This day was by far the busiest, craziest and most tiring day. We bought the I Amsterdam card and I plan to do a full review in the next few weeks, so stay tuned, but because of that, we took full advantage. We woke up early and had the most delicious breakfast at the hotel before making our way to the first museum of the trip at Rijksmuseum.
The Rijksmuseum is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough Amsterdam South, close to so many of the other famous museums in the city. The building was utterly beautiful. It has such stunning architecture, and inside is a classic marble lobby. It reminds me very much of a Paris vibe, which of course I visited 6 years earlier. Honestly, it kind of bores me that sort of thing (don't hate me), but I was impressed by the library and the modern art perspective.
Next stop was the canal tour. We originally had 3 canal tours on our schedule and I was so excited! It was such a beautiful boat ride and I absolutely loved seeing all the canals and bridges throughout the city. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with the tour itself. Described as a guided tour, but with only audio via headphones, it wasn't ideal. It was very intermittent, very quiet and to top it off, it was sad that our tour was tainted by a large French tour group, which came with a guide, as he tended to speak over the audio meaning it was difficult to hear. It was also a stupidly comedic couple, that made non-funny jokes.
Next on the list was the Botanical Gardens, otherwise known as Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam. It is one of the world's oldest botanical gardens and it is beautiful. It is quite small, but defintely bigger on the inside. I also like that it's very sectional with a gardened area, a wild flower area, a canal area, a dessert / rainforest / humid area and then a palm tree building. I loved it, especially the blue-lilac wisteria against the white building back drop.
We stopped there for a little snack and drink, before making our way to This is Holland. This was Luke's favourite part of the whole trip and to be honest, it's close to the top for me. Described as the ultimate 5D flying experience, you soar over the Dutch must‐see locations and "marvel at the diversity, beauty and richness of the Netherlands". You can't take pictures or record the actual ride, but DO IT! We only anticipated the 9 minutes total, but in actual fact, the entire experience takes about an hour. You go through 3 different areas prior to getting to the ride, where you learn about different aspects and the development of Holland.
After it finished, we went next door to the A'Dam building and went straight to the top, to A'Dam Lookout. It was surreal. We got to see the best views of Amsterdam and took some great pictures of the scenery. There are lots of different activities to do in the lookout, from the swing, virtual reality experience and there is also a reasonable prices and delicious restaurant. We weren't planning to eat there but it was so beautiful to sit and look out, we decided to make it an evening meal.
The final stop of the day was to call at the Dam Square. It was something that was mentioned on the 5D tour, with it being an old palace and it was filled with lots of historical buildings. There was also a beautiful pianist playing, which made the night even more special and romantic.
Finally, we headed back to the hotel and stopped by some interesting sculptures and artwork on the way back. Safe to say, I slept great that night...I think.
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