Amsterdam at half term

Amsterdam- the perfect mini break city! Have just spent 3 nights there with my 13 year old son over half term and can’t wait to go back again.  The journey took 4 hours from my kitchen in south west London to the B&B bedroom and was so easy.  We stayed at the wonderful boutique Tulipa B&B, a town house just behind the Leidseplein and overlooking the Leidse canal. It was so central and yet really peaceful with its amazing canal views. From there we walked all over Amsterdam discovering the charming lanes of the central canal district with their gorgeous independent shops, so different from many of our UK high streets.

Leidsekadeaperture2
We had booked our visit the the Anne Frank house, so walked straight past the lengthy queue into the most fascinating and poignant of museums.  We marvelled at the re-opened and beautifully renovated Rijks museum.  Even my son was impressed with the collection of Vermeers; he stood in awe at Rembrandt’s Night Watch and helped us look for the man relieving himself against a tree in Avercamp’s Winter Landscape with Skaters.
We wandered around the Albert Cuyp market, seeing real Amsterdam street life, purchasing a fake Ajax football shirt and delving onto the most amazing cook shop I have ever seen (as well as sausage making contraptions they even sold tomato de-seeding machines).
And all this punctuated by the very best food.  We ran out of meals to try everything we wanted: the local pea soup – Erwtensoep we had in a little cafe around the corner from the Anne Frank house was one of the best soups I have ever tasted; the bitterballen (fried meatballs) in a bar were my son’s favourite. We had a fabulous Moroccan lunch in Bazar, the funkiest of restaurants in the Albert Cuyp market, and of course the obligatory chips and mayonnaise did not fail to hit the spot. We even managed to have tea and cakes in the wonderfully civilised Pompadour patisserie twice!
The whole experience was wonderful and we were especially lucky to be staying at the Tulipa B&B with its beautiful rooms, gourmet breakfasts and the helpful advice of its owners Jan and Paula who were full of recommendations on how to spend our days. There was so much we didn’t have time to see, but luckily I have another son who I might have to take on a trip there next half term…

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