Amsterdam at dusk

My favourite time of day in Amsterdam was dusk. We were so lucky to have good weather everyday, and even better sunsets. Most evenings we would head back to the hotel at about 6pm to put our feet up & freshen up before heading out for dinner at around 7pm, just in time to watch the sun setting as we walked around looking for somewhere to have dinner. I love the silhouettes, reflections and colours of dusk, I'm pretty sure even the ugliest thing in the world would look good with a beautiful sunset around it. Looking back at these photos makes me long for spring/summer. The warm evenings, long days and tons of bike rides. 

And that my friends, was our trip to Amsterdam.

Sarah
xx

Amsterdam Day 4

On our fourth and final day in Amsterdam we spent most of our time wandering around the western canal rings. We browsed through the boutiques, sampled cheeses at the Cheese Museum, and dined on the biggest pancakes at the Pancake Bakery - which just happened to overlook the smallest house in Amsterdam. We did the mandatory visit to the Ann Frank museum, but the queue was hours long so we admired the wall plaque and continued to mooch. Typically we discovered a load of places that we would have loved to spend more time exploring, we did a lot of walking and stopped for many a drink to soak up as much of the culture (and people watching) as possible. It was kind of a weird day because there was still so much to see and do, but we were kind of glum because we knew we were leaving that day too. It definitely helped that we could leave our bags at the hotel & collect them just before we had to leave. Annoyingly we still had 4kg left on our baggage allowance so we could have bought loads of cheese!

Rich and I are itching to book another holiday. With a little help from Pinterest I think we'll be making a bucket list very soon.

Sarah

xx

Amsterdam Day 3

I just realised that I had two days left of our Amsterdam holiday, all typed up but I'd forgotten to share so here goes...

On our third day in Amsterdam we did one of the things I'd been looking forward to most... hired bikes! One of the best things about Amsterdam is even when you have no idea where you're going, if you follow a canal you'll usually end up where you want to be. We'd made a list of the places we wanted to see that were a bit further away from our hotel so cycling would save our feet a bit. We started off by heading to the eastern side of the city, going back to some of the areas we spotted from the canal cruise, particularly the Waterlooplien Flea market. This was my favourite market of all. It was a mix of new, second hand/vintage and bicycle accessories and repairs, all of which are my kind of things. I could have spent a small fortune, particularly on an original gramophone and taxidermy fox, but one the highlights for me was the dog in the pram, amazing!!

The dog in the pram was the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

 

Isn't this the best gramophone you've ever seen? It has the hmv dog on it and everything! And don't even get me started on the fox. If my suitcase had been big enough both of them would have been coming home with me.

 

Just around the corner from these beautiful buildings is the Red Light district. Being a bit of a prude I found it kind of uncomfortable, comical but uncomfortable. We were wandering around, not really sure what to expect, and then looked up to a street of glass doors with a bunch of nearly naked ladies dancing and trying to entice some customers, I didn't know where to look, ha! I'd heard a lot about it but didn't expect it to be quite so open, or for it to be so normal for men to just walk in and out of their 'booths'. I don't think I'll be trading in my grandad cardigans for some latex anytime soon!

 

 

We ended our day of cycling in the Vondelpark, soaking up the sun, doing some people watching and admiring the water fountains.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sarah
xx

Amsterdam Day 2

On our second day in Amsterdam we got up early for breakfast in the cafe at the end of our street before another long day of walking. After filling up on some yummy granola and orange juice we set off in the direction of some of the markets and the areas beyond the central canal ring. After mentally spending a fortune on fabrics and bicycle goodies, we stumbled across a lovely canal full of beautiful house boats, all of which had such cute entrances and the tiniest patch of 'garden' you could imagine. In true nosey fashion we peered through gates and windows in awe of how much people can fit in such a small space, no good for me and my hoarding ways but so pretty none the less. 

We then found ourselves at the Rijksmuseum which is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. Although we didn't go in, the queues were massive, we mooched through the middle for the mandatory tourist photos in front of the I Amsterdam sign, and to just soak up the atmosphere and hustle and bustle of locals and tourists, it's such a great spot. We headed back to the front of the museum to snap some of the most picturesque houses and bridges I've ever seen, lined with flowers and beautiful towers it was just gorgeous. 

After a few hours of walking around we were ready for a sit down and a drink, and what better way to rest your feet than on a canal cruise. Conveniently the 'hop on hop off' boats stopped right outside the museum so we jumped on spent a few hours taking in the scenery and architecture along the canal cruise. For 20 euros you can use them as much as you want for that day, so we did a couple of the routes and saw so much more than we would if we'd been walking around. It's amazing how much you miss by not looking up isn't it?

 

I'll be back with a couple more Amsterdam installments.

Sarah

xx