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Most flights into Holland arrive in the morning so that your first day will begin at Schiphol Airport. This modern airport is easy to navigate and believe it or not, is 12 feet below sea level. The name comes from "ship hole" because in the past, it was a lake where many ships sunk. From the airport there is a train that will take you directly into Amsterdam and from there, you can catch a tram to center city and your hotel. The tourist office of VVV is next to the train station, and will help you with accommodations in the city and country.
After checking into the hotel and freshening up from your flight, head to the Rijksmuseum. You can easily spend the day at this museum looking at the some of greatest master works in the world. "The Night Watch" by Rembrandt is in this museum. There are rooms dedicated to the story of how this painting was saved from the Nazis during the war. Not to be missed are the Queen's doll houses, and if there's time, roam the basement. Just turn over your passport and view the overflow art work that is presented floor to ceiling and will blow you away. If this is the overflow, you can imagine what the museum presents in the formal exhibits. On the other side of the road are the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk, which is the modern art museum. The Van Gogh holds 500 drawings and 700 letters. After a long flight and some serious museum hopping, return to your hotel for a nap and then a casual dinner at one of the cafes in the Leidseplein, an area which is a wonderful place to meet the Dutch. It's a typical European Square with street music and performers where you will see the theaters, opera house, and get a flavor of Amsterdam.
 
Day 2: After you've had a night's rest, you can take a day trip to Kaukenhof or the kitchen garden. There you will see 70 acres of gardens which have more than 8 million tulips. There are 10 miles of paths and you will wander through some of the most beautiful gardens in the world. This wondrous place is a mere 30 miles south of Amsterdam. You can pick out a plant and when it's finished blooming, it will be sent to you. The gardens are open from 8 in the morning until 6 in the evening. You will arrive back in Amsterdam in plenty of time to sample an Indonesian Rice Table, which is a Dutch invention brought back from colonial days and is not to be missed. It is comprised of a large bowl of rice with many condiment dishes -- meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, and nuts around it. Some are cooked; others, not. The pleasures of this is the ability to sample many Indonesian foods, some pickled, sweet and sour, peanut sauces, curries, and peppered items. For the diabetic, it is a way to take small tastes of a new cuisine without going overboard on your diet.
Day 3: A tour of Amsterdam. Leave your hotel for a canal tour of the city. Ask your hotel to plan your day, or just walk to the Rembrandtsplein to buy a ticket. The nice thing about these excursions is that you can get on and off many of the boats and explore the city at your leisure enjoying the architecture. Note the cranes at the top of the narrow town homes all of which are slightly different in style. The cranes are used to lift furniture which will not pass the narrow stairwells, or as your guide may share, for wives to lift husbands after a weekend's drinking. Some excursions are lunch boat tours, some dinner, and some allow you to get off at one of the two large markets. The most elaborate one is called the Waterlooplein, which is next to the music Center and the other is the Albert Cuyp Market. This later market has every spice you never dreamed of ready to be brought back to the States. Also at the Alert Cuyp, you can watch natives swing raw herring into their mouths and then try this yourself. The Dutch are fishermen (one out of every five fish by trade), so herring are a national delicacy. Not to be missed is the giant flower market. Here you will see bulbs and flowers, both cut and plants, whose beauty are not to be believed. Most of these are approved to be brought back to the United States. A warning here: the marijuana plants which are sold at the market, will not pass U.S. Customs.
Dinner this third night is up to you. Holland has Italian, Spanish, and Dutch restaurants. Just ask your concierge. If you are willing and able, a walk through the Red Light District after dinner with its windows of tax paying women showing their wares is certainly different. A word to the wise is sufficient.
On your last morning, as you get ready to get back to the airport, note that this is a city and country of bicycle riders. The early riser will see men and women peddling to work in business gear over canals and through the streets. The Dutch government spent a lot of money on bicycles to cut down on traffic, and to promote health. After painting them for security reasons, the government realized that people were repainting them and claiming them for their own. Thanks to this program, the love of bicycling has grown and bicycle tours of the Netherlands are popular. After this introduction, you may wish to return for one.
Tulip season runs from April through mid-May. You can count on mild temperatures in the 70s (21C) and low 80s (27 C) during these months. Do take an umbrella as it may rain. Don't forget to leave some time to shop on your way home at the airport where Delft and other Dutch products are available at prices as reasonable as in the city.
We booked our tour through our local travel agent, Nammar, in Tulsa, OK, but you can go through KLM, the national Dutch Travel Bureau, or your own travel agent. Be prepared for beautiful architecture, masterworks of art, wonderful food, canals, flowers as far as the eye can see, and memories of Holland which will be the beginning of a love affair with a people and region of Europe that is not to be forgotten.
You can find out more information about a trip to the Netherlands at their Bureau of Tourism at http://www.baxter.net/holidays/holland.html/. You can phone them regionally:
East Coast (212) 3l70-7367
West Coast (210) 348-9333
All brochures are mailed from Chicago (312) 819-0300. VVV in the Netherlands -06-34034066.
IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WITH DIABETES:
Before you leave: See your doctor and discuss any changes in your medication and/or insulin while on the trip. You may wish to bring along something to prevent or treat nausea or diarrhea. Get a written medical diagnosis from your doctor to carry in your wallet, noting any complications that you have such as heart disease, kidney problems, etc.
Choose your hotel wisely and know what services it offers. Always wear or carry some form of identification that says you are diabetic. If you are taking oral medications, make sure you have plenty for the entire trip plus an extra week. Make sure your glucose and urine monitoring equipment has enough strips for the trip plus an extra week.
On the Trip: Be sure to carry all medications and testing equipment in your carry-on bag -- never put them into a bag that will be checked by the airline. Notify the airline 24 to 48 hours in advance that you will need a heart-healthy meal (diabetic meals are often only fruit and crackers). If you should forget or the airline doesn't offer special meals, remember to choose sensibly from the food offered or carry on your own meal (a sandwich, salad, fruit, etc.). Be sure to always carry snacks and/or glucose tablets wherever you go to treat low blood sugars, should they arise. Insist that your family or friends traveling with you be familiar with the signs of hypoglycemia and know how to treat it. Since you'll be doing a lot of walking, make sure you wear proper fitting walking shoes and that you check your feet daily. If you should get a blister from walking, do not break it. Apply a mild antiseptic and a small gauze pan held in place with non-allergic tape. Be sure to drink plenty of bottled water and take your medications faithfully. Relax and rest while you're on vacation so that you're feeling in top shape both on the trip and when you return home.
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