when the train could, it went at good pace

During the train ride, I played the Anne Frank ticket game, you have to connect before 09:00 and get out of the virtual line as soon after 09:00 as you can. I took 6 browsers and was able to time it ok on one of them and got tickets for that afternoon after other museums were closed. To be honest, I don't think the visit is worth it but Jennifer read what she wrote and was happy to see it:

The train arrived late, but we still had a few hours to spend in Amsterdam that afternoon.

Day 1: Half day around Amsterdam

Next, was the Amsterdam Museum:

After that, we went to the New Church, which was gutted because it was catholic and looked too nice. Now, it's used as a museum to show pictures:

We then had to leave to get to Anne Frank House for our timed tour which sure was hard to get. That was one no pictures place, likely mostly to keep things moving. Again, Jennifer was happy to see it, but I'd say it's fine to skip if you can't get tickets, honestly you're mostly just looking at an empty house with a few plaques you can read on the internet:

locations of jews

secret door to the other building that hid Anne Frank and her peers

The days being long, we had more time to go around:

We then went to the Hemp an Hash museum, which was quite informative:

Hemp can be used to create materials in more sustainable ways than plastic

it's actually illegal to grow pot in Holland but the museum has a special allowance

well said

OMG, pretty sad misinformation, well done federal government

By then, the day was finally ending past 22:00:

Day 2: Museums, canal cruise

nice way for a teacher to share knowledge with her class

Van Gogh wrote many letters to his bother Teo

Next, was the excellent Rijks Museum that we should have spent more than 3H at:

Napoleon was the King of Holland for a while

We then left the Rijks Museum, we did the modern art Stedelijk Museum, which honestly wasn't worth as much time in comparison. We should have allocated more time at the Rijks Museum, sadly Rick Steve's book which missed a lot of newer attractions, also failed to recommend time for each of those museums:

We still had some time for the nearby Banksy Museum, which was actually better than Stedelijk for us:

Again, long days, so after dinner, we had time for a canal cruise 20:30 with plenty of daylight left:

Day 3: Naval/Science Museums and more

a few bikes around the train station :)

We biked to the naval museum:

royal parade boat

pretty

The Dutch were the top map makers at that time in history:

Next was the science museum next door, great views from its patio:

We spent quite a bit of time at the science museum, and then biked to the rembrandt house:

We then had to run out just in case to get to the Google Amsterdam Office south of the city before they closed at 18:00:

we took the fast subway there

nice views from the top

We then came back to town to have dinner with two of our cousins:

But the super long days still weren't over, so more museums:

Day 4: Half Day in Amsterdam

the entire city is on top of piloti to reach the stable layer below

Next door was Cromhout House which I went to by mistake as the 2 buildings were too close:

it was then time to go to Amsterdam station to get to Zandvoort for Luminosity. We got to visit the Zaandvoort/Haarlem area

Day 5: North Amsterdam and more museums

we went to the film institute, an interesting building, but probably a so-so attraction

The 'this is holland' show next door was pretty good

And then we went to the observation tower

nice view from the top

a few more bikes

After those 3 attractions, Jennifer went to rest, and I went to bike across town to the Heineken Museum, which was a fun visit, even for me who don't like beer:

cannabis condom? Why not? :)

After the museum, another bike trip across town:

I then went to check out 2 more churches, the old church (church of our lady) and the catholic church hidden in a house when they were forbidden:

Red light district museum was an interesting stop:

A bit more biking through Amsterdam to get to our dinner at the Silveren Spiegel

Our 2nd hotel was very nice and close to the main station, very nice decors:

Day 6: Hermitage Museum

the winning shot of the trip

Hermitage museum is quite big and worth a good 3H if you have time

It was then time to go to the Amsterdam airport for a flight home:

After a bit of time in Amsterdam, we went to Zandvoort, which is definitely not a place you'd fly across the world to go visit, but it's close to where Luminosity was, so that's why we slept a few days there. Because Luminosity started later than planned, we had time in the mornings and early afternoon to go around the nearby towns:

The 2nd day we biked to Harleem which is not too close but we had electric bikes, so that made things easier:

We went to the Corrie ten Boom house/museum, but unfortunately someone screwed up and our tour guide was never able to get in with us, so he gave his tour from the outside. It's a house that hosted a few jews during the war in a secret hiding place, until they were eventually turned in:

We went to the Corrie ten Boom

The Haarlem big church is magestic, even if the protestants gutted most fo the catholic stuff that used to be inside:

Mozart played on this organ

The catholics ended up rebuilding a new church slightly out of town:

interesting that they put a walkeay on top, nice for tourists

we took the stairs to the top

Nice views of town:

Haarlem had multiple museums. We didn't have time for all, but the Frans Hals Museum was the main one, so we checked that one out:

We then went to see the Adriaan Windmill which had nice guided tours:

the bridge closed as we were arriving, but it was pretty fast

the blades have sails you can retract when you have too much wind

The next day, we stayed locally in Zaandvoort and looked at its 2 small museums:

The last day, we went to a local park that houses a wild deer population:

From there, we went to a nearby town with a science museum that houses the biggest steam engine ever built and that was used to dry out a huge lake:

normally they used windmills for the job, but this area was too big

a big portion of holland was reclaimed from the sea

this was the lake which was emptied in 3 years of pumping

And that it for the Zandvoort/Haarlem area, after Luminosity, it was time to go back to Amsterdam

I was in Amsterdam for 5 days for Amsterdam Dance Event, which had parties every night, late into the early mornings. This is what I saw:

they had stores selling everything you needed for partying :)

As a result, I didn't have much time for sightseeing, but I still did a bit during the afternoon.
Close to my crap but well located hotel, was the body worlds exhibition, which was worth the visit:

Saw a church that was closed the last times I went:

The next 2 days, I went to Den Hagg for a few hours, including:

There is a lot more to see there, so I'll have to go back.

While it was not super convenient, I was able to get my museum kaart sent to my hotel before I arrived, it gave me free entrance to a few museums:

The last day, I had time in Amsterdam, and went to the Royal Palace that was closed during my last visit:

then, I went back to the new church, which had a different exposition than a few months ago:

A few other random pictures:

And that was it for Amsterdam, not a huge lot given that most of the time was spent partying at night and sleeping to recover :)

It is about 1H away from Amsterdam, and has nice museums. I took a day train there, which allows bikes:

It had nice fall colors when I arrived:

While there, over 2 different days, I only had enough time to see one museum each day:

On the 2nd day, I was also able to see my cousin Frank and his family who lived nearby. It had been 13 years since I last went to their house right after they moved in, so it was nice to go back and see them there:

After that, I biked back to the nearest train station back to Amsterdam:

nice weather in SFO

After Turkish Airlines nicely cancelled my flight, I ended up with Luftanza to FRA and then AMS. Service was decent1108*

Eventually arrived in Amsterdam, despite the connection (no direct flights during covid)

The first day, after unpacking and a quick meeting in my hotel, went to AFAS Live for AMF DJ 100

The next day, I took my bike on the train and went to Den Hagg to meet my cousin Frank during his lunch break. I then used the remaining time to see other things I hadn't seen in Den Hagg yet (the car museum is world class, and so is the Eischer museum):

I kind of half randomly picked Museon, a science-ish museum which was ok-ish, but was nothing to write home about:

so happy that I got to see some of those in real life

I was done quickly enough that I had time to see the Kunstmuseum next door, and that was much better, including works from Mondrian:

Mondrian:

Then I just had time to bike back to the main train station to get back to AMS in time for my 2nd evening show, ASOT 1000 special at AFIS. Sadly I got to the train station just a bit too late for bikes to be allowed (they are not allowed during 'rush' hour), so getting back was a bit tricky. Biking through Den Hagg is always fun, it's a pretty town:

They should have a remake of 'dude, where's my car' but with 'where's my bike'

Day #3, I decided to go check out the NXT Museum which was hit and miss. Not a must do, but a fun way to spend an hour or so:

Since I had a bit of time left over, I looked around on google maps and randomly found the 'WONDR Experience', also a bit out of the way in some hangar. I only had 45mn or so, which was a bit rushed, but it was just enough for a reasonable visit:

That evening, I went to Panama for Aly and Fila OTC, which was of course well enjoyable.

The next mornign was Day #4, I had a bit less time, so I just went for a bike ride a bit outside of the city center to a street that had art outdoors, and saw a few things on the way, and accidentally bought $100 of cheese, ooops ;)

my cheese being wrapped up

weather was surprisingly good for october

found a few street markets

finally made it to the art street

didn't do the museums again, had seen them already

That evening was really the afternoon, the much longer Luminosity's This is Trance

Day #5, the last day, there weren't any compelling ADE parties (no music I was likely to really enjoy, and besides after 4 days in a row of partying, I was a bit partied out too :) ), so I looked for day trips out of Amsterdam, and Leiden won. It's a charming town about 30mn away by train:

I started with Boerhaave, a medicine/science museum:

Next, I did the Volkenkunde museum, which had an extensive collection of art from different civilizations:

I finished with the small Observatory and Botanical garden:

I had no idea that Holland had a wild population of parrots

Leiden had more museums than I was able to see in one day, so I did as many as I could fit before the day was over (18:00):

It was time to back to Amsterdam, buy some groceries (mostly stropwafels) and get ready for the early flight home the next morning (with another detour via FRA)

I had limited time the first day after arriving, so I started by seeing whatever exhibits the new church was showing now, usually journalism pictures (they rotate often).

Next, I went to Madame Tussaud Amsterdam (on its own page, click for the report)

Next, I took a train north to see some of my cousins who were nice enough to invite me for dinner:

The next morning, I went to Zandvoort to spend the next 4 days for Luminosity Beach Festival.

After it was over, I came back to Amsterdam on monday morning, and since I had a day to burn and most museums were closed on mondays, I went to the Botanical Gardens and Artis Zoo Complex.

After being rained out, I spent the rest of the day at Ripley's Believe It Or Not, which wasn't stellar, but beat the rain outside:

And that was it, it wasn't a very long trip in Amsterdam, but nice to see a few things and family each time.

Found some friends at amsterdam station, and after dropping luggage at the hotel, went out in Amsterdam to visit the Our House music museum

nice weather for early March

A few more things I hadn't seen yet, but starting to scrape the bottom a bit ;)

Then, they had fake museums, including a cheese museum and a tulip museum:

Another "museum" is Electric Lady Land, which is hard to visit due to fairly limited hours on some days. It as an interesting private collection of phosphorescent stuff:

After that, went to Utrecht for ASOT 1000, and after an all nighter for the party, went directly to the airport to catch a non stop KLM back to SFO. Had enough time to enjoy the KLM lounge on the way :)

easy train ride from Amsterdam

Found ravers on the train :)

Cool architecture

Hotel Grand Karel was nice, although pricey :)

Downtownn had the cathedral and dom tower which sadly is being renovated, so it didn't look good:

There was just enough time to get a climbing tour that day, but only half way up:

partial view with bars I tried to delete in software

Had time for one museum, Catharijneconvent:

And it's fun to go through town and see random things:

The train station gets nice at night:

nice sunset

Of course, the main reason for being there was ASOT 1000