Amsterdam, Netherlands - June 29th to July 3rd, 2025

Amsterdam is a large city, but the inner city is very walkable, with a network of canals. No high rise buildings are allowed within the historic city center, which gives the area a much more human scale. We had several days to explore Amsterdam before boarding a Viking cruise ship to begin our Rhine River cruise. It was hot while we were in Amsterdam, but that didn’t keep us from long walks as we explored the area, enjoying the old architecture.

Sunday, it was time to say goodbye to our daughter and London. Our time went by so fast in London. Around 9:30 am, we checked out of our hotel, gave our daughter a long hug, then made our way to the Underground Station.

We took the Victoria Line back to Kings Cross. Kings Cross is a large station of Underground trains, England surface trains, and international trains. It seemed like a long walk from the Victoria Line at Kings Cross to reach the Eurostar check in at the Kings Cross St. Pancras International Station. It was probably only five minutes, but we had all our luggage on our backs.

Our train was not scheduled to leave until 13:01. Eurostar opens up the check in and security about two hours before the departure time. It was about a quarter after 10 when we arrived, so we had about an hour to wait. We managed to find a couple of open seats on a bench where we sat down and waited. To help pass the time, we grabbed a cappuccino and a chai latte at a nearby coffee shop.

At 11 am, we went through security. It was similar to an airport security check. Then they checked our passports, twice. I think the first one was British border patrol and the second one was European Union border patrol. Then we were in a waiting area. Boarding didn’t happen until 20 minutes before departure time, so we had another hour and a half to wait, as security didn’t take very long.

Thankfully, there were shops in the waiting area. Keith bought a drink and sandwich for the train. Ann bought a salad from Pret a Manger along with a drink. She decided to go ahead and eat her food while we waited. The falafel and hummus salad were pretty good.

We boarded the train right on time. It was the first of two Eurostar trains. The first one was to Brussels, where we caught a second one to reach Amsterdam. Normally, there is a direct Eurostar train from London to Amsterdam, but, for some reason, there was not one for Sunday, June 29th. The website did not explain why. At first we thought it was because we were trying to make a reservation too far in advance, so we waited and kept checking. Then direct trains started showing up for all of the days surrounding the day we wanted to travel, but none for the day we wanted. So we gave up and booked the two trains. It made the trip longer and more expensive than the direct train. The first train was about a two hour ride to Brussels, with the second train taking us the remaining three hours to Amsterdam.

The train ride was not very scenic, as we went through many tunnels, including the Chunnel under the English Channel, along with the tracks being below grade level in many places. Keith noticed that the train speed inside the Chunnel was 160 kph (100 mph) and our speed later was around 270 kph (170 mph).

The first train we were on was nice and comfortable. There was plenty of leg room. Wifi was available. There were two cafe cars, but we didn’t visit them as we had our food from the waiting room shops. We had water bottles with us, but we went through security with them empty. Then we couldn’t find a place to fill them after security. Eurostar had sent us emails about allowing bottles of liquids through security as long as they were sealed.

In Brussels, it was a surprisingly long walk from the platform we arrived on to the platform of our next train, especially with carrying our luggage. We had put the straps of our main luggage away to make it easier to get the luggage on and off the train without the straps getting caught or tangled. When we got off the first train, we didn’t bother pulling out the straps again so we could carry our luggage on our backs. So we got a little tired of hand carrying our luggage across the station. We had to walk the full length of the first train, out through border patrol of the international station (where it looked like they were only performing random checks), down the stairs, then over to the inter-EU platforms to reach the platform for our second train.

The second train seemed older than the first train. Right after we were underway, Ann went to find the cafe car to grab some dinner. When she finally reached the cafe, she discovered it was only a couple of vending machines with snacks and drinks. There were no sandwiches, as was advertised on the first train. Ann tried to purchase a drink from one of the machines. She couldn’t get it to work. The machine display was in French. However, another couple tried to help her and couldn’t get it to work either. They talked with one of the conductors and he went to find a colleague who should have been attending the cafe. When he came back, he said that the machines don’t work in these hot conditions. The air conditioning was not working in the cafe area and it was rather warm there. So much for dinner!

However, Ann was more concerned about drinks, since she hadn’t had anything for over two hours and going another three hours without anything to drink didn’t sound like fun. However, there was a carton of small bottled water sitting on a table in the neighboring car, so Ann, and the nice couple trying to help her, grabbed a small bottle for each person, including one for Keith. We weren’t sure if we were expected to pay for the water, but there wasn’t anyone around to ask.

When we arrived in Amsterdam, we took care of some business before leaving the train station. First, Ann needed to use the toilet. The restroom inside the station was 0.90 euros, taking contactless payment at a turnstile, similar to what we had seen in the United Kingdom. Then we got some dinner at a doner kebab stand. Even though the menu was in Dutch, we were able to decipher it since Dutch seems like a cross between English and German, a language we know pretty well.

The fries were served with mayonnaise and a little two-pronged pick for eating them with. This brought back memories of our time living in Germany back in 1990. However, the doner kebabs were not that great. We thought the ones we had at the German Doner Kebab chain back in York, England were better (York, England - May 20th to 22nd and June 20th to 23rd, 2025).

Then we stopped at a kiosk to pick up some yogurt and juice for breakfast the next morning. Our accommodations for Amsterdam were on a house boat through AirBnB. So we had to prepare our own meals, including breakfast, or go out.

To reach the house boat, we needed to catch a subway train or Metro. Getting from the train station to the metro station was rather confusing. We encountered a turnstile. Was this for leaving the train station or entering the Metro? We decided it was for leaving the train station as we could see the exit out into the city, so we scanned our Eurostar bar code. Then we encountered another turnstile for the Metro. We knew that we could use Apple Pay, but it took us a little while to figure out where exactly to hold our phones to activate it, as it seemed a little different than the turnstiles for the Underground in London. We also couldn’t get the transit system feature on our phones to work, so we had to open up our credit cards in our Apple Wallets. It wasn’t a huge deal, as it only takes two quick clicks on the side button to bring it up and a quick scan of your face to activate it. However, the transportation system feature allows you to just hold your phone up to the turnstile, no clicks or facial recognition needed.

We arrived at the boat around 8:30 pm. It was still daylight, so we had no problems getting into the boat following the owners’ instructions. The boat was very roomy, one of the largest accommodations we’ve had so far. It was nice after London’s hotel which was one of our smallest rooms. The owners had some cold drinks waiting for us in the fridge, so we popped open a couple and sat down on the deck chairs outside on top of the boat, watching other boats on the canal glide by.

The boat didn’t have air conditioning, but there were a couple of ventilators (fans). With the windows open and the fans running, the boat cooled down by the time we went to bed.

Monday was a relaxed day. We didn’t feel like doing much. Since it was the last day of the month, Ann spent time going over our finances, making sure our accounts were in order and compiling our trip expenses.

We didn’t venture off the boat until lunch time. Just around the corner from the boat was a bakery called Vlaamsch Broodhys. They had a few tables and served lunch. Ann ordered the baba ganoush and tandoori crème sandwich while Keith ordered the hot ham and cheese. We both had gember limonade (ginger lemonade). Baba ganoush is a middle eastern dish consisting of ground roasted eggplant. Everything was delicious.

While Keith was finishing his meal, Ann was eyeing the other baked goods. There was one item she didn’t recognize. It was Suikerbrood in Hout Gebakken (sugar bread backed in wood). So she bought one to take back to the boat to try. It was pretty tasty, a little individual sweet bread baked in a small, thin wooden tray.

Next to the bakery was a grocery store, called Albert Heijn. We picked up yogurt, blueberries, and juice for our breakfasts. We already had granola left over from our stay on the Isle of Skye in Scotland (Isle of Skye, Scotland - June 2nd to 5th, 2025).

After dropping our goods off at the boat, we went for a walk along the canals. Amsterdam has a grid of canals running through the city. The car traffic was not bad, but the bike traffic was. We had to pay close attention not to get hit by a bicycle whizzing by. There were bikes everywhere.

We headed up Prinsengracht, past Anne Frank’s House. We couldn’t get tickets to go inside. They were sold out by the time we looked online. We turned onto Brouwersgracht over to Singel, to make our way back. Along the way, we stopped at Bakkerij Heemelrijck. They had tables out on the bridge over the canal, so we sat there to enjoy a couple of cold drinks in the shade and enjoy the view.

The Bloemenmarkt (Flower Market) is along Singel. Many of the stalls selling tulip bulbs advertised that they had certificates for importing into the United States and Canada. Opposite the flower stalls, there were several cheese shops..

By the time we returned to the boat, it was almost dinner time. We chose an Italian place not far away, called Trattoria That’s Amore. Keith had the Pizze 4 Stagioni while Ann ordered the Pizze Verdura. The Verdura was a vegetable pizza with tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper, and mushrooms. Keith’s was ham, mushrooms, salami, and artichokes. He noticed that the ingredients were not evenly distributed around the pizza, but each one was clumped together in different sections. So the tasting experience changed as he ate his way around the pizza. And the pizzas were not precut, so we ate them with a knife and fork.

In the evening, we sat out on the boat deck again as we enjoyed our cold beverages. The stream of boats going by was constant until about 10 pm. However, they usually were not noisy.

Tuesday was a really hot day, in the mid 30’s Celsius (90’s Fahrenheit). We relaxed at the boat until it warmed up. Then we went for a walk.

Our first stop was the Albert Cuyp Market. The street market officially started in 1905. There are quite a variety of goods being sold along with prepared food stands. Despite all the food stands, we stopped at an outside table of one of the cafes along the same street, called Lunchcafé Bozz. Ann wanted to try some Dutch food and we saw they served Bitterballen and Poffertjes.

Keith had the soup of the day which was a bean soup with some slices of mild sausages that tasted similar to hot dogs. Ann ordered both the Bitterballen which was a starter and Poffertjes. Bitterballen are a savory snack of deep fried breaded balls containing a thickened stew of roux and meat. The ones that Bozz served were beef. The bitterballen were served with mustard for dipping. Poffertjes are mini puffy pancakes made from yeast and flour, served with butter and powdered sugar. Everything was pretty tasty.

We continued our walk by strolling through Sarphatipark, then over to Hotel Penstana Amsterdam Riverside. The hotel was where Kris was supposed to stay. He was going to go on the Viking River Cruise with us on Thursday, but he is no longer with us. We miss you, Kris. May you rest in peace.

From there, we followed the Amstel River back towards the center of town, crossing over the Magere Brug (the Skinny Bridge). At Blauwbrug, we crossed back over the river to have cold drinks at Eetcafé Blauwbrug.

The café had some tables outside in the shade, where we could sit and watch all the bicycles flying by the intersection, maneuvering around each other as they turned down their desired street. It almost seemed like a choreographed ballet. Bikes are definitely king in this city, with cars and pedestrians giving bicycles their right of way. The speed limits for cars is pretty low inside the city, 20 kph (12 mph) in most places, so the risk of a collision is pretty low. We only saw one cyclist wearing a helmet.

After our refreshments, we crossed back over the bridge, through Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square), and over to Munttoren, an historic clock tower. Nearby on Kalverstraat, Ann continued her Dutch food tour by purchasing a raspberry stroopwafel from Firma Stroop. They freshly prepared the stroopwafel by dipping it in chocolate and placing the raspberries on top. It was a little messy to eat, as the berries wanted to fall off and the chocolate coating as well as the honey sandwiched between the two wafers wanted to ooze out everywhere. Fortunately, the stroopwafel was served with a wet wipe, so Ann was able to clean up after her very tasty treat.

We walked a little further on Kalverstraat and Rokin. Even after purchasing a couple more cold drinks from a food stand, we decided we had enough of walking around in the heat and sweating profusely. So we headed back to the boat. The boat was too warm to stay inside, but there was a private picnic table on the bank in the shade for us to use. So we hung out there, drinking lots of water, until it was time for dinner.

Our Dutch food tour continued into dinner. We picked out a place that served Rijsttafel (rice table). Rijsttafel is a Dutch version of an Indonesian meal. It is many small dishes served with rice. We remember loving Rijsttafel when we visited Amsterdam 35 years ago. In fact, we passed an Indonesian restaurant, Indrapura, in Rembrandtplein earlier that day that Ann swears is the place we ate all those years ago. Who knows?

This time we went to Kartika, on Overtoom street. Their Rijsttafel menus required a minimum of two people. There were a la carte options for single diners. One of the Rijsttafels was the traditional one, called Ramayana, while the other one looked like it was vegetarian, with no meat dishes, called Shinta. We ordered the Ramayana.

The Ramayana consisted of five pairings of meat dishes with vegetable side dishes, along with Serundent (roasted ground coconut, to be mixed with rice), and Acar Campur (sweet & sour salad). In the center of the tables were long hot plates heated by candles. This is where all of the food was served. Before they brought out the Ramayana dishes, they served us some chips and dipping sauces as an appetizer. We’re not sure what these were called, but there were two types. One was similar to a rice cake, but created into a decorative woven wreath. The other one was similar to Chinese crispy noodles. The dipping sauces consisted of a sweet and sour sauce, a peanut sauce, and a spicy sauce. Ann put a little too much spicy sauce on her chip the first time. It was so spicy that a blister formed on the roof of her mouth. So she stayed away from that one. The rest of the food was not that spicy. Keith managed to enjoy the spicy sauce, as he used it rather sparingly.

Then the rest of the dishes all came out together. Our waiter took his time explaining all of the dishes and how each of the pairings should be eaten together. The different dishes were Sate Ayam (chicken sate with peanut sauce), Daging Rendang (beef in spicy coriander sauce), Daging Semur (beef stewed in soybean sauce), Ayam Bali (chicken in spicy lemongrass sauce), Ayam Kecap (chicken with ginger and soy sauce), Gado-Gado (salad with peanut sauce), Tempe Bumbu Kuning (soybeans and tofu with curry sauce), Sambal Goring Buncis (green beans in spicy coconut sauce), Samal Gorent Telor (boiled eggs in spicy coconut sauce), and Sambal Goring Kentang (spiced fried potatoes).

All of the dishes were spectacular. The serving sizes turned out to be perfect, as we were full by the end, but not stuffed. We even managed to save room for dessert, fried bananas with ice cream. Delicious!

Wednesday was not quite as hot as the day before. It only got up to 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). Our day was pretty similar to the day before. We relaxed in the morning on the boat, then went for a walk.

We started out by walking over to Museumplein (Museum Square). Many of Amsterdam’s museums surround the square, such as the Rijksmuseum (art museum), Moco Museum (modern art museum), Van Gogh Museum (art museum dedicated to Van Gogh and his contemporaries), and Stedelijk Museum (modern and contemporary art and design). At the far end of the square is Het Concertgebouw (concert hall). We not big fans of museums, but we enjoyed walking through the square.

We stopped at the Cobra Café for lunch. Ann had a burger and fries while Keith opted for the grilled chicken. The chicken was on an open-faced sandwich with a variety of fresh vegetables on top. He ate it with a knife and fork.

From there, we walked over to Vondelpark. The park is pretty large and we enjoyed strolling the whole length of it. It was very peaceful, with trees, ponds, and fountains along with quite a bit of natural wild areas. A paved path looped around the whole park, which was used by the cyclists. On both sides of the pavement were dirt paths for the pedestrians along with some other pedestrian paths. So you didn’t have to watch out for the bikes unless you wanted to cross over the pavement.

We bought a couple bottles of Coke from a hot dog stand in the park and sat down on a bench to enjoy them. Afterwards, we walked over to a public water fountain to refill the bottles. The Coke bottles were the perfect size to slide into a leg pocket on our pants so we could keep our hands free. Ann especially appreciated that because it made it easier for her to stop and take pictures along the way.

After the park, we headed back to the boat. We arrived just as the wind picked up and the temperatures started dropping. Ann was able to sit outside at the picnic table for about an hour, enjoying the cool wind before the rain started. A thunderstorm dropped quite a bit of water for about 15 minutes, then stopped.

During the break in the rain, we walked over to a restaurant for dinner. We picked out a traditional Dutch kitchen called De Hollandse Pot (The Dutch Pot). We both ordered Stamppotten. A Stamppot is a Dutch dish of mashed potatoes mixed with one or more vegetables and topped with meat, usually sausage.

Ann’s was the Zuurkool met Worst (sauerkraut mixed with mashed potatoes, dutch smoked sausage, and beef gravy). Keith picked the Andijvie met Lamsschenkel (lamb shank with mashed potatoes and endive along with gravy). To drink, Keith ordered a La Trappe Tripel (triple). Tripel is 8% alcohol, so he only ordered a small one. Everything was delicious.

We were able to finish dinner and get back to the boat before more rain came. The cooler temperatures that evening made it more comfortable to sleep.

Thursday was our day to board the Viking ship. We needed to check out of the house boat by 10 am and Viking allowed us to check in starting at 10 am. Perfect. After packing and washing our breakfast dishes, we ordered an Uber ride to take us to the ship. Normally Viking docks near the train station, but they couldn’t get a spot there this time, so our ship, the Viking Gersemi, was located at Havenkom A near the A10 highway. Our original plan was to take the Metro to the Amsterdam Centraal Station and walk from there. But the boat was too far away to walk to, and it didn’t look like there was a good pedestrian route to get there. If we would have called Viking, we might have been able to take one of their shuttle buses from the center of town near the train station, but we didn’t know if they could accommodate luggage on the shuttles, since they were intended fto shuttle people back and forth to explore the city after checking in to the boat. So Uber it was.

Traffic was heavy. So the 10 kilometer (6 miles) Uber ride took around 25 minutes and cost us 35.70 euros. When we checked in, our room was not ready yet, so we grabbed a couple of drinks from the coffee station and hung out in the ship lounge until lunch time.

The lunch buffet on the ship opened at 11 am. It was a nice spread of pasta, sandwiches, and salads. We met a couple from Maryland, Chris and Diane, who just flew in that morning. They were pretty tired from the trip.

After lunch, we took the shuttle bus back into town to take the Welcome walking tour. Traffic was still heavy, so it took about 20 minutes to go the 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). If this traffic is normal, we can see why most people in Amsterdam ride bikes.

The walking tour was about an hour long and made a big loop in the area near the main train station (Amsterdam Centraal). It was an area of the city that we didn’t cover during the previous days of our stay in Amsterdam. We learned a few new things during the tour. One was that the places that were called Coffee Shops were actually marijuana stores. It’s a good thing we didn’t try to stop at one to get a coffee.

Viking provides hand-held devices on a lanyard with an earpiece that allows you to hear your tour guide. Each tour guide has a headset microphone and they let you know which channel to set your device to, as there may be other tour groups around you. The device allows you to control the volume. It works pretty well, especially in a noisy, crowded city. We also appreciated that it was only one ear piece and not two, so you can still hear what is going on around you.

Back at the ship, we hung out on the sun deck before going down to the lounge to listen to the live piano player. We met a couple from Wales and had a lovely conversation with them. Small snack items were set out to enjoy while sipping your drinks. We only had water since we did not buy the drink package. Soft drinks, wine and beer were included only with the meals, so we just drank water, coffee and tea between meals. It was healthier for us that way, as we didn’t need any more calories or alcohol.

At 6 pm, there was a long, hour long briefing. They promised the other evening briefings would be much shorter. The briefing covered safety instructions, itinerary information, and what was on the menu that evening. We were introduced to the Program Director, the Captain, the Hotel Manager, and the Executive Chef.

Dinner was at 7 pm. That’s later than when we are used to eating, so we had snacked on cookies and stroopwafels earlier from the coffee station. We sat at a table with four other guests. Meg was from South Carolina, Lynn was from Texas, and the remaining couple, Dennis and Elaine were from Kansas.

The left side of the menu had items that were the same everyday. They included steak, chicken, Caesar salad, and crème brûlée. The right side of the menu changed everyday. It usually included local specialties from the region the ship was currently in. Each guest could choose a starter, main, and dessert from anything on the whole menu.

For our dinner, we both had the bitterballen as a starter. For our main dish, Keith stayed with the local cuisine and ordered the haddock stamppot while Ann had the veal. For dessert, we both went with the local dish, tompoes. It was similar to a French Napoleon cake or mille feuille pastry. It was layers of flaky pastry with thick cream filling sandwiched in between. All the food was delicious.

After dinner, we went back to the lounge to listen to the live band for a little while. They didn’t start playing until 9 pm, so we only stayed for about half an hour. We’re used to going to bed early. We were tired and our schedule for the following day started pretty early, so we were ready to go to bed.

After all of the walking we had been doing in York, London, and Amsterdam, we were ready to ride a boat for a while. Our ship started out in the middle of the night, working its way over to the Rhine River from Amsterdam. We were looking forward to what the Viking cruise had in store for us.

Check out our related video: Amsterdam, Netherlands

(Ann)