A lil mini-series of some places I've been to 👍🏼
After spending two summers in the UK during the pandemic, I booked a trip to Amsterdam with two friends. It felt a bit surreal going abroad after so long. My first impression of the city was that there were bikes everywhere, it had a chill vibe, and there were great places to go all around us. We were only there for 4 nights but managed to see and do a lot. My highlights were going to Moco Museum (an independent contemporary museum) Foam Amsterdam (a photography museum), A'DAM Lookout (a deck where you can see a 360 view of the city) and the Xtracold Icebar.
At the ice bar, we were given 3 drinks tokens, and had the option of getting beer or shots. It was - 9.3 degrees and I was wearing sandals 🥶 (I only brought one pair of shoes on the trip) but we were given coats and gloves. Would definitely recommend, it was a lot of fun! Freezing, but you're only there for around 45 minutes and most people left before time was up. We went into Pull&Bear and I was amazed that there were self-checkouts because I had never seen these in this type of shop. I might be misremembering but I'm pretty sure my item appeared on the screen before I'd even scanned it (not sure how this is possible, but I was impressed).
I'm sure people are aware of the amount of cyclists in Amsterdam. I probably narrowly missed getting hit by a bike and/or tram about 5 times (my own fault, always look where you're going). The hotel we stayed at was cute, the staff were friendly and spoke impeccable English which was helpful as the only word I knew was "Bedankt". Our room had a basketball hoop and a plushy basketball (probably to avoid guests breaking the window). This provided a lot of entertainment.
While researching places to eat, The Vegan Junk Food Bar came up and I fancied trying it out. We went on our last night, I got nachos, my friends got burgers and we all got very pretty cocktails. I had never had vegan cheese before so it was interesting trying it for the first time! 🧀 I've been trying to slowly reduce the amount of animal products in my diet and stopped eating pork last year. I don't miss it, except when I smell bacon cooking. We went to The Van Gogh Museum, it was pretty spectacular seeing his work in the flesh. I loved Moco Museum, I enjoyed seeing the KAWS chairs, I especially liked the Elmo one.
I also loved that Miffy the rabbit was everywhere! So cute, I didn't know she was Dutch. I did a bit of research and found out that she was created by Dick Bruna and her original name was Nijntje, which comes from the word konijntje meaning 'little rabbit' (the more you know). I got a Miffy pen and a keyring but kind of wish I'd got one of the toys. Not sure it would've fitted in my luggage though, so probably for the best.
The only downside to this trip was that I ended up getting COVID 😷 but I feel fortunate that I managed to avoid it for two years up until this point. It felt a bit like I was testing the water with this holiday, when you dip your toe in the bath to check the temperature. I was a bit anxious about going abroad because it had been so long, but I'm really hoping I can get into the groove of travelling more. There are so many places I want to see! ✈️ I'm going to Italy next month, so have that to look forward to. I would definitely recommend Amsterdam if you're looking for a city break, there's so much to explore.
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