Solo Travels: Parts 4, 5 and 6 -
PART 4 -
On the Monday I made my way over to the Anne Frank museum, turned up and managed to go straight in and receive my audio guide. You can then go straight through to the first room of the museum tour, I won't be giving away any details but it was truly moving. An incredible experience and one that is hard to believe actually happened. It gets booked up quickly, so if you are visiting Amsterdam, once you've booked your flights, make sure to go and book your tickets for the Anne Frank museum.
After a couple of hours taking in all the emotion of the museum I came to the end and decided it was time to find some lunch. I spotted a pancake house next to the museum so thought I'd try there, sadly though as it was a Monday, it was closed. A fair few places were closed on the Monday in Amsterdam. Just down the road was another pancake house; that did gluten free pancakes. It was called The Pancake House and is amazing, I fully recommend it if you're visiting Amsterdam.
I actually got chatting to a lady from Kent whilst I was in the queue for the pancake house, she'd recently gotten divorced and wanted to travel somewhere on her own, she asked if I'd like to join her as we were both there on our own; it was lovely to have a chat and a pancake with someone who was also travelling solo! It was her last day and we discussed all of the things we'd both gotten up to since being there.
There was a tulip museum on the other side of the canal which I had spotted on my way to lunch and decided to give it a visit. It was only €5, not the biggest museum but interesting to see the history behind Amsterdams most popular flower and the gift shop was adorable!
Then I hopped on the tram down to the canal cruise ticket office by Vondelpark. Popped into the Irish pub opposite for a quick drink then got on the cruise canal boat, with yet another audio headset. We cruised around some of the many canals in Amsterdam taking in the sights and enjoying an hour or so to just sit down and chill in the sun. It was nice to see Amsterdam from a different angle (literally). There are so many canal cruises to choose from including a 'lovers' cruise; as a single I'm not sure that one was for me! I purchased the 'I Amsterdam' card for 4 days and did one of the cruises that were included within that.
It was late afternoon by the time I finished the cruise, so I decided I'd have a stroll through the famous Vondelpark where I met a couple of interesting characters.
One of whom was an elderly lady. I'd sat down on a bench to have some water and a snack and this lady came passed and spoke to me in dutch, I politely said pardon and then she came over and said 'oh you're English', sat down and said 'let me tell you a quick story'. She then proceeded to tell me about her friend as a child who lived next door to her, who was jewish. As I'd been to the Anne Frank museum that morning it was very coincidental that she was telling me this story. She also informed me about the fact that the tennis courts in Vondelpark used to be segregated for jewish and non jewish people. It was very interesting albeit a bit random. After about 10 minutes she got distracted by a dog and I took the opportunity to say it was lovely to meet her but that I was going to carry on with my walk.
The park was so much bigger than I expected and I decided to walk through the whole thing! It is beautiful and despite the chill in the air there were a lot of people having picnics, playing with balls, or just chilling in the park.
I'd had enough of walking by the end of the park so hopped on a tram back to central station and on to the ferry back to the hostel for a chilled hour or so. I needed something for dinner by this point and just down the street from the hostel was a restaurant called 'The Butcher' so I booked a table for one and headed over. This was the only time in my whole trip that I felt uncomfortable being alone. This is because when I walked in and said I'd booked a table and they asked for how many and I said just one the waitress went 'awww' in such a condescending and sad way, and the bartender gave me a look of pity. Some people prefer to eat/travel alone and although I had been nervous to travel by myself it had been such a fun experience..up until that point. I continued on anyway, ordered a vodka lemonade and a burger, ate my meal, paid and quickly departed. The food was very good but I did feel uncomfortable after that initial encounter.
I popped back to the hostel briefly after dinner to get myself ready as I was going on a date! I had been speaking to this guy on a dating app and he suggested meeting for a drink or two. I kept my friend informed about where I was going and when because you have to be cautious and try and stay safe when meeting new people.
We met outside the Palace and he immediately made me feel comfortable, he was so smiley and friendly and took me to a couple of bars/pubs that he likes to visit. I'm not going to go into detail about the date because that's not why I'm writing this blog post but we had a nice evening and he walked me back to the ferry afterwards.
I was so far loving my solo travels and excited to continue exploring this fun and safe city xoxo
PART 5 -
Midway through my holiday and I'd already decided that I could, absolutely, live in Amsterdam, as I'm sure many people think when they visit!
I rose quite late and got myself ready, I hopped on the ferry and found a cute little yoghurt shop in central station. You can choose one or make it yourself, using overnight oats, fruits, etc; I fully recommend!
My friend had messaged to say she had some free time so we met up and decided to find somewhere cute for brunch. We tried at the Avocado Show but they were fully booked and then we tried somewhere just down the canal from there which stated 'say no to avocados' on the menu which I thought was a clever and funny advertisement! We tried in there but we accidentally walked into the kitchen first, as it was a separate door just off the street. When we'd found the correct door they were also full. Third time lucky came in the form of a cute cafe called Bagels and Beans, they offer lots of different bagels including gluten free ones and it was exactly what we wanted. We were so hungry by that point too. I'd recommend visiting as a cute brunch/lunch place. I'll definitely be going back. [In fact I did go back the next time I was in Amsterdam!].
After brunch we walked round the canals, then my friend had to go back to work and I took myself off to the Rijkmuseum. It is huge! I spent 2 hours in there and I'm not sure if I even saw half of all the exhibits! I did keep getting lost too. There were a lot of school children on trips exploring the museum and it could get very noisy at times. It is incredible in there and I recommend at least a couple of days if you really want to see it all. Of what I did see it was amazing, I even recognised some of the artists names. I'd like to go back and do the exhibitions that I missed but I think I need a tour guide as I did get very confused walking around in there. Of course I took a few minutes at the end to look around the gift shop but it was quite pricey and I didn't have a lot of space to bring stuff back with me anyway.
On my way back to the hostel I decided to pop in to the A'dam tower lookout and I also paid to go on the swing that swings you off the top of the building. It only cost €6 but as I'm afraid of heights it wasn't the smartest idea in the world. It didn't feel very secure and although you were only on there for a couple of minutes it was not fun for me. They actually record you whilst you're on the swing and I was holding on so tight with my eyes closed until I remembered that fact then I tried to keep my eyes open and smile but it was more like a grimace. Once I came back down to earth the lady running the swings asked me how it was to which I replied 'bloody terrifying, I hate heights' she laughed and said 'at least you can say you've done it'. It was horrible, I thought I was going to fall out. If you don't like heights I don't recommend it. Having said all this, the view from the top of the tower was amazing. You can see all across Amsterdam and it was a beautiful afternoon so the views were stunning. There is also a bar up there, music and some insta. worthy spots.
Back to the hostel for a few minutes before heading over to my friends for a takeaway and some wine. It was so chill and like it used to be when we lived together all those years ago. After leaving hers I went for a few more drinks in Café de barre, such a cute bar, would recommend for a couple of drinks and the guy who runs it is actually dutch; which is surprising because about 70% of people who live in Amsterdam are not dutch.
It was a fun evening spent with interesting people xoxo
PART 6 -
The final full day...
"Woke up late, somewhere far away from home..."
Decided to take myself out for brunch pancakes to 'The Pancake House' near Central Station, met a lady from Texas, USA in the queue. So nice to meet different people when you're travelling alone. I'd taken my book with me and it was nice to read it whilst having my pancake and a drink on my last full day.
I took myself off for a nap back at the hostel before going off to the Heineken museum for the tour of the factory. It's fascinating but as I'm gluten free I couldn't actually drink the beer. It was the only museum where it would've been nice to be with someone else, because at the end of the tour is a bar which often has live music. It was highly recommended to me, and I would also recommend it to anyone going to Amsterdam!
I then met my friend for a walk through the markets near De Pijp, they're really nice to have a wander through and I had some Japanese food from one of the stalls, I'm not sure exactly what it was but it tasted lovely.
We took a walk around the park near her place and again it was such nice weather, lots of kids out playing and people out having picnics.
I went back to the hostel whilst she went back to work and I packed up all my belongings ready for the morning. Then I made my way down to hers again and we went out to a restaurant for some ribs and wine. We actually sat outside under heaters and it was definitely insta. worthy. Again we went back to hers after for some wine and a final chat before I left for the hostel for the last time around 11pm.
Although a hostel is not the quietest of places I actually slept quite well there and I enjoyed the experience. I met a few people who were in the same room as me, one from Canada who is travelling across Europe. I gave a couple of people my number so if they come to the UK we can catch up too!
I have to say I loved Amsterdam, I thoroughly enjoyed travelling on my own and I will definitely do it again. Not just to Amsterdam but I'm hoping to go to other places in the world too. I was very tired by the end of the 5 days but my CF didn't effect my journey as much as I thought it would, to be honest it barely affected it at all.
A few months later...
I returned to the 'Dam and stayed with my friend for a week. I had another fabulous time and visited even more museums, such as the Van Gogh Museum, NEMO Science Museum and Moco Museum; the Moco Museum contains Banksy pieces and plenty of instagrammable moments! It was amazing weather whilst I was there and I explored some more of Amsterdam, including some very sweet little markets near the Rembrandt House Museum; I recommend visiting. I decided to do the Amsterdam Dungeons one day too. It was pretty interesting although at one point I was sent through a pitch black tunnel; I was walking with my arms out in front of me so I didn't walk into a wall. All of a sudden the lights flickered on and there was someone stood right in front of me, I screamed and tripped over, scraping my knee. I was fine, I knew I would be scared but I forgot how clumsy I am and didn't think I'd fall over!
The other museum I, of course, had to visit was the Sex Museum, not one for the family! It was graphic but it did also have plenty of interesting facts too. Plus a giant penis you could sit on and take a picture with.
All in all I loved Amsterdam and would highly recommend to anyone. With or without travelling companions. As for my CF, it was nicer for me to have my own space the second time around for me to do my medicines in private, however, the hostel really wasn't bad and no one made any comments on anything. Check with your doctors everything you must take and if you need a fit to fly test and then just do it, just go!
I've recently been shown an app. called "Lucky Trip" where you can get cheap holiday deals in/around Europe and would recommend checking it out!
Thank you for reading, sorry for taking so long between posts!xoxo
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