I enjoyed your blog, particularly as I’m on my way to Amsterdam in May (with 18 y.o. daughter in tow). I haven’t been in 30 years ago.
I was horrified to note that the Heineken brewery tour cost 15 Euros. As an (England-based) college student in the late ‘70’s/early 80’s I used to start almost each day that I was in Amsterdam at the brewery. It was free back then and after the tour there was about 30 minutes of as much as you could drink and eat…in fact, I noticed that you would see the same people over and over, and the veterans were trying to hurry along the guide to maximize drinking time. Being a youth hostel kid, it was the best meal of the day. Maybe this is why the tour is no longer free. I’ll tell you, nothing puts the Van Gogh Museum into proper focus more than shot-gunning three or so Heinies at 9 a.m.
Even sans-The Girl with the Pearl Earning, there are some fabulous Vermeer’s in Amsterdam, not to mention some fun fake Vermeer’s by Van Meegeren, the guy who faked a bunch of masters during WWII, and even flimflammed Hermann Goering with a fake Vermeer.