Tourism... What would you do?

[jbsegal]

[Poll #1751708]

Specifics of things to do for ANY of these answers are totally welcome and encouraged, of course.

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Comments

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Where have you been before that would apply?

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Apply to what?
I've been to the suburbs of Frankfurt for a work trip in '99, with an overnight and afternoon in the city at the end.

That's all I've ever seen of Germany.

I've never been to the Netherlands at all.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know :)

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Right, I don't know anything about Hamburg (though I'm sure there's Culture there.) However, I would recommend taking a weekend (or equivalent weekdays) in Amsterdam, which is a beautiful and fascinating city. Some particular high points include canal tours by boat, the Rijksmuseum, the Amsterdam Historisch Museum, and the handful of Old Masters museums. (The Stedelijk is something that's been on my list for a while but I've never gotten there when it was actually open.) The Anne Frank House is a classical stop, but I hesitate to recommend it. It's important, but incredibly depressing. I've only been once and refuse to go back. The Our Lord in the Attic museum (Museum Amstelkring) is interesting too and not nearly as depressing.

There are also many non-museum things to do. The Bloemenmarkt is well worth a wander through (and I recommend the pancake house that's opposite, it's great), but if you want to buy bulbs buy them in the airport duty-free, they have a shop with bulbs with the right import certificates for the US. Amsterdam has some great modern architecture; see if you can check out the ING building (shaped like a sneaker...) and the Science Center NEMO, which is a kid's science museum (yet awesome) in the middle of the harbor. There's the usual tourist Red Light District wander and coffee shop blah blah blah, I've never bothered with that. There's also a huge number of South American steakhouses, offering ample opportunity to eat grass-fed cows from all over.

Oh. And on that front, a word on finding food. An eetcafe ("ate cafe") is a little restaurant or bistro. They'll give you food. A brown cafe ("bruine") is a pub, more or less, they're sometimes called "trinkcafe" (which I have no idea how to spell.) A "coffee shop" (in English) is where you get stoned, though they'll probably sell you coffee too, but really, it's where you get stoned. Amsterdam also has a ton of Indonesian food, due to their failure to totally let go of colonialism. (And who can blame them? Dutch food is boring...) My favorite is Kantjil & de Tigre, on Spuistraat.

General: Most everyone speaks English, but talk slow because New Englanders talk too fast. If you are there are the right time, you'll run into Nicolai. (I don't know his schedule in detail so you'll have to ask him :)

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

We'll be getting to Hamburg on 7/1, and we leave Hamburg on a train at 6am on 7/5, if those dates are helpful towards arranging to see you there :)

[jostajam.livejournal.com]

I am of course extremely fond of Hamburg :)

[thespian.livejournal.com]

my answer is conditional; mostly that with the scheduled removal (wacky) of the red light district in Amsterdam, if you want to see it (not even to participate in it, just you know, tourismy looking), you want to go there now. Hamburg will still be there in a few years, different from now but not radically changed, while Amsterdam is about to change drastically, and it the city as it is now (which includes non-red light things that will change in nature because you can't close an aspect of your city and *not* change other things) might qualify under last chance to see.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Deutsche Bahn City Night Line is what I would do if I went to Germany again. Amsterdam isn't far enough away -- you could go to Munich and take a Mike's Bike Tour (which involves watching crazy urban surfers), or you could go to Paris. Day trip to $other city for the price of two nights in a hotel!

...rockin' to the gentle beat
and the rhythm of the rails is all they feel

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Ayup...and if you want to get stoned in a coffee shop, better do it now. They're going to stop selling weed and hash to foreigners soon. Just sayin'. :-}

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Sadly, while my normal impulse would be to wander slowly from Hamburg to Amsterdam, I have to agree.

This is one of those situations where you won't necessarily get another opportunity.

Also, there's always Dutch sashimi:
http://www.typically.nl/238/nieuwe-haring-new-herring/
http://www.hollandhistory.net/history_of_holland/dutch-herring.html

http://dutchfood.about.com/b/2011/06/07/bottoms-up-dutch-herring-season-opens.htm says: "Early reports say that the herring is excellent this year. Apparently the warm spring we've had has allowed the fishies to feast on an abundance of plankton, so that they're nice and fat."

Yummy!

(I'm particularly tickled by the first link because it actually uses the term "Dutch sashimi", which I've been using for years.)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I've taken a bunch of the German overnight services (pdf flyer), and even though I haven't yet overnighted in the really spiffy modern 1st class sleepers, they're really cool.

I love sleeper trains and I take them pretty much every chance I get.

(BTW, JB, it's probably worth a look at that flyer. The 40473 Borealis from Copenhagen H to Amsterdam CS does go via Hamburg Hbf, and with a departure from Hamburg at 00:31 and an arrival in Amsterdam at 10:00, it's certainly an overnight routing I'd consider. More info.

But book ahead; Deutsche Bahn has an array of fares that get more expensive as tickets sell out and as the time approaches.)

[c1.livejournal.com]

Is there the potential to take a later flight home, so as to have more time in Europe?

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Since you'll already have had a day and a half in Hamburg, I'd suggest staying another 2 days or so. I really enjoyed Hamburg when I was there, and think you might like it a lot. However, as other posters have mentioned, it would be good to go to Amsterdam, and good to do it NOW. So, I'd spend the other 5 days in Amsterdam. There is plenty to do there, but in case you get bored with the city, it is easy and fast to see other parts of the Netherlands as a day trip or overnight from Amsterdam.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

Not sure where to go, never been there myself, but I would want to see as much as I could while I was there.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I completely agree with this plan.

Hamburg has plenty to look at, spend a couple of days poking around there. Then proceed to Amsterdam.

To get between the two, you should book a first class seat on the ICE train. This is not at all expensive if you book ahead and get the discount rate. Look at the English interface of Deutsche Bahn at www.bahn.co.uk. If you (JB) have trouble booking a ticket due to foreign credit card, ask me for help and we can sort something out. This is a very shiny experience that everyone should have.

In Amsterdam, priceline's Name Your Own Price works well for Amsterdam at about $120ish (maybe less if you try it on a few times), choose "city centre and museum quarter". Otherwise, well, I can recommend a well known local hotel booking website for direct retail bookings (as well as some hotels, and disrecommend some too!).

In Amsterdam you can: Probably still get stoned, if that's your thing. Drink in lots of cafes (I recommend paying the Bar Americain a visit, by the Leidseplein). The Leidseplein (Leidse Square, this concept of an area of a city being called "Foobar Square" should be quite familiar to you!) has a lot of bars, restaurants, etc. I recommend: Zorba de Griek (guess which cuisine), Peppino's Italian (highly recommended!). If you like whisky, the L&B whisky bar will sate your desires.

A bit further north towards the centre, Tokyo Cafe all you can eat sushi is good, best book ahead (a day before or earlier same day) as it is often full in the evenings). Over to the east a little on Norderstraat is Piet de Leeuw steakhouse, good traditional steak house.

Things to look at: A canal tour, in good weather (the boats are enclosed but the view through driving rain down the plexiglas is sub-optimal) is fun. At night you see the canals lit up. Walk around the old area, the Jordaan, just to the west of the centre. The Amsterdam Historical Museum is interesting, particularly if you are interested in the more modern urban development in Amsterdam as well as the merchant Golden Age. There is of course the Rijksmuseum for the Old Masters, and the van Gogh museum. The Stedelikj, the modern art museum, continues its roving exile while they rebuild the building, but some of it is available. Walk around the Vondelpark. Admire the central station, finest Victorian Gothic.

I am frequently in Amsterdam, please drop me a mail and I'll see if we can meet up.

Anything else you're interested in there?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Out of town things to do:

Take the train north to Koog an de Zaan and walk from the station to the Zaanse Schans, takes about 20 minutes from the station, for an array of various windmills to see how Dutch industry worked before steam power arrived. Most of the mills still work and you can see them operating.

Train to Delft or Haarlem, smaller old towns (30 mins to each). Train to Rotterdam or Utrecht to see the more modern side of the Netherlands, 40 mins each way each one.

[sodyera.livejournal.com]

I like options B and C, depending on just how much time you have.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'll have questions soon.

For now though, tisiphone above mentions you'll be there soonish.

I'm discussing the week from 11-16 July... does that overlap w/you at all?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I am scheduled to be there around the 12th for a day and a half or so, so dinner may be very possible.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

So, I arrive in Amsterdam around 6pm Tueday, 12/July and leave on Sunday.
According to Gmaps, I'm staying someplace 4k from Centrall and 3.8k from the Rijksmuseum, WNW of the center of town (Bos en Lommer transit stop, more or less). (room in someone's house, via airbnb.com)

We should get together.

I'll be picking up a local SIM when I get there. My gvoice number - +1 617 7ja1lb8 - will get you VM I'll be listening to.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

I left you voicemail with my phone number. I'll be near the centre (near Leidseplein).