This is a serious museum charting 8,000 years of history with excellent displays and exhibits, including some live plants. Small admission price is worth it, especially to rid yourself of American brainwashing.
Hash Hemp Marijuana Museum
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Joods Historisch Museum
Opened as a museum in 1987, this four building complex is comprised of four synagogues built by Ashkenazi Jews during the 1600’s and 1700’s. The museum is filled with displays of the long history of Jews in Holland.
Rembrandthuis Museum
The master of Dutch painting lived here from 1639 to 1660, teaching lessons in the attic, living on the ground floors with his wife and son. The displays of his art here are well worth the visit and include self-portraits, nude studies and religious scenes and some landscapes.
Stedelijk Museum
The Stedelijk Musuem was originally built in 1890 to house a collection of art given to the city by Sophia de Bruyn. In 1938 it was turned into the National Museum of Modern Art and has exhibits by such masters as Picasso, Mondriaan, Cezanne, Monet and Matisse. Exhibits are also displayed of new art including sculptures, paintings, prints, drawings, video, photography, etc.
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Tuschinski Theater
The Tuchinski Theater was built in 1921 by Abram Icek Tuschinsky as a work of love. He supervised every square inch of the details in this Art Deco masterpiece, which has just finished a huge restoration project. The interior is breathtaking once again, and worth the price of admission to see!
Van Gogh Museum
The world’s largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings, drawings and over 900 letters Vincent wrote during his lifetime are housed in this modern building opened in 1973. An extensive addition to the museum was completed the summer of 1999. Other exhibits are shown as well, usually dealing with his contemporaries’ artwork.
Amsterdam Tips
1. Must do’s: Get a good map with an index, rent a bike, visit a museum, take a canal boat cruise, see the Vondelpark, see a classical or jazz concert at the Concertgebouw, explore the Leidseplein’s many restaurants, pubs and music venues, have a beer at the Rembrandtplein and watch the passing show, check out the posters for events of interest, try some Indonesian food (or Dutch food if you prefer less spice). Take a walk through the Red Light District and see what they left out of that sex education class in junior high. If you’ve ever smoked marijuana, or always wanted to try, just visit any establishment that calls itself a coffeeshop (not a cafe), and ask to see the menu (hippies need not be reminded, that’s why they came!). Visit the countryside to see the farms, flowers, windmills and dikes.
Bicycle Riding
What a cool way to spend a day, zipping through Amsterdam at another pace, in another dimension from the foot traffic (of which there is a lot)! Amsterdam is blessed with bike lanes everywhere, with their own traffic lights and signage (in Dutch), alongside the car and tram lanes. Usually it’s much quicker to ride your bike through town than any other way of transportation. Renting a bike is easy, at Central Station or from the many places in town that rent bikes privately. Just lock it up tight and pray, bikes are stolen with amazing speed in Amsterdam!
Brown Cafes
These friendly, “Gezellig” pubs are warm, comfortable meeting and drinking places for the Dutch, and their visitors. The center of the local Dutch scene, be prepared to down some jenever (gin) and a lot of beer. If you’re lucky a little snack as well. They say they are called “brown” because of the walls being stained by centuries of tobacco smoke wafting through the air. They are “gezellig” because that’s the Dutch word for cozy or comfortable.
Canal Boat Tours
For a refreshingly different view of Amsterdam, try a canal boat tour. The canals provide a leisurely pace from which to observe Amsterdam’s unique architecture and street life.
You can find a convenient departure either in the daytime or evening hours from many locations throughout the city. There are even canal boat taxis that can take you directly to your destination. You’ll notice numerous tour operators near Central Station and along the Damrak downtown. There are some good bargains to be found if you shop around.
A fun way to spend explore Amsterdam is to purchase a day ticket, get on and off at different stops to walk around or see a museum then get back on another boat from the same company later, to another destination. Don’t forget the camera!