Autumn in Amsterdam - Day 3

Written on Wednesday 26th October 2016

Today was our very unplanned kind of day...we knew we wanted to wander through Vondelpark and see Museumplein and we thought it might be nice to do a canal cruise but nothing was definite. 

Upon reaching museumplein, the museum part of town, the queues for the Van Gogh museum were horrendous and as J can't do very much queue waiting - a symptom of his ASD - we found the I Amsterdam sign and had a climb over that instead. Followed by a game of chess at the rijksmuseum garden whilst D munched on a hot dog. We've discovered that reactive hypoglycaemia becomes a big problem when on holiday and so getting hold of food at short notice is tricky. I know I need to get better at keeping some snacks to hand but we haven't actually come across a grocery store / supermarket as yet.

By this point the others were also getting hungry so we found the nearest canal cruise location to where we were, Booked tickets for later in the afternoon and gave in to the kids pleas for McDonald's for lunch where we witnessed something rather funny and curious. 

I always like to make sure that the kids wash their hands before eating (something especially important with Miss T being immunosuppressed whilst on methotrexate). And we knew we could rely on finding a loo in McDonald's. We found a lady had set up shop charging 50 cents per person to use the McDonald's loos and wouldn't let anyone in unless they paid.  Between people going in she would zoom in with masses of McDonalds loo roll and 'clean' the loo. She kept herself busy mopping the floor of the loo and insisting on everyone using pieces of kitchen roll that she was handing out to dry their hands rather than taking too long with the hand dryer. She also had a bowl of sweets so that you could take a sweet after using the loo.

The whole thing was very weird and we weren't sure if it was a 'thing' in Amsterdam or whether it was unique to this particular McDonald's.  She wasn't Mcdonald's staff as far as we could tell - just an entrepreneurial lady who had decided to do this with or without permission from Mcdonald's. This also wasn't clear.  

Following happy meals and burgers we set off on the cruise.  We had booked a one hour cruise via city sightseeing and it was with lovers cruises. 

We really enjoyed the mix of recorded audio guide mixed in with our actual tour guide providing information.  We got to see the Anne Frank house by canal and learnt an interesting thing or two along the way. 

Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to see if the queue situation had improved at the Van Gogh museum.  By now it was 4pm and sure enough no queues (it closes at 6pm). Children under 18 are free so it was just two adult tickets we needed. 

It was a bit of a race around along with a pitstop for a speedy dinner at the on-site cafe Tambourine. But I'm pleased with how much of it we did manage to enjoy. 

Back to the hotel to get Miss T to bed whilst me and the boys headed to the swimming pool for an evening swim.

We've got a couple of ideas for tomorrow and are excited to see where the day takes us.