The good and sometimes even exceptional,
1. The city itself. A small, intimate and un-pretentious city.
2. The two hotels we stayed in - Hotel Rembrandt Residence and Lloyd Hotel. Hotel Rembrandt Residence was in the heart of the canal belt and very close to most places of interest. The staff were very friendly and accommodating. Did I mention the great view over Singel?? We stayed the last night at Lloyd Hotel - a hotel with rooms from 1 to 4 stars. It was a unique experience with each room specially designed by leading Dutch designers. The 2 star rooms have 'open' toilets to save space while the three star rooms have a 'foldable' toilets. It is an expensive option but we felt it was well worth the experience - particularly for design buffs like us.
3. Food (Puccini bomboni needs a special mention here)
the bad
The city is not kid friendly. Amsterdam is certainly cyclist friendly with extensive bike lanes. The pedestrian walkways were too narrow in many places for us to walk two at a side let alone push a pram (or buggy as they call them). Even the transportation system (particularly trams) are not very conducive to taking your kid out. We had a tough time there.
and the downright ugly
Awful, awful weather. Need I say more.
