City Break - Amsterdam

This week has verged on the crazy, as I've jumped from dissertation hand-in to a cocktail night, to an Easter trail ride, followed by a night out and, oh yeah, flying to Amsterdam. But boy has it it been worth it!

I'm finally home for Easter, and it's never felt more like a country retreat than it does now! After my mad running around, I was shattered. It was definitely one of those good exhaustions, but having survived on little sleep for the past five days and been constantly on-the-go, coming home has provided me the wind-down I needed!

It seems totally surreal that only three days ago I was with my two best friends on our final day in Amsterdam. It was such a total whirlwind but we managed to pack everything in, and actually I think three days was the perfect amount of time. The whole trip was honestly so brilliant, and I couldn't have spent it in better company. We had such a great time together, treating ourselves to a well-deserved break after an incredibly stressful few weeks of intense dissertation work.

The gorgeous flower markets are well worth a visit.

I have to say, I didn't really know what to expect from Amsterdam. With the infamous Red Light District and the drugs, it took some research to identify the interesting historical side of the city and other things we could do. Before we went, we booked the Heineken Experience which was absolutely worth the time and was incredible value! I don't like beer and unfortunately even Mr Heineken couldn't sway me, but the Heineken Experience was such a surprisingly fun afternoon! We turned up expecting to queue for a long time to get in, only to walk straight through which was such a relief given our numb fingers and toes. The tour took about one and a half hours, excluding the boat ride which was about another half hour. Included in the ticket price were two tokens that got you either two smaller beers, or one larger, colder one (or a pepsi, thank goodness!). Plus, another token could be exchanged for a free gift. We also got a small Heineken sample on the way round. Needless to say, my friend ended up drinking quite a bit what with me passing my beers straight to her! It was all really interactive too, and genuinely really interesting. I'd really recommend doing it if you're going to the city!

Photo credit: Sophie (thanks, girl!)

We also booked the Ice Bar. I've never been to the one in London, and I think it's probably quite different but with three drinks tokens, this also turned out to be great value and so much fun! Sounds ridiculous and I'm sorry to point on the obvious, but it was cold. It said -9 degrees and I just didn't realise that could feel so cold! The ice glasses were an awesome touch but I just felt that I needed thicker gloves that the ones supplied! We had one cocktail before entering, and then in the 20 minutes inside the ice bar, you can have another two drinks. Believe me when I say you'll need them!!

The Anne Frank museum was also brilliant. Having queued in the pouring rain for over 45 minutes with frozen fingers and soaked feet and with all of us having gone slightly hysterical, it definitely made for a memorable afternoon! When we finally got in (we couldn't book online, and no one else seemed to have booked in advance either) the museum was so well set-out and very informative. I've read the majority of Anne Frank's Diary, and intend to finish it after I graduate (one of a long list of books), and have always felt that her story is incredibly moving. Walking around the house I had read about was absolutely one of the greatest highlights of the trip and was well worth the money. I would particularly recommend staying to watch the video at the very end as well because it helps to express just what a poignant piece of history the diary is.

The city itself was beautiful, although it subverted my expectations of a city. Say capital city and I think noise, busy-ness, probably thousands of tourists, crime. Amsterdam had none of this. I don't want to betray Paris here (don't worry, I'll always love you), but I actually felt safer in Amsterdam than in Paris. Not once did I feel threatened or that I had to keep a constant eye out for pickpockets. Maybe I've trained myself to be automatically wary but there was never a sense of it being a tourist trap like Venice where there could always be a pickpocket waiting to take something. It was also so calm! We got out fairly early on Saturday morning but even by lunchtime, it had only just started to get busy! To be able to walk down streets and in and out of shops without negotiating hundreds of other people was such a serene feeling and made the trip so enjoyable.



Apparently while we'd been there the whole city had experienced a powercut, but considering we'd been out and about during this time and we were due to fly back the next day, we heard absolutely nothing. Good job everything was up and running the next day really, otherwise we wouldn't have known whether our flight was on time! It just showed how much we ended up being in our own little world while discovering the city.

They definitely know how to serve tea!

Food-wise, I found the prices and choice pretty great. I loved the variety of independent restaurants and some of them were really amazing value! The Pancake Bakery near the Anne Frank museum was a definite favourite and is worth a mention. They let us take our order back to our hotel, instead of eating in, and wrapped them all up with cutlery and plates - so lovely! My goats' cheese, sun-dried tomato, pine nuts and honey wasn't that cheap but was diviiine!

The Pancake Bakery, Amsterdam. Particularly recommend the goats' cheese pancake. Yum.

One final thing that I have to comment on is the people. I was so impressed by the generally high level of English spoken. To be honest, the whole city was fairly anglicised with a lot of shops with English names, even outside the main tourist hubs. But not once did I feel bad about not speaking the language, something that I've felt in France on numerous occasions despite the fact I can actually speak okay French. It was the total opposite! I've always been conscious of being the English person who can't be bothered to learn another language, but most people seemed to actually enjoy having the opportunity to talk to a native English speaker. Which brings me to my next point - the Dutch are so friendly!! Nothing was ever too much, and we were always greeted with smiles. What a lovely bunch.

Before we booked Amsterdam, we knew we wanted a city with culture, history, and somewhere where we could just have a bit of down time after the stress of dissertation. Amsterdam really did offer all of this and more. The architecture is so unusual but gorgeous (look up and you'll notice that most of the buildings are wonky!), the parks offered a snippet view of the daily Amsterdam life, the museums ticked our culture/history boxes and the cute cafés and people made our stay an extremely happy and relaxing one. So if you haven't been, or are thinking about going - don't hesitate! Get booking!

I had to include this photo but I feel like it's sort of been photobombed by the lady on the right... Authentic tourist right there.