Amsterdam: Day One

Our first full day in Amsterdam was a nice slow start. The only thing we had planned that day was a walking tour of the city. This allowed us to see the city but not to the point where we were fighting too much jet lag.

Hotel IX

When we travel internationally we like to stay in local hotels. Yes, we could stay in a chain hotel but I personally feel you are closer to the place if you stay some place a bit more boutique. Besides, no matter where we travel I do my best to support local.

We typically search for hotels using Google maps and looking at what public transit is available or walking distance from things we want to see. This trip we stayed at Hotel IX Amsterdam. This is a really small hotel in a building built in the 17th century. We loved it.

I have a full tour of our hotel room in the video below. The woman that runs the hotel is super sweet. There’s no check-in desk, she will email you a code before check-in both for the door of the building and of your suite. She has a poodle that comes with her while she cleans, that pup knows she is the cutest thing on four paws (well besides Bear) and loves attention.

A note for anyone planning on visiting Amsterdam: beware the stairs. In the Golden Age of The Netherland houses (particularly along the canals) were taxed by width. Thus the city gets its iconic narrow houses but due to the narrow building the stairs are steep in all building. Due to the historic status of these buildings, little has changed in the way of stairs. If you have mobility issues, beware before visiting Amsterdam.

Walking Tour

A constant when we travel is that we rarely get tour guides that are from the place we are visiting. The guide for this tour was from Italy. The company we did our walking tour with is Free Walking Tours Amsterdam. These are the types of tours where you tip your guide at the end. We did a second walking tour with them later in the trip as well.

The tour met in Dom Square, learned a lot about the history of the city, particularly the Golden Age when The Netherlands was responsible for so much of the world’s trade. We learned the basic of the laws in Amsterdam regarding drugs (weed is not quite legal but not quite illegal, yes you can buy it and smoke) and prostitution (which is legal). Along with some suggestions of other places to visit. Walking tours may not be for everyone but I think they are a good way to get an idea of the history and energy of a city. Besides tour guides are always happy to tell you the best places to explore on your own.

What do you think of walking tours? Let me know in the comments. Safe travels!

Thank you KW Photography for allowing me to use your wonderful photos!

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