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

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:

We got to enjoy the SFO Polaris Lounge and its sit down restaurant, which turns out to be fancier looking than it actually was, and had a good 45mn wait to get in. Still, we went to check it out for fun :)

I got the Polaris Burger

Here's a quick overview of where we went:

Once in Paris, we went to check out Atelier des Lumières, which used an old warehouse to project nice stories. One was about Japan:

The longest display was Van Gogh:

Not too far was cimetary Père Lachaise, the most famous cimetary in France:

Jim Morison

Racine

La fontaine

Oscar Wilde

crematorium

Then, we went to the Buttes Chaumont Park, where I went a few times as a small kid:

nice views

Next, we went up the river to La Vilette:

The next day, I went to the Paris Air Show at le Bourget, which was unexpected (on its own page)

Saturday, was Fête de la Musique, so we went to enjoy another pretty day in Paris:

We had been to Le Panthéon somewhat briefly some years back, but spent a longer time there this time:

Marie Curie discovered radio activity

we then took a guided tour to the top

great view from there

the damaged Notre Dame

We then resumed our visit of Paris:

And we headed towards le Jardin des Plantes, which looks much nicer during the summer:

The nearby zoo was better than I expected:

red pandas are so cute :)

the park had some nicely sized uninvited city rats

We then went to walk in Paris some more to see people performing music in the streets:

quick ice cream stop at Bertillon

Notre Dame will be repaired for several years:

And after nice sunny time in Paris and my Dad's Birthday Party, it was time to leave Paris for Amsterdam: