Day 10 - Amsterdam
- Eric Kraus
- travel
- europe-2025
- 16 Jun, 2025
Trip Progress
Day Summary
- Hang out in Köln station
- Train Ride
- Explore Amsterdam
Freudenberg
Breakfast and Leaving Freudenberg
Freudenberg is a city we’ll definitely try to come back to… We were sad to leave, but we needed to depart to catch a train.
We grabbed some yummy breakfast from a buffet prepared by the owner. We had some left over bars and snacks that we ate on the way as well.
Rental Car
This was the largest rental car we could get without stepping up into a van and doubling our costs.
In the end, it was perfect size and very fuel efficient. Sad to say goodbye.
Köln
We arrived in Köln, filled up the rental car with gas, dropped it off at the airport, and made our way to the main train station.
Our cab driver kept trying to convince us to let him drive us to Amsterdam. I kept telling him we already had tickets. He kept saying it will be cheaper.
Ironically, I think spoke better German than he did…and he spoke very little English.
“Ich habe fahrkarten schon gekauft!”
Anyway, it made for an amusing taxi ride — which alone cost almost as much as the tickets to Amsterdam.
A note to future self
Negotiate taxi fare before getting into the Taxi.
Köln Train Station
Max might take the win for this quote of the day.
As we are casually walking through the Köln train station, Max turns to Lori and me and says (dead seriously):
Why does the KFC guy have a tiny body?
We all busted out laughing!
When we told Max that it was his bowtie, and he responded with, “Are you sure?”
And then there was silence as we all stopped to look at the logo and wondered if it actually WAS his body.
Now, I can’t unsee it.
Train to Amsterdam
We took a Deutsche Bahn train to Amsterdam, which only had a few stops.
The interior was quite nice! It was a smooth, comfy ride to catch up on some work (although the WiFi kept going out).
Tyler and Max sat apart from us.
Reservations
When booking, the train was almost full, so we couldn’t get seats next to one-another.
Besides another family of four, no one else ever got on our car until the last stop.
Ah well.
As we were leaving the train, the woman sitting next to us came up and asked if those were our children. We said “yes?” She went on to say how wonderfully behaved she thought they were and she was very impressed.
Amsterdam
Hotel
We had trouble finding a nice hotel, in a convenient location, for an affordable price. Almost everything we looked at was really expensive. But so goes it in Amsterdam.
Still fresh off our Stuttgart fun, we weren’t about to waste any time (or comfort) messing around with hotels…so we bit the bullet on a nice hotel close to transportation and downtown area.
Exploring Before Dinner
We left the hotel and explored the city as we walked to dinner.
Here are some photos from the afternoon.
Dinner
- awesome atmosphere
- excellent Italian food
- wood-fired pizza
Walk through City
I was surprised by how small Amsterdam is. After dinner, we walked around for a bit - and within an hour, ended up walk through over half of the city. Obviously not every street…but the general areas.
Here are some more photos from our exploration.
Amsterdam Sunset
Everyone must have had their “Travel Legs” by now because there wasn’t much complaining about all the walking.
However, it was getting late - so we decided to get back around dark. The next day would be our last full vacation day!
On our walk back, Tyler grabbed this awesome sunset shot.
Quote of the Day
Hands down - Max takes the gold medal for today!
Why does the KFC guy have a tiny body?
