March 19th, 2013 - Amsterdam Trip
We could hardly believe we were already off on another 10-day trip! This time we were off to Amsterdam, London and Dublin! We left for Amsterdam early Friday morning and after an 11 hour train ride we arrived in Amsterdam! I actually went into Amsterdam with some low expectations just because I had heard mixed opinions about it, but I can say now that Amsterdam is only second to Munich in my list of favorite cities I've visited. We quickly found our hostel so we could unpack and get ready for the night. Our hostel was...interesting. We had quite a small room for 6 girls, no mirror and well the shower was basically a retractable shower head that was above the toilet, so that was different haha. For a quick dinner on Friday, my friend Jackie and I found a sports bar type of restaurant inside the Leidsplein Square. This place had all sports bar food but also specialized in sweet and savory pancakes which were more like crepes. I'll get more into the food of Amsterdam, but it was SO good. Amsterdam isn't specific to a certain type of food so it is filled with basically any food you want. Afterwards we all went out to a few of the bars in Leidsplein Square. Amsterdam was so much different than other cities. As Americans, we were treated so much better. In fact, when we went to the bars many people were getting turned down at the front when the capacity was filling up. But when asked where we from at the door, they welcomed us in. It was such a nice change! And everyone speaks English so it's much easier to communicate and get around.
On Saturday morning we woke up to a rainy day but it didn't stop us from some site seeing! We grabbed some breakfast at a cute place near our hostel called the Pancake Corner. Amsterdam is actually known as the "Venice of the North" because there are more canals than roads for cars. Also, EVERYONE rides bikes there. I think the percentage that people use bikes as their primary form of transportation is 60%! So cool! So we walked along all of the canals on our way to the Anne Frank house which was very cool to see. It was about a 45 minute wait in line, but it was definitely worth it! We walked all through the store where Otto Frank used to run his business as well as the "Secret Annex" where Anne and her family went into hiding before being taken to Auschwitz. We walked through the exact doorway that was hidden behind a bookcase between the two sections of the house. It was so surreal to be there after I have learned about it for so long. After the Anne Frank house, we walked a little through the Red Light District which was again...very interesting. Weird is basically all I have to say about it, haha. For dinner, we went to a place called Wok to Walk! This is the best Chinese food I've ever had. You pick your noodles, any meats and veggies and then a sauce. Then it's cooked right in front of you in a wok and given to you in an Asian to-go box! It was so so yummy. Saturday night we went back to our favorite places from the night before.
On Sunday we slept in a bit and walked to the typical photo op spot of Amsterdam, the "I Amsterdam" letters. They were located right near the Van Gogh museum and a large park so we spent most of the day there with a stop for coffee in a small cafe near the letters. For dinner, we grabbed something to-go so we could get to our nighttime Red Light district tour in time. Our tour guide had no shame in making every person in the group feel uncomfortable in the district with her jabs and jokes. It was interesting learning about the history of the district and she told us that slowly but surely, the government is going to close down the Red light district and that by 2017, it won't exist as it does today. Sunday night, we ended up going to bed pretty early, Amsterdam is tiring! On Monday morning, we grabbed some breakfast and headed to the train station. In order to get to London, we had to train to Brussels, then take the Chunnel to London. Well, our trip didn't go exactly as planned. Because of delays with more than one train, instead of arriving in London around 5:30pm, we didn't get there until close to midnight, but oh well.
Click on the "U.K." tab at the top of the page to see the next part of my trip!
P.S. my posts from now on will be less picture heavy because the amount of media I can have on my site is slim, but you can see all my photos on Facebook!
On Saturday morning we woke up to a rainy day but it didn't stop us from some site seeing! We grabbed some breakfast at a cute place near our hostel called the Pancake Corner. Amsterdam is actually known as the "Venice of the North" because there are more canals than roads for cars. Also, EVERYONE rides bikes there. I think the percentage that people use bikes as their primary form of transportation is 60%! So cool! So we walked along all of the canals on our way to the Anne Frank house which was very cool to see. It was about a 45 minute wait in line, but it was definitely worth it! We walked all through the store where Otto Frank used to run his business as well as the "Secret Annex" where Anne and her family went into hiding before being taken to Auschwitz. We walked through the exact doorway that was hidden behind a bookcase between the two sections of the house. It was so surreal to be there after I have learned about it for so long. After the Anne Frank house, we walked a little through the Red Light District which was again...very interesting. Weird is basically all I have to say about it, haha. For dinner, we went to a place called Wok to Walk! This is the best Chinese food I've ever had. You pick your noodles, any meats and veggies and then a sauce. Then it's cooked right in front of you in a wok and given to you in an Asian to-go box! It was so so yummy. Saturday night we went back to our favorite places from the night before.
On Sunday we slept in a bit and walked to the typical photo op spot of Amsterdam, the "I Amsterdam" letters. They were located right near the Van Gogh museum and a large park so we spent most of the day there with a stop for coffee in a small cafe near the letters. For dinner, we grabbed something to-go so we could get to our nighttime Red Light district tour in time. Our tour guide had no shame in making every person in the group feel uncomfortable in the district with her jabs and jokes. It was interesting learning about the history of the district and she told us that slowly but surely, the government is going to close down the Red light district and that by 2017, it won't exist as it does today. Sunday night, we ended up going to bed pretty early, Amsterdam is tiring! On Monday morning, we grabbed some breakfast and headed to the train station. In order to get to London, we had to train to Brussels, then take the Chunnel to London. Well, our trip didn't go exactly as planned. Because of delays with more than one train, instead of arriving in London around 5:30pm, we didn't get there until close to midnight, but oh well.
Click on the "U.K." tab at the top of the page to see the next part of my trip!
P.S. my posts from now on will be less picture heavy because the amount of media I can have on my site is slim, but you can see all my photos on Facebook!