When in Amsterdam...

20-22 July

Well the 20th of July was Paul (my cousin's) birthday so three of us decided to go to Amsterdam for the weekend to celebrate. It poured on Friday morning so we were delayed at Heathrow for three hours but had the most animated in-flight safety demonstration aboard KLM and finally made it to our hostel at around midnight. Just enough time to dump our stuff and head out for a few drinks and a dance until 4am.

The next morning I was up early to beat the crowds and head to 267 Prinsengracht (otherwise known as Anne Frank House). It was great to walk around - everything is really well displayed - and amazing feeling to step behind the bookcase and up the narrow stairs to where they were hiding. It brought a sense of completeness to my other experiences of the Holocoust on my travels and I feel like Im getting a much more complete picture of a part of history I really had little knowledge about before this trip. Was definitely glad I got in early as the line was all the way around the corner by the time I got out.

Paul and Hayley met me after I'd finished at Anne Frank House (they'd both already been to Amsterdam before and done it then) and we decided to hire some old-school Dutch bicycles for the afternoon, it was a bit crazy cycling through the city but beautiful to get out for a bit

In search of windmills we cycled about 10 miles down the Amstel and then back up the other side, it was such a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and we got some great pictures!

We returned the bikes at around 2ish and decided it was time for

lunch at a cute little cafe, so stopped for a couple of pints of Amstel - the beer not the river : P before continuing with the afternoon's adventures. Checked out Dam Square and a Dutch verion of Punch and Judy, it was classic - even if we didnt understand a word : P

Paul and Hayley went back to the hostel for a rest and I wanted to wander around the city a bit more and checked out the Sex Museum - pretty good value for money (I think it was about 3 Euros) and had lots of weird and wonderful stuff with some photos even dating back to the 1800s! Amsterdam itself was just a really cool city to walk around, I think growing up in Wellington its really nice to have water around so all the canals here help make it a really calm and picturesque city. It is also really well organised with cyclists having the right of way, outdoor urinal stands for men and delicious food stalls for everyone to visit after the coffee shops.

That evening we had booked a canal cruise around the city for 8:30pm. Turned out to be perfect timing with the sun setting while we were on the cruise and it was awesome to get to see the city from another angle and get out to some parts of town we hadn't even seen before. Hayley was so excited when we found the parking garage just for bikes!

Finished off the evening with dinner at a Thai restaurant and a couple of pints, nice relaxing way to end a pretty busy day.

The next morning we decided tocheck out a few more of the touristy things to do around the city. Up bright and early again we grabbed breakie at the hostel - sooo good! They had quality cereals, fresh bread, ham, cheese, salami and spreads (including the awesome chocolate one I tried at Nina's house in Bremen) and orange juice and coffee so a great way to start the day. Hayley and I went to see the Van Gogh Museum and Paul checked out the Rijksmuseum.

After a morning of culture we decided to continue in that fashion and ended up at the Heineken Experience. This is on the site of the old factory and was very much commercialising the whole idea of the Heineken lifestyle (like crazy motion master rides of what its like to be a Heineken bottle) but there was a great time had by all. And at 11 euros for the walk through that included 3 (half) pints and a souviner bottle opener, it wasnt a bad little way to spend our last afternoon

After that we just had enough time to take a photo outside one of the famous Bulldog Coffee Chain stores and then chill at the airport until our flight back. Had a great weekend in Amsterdam. Thanks to Paul and Hayley for organising/coming along! What an amazing city! Would love to come back in the springtime and see all the tulips - just know when I get back to Europe (at some stage...) that Amsterdam will definitely be on my list to go back and visit!

Despite it raining in the afternoon in Amsterdam it was beautiful weather flying back into Heathrow. And I got some great view of places I've come to know and love in London