Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far - that gives us lots to see and do.
Not sure about the cycling as I have heard that Amsterdam natives can be a bit "interesting" in their behaviour and visitors may find it difficult to cope.
I was wondering whether
@milandro or
@mrpeebee would have some good suggestions, including for saxophone shops and jazz venues that are reachable from Amsterdam.
Keep the suggestions coming !
Rhys
Rhys, cycling in Amsterdam is a very nice way to explore the city in a fast way, but it can indeed be challenging (read very busy, you need eyes and ears everywhere!). If you are a regular cyclist it shouldn't be an issue. But the historical center of Amsterdam is not huge, you can reach all area's by walking too within 30 minutes and public transport is good (busses, trams).
The City has a huge number of musea about all kind of topics. Search the internet for what is close to your interest. Huge ones like Anne Frank and Van Gogh can be very very busy, so reserving in advance is advised. The 'Rijksmuseum' is (IMO) the best one in town, it has all great works of the 17th Century (and earlier and later stuff too), when Holland was a World Power (until the English took over!). But smaller musea can be much fun too, for instance 'Huis Van Loon' (a channel house from the 17th Century) and for your wife 'Tassen museum Hendrikje (
Museum of Bags and Purses. Herengracht, Amsterdam), the largest collection of bags and purses in the World. It could be wise to check for an Amsterdam card if you want to visit a lot of musea, that could save you some money.
For music stuff we have some threads on SOTW with more information, see below links:
In Amsterdam now for three nights, sax shops and jazz clubs I should see???
Amsterdam Recommendations?? Jazz gigs/Sax shops??
The Bimhuis is the most famous jazz club, but in the summer they have less concerts. It's also not cheap. A nice jazz café is Café Alto, by friend Rinus Groenveld plays there every Wednesday evening and it's free entrance (
http://www.jazz-cafe-alto.nl/).
You can find food and drinks all over the place, the places around the bigger squares (Leidse square and Rembrandt square) are well know area's (but also busy and not always the best quality). Just check the cards in front of the Restaurants and decide based on that.
I don't know how long you stay, but close to Amsterdam we have other interesting stuff too. It all depends on your available time and interests of course. Feel free to shoot me a pm if you want to know more. I don't live in Amsterdam, but am close at 20 driving minutes distance. If time and agenda's allow we could meet.