The city of Amsterdam was the last stop on our two-week river cruise, where we spent an extra day in order to see more of the city. Perhaps because it was the end of our trip or perhaps because we were anxious to return home, but Amsterdam was generally disappointing. Our first impression was trash-filled streets, during a Sunday morning walking tour, along cafés where people get legally high, massive crowds of people (many of whom were stoned in public), and bicyclists who have the right-of-way and no regard for the safety and well-being of pedestrians. We were told that 12,000 unlocked bicycles per year are thrown into the canals by vandals in this city where bicycles outnumber permanent residents. We even witnessed three men “fishing” in one of the canals with large magnets. They said that they find everything from coins to pistols.
On our first day, we took a walking tour of the old city, including a stop at a Gouda cheese shop and a pickled herring stand, as well as a stroll through the city’s well-known red light district. On our second day, when we were on our own, we tried to make the best of our time, walking through parts of the old city, visiting a coffee and bakery shop, and taking a canal boat guided tour. Perhaps our favorite stops were a visit to OBA, the main city library in Amsterdam, one of the most modern (and impressive!) libraries in Europe, and dinner at the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese restaurant that has seating capacity of 900 diners.
The Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (OBA) is a truly spectacular, seven story library. The first floor is devoted to children, with stacks and study spaces throughout the building, with primary access via escalators. There is an impressive multimedia collection, including stacks of sheet music, an extensive collection of newspapers and periodicals, as well as foreign language texts. There is a wonderful café on a lower level, along with an impressive cafeteria – including beer and wine, of course – on the 7th level. The café includes outdoor seating (which we enjoyed) with a stunning view of Amsterdam’s waterfront, the IJ.
At Sea Palace, the food comes out from the kitchen on robots (but served by human waiters), after being ordered online using a QR code, and the food and drinks are really quite excellent. There are apparently several urban legends about this restaurant, including one that it will sink if the owners attempt to seat more than 700 people. The restaurant, which is now the world’s largest floating restaurant, was modeled after the even larger Jumbo Floating Restaurant that was located in Hong Kong for nearly 50 years. That restaurant seated 2,000 diners, with guests including luminaries from Queen Elizabeth II to President Jimmy Carter, until it sunk when it was being moved to an undisclosed location in June 2022.
Forget about visiting the city’s many world-class museums unless you have reservations made months in advance. Even the Anne Frank House, which we had hoped to visit, requires reservations made far in advance, with tickets going on sale every Tuesday at 10:00 AM for the next six weeks of timeslots. We also disliked our hotel for our last night in Europe, the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station, although the hotel offered a spectacular breakfast buffet.
