterdam.

This canal was on the edge of the Bloomingmarkt. From one bridge to the next, this canal was lined with products that celebrate Holland's flowers.

Everything from seeds to bulbs to fresh flowers and vases can be bought at this huge flower market. Of course, they are best known for their tulips. We managed to find room in our limited luggage to bring home a package of certified tulip bulbs that are guaranteed to go through international customs.

Across the tram tracks, we entered Koningsplein Square (King's Square). Another stop that Rick Steves has made famous was this local herring stand.

Rick recommends getting the local treat of raw herring covered in raw onions. For the less adventurous, the fried cod is quite good. For two travelers still feeling a bit flu-ish, we decided to just watch this local icon from a distance.

Instead, we stopped in at a local bakery that smelled less fishy. We bought this flaky spinach pastry that honestly looked better than it tasted.

We had a beautiful weather day to wander through the streets of Amsterdam. We walked over many of the 100 bridges that cross the canals of Amsterdam. 

We also found more of the random bike parking spaces that are peppered throughout this city. They even have bicycle parking garages here! Rick warned us to always be watching out for bikes as we walked around Amsterdam. His audio told us that there were 700,000 people and 700,000 bikes in Amsterdam.

Our next stop was Dam Square, home of the National Monument commemorating the casualties of World War II.

We enjoyed listening to Rick Steves' comments and historical background as we finished up our "Amsterdam City Walk" audio tour. We were getting tired, but we decided to start one more audio tour . . .

the "Red Light District" tour. Instead of making their jails bigger, the Dutch just decided to make more things legal. That would include prostitution (no pictures allowed on the red light streets) and marijuana. Rick's audio tour took us to the most famous convenience store--The Bulldog. Customers were enjoying their perfectly legal marijuana products inside and outside as well.

We decided not to finish all of the red light district tour. So we wandered our way back through the city on this beautiful blue-sky day. 

Amsterdam was a lovely place to spend a day. While many visit this city to go to the Anne Frank House Museum or the National Holocaust Memorial, we enjoyed our walk around the city while listening to one of the premier European travel guides.

We continued to follow the canal as it angled back towards the center of town. Eventually it brought us back to the train station where we first started our walk with Rick Steves.  Rick might recommend an overnight stay and spending several days to see more of Amsterdam. But we're heading on down the train tracks to our next destination in The Netherlands.