Amsterdam

March 2-4

Accommodations: The Flying Pig Hostel – a true youth hostel, amazing location right across from Vondelpark and walking distance to everything we wanted to see. Great for meeting people and the rooms were nice and clean (besides a small mix up... see Day 1). 

Our 10 Bed Mixed Room (notice the Chess Board ceiling)

Day 1

We had a much longer travel day than expected… A snowstorm in Leeds caused our flight to be delayed over 2 hours. When we finally got to Amsterdam, I had an interesting interaction with a customs officer... He asked me if I had ever been in Amsterdam, to which I replied no. His response was, “Wow, you’re going to have a lot of fun… Don’t do too many drugs, haha!!” – seriously set the stage for the level of police enforcement (or lack thereof) in this city.

First stop was the Anne Frank house, which was extremely sad but also fascinating and incredibly moving. We were so tired at night and were walking by a movie theatre, and spontaneously decided to go see Deadpool. It was cool to see the little differences – for example, they asked me if I wanted sweet or salty popcorn.

When we got back to the hostel, everyone was already sleeping… Including a random person in the bed that was supposed to be mine. So I went down to reception and they went up to our room with a flashlight, shined it in the guy’s face and asked him why he was there… Turns out he was supposed to be there too, and the hostel made a mistake and double booked the bed. They were apologetic, and gave me a different bed to sleep in for the one night (and I was back in the proper room the next day).

Day 2

We did a free walking tour in the morning, but, after stopping SO briefly to take a picture halfway through the tour, we looked up, and the group was gone gone… but we made the most of it by getting some great fries with mayonnaise. We spent the afternoon going to 2 markets with a walk down the Amstel River between, eating waffles, and watching the sunset in Vondelpark. After going back to the hostel for a quick nap, we got ready for the night. We grabbed dinner at an Italian restaurant with all entrées for €5 (approx $7.50 CAD), then went to the hostel bar where we met some cool people and exchanged travel stories. Later, we went out with Maya, a girl from Israel, to a club in an old church called Paradiso.

The Amstel River

Our spot in Vondelpark

Day 3

We did the Heineken Experience tour in the morning; it was a cool tour,  including 2 beers (which somehow turned into 4) and lots of weird interactive activities. We met a guy named Kevin from the US, who was travelling alone for a while, and we decided to all go grab lunch together. He showed us this small restaurant nearby he had been to recently and recommended the croquettes, which both of us tried. They were SO delicious – breadcrumb fried things with mashed potatoes/maybe beef or gravy inside (not sure exactly but they were so good)!

Croquettes

Later, we went to Rijksmuseum (don’t worry, I had a very hard time pronouncing it too), where we saw some art, including some by Van Gogh and Rembrandt. For dinner, we went to Foodhallen– an indoor food market in the old tram depot with tons of food and drink stands.

Foodhallen

Van Gogh self portrait

Day 4
For our last day, we booked a 4-hour countryside bike tour with Mike’s Tours. It was definitely a highlight of the trip – experiencing biking in the city is a must, although I recommend a guided tour for the first time because some of the big roads got scary! Once we were out of the city, we stopped at a traditional windmill, and then a dairy farm/clog factory. It is one of the only 3 traditional clog factories left, and we learned about how the cheese and clogs are made, and then browed the store and bought some cheese. The farm is run by an extremely *eccentric* farmer and his nephew, and on the wall is a picture of the farmer with Whoopi Goldberg and her clogs. We then biked back through part of Amsterdamse Bose (a park 3x the size of Central park), past the Olympic stadium, and through Vondelpark.

Stop 1: Windmill

Stop 2: Clogs and Cheese

We had missed the note about packing a lunch, so we RAN to get food right when we got back. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon walking through the Bloemenmarkt (flower market) to buy some souveniers, trying some Dutch pancakes, and then heading to the airport for our easy flight home!