WEEKEND IN AMSTERDAM
I've been battling with the idea of whether or not to write this blog post. Mainly because I wasn't paying attention to all of the itty bitty details around me so when it comes to a detailed blog post, this shall not be one of those! Instead I was enjoying the company I was with and just taking in my surroundings.
Right, from the start then! Toms sister was in London for a few days and was due to travel back to Antwerp at the end of the week. As it was her birthday that weekend, Tom and I decided that it would be nice to celebrate with her and take a little trip to Amsterdam at the same time. With that being decided, we booked our bus tickets and travelled back with Grace (bonus rant at the end about the bus journey).
We celebrated Grace's birthday in Antwerp on Friday and then travelled (by bus) to Amsterdam on the Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty crap for the entire time that we were there, but nevertheless it didn't dampen our spirits!
We arrived at around 6pm in Amsterdam and got the 26 Tram from Central station to our airbnb flat 10 minutes away in Steigereiland. I can't emphasise enough how nice this flat was. It was a beautiful floating house which had everything we could have needed with the benefit of lovely hosts. The highlight of the flat though was definitely the Jacuzzi (which we spent a long time in drinking champagne and eating strawberries!). So if you ever find yourself in Amsterdam and are looking for a lovely place to stay then I highly recommend THIS boat house.
We dropped our stuff off at the flat and headed back to central to pick up some dinner, drinks, and other "bits and bobs". My first impressions of Amsterdam were that it was architecturally beautiful. All of the narrow winding street were alive and buzzing with locals and tourists out enjoying their evening. I think the fact that the EUROS were on played a big part in the atmosphere of the city and pubs too. It was a bit of a shock to experience how "open" the Red Light District was; the live sex shows, the vibrators and dildos displayed in store fronts, and the women in the windows dancing and trying to persuade their male watchers to pay for a lap dance behind the closed curtains. Personally I found it a bit weird and sad to see.
Sadly, Grace and her boyfriend had to leave early on Sunday to get back to Antwerp so Tom and I decided to explore more of Amsterdam before our flight home. The weather was a lot nicer on the Sunday which made walking around that much more enjoyable. We enjoyed some old, stale churros from one of the local shops (big mistake, we should've gone for one of the waffles instead!!) whilst sitting next to the canal soaking in the sun. There and then, we decided to come back in July for a longer weekend because we didn't get to see as much as we would have liked (it would have been nice to go to the Anne Frank Haus and some other museums).
At about 6pm, we slowly made our way to the airport where we discovered that the plane was delayed by an hour. This meant that we finally got home at about 12.30am (and yes, we had work the next day *sad face*)
We walked about 20km everyday over the weekend so the blisters when I got home were....yeah, you get the point! My poor little feet!
**Now for a little rant about FlixBus. Definitely the worst bus company that I've ever travelled with. The driver was rude and made many obnoxious comments, not to mention that he stopped the bus in the middle of the motorway to complain that the manure smell outside was making it difficult for him to drive. (He also blamed the smell on everyone on the bus, demanding us to put our shoes on). He then proceeded to empty an entire bottle of Oust whilst stampeding up and down the aisle. After that little episode, he answered his mobile and proceeded to have an hour long conversation whilst on the motorway. Myself, Tom, and Grace have all complained to the company and it seems that nothing is/has been done. So if you happen to be travelling by bus, then please avoid Flixbus at all costs!!**
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