Many weekends ago, I decided to take a weekend break away to Amsterdam with my best friend. I got to spend a couple of days in the capital and was treated to many beautiful sights that it had to offer.
After a very quick one hour plane journey from the UK (yes just one hour, I couldn't believe it either..) we landed at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport where my mind was blown. Okay maybe I am being a bit dramatic.. but it has to be said it's by far one of the best airports i've been too. Okay, so this my be down the fact that there were many pilots walking around and i'm a sucker for pilots, I genuinely get a bit giddy and let out a small squeak when ever I see one, don't ask why it's just a thing that happens.. But it wasn't just the large amount of uniformed men that got me excited, it was the sheer scale and general 'coolness' of the place (coolness.. is that a word? it is now any way ) Anyway I think maybe that's enough chit chat about the airport..
We found our bags and hopped on our shuttle bus that would took us to where we were staying. We stayed at the 'Ramada Apollo Amsterdam Centre' and whilst the hotel isn't directly in the heart of the city it's not far from it, just a short tram trip away. The hotel it's self was modern and sleek and we were treated to fantastic views of the Rembrandtpark from our window. We settled in for an early night, excited to explore the city in the morning.
Steph and I are big foodies, so naturally the first thing on our minds the next morning was breakfast! We headed into the centre in search of a nice cafe to grab something to eat, we didn't have to walk too far until we found 'Cafe STOCK' a cute small cafe that belongs to 'The Exchange Hotel' After a long wait for our food, we soon realised that we had been forgotten about, we informed the staff and they were quick to rectify the situation with complimentary smoothies. A little later than scheduled, our stomach's were satisfied so we hopped back on the tram and headed to 'Anne Franks House'. (Quick side note! The trams are definitely the best way to get around the city excluding the famous bikes of course, more of that to come later on! We bought a two day tram ticket from our hotel which gave us unlimited travel on all lines across the city, all for under €15 - a bargain!) Be prepared for a long wait to get into the Anne Frank's House, we queued for a good two hours! But this comes as no surprise really, it's worth the wait! It's a very interesting, though provoking and quite an eerie but sad place to visit. A little while later, we jumped on the next tram and headed to the 'Van Gogh Museum' Now i'm not much of an art fan myself, but if you're interested in this type of stuff then I would recommend a visit! After meandering around in the museum for a bit we headed out and spotted a hotdog stand, the nearby park was the perfect spot to have a quick bite to eat and even the sun made an appearance!
Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for an evening in Amsterdam.
The beautiful view from the Amerstdam Centraal Railway Station.
I had a quick look on my phone before we left the hotel to see which area we should be heading out too, a few websites had suggested the 'Leidseplein Square' but I wish we hadn't took any notice of the sites! Maybe we had gone to the wrong part of the square (i'm not sure if that's even possible?) but we were approached by a number of what can only be described as 'shady looking people' shouting all sorts of things at us, so we quickly ducked into an italian restaurant.
We finished our meals and made a pact that we would definitely need to research better places for the tomorrow evening. We decided to call it a night and headed back to our hotel, there was plenty of Amsterdam left to explore the next morning!
