Amsterdam in the Springtime
Traveling isn’t always rainbows and butterflies like all of the travel bloggers make it seem. For me, our trip to Amsterdam made that very clear.
Michael and I travel very well together, but we are also both very stubborn, strong-willed people and we happened to butt heads a lot on this trip. That being said, Amsterdam was SO cool and I feel like it might be my New Orleans of Europe - the city that I want to see more of and wish I could visit every year… if I didn’t have so many other places I wanted to see!
I met Michael in Amsterdam on a Saturday in April. He had just spent a week in Leuven, Belgium with school, so he arrived in Amsterdam the day before with some classmates. Needless to say, by the time I arrived, he had already visited a Coffeeshop.
stroopwafels!
Michael found me at our Airbnb, we dropped off our luggage and started toward Jordaan from de Pijp on foot. I was immediately taken with the city. The buildings were so cool, the shops we passed were so unique, and the canals were just incredible. We got up to Jordaan and headed towards the Noordermarkt for a quick bite. From there, I went to the Anne Frank House (Michael wasn’t interested and I felt compelled). It was really interesting, but I did feel that the amount of people in the space and the lines you were waiting in as you explored the shelter took away from the experience.
We walked back to de Pijp for a meal and a nap. We stopped into Sari Citra, an Indonesian restaurant I had read about for being good, affordable food. It did not disappoint! We got a bottle of wine and headed back to our Airbnb for an early night (not the plan, but we were tired and we’re old).
This is when the system broke down. When we woke up the next morning, we realized the mattress, pillows, and duvet were all made of down. Michael is EXTREMELY allergic to down and that morning, he was feeling it. I love this man to bits, but if you know men…. You know how well they handle illness in any form. (I do believe he felt like shit and I appreciated his willingness to still go along with the plan for the day).
views in Leiden
Fortunately, we actually were in Amsterdam during peak tulip season. I think it was actually the weekend of the Tulip Parade at the Keukenhof. I wasn’t really interested in that - but loved the idea of riding bikes around the tulip fields. We took the train to Leiden, rented bikes, got our maps (with EXPLICIT instructions on the route), and headed off. I took the map from the start, but we were still in the city and I’m really intimidated by riding a bike around cars, so I missed a few turns. Then Michael took the map, but he wasn’t paying attention to how the bike paths were numbered and missed all of the sign posts. This happened for the next three plus hours resulting in us getting annoyed with each other, compounded by hanger. In between all of that, we did see tulip fields. At the first tulip field, we locked up our bikes and headed to see the beauties in person. It was so frustrating because all of these tourists were being so disrespectful to the tulip farmers - just walking in between the rows (which were explicitly off limits) to take their pictures for the gram. SO RUDE. From then on, we just rode past the fields and observed from afar.
Once we returned our bikes, we explored Leiden. It felt like a smaller, quieter version of Amsterdam. We grabbed some beers and relaxed outside before heading back to Amsterdam.
In my planning, there were a handful of activities that stood out to me that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to do. Biking around the tulips - you betcha. Beers in a windmill - HELL YES. So, we took the train to Amsterdam Oost and stopped in to Brouwerij ‘T Ij. It was busy, as it was a sunny and mild Sunday. We fortunately found stools at the bar and made friends with the bartender. After a few beers, we found a place called Louie Louie and had dinner. Then, more than 24 hours after my arrival in Amsterdam, I visited my first Coffeeshop.
must check out Brouwerij ‘T Ij!
On our last full day, we were exploring the city. The Albert Cuyp Market, the Red Light District, Begijnhof, getting lost around the canals, and finally - my third and final HELL YES activity - our canal boat tour with Those Dam Boat Guys. These guides encourage drinking, smoking, and snacking on board. So up our alley - or so I thought. I was ready to have a good time and make friends, but Michael thought I was talking too much and being too loud (read: being too American). Which, unfortunately impacted both of our time on the boat. The guide was great and the canal tour was SO cool. Highly recommend.
After our tour, I was hoping to explore Jordaan some more, but Michael didn’t bring the right footwear and his feet were hurting. So, we headed back to the Airbnb. More arguing because I wanted to go back out and see more of the city. See, we’re not always perfect. We did end up going back out. We met up with Michael’s friend and walked around the red light district, then imbibed a bit on the canal.
Before heading to Florence, we finished our time in Amsterdam the best way we know how - we took a run in Vondelpark.
Despite our constant bickering, Amsterdam was wonderful. Next time, maybe we’ll just stay in one neighborhood and explore. Or maybe, we’ll stay in a city outside of Amsterdam and see the quieter side of the region. Bottom line is, next time, we will not sleep on down and we will bring comfortable shoes.
