A midweek break in Amsterdam, part 1

[ part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 ]

So, this post is a little late. In fact, Moose and I went to Amsterdam almost a year ago to the day. We decided to have a midweek holiday to celebrate our anniversary (we usually try to go away, as our anniversary is late January and it gives us something fun to look forward to after the festivities of Christmas have given away to miserable New Year blues.) Unfortunately, I'm a terrible blogger (though, obviously, trying to fix that now!), and I just never got around to writing about it. So, in the spirit of 2019 and resolutions of 'being a better blogger', I've decided to finally get off my butt, a year later, to try and do the trip justice! Here's hoping I can remember the details all this time later. I have our tickets, receipts and leaflets stored away in a 'to be scrapbooked' box... which is another thing I'm terrible about doing in a timely manner. Ahem.

Anyway! Amsterdam! Moose and I want to do more cheap city breaks around Europe, and I'm not really sure why we decided on Amsterdam as our first destination in this endeavour, but when we found cheap flights and a lovely hotel, it all just fell into place! We flew out of Gatwick (after our customary Wagamama meal in the airport) and were on our way!

Is it really a travel post without a wing photo?

Getting from the airport to our hotel was easy peasy. The airport is an easy train journey into Amsterdam Centraal Station, which is in the heart of the city. From there, you can walk or get a tram pretty much anywhere you want to go. Our hotel was right next to a Line 2 tram stop, which is how we got in and out of the city centre every day. It was only about twenty minutes into town, and the trams ran very regularly and late into the night. Being slightly outside the centre made our hotel cheaper, and it really wasn't that inconvenient at all .

By the time we got to our hotel, it was already getting late. The main downside with being slightly out of town was that there weren't as many dinner options as we'd have liked. We debated taking a tram somewhere, but I'd discovered a tempting Chinese restaurant around the corner, and we thought we'd give it a go. It turned out to be a good choice, because the food was delicious! We stayed there until our bellies were fit to burst, and then we returned to our hotel room.

We paid a little extra for deluxe rooms, simply because I fell in love with the mid-century decor. They were so cosy and comfortable, and the bathroom had a heated floor, which was just heavenly. The hotel even had UK plug sockets and USB plugs, which made life a lot easier for a techy couple who travel with a hundred gadgets!

Day two was our first 'real' day. We had a pizza canal cruise booked for dinner that evening, so we decided to spend the majority of the day just wandering about the central area and exploring what Amsterdam had to offer. We found a lovely place for lunch called 'Pancake & Burger Bar'. We actually liked this place so much we returned to them on our last morning. I hate to say it out loud, but Amsterdam wasn't really that great for food. It felt like everywhere was a pancake place, sushi restaurant or sold burgers and steaks. Which, y'know, that's fine, but one of the joys of going abroad is to try out unusual cuisine. The food we did eat was delicious, though. I opted for a mushroom and Swiss cheese burger while Moose had a pizza. And of course, I had some Heineken. I would end up drinking a lot of Heineken on this trip! Hey, it's cultural.

After lunch, we had a long walk around the city. One of my favourite things to do on the first day of a holiday is just explore, with very little planning. I like to get a feel for the place. (Conversely, I try to have solid plans set in place for the rest of the trip, or else I feel like we're missing things and not getting the most out of our time! I get quite neurotic about it!)

I absolutely love the tall buildings in Amsterdam. I think I took more photos of them than of anything else. They just had so much character. And yes, there were a lot of bikes!

I also seem to have taken a whole lot of photos of trams. I know they're not very exciting to a lot of people, but here in the South West of England we don't have trams! I'm excited when I go to Croydon or Sheffield and get to ride a tram, let alone fancy Amsterdam trams.

Before long, it was time to get to the pier for our dinner cruise. I actually don't have any good photos of this, because we were too busy enjoying the views and dare I say unlimited Heinekin. Amsterdam may not have been the place of a thousand cuisine options, but I put on half a stone in beer. Oops.

Cheers!

[ part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 ]