June 21
I awoke around 630 knowing that my bus would arrive at 650. I cleaned up my spot and used the limited bus wifi to figure out how I would get from the main train station to my next hostel.
Luckily for me, Amsterdam has an almost identical tram system as Prague that I had mastered after a week. The trip would be 30 minutes, 11 stops and a 10 minute walk. I decided to stay a little bit outside the city center because I wanted to enjoy the downtown area once Greg arrives tomorrow.
At the station I began to notice the thousands of bicycles and riders that filled the city.
I walked through Vondelpark which is a beautiful park outside the city and arrived at my hostel around 8:00. Unfortunately, the rooms are not ready until 2 and I had no desire or energy to head downtown. I literally never left the hostel, enjoyed the hostels hotel like atmosphere, slept and relaxed. After 12+ hours on a cramped bus, that was all I wanted to do for a bit.
After finally getting my room and barely unpacking (I head out tomorrow) I decided to walk around the area where my hostel is. I walked maybe 5 minutes and I came across the most beautiful canals I had ever seen. My real goal for this walk was to head to a shop where I could buy another skirt and a pair of shorts. Looking forward at my weather forecasts, I know that I am going to need clothes for the heat!
I ended up getting distracted by the charm of this area that I walked past the store I was looking for and ended up at another one farther down the canal. Amsterdam is essentially a bunch of rings of canals that all intersect with bridges and side streets. I am currently on the farthest ring out and having only seen a tiny bit of the city, I am so excited to explore it with Greg tomorrow.
Walking back with my shopping bag in hand I realized I hadn’t eaten all day and only had a sandwich yesterday! I had spotted a pokè place back toward my apartment and ended up with spicy tuna Sriracha! I had thought about eating it by the canals but figured I should enjoy the park while I am so close and took a friends advice. I headed to the park right outside my hostel, sat down with my sunhat on, listened to music, ate my pokė, and took in the scene around me. The park was packed even in the tiny spot I was in and everyone was doing the same. Enjoying the atmosphere, the weather and a whole lot of great food.
I ended up staying for over an hour and a half and headed upstairs because I wanted to put my new clothes away. Since it was only 7 and I still hadn’t done one specific thing in Europe, I set out on a mission for a scoop of gelato which I would enjoy by the canal. I wandered back through the area I was beginning to get to know and headed right for the place on the corner. I ordered oreo gelato and walked to the bridge to sit along the canals and take Amsterdam in one more time. It has been one of my first full days of exploring alone on this trip and it was a cool moment.
I decided to walk back, knowing that I need a good night’s sleep and that I want to talk to Greg before he departs to meet me (eeeek!) But while walking back through the park I couldn’t help myself but take another seat on the lawn and relax some more.
I am now back in my dorm room, packed and ready to go for tomorrow and watching the sunset from my bunk.
June 22
So this morning I had to wake up at 10 to be out of my hostel by 10:30. I had packed my bag the night before so I wouldn’t be too loud for the other people sleeping in my dorm. Luckily for me, all of the other people were also checking out that morning and by 10am there was only one other person there. I struggled to get all of my things together when I realized that I wanted to change my outfit for the day… I was checked on time but knew that Greg’s flight didn’t even land for another two hours, plus customs and travel time to the city center. I decided to take over the same couch I had yesterday but instead of sleeping, this time it was to repack my bag since I had messed it up a bit while looking for a new shirt.
Unfortunately, this is the first time my bag had failed me a little bit, a buckle had broken but luckily it wasn’t a super important one and I would be able to just tie that part. Once I was re-situated, I relaxed for a bit and got my travel plans to Amsterdam Central ready to go. I would have to walk back to the tram stations where I was dropped off yesterday morning and then head 7 stops through the canal belt to the main train station, Amsterdam Central. I had no idea that this huge, beautiful station was essentially where all of the roads and canals in the city came together, nor did I know about the huge harbor with skyscrapers along the water. When I arrived I got off the train and took a tunnel under the station to where the ferries go to the other side of the harbor. I knew I was going to have to wait at least an hour for Gregs train from the airport to arrive so I found the perfect spot to set up and relax where I had a perfect view of the water, the ferries and even a cruise ship! When looking at my maps for directions to our hostel I realized that it was right across the way so we would have to take thee free 24 hour ferry to and from the city which is pretty cool.
It was a beautiful day to sit in the sun and wait by the river and before I even knew Greg was on his way, he texted me that he had arrived! I waited for him to pay .70 euro to use the restroom and then we were off to catch the ferry. The good thing about this ferry besides it being free and running 24 hrs is that there are also 4 of them that go back and forth and so there is a new one every 4 minutes! We both had our luggage in tow and were glad to know our hostel was right around the corner from where the ferry docked. There were a few cute bars that we figured we would head to eventually and also a huge skyscraper named A’DAM and it has Europes Highest Swings at the top which looked pretty cool.
We were lucky this time because it was already 2pm when we arrived which was our check in time. This was the biggest hostel I had ever seen. I even asked the lady how many rooms because I was so used to smaller, quaint hostels and she said 825! We took a quick tour of the main lobby with numerous hang out areas, the solarium which had an indoor garden, the basement with bar, restaurant and guest kitchen and all of the cool table sports they had like pool, ping pong, air hockey, foosball and also a few Game of Thrones pinball machines. We easily got our keys and headed up to our private double ensuite room which essentially had a bed, a desk, a small closet area and our ensuite bathroom with shower. It was all we needed and is always better than a dorm filled with strangers and sharing a bathroom!
We took the ferry to Centrum market area and wandered through the alleys seeing lots of cultural places and I’ve also decided that the theme of our exploring the city in Amsterdam was “Left or Right” because at literally every corner we just randomly made a decision to go either way. From our walks we saw the canals for the first time together and had a moment where there was an accordion player on the top of a bridge and just laughed because it was the perfect European moment! We continued to walked to the main square and decided to head toward the shopping area near where I had stayed the night before. Greg chose a corner pub to sit down and have our first Heineken at. We took in the quaintness of the small buildings that had residences and storefronts at street level.
From there we decided to walk back in the general direction of the train station and we saw the first main canal with lots of ferry boats in the canal belt. When I say the phrase “we wandered the streets” it refers to hours of exploring different small neighborhoods and areas of the city. We eventually wandered even more and made our way back to the hostel. We decided to shower and change before heading back out for our second portion of the day and Greg refereed to himself as “A New Man.” We had to strategically think about our outfit choices because it is going to be extremely hot for the next week. We opted for long pants and long sleeved shirts so we could use them and get away with it since it was low 60s by the end of the night.
Our goal for the night was to walk towards a restaurant we had seen during the earlier part of the day near the first area we had explored. We snagged a two person table outside the restaurant where we decided on another beer and Indonesian Meatballs with mixed Nuts four our first little meal. I’ve learned that splitting meals is always the way to go when you can because you get more variety and can pay the same amount! When were done with dinner we wanted to walk the streets some more and accidentally came through the Red Light District. We recognized that we were lucky to stumble upon it while it is daylight out after warnings about the weirdos there after dark! We were only there for a few minutes but it was definitely an experience to see!
We opted to head back to the hostel to have a beer at one of those awesome bars right by the water. We got another beer while sitting at a picnic table right by the grass and watched the beginning of the sunset. So some of you may have heard about the IAMSTERDAM sign that they move around the city. It essentially is a tourist trap that brings people towards different areas of the city because they all want to pose by it! So we were lucky that the sign was located right outside one of those cool bars and was just one minute and right around the corner from our hostel doors! We sat by the water among the crowds of people hoping for an insta-worthy picture and enjoyed most of the sunset that marked the end of a perfect day. Realistically, the sun doesn’t set until after 10pm so we decided to head to the hostel before the end of it and use one of our buy 1 get 1 free drink coupons, a mix of traditional Dutch appetizers and enjoyed the bar at the hostel. I was surprised how busy it seemed, much more hotel like but definitely directed to a younger crowd. When we headed upstairs we were ready to get our clothes ready for tomorrow, again thinking about our outfit choice very carefully and headed to bed. Greg only made it halfway through an episode before we was out. He did a great job of beating the jet lag and exploring a city on his first day!
June 23
Today we slept in until 12, hoping to get Greg on caught up on sleep and somewhat on schedule for the upcoming week. As we got ready we decided on buying the tram day pass to get around city easily to explore the places we had been yesterday and to new places as well. We took the ferry and walked toward the tram and took it towards the Heineken Experience. There was a beautiful park that ran along one of the outer canals and we walked through it, enjoying it just as much as all of the people tanning, picnicking and reading. As we exited the park we instantly saw the Brewery and decided not to wait in line or do the tour. We headed inside to see if we could just have one beer but that is apart of the Experience that you need to buy tickets and wait in a long line to do.
We decided to round the corner and were instantly drawn in to a community square with fountain and restaurants and chose this for the place to grab our Heineken. We sat amongst local families with children playing in the fountains and others grabbing food and drinks .
We put the directions to the Van Gogh museum into our phone and were distracted by cheering and a huge event going on in the park. As we walked around found out it was “Urban Sports Week- Amsterdam 2019” and we saw all sorts of people competing in sports like FIBA 3v3 basketball, inline skating and bmx biking. The event was overtaking the park that actually brought us right to the Van Gogh. We decided to walk around the Van Gogh Museum and into the Museum of Modern Art and explore their gift shop and their air conditioning. When we realized you needed to buy Tickets online for the Van Gogh, we headed toward the Rijksmuseum which we had walked by numerous times and noticed its beautify. We walked in and around it for a bit before heading toward Vondelpark to relax and sit where I had my poke the day before. It was another beautiful day and we packed ourselves a “picnic of sorts” of water and pretzels! Once again we just enjoyed the atmosphere, sun and activity of the city buzzing by on bicycles
Next we took the tram towards the Anne Frank House and were distracted by an art fair set up on the side of on of the tram stops so we got off. We walked through the fair and stumbled upon an old famous Catholic Monastery for women with beautiful gardens and 108 current residents. We exited right by the tram station and hopped on again (thankful for our day pass) and headed towards Dam Square. Through the square we walled to the Anne Frank House which was very different than I had expected. They recently built a whole “museum like” building on one side of the house and it was much more modern than I expected. Next we saw the house from outdoors since you need to book tickets months in advance and it was definitely emotional to see the church where Anne heard the carrolins each day. We headed up the canals to look for somewhere to buy takeaway so we could have a little picnic by the canals. After some walking we came across a perfect little cafe and bought ourselves a tuna panini, water, fruit and a brownie for desert. We headed back to a spot on the canal that Greg had spotted and set up our meal. We relaxed by the water talking for over an hour and really enjoyed our cheap lunch!
We wandered around the canal streets fora bit more before deciding to head toward where we had seen a majority of the canal rides depart from. This had been my one thing that I wanted to do while in Amsterdam so excited was an understatement! We looked at our options and opted for the best one for 21 Euro which was a smaller, open boat with a personal guide vs. huge, closed boat with headphones that has a spell in 18 languages. Not disappointed at all when we hopped on with a Heineken in hand for a 1.5 hour boat ride through the “back street canals” of the city. Since our boat was so much smaller we were able to see more of the city and since it was also the guides last tour of the day, he took us for 30 minutes longer than we had even paid for! It was remarkable to see the city and all that we had explored by the canals and to learn about Amsterdam from a local. The guide explained so much of the cities history, how the city was built and answered a lot of questions from the other riders
After the boat ride we were ready to head back to our side of the water so we ferried over and settled on heading to the second bar by our hostel that we hadn’t visited yet. We had the perfect table with an amazing view of the IAMSTERDAM sign and the setting sun! We ordered fish and chips with one last Heineken and ended up with the entire filet and I swear it was the best fish and chips I had ever had. We walked the short walk back to our hostel and decided to use our last buy one get one free coupon and Greg also ordered veggies and hummus for us! Once we were back in the room we got all packed up and ready to go as we knew we wanted to be checked out by 8:00!
Running Down A Dream 