First full day in Amsterdam:
Slept pretty well considering I’m in a hostel with 13 strangers, was a bit noisy, I’m on a top bunk and my beds right by the door, not everyone knows how to close a door quietly!
Stayed in bed until 10am, needed a good lie in, and I’m on holiday so why not? Got up and took my tablets and did my nebs, most people were either out already or awake so I did my first nebuliser on my bed then took the second into the bathroom with me and I had a cough and did it in there whilst I got changed and brushed my teeth! As I came out the bathroom carrying last nights panties and my toothbrush I realised that the key for my room was on my phone..which was in the room. I knew everyone was awake so I knocked on the door a few times but no one answered. So I had to walk through the breakfast dining area and up to reception with my laundry and toiletries to ask for a temporary key, the guy just chuckled and said “yeah this happens a lot”. Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of people eating breakfast at 11am so I was saved some embarrassment!
I then grabbed some brekkie myself and made a vague plan of what to do today.
Off I went to explore Amsterdam!
As it was so hot in the bedroom I decided it’d be worth popping into a shop for some little pyjamas as all I brought was long sleeves! So I visited everyones favourite, Primark. It was huge, I’m talking 7 floors big! As I can’t read or speak any Dutch I was just guessing which floor I needed to be on, I kept guessing wrong. Eventually though I found the sleep wear and grabbed a very small and cute pair of Winnie the Pooh pyjamas.
I then had a wonder around some random streets, doing my best to avoid being run over by the 1000’s of bikes that grace the streets of Amsterdam!
Eventually I came across the Body Works museum, I remember someone had told me about it and thought I’d give it a go, I even got an audio headset. It was actually very interesting, a deep look into the body, all it’s systems and the way things are interpreted in the brain too. All the while the models are actual people who donated their bodies to science after their passing. Plus, a very random blood vessel anatomy of a duck, for apparently no reason; hence the cover photo of this blog piece.
After I came out I decided I needed food. I have a friend who is currently living in Amsterdam with her boyfriend and so she came to meet me. Before she got there I went into Tony’s Chocolonely cafe, I love the chocolate so had to try it! Had a gf and vegan cupcake and a chocolate milkshake; was delicious!
Met my friend who I haven’t seen in almost 2.5 years, but as with all good friends we fell back into conversation with ease! We wandered the streets admiring all the architecture, there’s so many beautiful things to admire in Amsterdam, not least all the canals!
We eventually found ourselves in amongst the streets of the Red Light district, it's a fascinating place. I learnt that the models in the windows pay for their windows which makes it seem like more of a business than I had originally thought. My friend and I did decide to visit a peep show, you pay €2 and watch for 2 minutes. In the show we saw it was just a lady, it was bizarre, and ultimately I think I'm too British to watch that sort of show, she can see you too and the eye contact was...odd. There were unfortunately some boys in the cubicle next to ours that were being very rude, but thankfully the lady told them to f*** off. As we left my friend apologised for it not being very interesting but I honestly think that was as interesting as I needed it to be! We popped into a shop a few doors down which stated at the door that there was an instagrammable moment inside...it was a bath full to the brim of dildos. We did not get in it but I did take a picture of the bath tub (check the bottom of the blog post to see it).
We decided we'd experienced enough of the red light district for one day and headed to a bar near one of the canals to have a drink in the afternoon sun. Stopping for a few cute pics for the 'gram on the way of course.
If you type in 'gluten free' to google maps it will come up with places near you that offer gf alternatives, it was incredibly useful for me and Amsterdam had so much to offer! There was a pizza bar called LouLou's which I insisted we had to go to purely based on the name. It turned out to be some of the best pizza we've ever had, especially the gf pizza I had, it was incredible and would recommend to anyone visiting Amsterdam! My friend's boyfriend had joined us for dinner and drinks and it was the first time I got to meet him. He's absolutely lovely and they are such a cute couple, really bringing out the best in each other. They've even offered me their spare room the next time I go out there.
They walked me to the metro station and I navigated back to central without any problems, it was only when I came out of the station that I got lost. Instead of a 5 minute walk it took me 30 minutes because I started walking in the completely wrong direction. Eventually google maps saved me and I made it to the 24/7 ferry across the river IJ and back to the hostel.
By the time I got back most of my fellow travellers were in bed so I had to be as quiet as I could..not the easiest thing to do on a squeaky bunkbed in the dark, but I managed and got another goodnights sleep. xoxo
Comments