Day 13: Amsterdam (Sept. 29)

The set of photos from day is on Flickr here.

The first place I was going to go today anyway was the Anne Frank House. Online reservations were sold out, so I took the suggestion of arriving early before the first admission at 9am so I could stand in line for a non-reserved ticket. It was about a 15 minute walk from the apartment, and at 8:30 when I left it was during the hustle and bustle of morning rush hour, yet it didn't seem busy. I only waited about 15 minutes in line at the house before going in.

Day 12: Amsterdam (Sept. 28)

Today's photo set is here on Flickr.

So apparently they're serious about this whole reservation thing. It's like The Amazing Race where you go up to the counter and buy the earliest ticket to the destination if the direct route isn't available. Since I didn't make a reservation on the 8:25 Paris to Amsterdam train, it was sold out (who knew that it would be a popular route on a Wednesday morning?), and so they booked me on the 8:58 to Lille, Flanders, arriving 10:00 with a 5-minute layover to catch the next train, the 10:05 to Antwerp, Belgium, arriving 11:55. From there I had an 8 minute layover to catch the noon train to Amsterdam, arriving 14:09. If I miss any of the trains, there's another one an hour later. However, I planned on arriving direct at 11:43 so I'm already thinking of how I'll have to rearrange my 2 days in Amsterdam schedule.

Amsterdam details (plus a bonus day in Cologne)

So, originally I had 4 days planned for Amsterdam, 2-1/2 for sightseeing (I get in from Paris around noon) and one for a day off. I took one of those days and gave it to London. Now I have to take another day and plan for an unexpected side-trip to Cologne (Koln), Germany.

Amsterdam (Sept. 28-30)

Update 5/29: Removed Belgium from my itinerary, replaced with train from Paris to Amsterdam.
Update 9/6: Removed 1 day from Amsterdam, now only 3 days.

Probably take the 8:25am train from Paris, arriving 11:43 in Amsterdam. There are enough trains that I could switch that to one that stops in Brussels if I want to stay there for a few hours, getting in to Amsterdam in the early afternoon instead of lunch time.

There's an 8:04am train from Bruges to Amsterdam that gets in at 10:43am, assuming I don't miss my 5-minute connection in Antwerp. If I do, then I've got to wait an hour for the next one.

At some point I'm probably going to need to rent a bike. It's cheaper than taxis or buses and the city is really geared towards bikes (no pun intended). Frommer's says that "It’s possible to see almost every important sight on a 4-hour walk, and most people should be able to cover the center city on foot, though not all at once." It sounds like Amsterdam will be the kind of place that I can wander (as long as it's not raining).