Amsterdam & Brussels

Amsterdam and Brussels 2019

Hello everyone,
It has been a few years since we visited Amsterdam and eventually I got some time and motivation to pen down my experiences. I cannot believe I stopped blogging in 2019. It was the busiest year for us as we visited 10 different countries within that year and maybe it was too overwhelming for me to pen down our experiences and to share only edited professional photos. So I pulled myself down so that I am not too pressurized to post only professional photos and write every single detail of our trips. Instead, I am going to keep the blogs as short as possible with more of a visual journey, restaurant names, main places of interest and other useful tips. 

The trip to Amsterdam & Brussels, was a very quick & least planned trip for us. My husband was traveling on work and my son and I decided to join him. We knew we couldn't spend much time during the day together and we would get very little time for tourism, but, we decided to explore 2 new countries as much as we could. It especially tempted me because of spring and Keukenhof tulip garden was my biggest calling!

We took the direct flight through Delta Airlines. I really love Amsterdam Airport because its not too big and its very colorful and has direct links to trains, rental cars and cabs right at the airport. They have made it very easy for travelers.

DAY 1

We took a cab to our ApartHotel. The drive was a very colorful one - the architecture in Amsterdam is very unique & interesting. I booked the Aparthotel (New Amsterdam) and it was an awesome location - close to my husband's work as well as all the shopping and attractions. Once we checked in, we went and shopped for groceries. I had a difficult time understanding the groceries as ingredients and details were all in Dutch. The employees at the grocery stores are very helpful and they speak English. They helped me out with the items I needed. I eventually downloaded google translator later to help me out at stores. I had packed some food from home so we ate a quick homemade meal and we went out for a walk. The entire downtown area is filled with beautiful art pieces, sculptures and vibrant colors. 

DAY 2

The next morning we woke up and took a train to the airport. Our rental car was from the airport so we picked up the car and drove straight to Keukonhof Tulip garden. The drive was so picturesque and very European with lots of character in the buildings and houses. We eventually entered the farm land and we had to park the car quite a bit away from where we wanted to go as they had very limited parking and a very large groups of tourists.  

Keukenhof itself needs a separate blog lol! The fields are massive with very vibrant and several varieties of tulips and other seasonal flowers. We enjoyed several hours at the fields as that was our main attraction during our trip. More than words, let me show you all how the place looked via images. Adding few iPhone pics + better resolution images here. These images just cannot justify the beauty of the place! 

After we spent few hours at the field, we went in search of food. We found a quaint looking Italian restaurant called Pinokkio. After dinner, we returned our rental car at the airport to avoid parking hassles in downtown Amsterdam. 

DAY 3

The next day, we walked around downtown and took a random architectural boat ride. There are several such options, so look around to see what's suitable for you. Some of them are 2 hours long and others were 4-6 hours with lunch/dinner options. We just took 2 hours boat ride and it was very nice to see the pretty Amsterdam style buildings. After the boat ride, we had a pit stop at Ganesha Indian restaurant and had our lunch. We explored around the downtown slowly by foot, purchased a few souvenirs and took a train back to our Aparthotel. 

DAY 4 

My husband had to get back to work. My son and I decided to go on our adventure and visit a museum. We had to take a tram and then a train to the museum and it was one amazing fun adventure for us as we had a tough time to find the tram station which was almost right behind our Aparthotel. Sometimes we just don't see the obvious signs! Lol 

We did an inky pinky ponky between Rijks Museum and Van Gough museum. Both the museums are right next to each other. Rijks won, so we decided to go there. It was an easy ticket purchase as it was a weekday morning and it was not too crowded. Its a massive museum that could take at least 6-8 hours to cover. We spent around 2-3 hours admiring all the paintings & sculptures.  

We then had some street food right in front of those museums. It was really delicious and it was time to return back to the Aparthotel. The tram and train trips were so special and memorable for me and my son! 

DAY 5

We spent most of the day near the Aparthotel and we took a walk, visited local stores and enjoyed the city scape. In the evening once my husband got back from work, we went to a park and rented out bikes. If you have not noticed yet, I will reconfirm that Amsterdam is one of the most bike friendly cities in the world. They have made beautiful biking trails everywhere and you can easily find several places to rent bikes. 

After a nice evening of biking, we went to one of my favorite places - WAGAMAMA! I enjoyed the fact that Amsterdam has many vegetarian and vegan options everywhere :)

DAY 6

We resumed our evening sightseeing after husband's work. We visited the GRACHTENGORDEL area. It was a very pretty part of downtown with multiple canals and small businesses. We had our dinner at Tapas Tia Rosa. The food was very exotic and tasty :). However, what happened during the dinner was the most memorable event for me. The sky suddenly turned pink and stunning. I ran out with my camera and captured a few shots :). 

DAY 7

Woohoo! The weekend had begun and it was time to explore again! We rented a car from the airport again and set out for Brussels, Belgium. One suggestion when you are traveling between Brussels & Amsterdam - Be VERY careful. They have lots of hidden speed guns and they will hunt you down. There entire freeway had very little speed signs and this confused us a lot and we went with the flow of traffic. We eventually got 3 speed tickets after we had returned to Seattle. The drive from Amsterdam to Brussels is just about 3 hours. We noted down just a few things to visit in Brussels and we just saw only those few places before returning back to Amsterdam on the same day. 

The main reason for us to go to Belgium was to seeeeee.... Any Tintin fans here? :) Yes!!!! What a cute little museum and we enjoyed visiting it and seeing varieties of Tintin & Haddock figurines. 

Once we visited that, we just walked to see 2 other attractions - The peeing boy fountain and the Grand Place. The peeing boy fountain is totally a touristy spot but we just visited for fun as it was walking distance from the Grand Place. Its just a cute and tiny fountain :). We visited a random restaurant at the Grand Place & had our lunch but also had some popular Belgian fries right after :) The place was buzzing with artists and musicians. We loved the energy there! 

Right after these experiences, we returned content, to Amsterdam.

DAY 8

The last day of our trip! We took a train ride to Castle Muiderslot. Its a super cute, small and kids friendly castle. Its a must visit place for families. You might need 4-5 hours to just visit and to enjoy the castle. The town nearby is super quaint so take a walk around the beautiful town.

And soon.. it was goodbye Amsterdam! 

If you are planning to go on vacation only to Amsterdam and Brussels then you can finish the major attractions in both the places within 5 days. We stayed a little longer because my husband was working and we had only the weekends to visit the tourist spots. However, Amsterdam is a beautiful and family friendly place to visit. It's easy to navigate if you have google map. I hope this blog helps you all during your visit. Thank you for reading and for your support!