With only two full days in Amsterdam, we were determined to make the most of our time.
My son and I woke up early and we spent some time playing in the park near our flat. We had to avoid the big slide as it was unfortunately covered in fireworks wrappers from people getting an early start on New Year's Eve festivities. While fireworks are legal in AZ a few days per year, we had no idea how serious fireworks are in Amsterdam!
After the park we visited the market and then picked up a coffee for my wife. Around noon, we took the 14 tram into central Amsterdam near the Dam, and had a surprisingly nice lunch at Royal98. I say surprisingly nice as most places in the area were fast food or chains, but this place had reasonable lunch fare that was well prepared. We did not get to spend a lot of time in the historic center of Amsterdam, but our kids got a quick glimpse of the area on a very busy day.
We then spent a bit of time in de Bijenkorf department store, as our oldest daughter needed to find some better shoes for the remainder of the trip. I was amazed at the sheer number of people shopping in a department store, given how rarely I actually make it into stores.
The store itself reminded me a bit of the original Chicago Marshall Field or mid-town NYC Macy's.
After shopping, we took the 14 tram back to our flat as we had tickets with our friends to ride the Christmas Light canal tour in the early evening. The tour was surprisingly impressive, with an excellent collection of lights both in the water through a series of novel designs and 3D projections, as well as lights on various buildings and trees throughout the canals of Amsterdam.
After the cruise, we decided to walk back to our friends' flat, and attempted to find a light snack along the way. It was well into New Year's Eve and most places were closed for the night. We managed to find some starters at a decent Italian restaurant, and warmed up a bit on a chilly and foggy evening. We then finished the walk back to their flat around 10pm, where we had a small party to watch the fireworks, enjoy a number of snacks prepared by our hosts, and meet some of their friends.
The fireworks began to pick up around 11pm, and by midnight it was the most impressive fireworks display we had ever seen. In spite of significant amounts of fog, the amateur displays were more impressive than what most cities have as their official fireworks shows. The photos do not do justice to the display, which was happening in all directions around us.
And at 1am, when it was time for the UK's new year, another large wave of fireworks were launched. We walked back to our flat just before 2am, and we could hear fireworks until at least 4am. It was a truly impressive celebration of the new year.