>How about markets...always looking for something old, unique to bring back >home.

On Albert Cuiypstraat (said like cowp-strat) is a great market with all kinds of things for sale from souveniers to clothes. Also you may want to see the Flower market, closer to the center of town on the Singel(?) canal by Leidsestraat.

Recommendations In town:

Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh (if open) 1 full day if you want, eat at museum cafe, or walk over to the Van Gogh cafe, their menu is on my website. In the Rijksmuseum, hopefully they have reopened the Dutch History section, which explains a lot about the Dutch East India Company's trading history. Also don't miss the 16th century fine furniture displays, and Rembrandt's Nightwatch.

To get to the Van Gogh Cafe, if you are facing the front of the Rijskmuseum, walk to the right until you reach Jan Luijkenstraat. Turn left there, follow it as it curves up the tramstop. Turn right, at the next block is the restaurant. You will be at the corner of PC (Peter Cornelius) Hooftstraat and Hobbemastraat. PC Hooftstraat is an expensive shopping area with upscale merchandise like Armani, Hugo Boss, etc.

The best Italian ice cream I ever had is at Pisa Ice Cream, across from the RAI Convention Center. Also they have a location in Zandfoort an Zee which I never visited.

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This is the man-made Amsterdam forest (bos). It is a 20-30 minute bike ride from the Rijksmuseum area, and itself a great place for a bike ride. There is a restaurant that makes pancakes in the middle and I think the restaurant is next to a working farm. You will want to check with the locals. Also in the Bos is a man-made hill, reaching a whopping height of 10 meters or so.

Zandfoort an Zee is a short train ride through Haarlem. Haarlem is also worth visiting, because it has many museums of note. I only went there on business, but I would suggest you check a guidebook to find which museums are there. Also there is supposed to be an old windmill there.

Zandfoort an Zee

The train that goes to Haarlem continues on the Zaandfoort an Zee. This is not the nicest beach town in Holland, but it's adequate, and there's a train station.

Zandfoort is a little beach town near some natural areas with nice bike paths and camping. It would be fun to rent a bike and ride around. I would assume that bike rentals are available in Zandfoort, but you should check.

The alternative is to rent a bike in Amsterdam and buy an extra ticket so you can take the bike on the train.

Better beach towns are Noordwijk and Beverwijk, reachable by car or bus. The main thing to do in these towns is see the ocean, relax and eat a nice meal. In August it will be warm enough to let the kids play at the beach.

RANSDORP & MARKEN are typical Dutch fishing villages that most tourist miss out on because there's no train going there.

If you start out early (don't forget the effect of jet lag, sometimes it's easy to sleep in) you could take a day trip to Texel. I went there for the bike riding, but look in your tourbooks for Ecomare, this is some kind of presentation center / museum. Texel is very nice, and you reach it by taking the train from Amsterdam to Den Helder, then a short bus to the ferry, a ferry to the island, then another bus or taxi into town. Texel is 25 miles by 8 miles with a few towns scattered around. I like all of them, And buses run all over the island.

For the kid I would go over to the natural woodlands on the west side of the island where you can ride bikes behind the dikes and sand dunes. If you ride anywhere else on the island you may deal with the heavy North Sea winds.

The other nice thing about Texel is that it's where the Dutch go to go on vacation. There are no coffeeshops on the entire island, and it is very relaxed and typical Dutch.

Leiden is a famous university town, and I think the train goes there.

Somewhere in town (I didn't write the directions down) is a hill with a fortress wall ringing the top. Your son would love this to play on. Otherwise I mention Leiden because it's very pretty. Also Delft is not far, and is the home of famous Delft Blue. Be sure what you buy is authentic.