un voyage à Amsterdam
a trip to Amsterdam
To celebrate our 5 years and Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend and I decided to go away for a long weekend to Amsterdam. It was one of the most amazing trips that I’ve been on, from the sites to the food and drink, I’m already thinking about what I want to do when I go again.
After our flight was delayed on Friday night, and buying two bottles of wine from duty free at a bargain deal, we finally landed and made our way to the hotel. We stayed at The Dutch Design Hotel Artemis. The hotel was basically a mini art exhibition. In the lobby there were designer pieces of furniture, paintings, and crystal crowns. Another great thing about the hotel was that we were right near a tram stop which led all the way into the city centre.
The next morning we got up really early and had breakfast in the hotel before leaving to explore the city. We were able to buy day travel tickets from the hotel that would last 24 hours from the time they were brought, which helped with the late nights. We also thought that we’d do the touristy thing and use the paper map given to us by the hotel … turns out we weren’t the best map readers and did have to use our phones! But once we figured out the basics, we were on a roll. We ended up exploring most of the city before 5 pm, including walking through the Red Light District, which during the day is really strange!
We travelled back to the hotel and waited to hear from our friends who had travelled in that same day. We met them later in the evening and found a great Tapas bar outside the main city, though there were still hundreds of people in the area. Our first night ended with drinks, laughter and rain — the only downfall of the trip was the weather.
The next day we decided to relax and not try and see everything as it would seem rushed and forced. We went to a local supermarket and got some brunch and ate back at the hotel. Once we got to the city, we were familiar with our surroundings and decided to not even use a map, but try and navigate on our own. I felt much more relaxed about this considering we had been in places nearby the day before.
Now, you can’t go to Amsterdam without going to one of the museums … we being the well educated youths obviously went to the Sex Museum. I have to say, it was both funny and interesting at the same time — people are into some weird stuff! When we left the museum, we walked and found ourselves in Dam square, which was amazing. The architecture in Amsterdam was so interesting, it was very gothic and detailed, which I loved. Later in the evening we decided we had to see the Red Light District at night. It’s a whole new experience, let me tell you now. There were so many people, so many different venues (not that we went to any), and so many girls. The whole concept still seems so bizarre to me, but it works for them!
Later that night when we got back to the hotel, we were so sad knowing that our trip was up. We had done so much in the space of two days, but we wanted more. We thought about what we would do the next time we travelled:
- Go when it is warmer, though it could be more expensive.
- Visit more museums, not just the erotic ones.
- Go for a canal tour, the canals running through the city made me want to see more.
- Budget for the day, we spent way too much!
- Have a longer visit, the two days went so fast and an extra day would have made all the difference.
Overall, it really was one of the best trips I have ever been on, and going for a celebration made it all the more special. I really recommend Amsterdam to anyone, its such a fun experience, just walking around the streets, you’ll never want to leave.
