AmsterDAMN you're beautiful

About a month ago a few friends and I went to Amsterdam. I’m sorry this is so late, but I have had so much work during the weeks and I’m traveling on weekends. But we left on a Thursday, having quite the eventful traveling experience. Weeks ahead we booked a Stena line overnight boat from Harwick, London to Holland thinking it would be a fun experience.  (I’ve been saying we without saying who, I went with Sabrina, Evan and Mac) The boat was a blast, and well worth the experience but the travel time before and after was a bit traumatizing.

The exact route was tube-train-boat-train-train-bus-uber

We took the tube to the train that took us to the overnight boat. We then took a train that transferred to another train, which just stopped outside of Amsterdam and suddenly told us to get off. We were still an hour outside the city and no one is telling us why. We find out, after a long time of no answers that the power too all-public transportation in Amsterdam and the surrounding areas is down. It is a mad dash along with all 200 other people to get onto the one bus that was available. We finally end up on a bus that takes us to the airport (still outside the city) and we’re told to find another bus, where now 500+ people were waiting. We finally gave in and took an uber to our little apartment (still outside the city lol.)

The apartment was perfection, a little piece of European heaven, with a bedroom, huge kitchen, livingroom, tv room, two bathrooms, basically the best airbnb we’ve had by far.  We made the most of our lost day and ran to the flower market, where there were live flower bulbs wall to wall and seeds to every plant you can imagine. We walked along the canals taking in the last of the beautiful days that weekend. We headed to the red-light district where we saw, what you can see there…. My biggest issue with Amsterdam is their lack of food. Granted I’m not looking for a 5-course meal, just something original, that uses the resources around them to do something new or innovative. The only thing they had going for them was their baked goods, they were good but had nothing on Italy. 

That night we took the boat cruise around the city, which was stunning. There was an annoying pre-recorded commentary that proceeded through the entire thing, but just the complete darkness with the bright lights reflecting off the water as we took the maze of canals through the old city was a moment I will never forget. Saturday morning was a lazy morning, and I had bought all the ingredients for french toast the previous night. After a slow wake up, with lots of coffee and a moment of me talking to the stray cat outside, I cooked challah bread french toast soaked in vanilla bean and orange. You can find the recipe in my recipe section! Or if you click this link. Unfortunately we couldn’t enjoy the patio since it was raining so hard.

vanilla bean orange infused french toast 

We finally got moving and hid from the rain for long enough to get to the Rijeka museum. Sabrina and I spent about two hours wondering around but wanted a scene change and we all finally ended up at the Heineken factory. We learned the making of the beer and had a delicious tasting at the end. We had a tipsy walk back to the apartment, stopping along the way for dinner where I witnessed Evan, Mac and Sabrina (mostly Sabrina) consume more ribs then I’ve ever seen.

Some ReMu (my college program) friends were in town, so they came over for drinks and cheese. We watched the time change in Europe and enjoyed different Dutch beers. On our last day we tried to get to the Anne Frank house but by the time we made it there it was a three-hour wait in the rain so we headed to more rural areas, and took a bus to Volendam. This is a small boat town that is known for its killer seafood. We walked along the dock, filled with every tourist store and attraction as possible; we all agreed the “killer seafood” was the wrong description. It started to down pour so we all decided to head home for our last peaceful night. I spent the evening in a lovely bathtub with a beautiful glass of wine, best part of the trip by far. We flew home and were in our dorms in an hour and 15 min. Ryanair is a blessing to all.