A Family Trip to Europe: PART I Amsterdam

October 15, 2024

A Family Trip to Europe: PART I Amsterdam

First of all, HELLO, it has been a while! The last trip I wrote about on this blog was over 2 years ago! Since then we have traveled to India, had a new beautiful baby boy named Rumi, taken another trip to Belize and a few quick trips down to Santa Fe. But on our most recent adventure, our family of four went to Europe for two weeks!

Farhad and I had been contemplating a trip to Europe for years, but the timing didn't feel right until earlier this year. We researched a few different places, even had flights booked, and I cancelled everything because it just didn't feel right again. Then he unexpectedly had a break between projects and we pulled the trigger on a totally different adventure! We were able to book flights and hotels just 8 days before take-off, and it was a magical trip. Sometimes the more spontaneous trips are the best!

We finally settled on Amsterdam, Croatia and Venice. And off we went!

WHEN: September 2024

WHERE: Amsterdam, Zurich, Lugano (no, we never made it to Croatia, more on that below :)) and Venice

HOW: Airplanes, trains, buses, shuttles, trams, boats, water buses, strollers, and even a funicular (what is that?!?).

ALSO HOW: I have been following the Travel Mom Squad's Podcasts and Facebook Group and learned and earned enough for points to pay for a substantial portion of our trip. Reach out if you want more information or a referral link to open a new credit card and get started with Points and Miles!

THE DEETS:

We flew from Denver to Amsterdam via Dulles on United Airlines. It was long, but after multiple trips to India, it didn't feel so bad. Even though our little Rumi is 1.5 years old and isn't required to have his own seat, we did get one for him for our sanity. We also brough along a car seat to keep him contained which allowed him to sleep for a good chunk of the longer flight. Lugging around a car seat is a pain, but we used the Cosco Scenera which is light and that made it easier.

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

We stayed at the Leonardo Boutique Museumhotel (see my full review here), which was right next to the Rijks Museum, Vondel Park, and across the street from the canals, restaurants, shops and entertainment. Great location, no complaints there! Breakfast was not included, but we found some delicious options in a small neighborhood nearby. We caught up on sleep, strolled the small lanes eating local delights, and took a canal tour that we all enjoyed.

We stumbled upon Cafe de Klos for our first meal, what a Dutch treat! Must try the ribs!

Our favorite travel pastime: Meandering!

Our favorite local neighborhood breakfast spot: Cafe Toussaint

Zarin was almost 5 years old and Rumi was 1.5 years old on this trip. We contemplated bringing 1 or 2 strollers, and ended up bringing 2. I suppose we could have made Zarin walk, but in the end it made it easier for us to push her around as we did A LOT of walking. However, I am excited for the day that we don't have to bring strollers anymore! We encountered cobblestone streets everywhere we went, so be sure to bring a stroller that does well on those roads. I wouldn't recommend a double side-by-side stroller, as many sidewalks are pretty narrow and I think it would be impossible to get onto buses, trams and everything in between! But yeah, 75% (or more!) of our photos are taken with the kids in strollers, so.....

We absolutely LOVED Vondelpark! It's like New York's Central Park: A giant park in the middle of the city! There are playgrounds, art and sculptures, restaurants, and probably much more that we didn't see. We grabbed a beer and let the kids swing, zipline and run around in the sand!

Amsterdam has a lot of tour companies that offer a wide array of tours. You can take a bike tour, visit cheese or stroopwafel factories, take a tour to nearby villages and see the windmills, or just take a boat tour through the canals. We chose to take a simple canal boat tour with the kids and we learned a lot about old Amsterdam, the canal houses and their history. You can purchase tickets online, or in person at the various tour office throughout the city.

It would be difficult to imagine visiting Amsterdam without checking out one of the many famous Dutch art museums. But even though we stayed directly next door to the Rijksmuseum, we almost missed it! I just couldn't imagine my 2 toddlers would do well, so I decided to forgo any museum visits on this trip. But a change of fate (see: cancelled flight) gave us the opportunity to visit the Rijksmuseum! I may have been the only one who was excited for that, but I am okay with that. We flew through pretty quickly, but here are a few of my favorite exhibits!

The famous Rembrandt under preservation/cleaning: Nachtwacht

Get it? Coffee to GOGH

The craziest (and riskiest) thing I did was not book our flight to and hotels in Croatia, our next location. I figured I could book them once we got to Amsterdam. We traveled in early September, and the weather was absolutely perfect. But as the moving day got closer, we realized that Croatia was having a heatwave, and neither the kids nor myself do great I intense heat. So we changed it up and decided to visit Switzerland on the way to Venice! So off to Zurich we go!