We got on a
plane to Amsterdam at 6:50 am and arrived around 8:30. I slept the entire plane ride because I had
not gotten much sleep the night before.
Brittany’s friend Marnix was picking us up from the airport, which was
very nice of him. He first dropped us
off at the apartment so we could drop our things off and then he gave us a tour
of Holland. I really appreciate all that
he showed us! He first took us to the
coast (not the beach) and it was nice to actually see water around me and not
mountains, I miss the beach. It was
extremely cold in Holland the entire time we were there, but it was sunny, so I
could not complain at all. After seeing
the coast, he took us to this small fishing village. It was so cute and beautiful. All the houses were very close together, but
I still liked the look of it. Even
though I was freezing, I enjoyed every moment of village because it is not
something I am used to. It is not
supposed to be as cold as it was, so the water was half frozen and half not,
that was incredibly interesting to see.
We ended up eating lunch in the village and I got a hamburger for the
first time in over a month. We had
noticed a waffle stand right outside the restaurant, so we got a waffle for
dessert. The waffle I got had nutella
and bananas on it. I was in heaven. J
After the fishing village
Marnix drove us to this windmill tourist spot called Zaanse Schans. It was gorgeous there as well. All the windmills looked like they could have
houses under them, but they were not inhabited by anyone. It was nice to look around and see how they
used to use the windmills in Holland. I
also was able to get some beautiful pictures of the scenery. Everything was green and bright; I was in
love. Once we left Zaanse Schans, Marnix drove us back to the apartment and we parted
ways. Brittany and Marnix both had their
22nd birthday that day and they were celebrating with his family
about 45 minutes outside the city. That
night Alex, Jess and I had a great night and got some rest after being up from
4 am and being out until almost 6pm. 
The next day, March 27, we woke up and tried
to find a good breakfast spot. We went
to this restaurant called Little Collins because an app of mine said this was a
great restaurant. Alex and I got eggs hollandaise
(eggs benedict) and it was fabulous.
Jess got a yoghurt dish that had oatmeal in it as well, and that was
pretty good, but not for me. We then
just aimlessly walked around Amsterdam for the rest of the day. It was nice because we were able to see so
many beautiful things and it was beautiful outside, so it made my day. We came upon this market while walking and
Jess and I got some hats. Mine is
awesome because it is reversible and it can be a scarf as well. The best 8 euro I have ever spent. Alex also got a phone case because he broke
his. This market was very cool and I’m
glad we walked through to see what they had.
We walked past the Amsterdam canals and went into a few tourist
shops. We then came up on a fair, which
is funny because there was also a fair in Geneva while we were there. It was right in front of the Royal
Palace. We then headed toward the Red
Light District to at least get a feel for the area. As we were walking I noticed a beautiful
church that I wanted to take a picture of and when we went down the little
street I was not expecting there to be “ladies” in the glass walls, I was very
thrown off. All I will say about the red
light district is that it is very interesting; you can go see for yourself.
We then went to get a coffee
and Jess ate some lunch, Alex and I were still full from our eggs benedicts. J We
honestly did not know what else to go see, so we just walked around a bit more
and headed back to the apartment to figure out what we were going to do for
dinner. We decided on going to a place
called Burger Bar, which is self-explanatory.
This was the first real burger I have had in a month (the one in Holland
did not count). This was also the best
burger I have had in A LONG TIME! They
had very good fries as well and you could add sauces for 60 cents, so I got ketchup
(of course) and mayonnaise. The
mayonnaise was very different from America’s, but I liked it much more. The kept me full for the rest of the
night. Alex, Jess and I had a great
night, probably one of the most fun nights we’ve had in awhile.
The next day we got up to go
to the Anne Frank house and we waited in line for a little bit over an
hour. It was so cold outside it was
unbearable. I am surprised I
survived. Once we got inside I had to
thaw out my feet prior to walking around the museum. We took our time going through the museum and
I read everything and made sure I did not miss a detail in there. I had chills while walking through the museum;
it is so crazy that they were hiding in such a small space for over 2 years. We got to go through the bookshelf that was
hiding the door from everyone else, which was the most realistic thing in the
museum; it made it real for me. Also, we
saw Anne’s room, along with the kitchen and we saw the stairs to the
attic. I was very upset that we could
not go up into the attic, but being able to see it was worth it. Anne’s room was amazing; there were still
pictures on the walls with glass preserving them. I could not believe I was there and it was
very humbling. I would suggest that
anyone who goes to Amsterdam must go to the Anne Frank house!
I did not completely thaw out
in the museum, even though we were in there for quite a bit of time. We then met up with Brittany and Marnix and
figured out what we were going to do for dinner. We ended up back at Little Collins and had
one of the best dinners I have had in awhile.
It was a very elegant dinner, but not with the price tag. We went out for a few drinks after dinner and
then called it a night. The next day we
took our time getting up and were planning on eating at this little pancake
house in the center, but it did not open until noon. We ended up at another pancake house called
De Carrousel. I got an egg and bacon
pancake, which was amazing. They had
this thick syrup to put on it and it was almost like molasses. It was equal parts savory as it was sweet, so
it was perfect. We walked towards the
train station after that and went through the red light district again. We got a train ticket to get to the airport so
we could catch out flight to Milan.
While walking through Amsterdam I noticed all these French fry places,
so I was craving them and was hoping they would have one in the airport, which
they did! I got the French fries and a
kroket (which is unexplainable taste wise) with some ketchup. A kroket is a Dutch food that is fried. I believe mine had mashed potatoes inside,
but usually it is meat filled. I was
very satisfied when we left Amsterdam, I felt like we saw all we could. Amsterdam was an amazing place and I could
see myself working there or even studying there in the future. A lot of the locals spoke English and it was
very easy to get around there. The bad
thing about it is that it is almost always cold, which is a turn off for me. L All in
all, Amsterdam was amazing!
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