Amsterdam, The Good Stuff
Let this blog be the happy sequel to my first Amsterdam blog, the one filled with a traveler's nightmare: sleeping in and knocking a four-day line up of plans right off the highest shelf.
I landed in the Amsterdam airport at 8:30am after a night's stay in Paris and the least amount of sleep that a human could have & yet still be functional. After a quick race to the hostel and a jump back onto the train, by 10am, my best friend and I were on a mission to the city-centre to make the most out of an already trimmed-down weekend. First-stop: the Anne Frank House.
On the rainy Friday that we visited this emotion-pulling, historical house, I was mid-way through reading Anne Frank's diary. Being in the middle of the book at the time of visiting the house gave the experience a deeper feeling for me, helping me to better understand the situations described in the novel. Additionally, it put a stronger truth and meaning, to have that sort of connection, knowing that someone real had once lived there, and I knew their story, from their perspective. I was very glad to visit this house and always remember the significance that it has in our history today.
My favourite area of Amsterdam was one called the Jordaan - a busy, creative neighbourhood in the centre of the city. You might already know it by the layers of canals and streets that are oh-so-famous and beautiful as ever in the fall. This neighbourhood actually sums up what I loved most about Amsterdam - being able to stroll endless streets with something new, unique and interesting on every corner. Every shop and cafe had it's own personality, it's own select tastes and audience. There was truly something for everyone, and yet everything was for anyone at the same time. If you love breakfast, try the cozy, two-story brunch bar and bakery, "Pluk." The food was amazing, but sorry... I don't know how to pronounce the name either.
Our strolls eventually led us outside of the Jordaan. A ferry across the river took us up to A'dam Lookout - a.k.a the best place to get a fancy drink and watch the sunset after riding a giant swing 100m off the ground. Sounds like the time of your life, right? Right.
To get into the A'dam Lookout, we had purchased an experience pass (the name of which I have no idea of right now), which also gave us tickets to a canal cruise and the Heineken experience. While the canal cruise proved to be a good way to catch a quick nap for (a very tired) me, the Heineken experience was like an alcoholic version of a Universal Studios experience. A quick tour around, a bit of a history lesson and a few free beers to top it all off! I'd recommend to all beer-lovers and fun-lovers alike.
How to start day two? De Hallen. From an old industrial building, it was converted into an all-in-one market for flavourful international foods, trendy used clothing, kitschy books and creative crafts. I'd highly recommend this as a lunch spot for those who like a busy environment. And by busy, I mean jam-packed-but-worth-it-because-the-atmosphere-is-really-cool busy.
We were a little disappointed that we didn't get tickets to the Van Gough museum on time, but chose to spend our afternoon diving into more of the Jordaan's clothing shops, exploring Vondelpark & even seeing the "I Amsterdam" sign on the last day before it was taken down by the city in hopes to slow down tourism.
Overall, Amsterdam proved to be an amazing place for my best friend to ring in her birthday! While we had such a fun adventure exploring this crazy, unique city, I think we owe a huge amount of credit to every barista who served us a strong cup of coffee every few hours - the real reason we could see so much in two short days.
Until the next post,
Al
I landed in the Amsterdam airport at 8:30am after a night's stay in Paris and the least amount of sleep that a human could have & yet still be functional. After a quick race to the hostel and a jump back onto the train, by 10am, my best friend and I were on a mission to the city-centre to make the most out of an already trimmed-down weekend. First-stop: the Anne Frank House.
On the rainy Friday that we visited this emotion-pulling, historical house, I was mid-way through reading Anne Frank's diary. Being in the middle of the book at the time of visiting the house gave the experience a deeper feeling for me, helping me to better understand the situations described in the novel. Additionally, it put a stronger truth and meaning, to have that sort of connection, knowing that someone real had once lived there, and I knew their story, from their perspective. I was very glad to visit this house and always remember the significance that it has in our history today.My favourite area of Amsterdam was one called the Jordaan - a busy, creative neighbourhood in the centre of the city. You might already know it by the layers of canals and streets that are oh-so-famous and beautiful as ever in the fall. This neighbourhood actually sums up what I loved most about Amsterdam - being able to stroll endless streets with something new, unique and interesting on every corner. Every shop and cafe had it's own personality, it's own select tastes and audience. There was truly something for everyone, and yet everything was for anyone at the same time. If you love breakfast, try the cozy, two-story brunch bar and bakery, "Pluk." The food was amazing, but sorry... I don't know how to pronounce the name either.
Our strolls eventually led us outside of the Jordaan. A ferry across the river took us up to A'dam Lookout - a.k.a the best place to get a fancy drink and watch the sunset after riding a giant swing 100m off the ground. Sounds like the time of your life, right? Right.To get into the A'dam Lookout, we had purchased an experience pass (the name of which I have no idea of right now), which also gave us tickets to a canal cruise and the Heineken experience. While the canal cruise proved to be a good way to catch a quick nap for (a very tired) me, the Heineken experience was like an alcoholic version of a Universal Studios experience. A quick tour around, a bit of a history lesson and a few free beers to top it all off! I'd recommend to all beer-lovers and fun-lovers alike.
How to start day two? De Hallen. From an old industrial building, it was converted into an all-in-one market for flavourful international foods, trendy used clothing, kitschy books and creative crafts. I'd highly recommend this as a lunch spot for those who like a busy environment. And by busy, I mean jam-packed-but-worth-it-because-the-atmosphere-is-really-cool busy.
We were a little disappointed that we didn't get tickets to the Van Gough museum on time, but chose to spend our afternoon diving into more of the Jordaan's clothing shops, exploring Vondelpark & even seeing the "I Amsterdam" sign on the last day before it was taken down by the city in hopes to slow down tourism.Overall, Amsterdam proved to be an amazing place for my best friend to ring in her birthday! While we had such a fun adventure exploring this crazy, unique city, I think we owe a huge amount of credit to every barista who served us a strong cup of coffee every few hours - the real reason we could see so much in two short days.
Until the next post,
Al
Love that Amsterdam picture!
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