We totally lucked out with the timing of our trip to Amsterdam. The Rijks Museum opened back up after 10 years during our stay here. On the Saturday it reopened there was free admission, so Rob and I joined about 10,000 of our closest Dutch friends in waiting in line to see the artwork.

While certain parts were closed to foot traffic during the free admission period, it was still amazing to see what the museum had to offer. We saw classics like Night Watch and The Milkmaid. The building itself is something to be seen, as well. We obviously never saw the museum before, but I can tell you it’s beautiful now.

If you are visiting Amsterdam soon we highly suggest checking it out!

Since arriving in Amsterdam we have not had Dutch food at all. Not once. Instead, we’re gorging ourselves on all of the ethnic food that is available to us here and hard to find in Florence. Something else that’s hard to find in Florence? Brunch, of course!

A little internet sleuthing led me to G&T’s Really Nice Place, just a few minutes from our apartment and tucked away on a little side street. We had to wait for a table, but it was totally worth it. It’s definitely not a spot that sees a lot of tourists — the waitress says she knows just about everyone that comes through the doors and immediately asked where we were from. That is a good sign, in my mind.

My dad stuffed his faced with french toast, I with a club sandwich and Rob with eggs benedict. All were delicious! Rob was more than excited to see Pimm’s on the menu (his very British summer drink of choice) and I had one of the best soy cappucinos I’ve had in a very long time! Rob and I may have snuck a piece of banana chocolate cake, too

Looking for a great place for a weekend brunch in Amsterdam? Check out G&T’s Really Good Place, Goudbloemstraat 9.

Knowing how much we loved the bike tour in Florence, we decided that taking a bike tour in Amsterdam was a must! We took the Mike’s Bike Mini City sightseeing tour. It was so much fun!

Our tour guide Ashley was funny as hell. It was refreshing to go on a tour that didn’t try to be too formal — it’s Amsterdam, after all! We peddled through the the city center (Red Light District included…that was an experience) and learned a few bits about the city as we rode. Mostly, we just had fun and laughed.

Rob and I immediately came back and unlocked the bikes that came with the apartment and went for a ride. We’ve been out a few times since and are kicking ourselves for not embracing the local mode of transportation earlier in our stay.

Visiting Amsterdam and have a good sense of humor? Take a bike tour with Mike’s Bikes.

This post isn’t as glamorous as our other Amsterdam posts, but it does cover an essential part of visiting the city: where to park in Amsterdam when you drive here.

We priced out one-way car rentals, but the difference in cost was absurd — think $1500 ONE WAY. Crazy right? It was obvious that a long-term, standard rental (picking up and dropping off in the same location) was our only option.

The parking garages in the city center were ridiculously high. On street parking for six days was similarly expensive. A little research brought me to Amsterdam’s Park + Ride. The result? Amazing, efficient parking.

Here are the main points about the Park + Ride system:

• There are seven Park + Ride garages in the immediate outskirts of the city.
• You can park in these lots for up to four days (as such, we had to move our car to two different lots over the course of our stay).
• You get a FREE public transport ticket to use to get you back into the city and then to get you back to the lot to pick up your car. You can only use the free public transport ticket for those two journeys.
• To get the special P+R rate (and the free metro ticket), you take the ticket you get when you initially enter the lot and bring it to the front desk.
• The daily parking rate is only 8 euro.

That’s it…it was that easy. You can tell we’ve been in Italy for a while because all we kept saying throughout the entire process was “can you believe how easy and straight-forward that was?”

After driving through Italy, Austria, Germany* and the Netherlands and “touring” rest stops in the process, our first full day in Amsterdam was all about finding a light, organic meal to start cleansing our systems of roadside fare. As luck would have it we happened upon Letting on Prinsenstraat after only 20 minutes of exploring the area immediately around our apartment. Wondering where to eat in Amsterdam? Letting is a must!

The menu may be small, but the portions are healthy. The ingredients are superb and the service friendly. Letting reminded me of some of the charming little cafes that you can find in the South — Charleston and certain neighborhoods in Nashville come to mind. Amsterdam seems to be full of these small cafes/restaurants run by folks that really love what they do and that have their own unique take on specific cuisine.

Where to Eat in Amsterdam: Letting, Prinsenstraat 3  1015 DA Amsterdam, Netherlands.

*I feel it is only right to state that the rest stops in Germany we ridiculously nice. In fact, I’m pretty sure one of the stops was the single nicest highway rest stop that I will ever see in my lifetime.