01 April 2010

Amsterdam toolkit- what you need to survive

Borrowing a bit from a previous post from November. I wanted to include suggestions for building your Amsterdam toolkit! Perhaps you the reader can also make some suggestions in the comments about what you have as part of your toolbox.

"I have promised a few people this week that I would post a couple 'important' links. But before that I want to mention I am not sponsored by anyone or any company so these suggestions are personal tips that I think you, too, may find helpful. The first is buienradar.nl - a website that provides five minute snapshots of the Dutch skies. Why we love this website?! - you can reasonably estimate when to run out of the house and not get soaked down to your onderbroek!

The second is an item that I frequently post about within the happenings- the Museumkaart. The Museumkaart (website only in Dutch) is a national museum pass organized by a stichting (non-profit) that gets you into 400 museums in the Netherlands for €35/year (€17.50 12-24 years old, kids 12 and under are free at most museums). Within Amsterdam you can visit over 30 museums (as many times as you want) including: the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdams Historisch Museum, FOAM, De Nieuwe Kerk, Filmmuseum, Huis Marseille, Joods Historisch Museum, Ons' Lieve Heer op Zolder, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst Montevideo, Scheepvaartmuseum, De Oude Kerk, Persmuseum, Rijksmuseum, Tropenmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, Verzetsmuseum, and even the Hermitage Amsterdam! The card can be ordered online and mailed to your house in five business days.

And now another essential to Dutch living, especially if you are taking the train to other cities- the OVfiets. The OVfiets is a service run by NS that provides cheap bike rentals at a majority of train stations throughout NL. For approximately 10 euro for a year membership you can rent really good quality bikes for €2.50/24 hours (maximum two bikes per rental, each €2.50). What that means for you?- day trip to another city, scan your pass, hope on the bike, and explore! I have also found it was a tremendous advantage when guests came to visit, a three day visit for two guests to rent two bikes ends up being €15 =a lot cheaper than renting MacBikes but just as sturdy."

If you appreciate this agenda please toss me some pennies via an ad click. Thanks!

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