Jenn had a work conference in Amsterdam so we rode the train from Paris.  I really like travel by train in Europe.  While I admit I’ve done very little train travel in the states, that which I have done simply does not compare.  We spent the first half of the day traveling.  After we checked into the hotel we did a food tour in Amsterdam.  It was lovely.  We sampled sausage, frites, some cheeses and stoopwaffles.

The next day the conference started so I went out on my own.  I started with a recommended city walk (Rick Steve’s).  On the walk I stopped by one of the large flower markets along the canal.  Later, I visited the Rijksmusem.  I tried to go to the Van Gogh but apparently I was a bad tourist and cut in front of 60 people (I was informed of my mistake and left). That evening we did a river cruise.  It was neat to see the city at night, and the perspective from the canal is unique.

On Sunday I did another walk, this time through the Jordaan area.  Amsterdam is a nice city to in which to walk around.  The canals make the city unique.  There are many buildings with doors at water level- from when they were used as loading docks for goods from boats.  I also went to the Van Gogh museum.  This time, I bought tickets online the day before and didn’t have to cut stand in line.

I wanted to get out of Amsterdam and see another town.  I took a train to Delft.  I followed a historic city walk to get an idea of the town.  It was a beautiful little.  It reminded me a little of Bruges.  I also went to the new church and tower.  The tower offered great views of the city!  I also went to the china factory and watched a guy paint one of the pieces.  It was very interesting.

The conference ended so Jenn and I had one more day in Amsterdam.  We tried to find ‘the’ thing that would really stand out as unique and we happened in town at the right time.  We went to Keukenhoff to see the tulip gardens.  It was incredible!  I have never seen anything quite like it.  As we rode in on the bus, we could see fields of tulips.  The garden itself had all kinds of tulips, orchids and other flowers.  It was really amazing.  We were fortunate to be in town for it, the blooming period for these flowers is only a month or so.  Keukenhoff was easily my favorite thing to see in Amsterdam. That evening, there was a rain storm and the sky turned orange.  Even the workers in the pib went outside to look.