On my way to Dubai for the GITEX conference, my wife and I took advantage of a lengthy layover to take a 2.5 hour bus tour of Amsterdam. The adventure started in the small town of Amstel, where we visited a family-owned clog manufacturer. I never understood why anyone would wear giant wooden shoes on any day other than April Fool’s or Halloween, until the clog-maker clarified the reasoning to me: wood shoes repel mud, water and snow exceptionally well.

The next leg of the tour was the glorious (if not pancake flat) countryside. Its easy to see why Rembrandt flourished, as the farmlands filled with livestock and separated by dikes, were highly inspirational. We managed to catch views of a few historic windmills in our whirlwind tour of the countryside, including one of the oldest, painted by the master of light himself, Rembrandt.

We next made brief stops by Anne Frank’s house and hideaway a few miles away. On our return to the airport, the bus circled through the oldest part of downtown, which included the infamous red light district and Central Station, where more than 20,000 bicycles park daily on a tiered parking structure. Upon drop-off, we were able to say, with confidence, that the cost of the brief tour was well worth it.

Tags: amsterdam, bus tour, cheese, clogs, windmills, rembrandt