Jonathan Lau

Apparently, ARTIS is one of Europe’s oldest zoo and unique is that it’s situated in the middle of the city. It was very convenient to walk here as it only took us 20 minutes or so.

They have many animals here. The highlight was the elephants. They were walking around and kicking a ball.

There is also a play area for kids. My 6 year old daughter liked playing on it.

You probably need at least two visits to appreciate everything here.

I guess in the past this monument also included the characters from The Night Watch. I suppose they removed them.

Aside from that, there was a market happening as we visited the monument.

There is also a lot of green space to run around or to relax on.

This was my first time to Amsterdam. However, my wife visited way back when she was studying in the UK. She remembers the tour group pointing out that this was the best Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. She told me at the time she thought it must have been too expensive for her to visit here and it was more a dream to come here.

Well, nearly two decades later, we made a dream come true.

We booked reservations online through their website. Honestly, it wasn’t that busy when we visited. The service is quite good. They also have robots serving food which is quite neat.

As it was our first time, we didn’t know we needed to order with a QR code. Once that was pointed out, we ordered with no issues.

The views are pretty nice. As our hotel was literally steps away from the restaurant, it wasn’t something we haven’t seen previously.

The food arrived promptly and was very good.

When we settled the bill, we were able to pay with American Express.

Overall, we will definitely come back the next time we’re in Amsterdam.

This is a fairly big mall. Lots of shops and food court restaurants. This is a good place to come if it’s raining outside and you don’t want to be outside doing touristy things.

My daughter enjoyed the toy store and the Lego store.

Some of the food court restaurants do not take card. Oh well. I tried some currywurst from a restaurant that accepted card and it was pretty good.

Maybe this is a European thing, but there is only one washroom (underground level 2) and you need to pay to enter. If you have younger children, it’s better to plan short visits here.

Decent sized playground in the middle of a large park.

My 6 year old daughter enjoyed playing here for a good 30 minutes before she was ready to move on. My wife also had a blast.

There are tables for parents to wait and to have lunch or something.