Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! I've been so so busy with classes, work and my internship, but alas! I finally found time to go through the 200-some pictures I took over my three day weekend in Amsterdam, and it was worth the wait! ..I hope. ;)
After sleeping maybe three hours total in about 30 hours, we flew into the Amsterdam airport and realized after we stepped off that they speak and write things in Dutch.. To be honest I hadn't thought of that little detail at all when thinking about traveling. But we somehow navigated ourselves onto a train, into the center of the city and then on a tram and finally to our hostel. The weather was amazingly amazing while we were there.. upper 70's and sunny every day. It felt like I was on a spring vacation rather than September/October. To be honest, it was an amazing (ahh!! word overload!) trip and I had so much fun. It was such a different experience to be somewhere that you know hardly anything about and none of the language (good thing everybody speaks English.. yay colonization!)
But continuing on, here are some pictures with interesting and informative captions for your viewing pleasure.
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| Canals! Everywhere! So foreign! |
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| Bikes, flowers and bricks.. a concise description of Amsterdam |
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| Our hostel - International Budget Hostel (red shutters)! It was in a great location and super accomodating. |
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| Typical canal with houseboats and canal tour boats. |
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| BIKES. EVERYWHERE. Honestly. They'll run you over, too. They don't care. |
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| Morning glories! :) |
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| So gorgeous.. This is along Prinsengracht, the street where the Anne Frank house is located on. |
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| The view from our hostel window. |
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| Typical street.. actually some of the squares are much busier.. bikes, trams, cars and pedestrians everywhere. |
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| Mmm ice cream toppings. I like gekarmelliseerde nootjes on mine. :) |
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| The canals at night. |
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| Out dancing at night.. hence the sweatiness and frizziness. :) |
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| Leidseplein at night. |
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Breakfast! An appel pannekoeken.. SO good.
This photo doesn't really express it, but it was much larger than my whole head. |
One of my favorite places that we found was Vondelpark. It's this huge park with lots of little rivers, bridges, paths and trees. It was so gorgeous and I really enjoy how it didn't feel overly manicured.. it felt like the most they did was cut the grass and clean up trash, and the rest was left to nature. There were also lots of cute dogs for me to talk baby-talk at, including a happy basset hound who was in a doggy wheelchair. (!!!) (So cute!) While sitting in the park we had lots of strangers walk by and take our photo as well as one guy who wanted a picture with us.. it was so funny! I could definitely get used to it though.. haha. ;)
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| Vondelpark! |
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| By the willow tree :) |
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| They had a few of these face-in-hole things around. |
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| So gorgeous.. the weather was so nice everyone was laying out suntanning. |
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Lots of bike handles had fake (and real!) flowers on them.
A lot of them had crates attached to the front or baby seats in the back as well. |
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| A respectable handlebar mustache, I daresay. |
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| Probably one of my favorite street art pieces that I've found so far. |
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| The water. :) |
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Of course we had to take a canal tour.. they were everywhere!
Not as great as I anticipated, but a great way to see everything and enjoy the water on a nice day. |
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| View of the street from the canal. |
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| Westerkerk bell tower. |
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| Looking up :) |
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| The Anne Frank house! It was kind of surreal to go inside.. I probably read her diary about 5 times at least. |
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| The exterior of the Anne Frank house. The annex was in the back; we weren't allowed to take photos inside. |
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| So beautiful. |
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| The 'a' was the only letter in the 'iamsterdam' sculpture that I could figure out how to get up on.. |
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Cappucino! They're so delicious here, it's essential you order at least one if you're in Amsterdam.
Their standard coffee brand (Douwe Egberts) is what they use at Madden's..
no wonder they get so many compliments on their coffee; it's European! |
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| Sunflowers at a street market. :) |
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| Shoes strung up above the shops on Kerkstraat. |
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These candles are in literally EVERY cafe and restaurant in Amsterdam.. No exaggeration.
I'm pretty sure it must be an ordinance of some sort.. there's no way every restaurant
(this was taken at a Mexican restaurant) chose the same exact red, 70's candle holders.. |
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Condom designs in a shop in the Red Light District..
Not sure if they're functional or not, but hey. At least they're cute. |
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Mmm.. the pastry and ice cream selection in Amsterdam is unparalleled.. ugh.
My mouth still waters when I think about it. |
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| SO GOOD. Mmm. Warm waffle with chocolate drizzle. |
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A kitty playing with a small fork. :)
There were cats all over the city and they were all so friendly! I love them alllll. |
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| More street art! Check out my facebook album for even more.. It was everywhere and it was all brilliant. |
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| Some plants and jars and things in the hostel that I thought looked cool. |
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| My last look out on the canals before going back. :( |
I found that the best way to have a good time in Amsterdam is just to go and explore! We would pick one main place that we wanted to go to and then wander around a bit in the area.
Another great spot was the Vincent van Gogh Museum. Seeing his paintings up close is just so inspirational, the whole time I was there I just had the itch to sit down with some paints and make something. Some of my favorite paintings there were Sunflowers, the Almond Blossoms, Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat, and Piles of French Novels. They also had his Bedroom in Arles displayed and a life-size replica of the room, which was interesting to see. You can take a look at all the paintings that are in the permanent collection by clicking
here! They also had a nice selection of other Impressionist painters like Monet, Pissarro and Gauguin.
And yes, I definitely went into the Red Light District on a Saturday night.. It's an experience.. Hahah. It's just very odd, it feels like there's scantily clad women frat-boy posters waving at you. It's quite a tourist spot, though, and it was packed with people but you aren't allowed to take pictures in the RLD, for obvious reasons, I suppose.
Overall Amsterdam was so amazing (I have a limited vocabulary when it comes to terms of excitement and praise) and I had a great time! I basically tried to live up to the standard that Eurotrip (the movie) set up.. I think it was successful. ;)
Until the next post/trip/exciting thing I do..
xx