The Amsterdam Adventure

6:30am CET. The (way too early) start of our Holland travels. After a smooth ride through customs, we were on the sprinter to Schiedam, where we changed onto the most beautiful double decker train with free wifi I've ever seen. Holland, you are nailing it. Of course, because the train ride was such a breeze, and life is a cruel mistress, we got horrifically lost trying to find our hostel. 16 minutes, google maps said. Over an hour later, and many circles around the beautiful streets of Amsterdam, we admitted defeat and Emily stepped into the reception of a tours and tickets to ask the way. As Murphy's Law would have it, if we'd gone just a few steps further down a road we'd been on twenty minutes before, we would have found it. Needless to say, we were very glad to dispose of our (probably too large) bags.

Once the luggage had been taken care of, it was time to explore the city and more importantly, find food. Goal achieved, we consulted our new city map and decided to just walk round and take in the sights as we went. And walk round we did, seeing miles of the city it felt like. Beautiful canals, stunning brick work, and the manic streets. Not only did you have to look out for cars, but trams and cyclists and mopeds on the pavement too. After a few hours of nearly being hit, we'd got the hang of it! We found Anne Frank's house (and the way too long queue), and the Dam, a beautiful square where we accidentally stumbled into Starbucks to use their wifi, and then into Forever 21.. Several almost purchases later, we grabbed a bite at McDonald's before heading back to the hostel to check in and chill out. We'd booked a double room, and we were pretty excited not to have to share. Imagine our disappointment when the room ended up being not big enough to swing a mouse in. However, all was forgiven when we saw the stunning view across the rooftops of the city. Our evening comprised of finding the nearest supermarket for the cold I'd managed to develop, and taking pictures at the 'I Amsterdam' sign.

The next day dawned and we treated ourselves to a lie in, spending a good hour deciding we had to get out of bed before finally dragging ourselves up and getting dressed. We bought breakfast and lunch at our new favourite supermarket, before heading off along the canals to find the flower market and a flea market. Several stops were made along the way to drink in everything around us,  and take many, many pictures of the canals and houses. The flower market ended up being amazing, a long strip of stalls packed with every flower imaginable, including the obvious tulips, and cannabis starter plants. We bought two plastic orange tulips to put on the outside of our bags.

It was then time to find the flea market, but no matter how hard we tried, we could not find it! Instead, we lunched by the canal and headed back towards the Dam to find Starbucks and use their wifi (praise the Starbucks siren!). Wifi achieved, we decided to go on a 'The Fault In Our Stars' tour. We'd already been through the Rijksmuseum, and so headed first towards the bench and then to Vondelstraat to find Peter Van Houtens house. The bench was full, and so we made plans to come back later. After wandering back through the stunning Vondelpark, we crashed back at the hostel and ate dinner. After chilling for a while, and cooling down in front of the fan, it was time to head back out in search of the bench and Anne Frank's house. The bench went the way we had planned, and we got some lovely photos of it, and of ourselves on it. The house, however, was another story, and after half an hour of waiting in the world's longest queue, we gave up and walked back to the hostel to relax, watch the sun set, and pack to set off for Berlin in the morning!

I think if either of us had to describe our Amsterdam experience in one word, it would definitely be 'mental'. But boy, was it amazing, and we are both completely in love.