Het IJ

The alarm went off at 0430 but I was already awake. It's always the same when I am going on a trip, I tend not to sleep very well, possibly subconsciously worrying about sleeping in! Barbara and I got up, and after a quick shower and breakfast we were ready to go when our lift to the airport arrived. We arrived at 0600 and with only hand baggage, we were through security within 15 minutes. The flight was on time and it felt like we had only just taken off when we were landing in Amsterdam.

Schiphol is a very big airport but we had no trouble finding our way to the train station connected to the airport. It was a bit confusing at first but we worked out which train we needed to get, and how to get a ticket, we had to ask a member of the train staff where to get the right train. I have to say that if there is an information point in the train station, it's not obvious, but again we asked someone on the platform who assured us we were on the right train.

As a UK citizen it can be daunting going abroad because we are not great at learning other languages, and Dutch looks and sounds like an improbable and difficult language. Fortunately, as far as I can tell, every Dutch person speaks great English, which for us made everything a lot easier, and in my experience, every Dutch person we interacted with was helpful and friendly.

By the time we arrived at Centraal Station in the heart of Amsterdam, we were very hungry, so we went for some lunch in a pancake restaurant of which there are quite a few in Amsterdam. It was ok but not great.

We had a few hours to kill before we could check into our hotel, so we wandered around a bit, we found our way to the Anne Frank House for which we have booked tickets for the Sunday and then wandered around a bit more, but eventually we felt we should go to the hotel and try our luck with checking in. We decided to get a taxi (expensive in Amsterdam) because we had no idea which bus/tram to get, but we thought (correctly) that the staff at the hotel could give us that info for the rest of our trip. Trams are the best way to get around and are easy to use, you can buy a ticket allowing unlimited journey's for 1, 2, 3 days or more. The ticket becomes valid from the moment of first use. Top tip - you have to tap the ticket on the sensor when you get on AND off the tram otherwise it invalidates the ticket. The taxi to the hotel was indeed expensive and we arrived about an hour before check in but the room was ready and we were welcomed in.

We were staying at the Best Western, and found it to be comfortable rather than luxurious, but spotlessly clean and throughout our stay we found the staff to be friendly and very helpful. We were tired so booked dinner and breakfast and went for a snooze.

The dinner was 24.50 euro each which we thought was quite reasonable, again it was a buffet style and there was plenty to choose from and it all looked really good. Unfortunately the chef could not guarantee that there was no sesame, poppy or peanuts in the food and since they would put me into anaphylactic shock, I sat down to eat what would be the most expensive salad I ever had. However, the chef came over and asked if I liked meat, to which I said yes, and about 15 minutes later he came over to our table with a large grilled steak he had cooked especially for me. I was very grateful for his thoughtfulness, a trait that seems very common among the Dutch. The steak was amazing.

My first impression of Amsterdam was that it is the busiest city I've ever been to apart from London, it was rammed and it wasn't even the main tourist season. The city, at least the 'old' part is architecturally very interesting, I have never been in a city with such a diverse range of style of buildings, every building is different from the one next to it, and many could only be described as a bit wonky. As you move away from the centre the buildings become more 1960's and 70's utilitarian blocks of flats which then give way to more modern and stylish but nonetheless utilitarian blocks of flats.

The old town is not very clean but it is so busy it's difficult to see how it could be anything else with so many tourists. It is fairly easy to navigate as it is built around concentric circles of canals. The canals are as lovely as the postcard version, what you don't get on the postcard is the crowds and traffic. You need your wits about you when crossing roads, there are a lot of electric cars which you can't hear and bikes are everywhere and come (fast) from every direction, and even if the light is green for you to cross, it doesn't mean that bikes will stop. Cobbled streets are hard on the feet so if you are going to walk wear something comfortably cushioned.

So on our first day we didn't do very much, well, we had been up since 0430, but it was a good day.Read more