I have traveled to Amsterdam four times in the last three years. The city has its own unique energy that it gives off, not like any other city that I have been to. Amsterdam offers many wonderful museums, beautiful windmills, and many old buildings with beautiful architecture. The canals that runs through the city add a unique characteristic and provides as a useful mode of transportation, recreation, and home to many families that live on the house boats that line the canal walls. (Click on all pictures to open in full size)During my visits to Amsterdam it was as a crew member with the airline I worked for in Detroit and the company used the Dorint Amsterdam Airport hotel, which was later sold and the name changed to Novotel Amsterdam Airport. The hotel regardless of the name was very hospitable to crew members now matter which airline that were from. There is a crew lounge that was made available for airline employees only with the use of their room key which contained a computer, desk, couch and a TV with a DVD player and VCR.
The hotel bar in the basement Bar Cantus is a great place to meet local people, other airline employees and where to ask some local people on thing to do and see while visiting Amsterdam. The hotel resturant Wintertuin has a great international cuisine as well as a very nice continental breakfast.
The rooms in the hotel are like most 3 or 4 star hotels, they are very clean and spacious with all the amenities that you could need. The bathroom fixtures are plated in silver and the shower has a glass partition. I heard from other people that stayed there before me that if you call the front desk and are willing to pay the money then they will even arrange for you to have a visitor for the evening.
A friend of mine and I found out from people in the hotel that there is a bus stop not to far from the hotel which goes to downtown and then we can bring the train back to the airport and catch the hotel shuttle to get us back. Before we could get on the bus, we had to stop at a grocery stop and purchase a round trip ticket (which is cheaper than the one-way ticket) and the bus stopped right out side of the grocery store. The bus ride was nice because you could see how peopled lived as it went through a lot of residential neighborhoods before stopping in downtown.
When we got off the bus we was near a small square with tons of shopping and fast food restaurants. It was around 11am when we got off the bus and right in front of us was a McDonald's, so we decided to grab some lunch before starting our walking tour of the city. The food was pretty close to what you would find in America with the exception of the prices being a little bit more then you would normally pay.
Holland Casino Amsterdam
Some of the things for sale in a gift shop within the RLD (Red Light District)
A area near the red light district (notice on the light pole on the left side of the picture the three X's that make up the bottom of the pole)
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport control tower
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport bus and taxi area (notice the large screen TV in the back-
ground)
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport main terminal. The terminal has a train station in the basement that only costs a few dollars to take you to downtown.
Tour boats for the tourist to see Amsterdam from the canals, there are several packages to choose from, starting the basic sight-seeing tour up to packages that include dinner.
Due to high fuel costs in Europe, bicycles and public trans-
portation is part of daily life, so much in fact that shown in this picture is a parking garage for bicycles out side the train station. Not sure how any bicycles it holds but it looked like there was thousands.
And of course your trip to Holland would not be complete without your very own pair of wooden shoes. I talked to several business associates that grew up in Holland and it was customary for them to wear wooden shoes when they were kids. They got a new pair every year, whether they needed them or not.
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