Back in March I unfortunately became twenty-five...yep, that's halfway to fifty. Scary stuff. That's a good enough excuse to get away if you ask me! So why Amsterdam?
My friends and I fancied going for a couple nights away for a city break, so somewhere in Europe was the most sensible option. The flight to Amsterdam was relatively cheap and only one and a half hours which was ideal as it didn't seem worthwhile spending hours travelling for only two nights away. We decided to stay in a hostel to keep the cost down so I wasn't expecting anything lavish, but to both my friends and my surprise, it was actually so much better than what we had expected. It was modern, clean, we had our own en-suite and, well, was just everything we needed. It was really close to the city centre, just a short free ferry ride across the water and then a couple minutes walk. So I would definitely recommend Clink Noord hostel. Check it out here.
So where's good to go in 'The Dam'? Well, we spent a good three whole, boring, wet and cold hours queuing for the Anne Frank Museum. So yes, like all the reviews advise, make sure you pre book rather than ignore the advice like we did. Oh well. We secretly quite enjoyed playing eye spy with my little eye....you can never be too old. Anyway, despite the un-enjoyable wait it was definitely worth a visit to the Anne Frank House. It's somewhere that you just need to go when you visit Amsterdam and the stories and videos they provided throughout the house were very moving. I was a little disappointed that there weren't many personal items and furniture left in the house, which makes it harder to imagine what it would have been like when Anne and her family hid there. Anyway, definitely somewhere that is worth a visit. We definitely needed this pit stop in this cute little café after all the hours of waiting though!
Bikes. There are literally bikes everywhere you look. So, something else that is a must-do in Amsterdam is to, of course, hire bright pink bikes and ride around the city nearly crashing into everything and getting moaned at by the locals. Ok, maybe try not to crash into everything! We hired our bikes in a hire shop next to the ferry port, just down from the Clink Noord Hostel. We hired them for twenty-four hours and paid around €15 which is probably pretty similar to other bike-hire companies, of which there were many dotted around the city. As you can see in one of the many canal and bike photos I took in 'the dam' over the weekend, there really are a lot of bikes!
Most people in Amsterdam cycle everywhere so you barely see any cars. But cycling is the best way for getting around the city. It means you can explore further afield as you can get to places quicker without your feet feeling like they are going to drop off. So yes, definitely take a good comfy pair of footwear. And of course it's great exercise so it definitely warrants lots of stop offs to munch on the amazing crepes and meringues Amsterdam has to offer. Sooooo good!
There are always a few places that you always think 'dam' (get it) that you wish you could have seen or done before you had to leave and then get those dreaded holiday blues. I would have loved to have gone out of the city and travelled to see the tulip fields. I just love flowers and to see the picturesque views of the fields full of rainbow colours, I am a little disappointed to have missed. But I guess it gives me a good enough reason to go back sometime! But at least I got to see many colourful bunches in the street markets and stalls at the side of the road.
Another thing my friends and I didn't manage to tick off our list was going to a'dam lookout where Eurpoe's highest swing is located. It swings you back and forth over the edge of a 100m high drop.....yikes! But gives you an incredible view of the city, even at night! Unfortunately the weather was pretty yucky on the morning we had planned to do it so we decided against it and settled in this cosy coffee shop instead. They are soooo cute in Amsterdam.
There are so many museums in Amsterdam. We chose not to go to any, purely because none of us were overly interested in looking around them. However if you love history and museums then you'll love Amsterdam. Well, actually I lied. We did go to a museum. The Erotic museum. It was a good laugh, interesting, yet pretty shocking at the same time. This museum was in the Red Light District which is a notorious area in Amsterdam. Was definitely an eye opener! For me, I feel it is a little sad that is it seen as a 'tourist attraction' but then again, both my friends and I had it on our list of things to see and do. There is a lot of controversy about the 'red light district' that I won't go into, but I would recommend that if you are visiting Amsterdam then do some research and decide yourselves whether you want to visit that area of the city or not.
The Amsterdam icebar was another place we visited. I know there are icebars in quite a few cities but none of us had been to one before so wanted to experience one. My god wasn't it absolutely freezing, but definitely worth the numb fingers and toes! Everything inside the icebar was made of ice; as you can imagine. That is including even the shot glasses we drank from. We got two free shots included in our ticket price and mine was amazing. I chose a nutella shot...I still am yet to find out what the drinks real name was but whatever it was it was amazing.
Oh and if I haven't spoke about food enough already, in the centre of Amsterdam amongst the shops, there are many cheese shops. If you love cheese like me, make sure you go in. There are hundreds of free samples and they taste amazing. There is even some crazy flavours in there such as goats cheese lavender or cow cheese green pesto. Lush!
I hope you enjoyed my lowdown on my trip to Amsterdam and hopefully it will help you guys if you ever decide to go!
Laura
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Laura
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