After a great 36 hour solo trip in Belgium, I hopped on a train and arrived at the Amsterdam airport to meet my friend Lindsay, who had been traveling with her mom. (They went to Santorini, Greece and Lake Como, Italy--how cool is that?!) One quick but expensive cab ride later, we arrived at our adorable apartment via airbnb.com. It was so chic and right along a canal--not to mention that the owner, named 'Floor', left us a bottle of unopened prosecco to kick off the weekend when we arrived.
So, naturally, we enjoyed our bubbly out on the balcony and got settled in to the apartment before heading out for an evening of adventure. We were staying right next to the "Central Park" of Amsterdam, called Vondelpark. We enjoyed walking and biking through this park for the whole weekend. It had such a great energy, likely due to the uncharacteristically warm weather, and was filled with people having a great time Amsterdam style.
At the end of Vondelpark we arrived at the Rijksmuseum, obviously snapping some some pictures with the "I amsterdam" sign.
We then headed to the Van Gogh Museum, which was pretty amazing. I've really begun to enjoy museums more than ever throughout my year hear, and Impressionist/Post-Impressionist art is definitely my favorite (hence my favorite museums also including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Thyssen Museum in Madrid.) It was pretty cool to be surrounded by such famous, beautiful art.
We walked around a bit to get more of a feel of the center of the city. The city is so beautiful and definitely has a strong "hipster" vibe.
We found a place that served Dutch fare (surprisingly hard to stumble upon, because most of the restaurants serve international food), where I enjoyed some lamb and a Heineken!
On Saturday we woke up and embarked on an excursion out to the Keukenhof Gardens. The Netherlands is known for its flowers/tulips, so we were excited to go to a huge park and fields full of them. It was the last weekend they were open, too, so we had pretty high expectations. When we arrived, however, we found out that all the fields were already dead, as were many of the plants in the park. It was a bit of a let down, but there were still plenty of tulips and other flowers throughout the park, so we still enjoyed ourselves.
Back in the city, we decided to head to the Heineken Experience. This part "factory tour" part museum, based all around the Dutch beer, is a must in Amsterdam. Lindsay and I enjoyed ourselves so much. It was probably my favorite thing we did all weekend. I had heard it was kind of cheesy, and it definitely was, but I think it only added to the fun. We learned about the history of the Heineken family/brand, the beer making process, and tried more than our fair share of beer (ie. the bartenders gave us extra...).
On Sunday morning, our last full day, we went to rent bikes at a bike shop by our apartment. Amsterdam is known to be one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world, and in our first two days there we had experienced that to be true. We tried to rent bikes on our first day, but they didn't have any left, so we decided that, even just for one day, we would go back and rent them.
We then rode our slick black bikes to a well known Dutch pancake restaurant. Even though we had access to free breakfast in our apartment, we couldn't resist the chance to try authentic Dutch pancakes. They were so delicious that we ended up going back the next day for our last meal in Amsterdam. Heavenly...
After breakfast we went to the Anne Frank House, which was a really surreal experience. We got to tour the house where Anne and her family hid during WWII and learn more about her and her story. We even saw her original diary and many entries from it. No pictures were allowed in the house, but it is an activity that I would strongly recommend to anyone who visits Amsterdam.
We then walked around in the Jordaan area, the old city center that is very quintessential Amsterdam. From there, we rode our bikes to the flower market, also making a stop to buy some pesto cheese and wine to have a little picnic in Vondelpark. We jokingly referred to our pesto cheese as "weed cheese", because it looked a little "grassy."
Earlier in the day, we read about a good Mexican place called Los Pilones in a tourist guide. Mexican food is far and few between in Spain and Europe--most of what you can find is "Tex-Mex", which is obviously similar, but we were missing some straight up Mexican food. Seems silly in Amsterdam, but their international food options were pretty extensive, so we decided to give it a go.
We met up with the two Canadian girls I met in Belgium, Taylor and Kiera, and split the biggest pitcher of margaritas I've ever seen. I got fish tacos that were well worth the splurge. I didn't even know I liked Mexican food that much until I came to Spain and didn't have it as an option, but Los Pilones really hit the spot!
For our last morning, we walked through Vondelpark to get pancakes once again and then took a long walk through the city center. We saw the outside of the Rembrandt House (where Rembrandt worked and painted in Amsterdam), walked through a flee market, on a love lock bridge, bought postcards, and soaked up every last minute of the gorgeous canals and architecture.
It was the perfect way to end an awesome weekend in Amsterdam! I am so happy that Lindsay and I were able to reconnect after having lots of classes together at Libertyville High School. She has been such an awesome friend and adventure buddy throughout the semester, and I'm thankful that I get to continue to have her in my life at home! (Even though she's living in Madison this summer - waaah!)
Stay tuned for some more posts about Sevilla and my trip last weekend to Lisbon!
Xoxo,
A
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