During our trip to Holland I had a day on my own to explore Amsterdam. When I came out of the train station I kind of wished I hadn’t bothered but it did get better later! Amsterdam Central was a horrible experience once I got outside. It was jam packed with people, cyclists, trams and traffic, a real overload on the senses and I found it difficult to get my bearings. It was also pretty sleazy but I guess that’s one of the things Amsterdam is famous for right?
My first destination was the Waterlooplein market. I found it eventually, but it took a trip to the tourist office to get a better map as I quickly realised that the one in the Lonely Planet guide had half the street names missing. I had done my research before I came but I didn’t find Amsterdam very easy to navigate around (unlike Munich),
My honest advice about Waterlooplein market was – don’t bother! There was more tourist tatt than vintage although I went on a Saturday so it might be the case that it is better on another day (possibly Monday). A better destination for vintage clothes was the Kilo shop surrounding the market although prices were not my kind of cheap.
After my Waterlooplein disappointment I headed for the Tassenmuseum (antique bag museum). However I got lost again and found myself at the floating flower market instead! It sounded so nice and romantic in my guidebook. How lovely I thought. When I got there it was absolutely rammed with people and the first few stalls were selling mainly bulbs. I can buy those at home and felt a need to escape. So far I was hating Amsterdam!
Another bugbear was that when walking alongside the canals. As a pedestrian you can either walk on the other side of the road or walk on the bumpy cobblestones alongside the canal and navigate around the trees, advertising billboards, bins and anything else that might get in the way of the cycle lane running right alongside the canal.
Amsterdam definitely has it in for you if you are a pedestrian! If you are in a wheelchair well you could either travel in the cycle lane and cause a traffic jam as a protest, or use the other side of the road and have no view of the canals at all. It’s great that they encourage cyclists but surely not at the expense of pedestrians or the infirm 😦
Eventually I found the Tassemuseum and my day started getting better – hooray! Not surprisingly it was full of women! Apparently it is Barbie’s 50th birthday so she was having her moment in the spotlight at the museum too.
Yay we’re 50!
Well, I really enjoyed it, I collect old bags(!) and so was in my element and took loads of pictures. If you are thinking of going you would only need about an hour or so out of your day, unless you treat yourself to a posh lunch or afternoon tea. The restaurant looked very high class. Definitely one for the ladies.
My favourite bags are the heavily beaded pictorial/flowery ones:
And the prize for the most revolting bag goes to this armadillo creation:
About this time I was getting peckish and so found this lovely little bistro alongside a canal and treated myself to some flipped bitches(!) (The Dutch version of French Toast).
From here I headed towards Ann Franks’ house and this area of Amsterdam was lovely, the nine streets area. The crowds were less intense, the sun was out and I really started seeing the brighter side of Amsterdam 🙂
Even at 6.30 p.m. the queue for Ann Frank’s house was too long for me to bother going in (it continued a long way around the corner!)
I spotted a few vintage and fabric shops in this area too…the fabric shop had similar to that I bought in Delft but it was twice the price!
There are several very good museums in Amsterdam but unfortunately as I only had one day I only managed to fit in the Tassenmuseum.
I walked full circle around Amsterdam and as I made my way back to the station I spotted, what else, but a Tulip and Cheese museum, right next to each other!
ArtyCraftyAli 