We left early Friday morning-really early! To get to the airport from Harstad, it is about an hour long bus ride. Because we had an early flight, we had to take the first bus-which left at 4:50 am! I woke up that morning at about 3:15 am, and even though it was an early morning, I was so excited I didn't hardly notice! We had a really smooth day of travel, which I was glad for. We did have an eight hour layover in Copenhagen-which was long, but luckily they have a REALLY nice airport! We arrived in Amsterdam at about 10:00 Friday evening. We got checked into our hostel and went to bed for the evening, as we were both very tired!
This was my first experience staying in a hostel, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. However, I was pleasently surprised. The name of the hostel we were at was The Flying Pig, and it got really great reviews for hostels in Amsterdam, which is what led us to choose it. The staff was all super friendly, the rooms were nice (considering you were in a room with ten other people who you didn't know), and the bar area was cool to hang out in and meet people. I didn't ever feel unsafe with the big rooms, as you have to have a key to get both into the hostel itself and into your specific room. After staying here, the thought of staying in a hostel again doesn't scare me at all!
After getting to the Copenhagen airport, the first thing I did was get myself a Starbucks! After not having any for almost two months, I didn't realize just how much I missed it!!
The Copenhagen airport had (pretty much) a mall inside of it, which made the 8 hour layover a little easier!
My first hostel experience=a success!
Saturday we hit the ground running with our first full day in Amsterdam. We had intentions of finding the meeting spot for a free walking tour, but didn't quite make it there on time! We spent most of Saturday exploring the city on our own, trying to get our bearings of where everything was at. The first thing we had to do this day was buy umbrellas, as it was raining! After getting the proper rain gear, we ventured down one of the main streets. One thing that came to mind almost right away was, "I hope I don't get hit by a bike this week" and I wasn't really kidding! There are so many bikes in Amsterdam! On one of our tours, we were told that there is about a million bikes in the city, compared to 800,000 people! And while there are specific bike paths on many of the main roads, on some of the side streets there is not, and you are expected to get out of their way! After this first day, I pretty much had the hang of staying out of the way of the bikes, but I was constantly on the lookout for them!
Saturday we explored the flower market, many of the shops, and finally made our way to Dam Square. Once we figured out were some "landmarks" were, it was easier to get around. However, if you are ever in Amsterdam and are hoping to use McDonalds or H&M to help you figure out where you're at, good luck as there is one (seriously) on every other street!
Even though day number one was kind of a gloomy day, it was still surreal to take in the beautiful sights!
The flower market was really cool-you could find any color tulip bulb imaginable here!
Dam Square, which was the first of many dams built in this city, was the meeting point of many of our tours, so it was an area in which we became well aquainted with!
I finally found my shoe! I thought I had lost it!! (Just kidding!)
Saturday we also found Madame Tussaud's wax museum-which is located in Dam Square. I have been to Madame Tussaud's before, but it never ceases to be a blast!
Me and Lady Gaga
Got to do a little dance in a Charlie Chaplin movie!
After the wax museum, we took a carriage ride through the city. It was a neat way to see much of the city for the first time!
After a full day on Saturday, we had another full day on Sunday. We did two walking tours. One was a three hour tour of the city, and the second was an hour and a half tour of the Red Light District. We had the same tour guide for both of these tours, and they were both awesome! Our guide told us all about the city, but in a fun, interesting way!
Ready to explore on day two!!
Breakfast on Sunday was a really yummy waffle with whipped cream and banana! (Waffles seem to be a very big food in the Netherlands!)
Finally some sun peeking through!
So many bikes! This picture doesn't even begin to show how many there actually is!
This picture shows what is called the Jewish Quarter in Amsterdam. Most of the buildings here a newer, as many of the houses were destroyed during and after the war.
Our tour guide pointed out how many of the houses in Amsterdam lean. The houses are all built on a marsh, which is what causes this. Once he pointed it out, I couldn't not see it!
The only remaining wooden house in Amsterdam
A "hidden" courtyard in the city center. This courtyard includes a two churches, one of which is a hidden catholic church. There was a time in Amsterdam when practicing Catholicism was illegal, so their churches were hidden. They looked like normal houses on the outside, but when you enter them, they are beautiful churches! One thing that was awesome about this courtyard was that the sounds from the city seem to disappear when you enter!
These different plaques on building were the equivalent of house numbers. The different pictures and words on the plaques let people know who lived in the house, and if it was a business, what they did.
On our first walking tour, we got to try some Dutch cheese, which was REALLY good!!
Our tour of the Red Light District was interesting to say the least! Our tour guide kept it light and funny, which made it a very enjoyable evening, even though it was really cold!
After our Red Light District tour ended, it was time for a snack! Dutch fries with mayo-another traditional food which was so good!
We definitely got our exercise on Sunday!!
Monday we did, what was by far, my favorite part of the trip. We did a bike tour through the city! We booked our tour online, and when we showed up, we were surprised to find out we were the only ones who had booked a tour that morning, so we got a private bike tour of the city! I was a little worried about biking through this city, because as I previously mentioned, the bikers are a little crazy! Not only that, but I haven't been on a bike in a long time! Well, I'm happy to say that all went well, and I was not hit by another biker, nor did I hit anyone or anything on my bike! Yay!! On this tour, we saw a few of the same things we saw the previous day, but seeing them by bike made it much better! Our tour guide also took us outside of the city center to show us some areas of the city we never would have found otherwise!
The day started with breakfast of a freshly made crepe with nutella and banana! Yum!
This building was the headquarters of the (I believe) East India trading company.
Our tour guide took us to a cool vintage market that is only open on Mondays!
Biking through Vondel Park
This building supposedly has the best acoustics for orchestra in the world. As they were building the theater, they brought orchestras in to play and they modified the design of the building to improve the acoustics. Our tour guide also told us that at one point, this theater was outside of town, so people would have to leave the city to see a show.
Our tour guide also took us to two different hidden churches. The first had a beautiful pipe organ inside, and the second, which was inside the courtyard I talked about previously, had a beautiful chapel inside.
I asked our tour guide, if we passed it, if he could point out the bench from The Fault in Our Stars. He was more than happy to take us to the spot, and even went across the canal to take some pictures of us on the bench!
After the bike tour, we went ice skating in front of the Rijksmuseum! It was a beautiful afternoon for skating!
Tuesday we visited the Anne Frank House. I was very excited to go see this place I had learned about so much in school. It was surreal seeing where the Frank family hid, and to see Anne's diary in person was amazing. Sometimes while going through the museum, I had to remind myself that she was just a young girl. I think the best experience of the whole museum was actually being able to pass by the bookshelf that hid the family for the two years they were in hiding. Also seeing video clips from people like Miep Gies, who helped the family while in hiding and recovered Anne's diary after the family was captured, and Anne's father Otto really helped add more to the story than what I got while I was reading her diary in school.
Wednesday and Thursday were not as action packed as the earlier part of the week. We did a canal tour, which while very interesting, it was raining which was kind of a bummer! We also went to a very large outdoor market, where I bought some delicious homemade cheese to bring back!
It's kind of hard to tell (and ignore my reflection in the window), but this is a parking ramp for bikes. Yes, bikes!
This blue house is actually a house boat. We learned that there is over 2,000 house boats on the canals in Amsterdam, and that people live in them year round. While on the canal tour, I saw some very nice house boats!
Wednesday night we checked out the Ice Bar, which was a cool experience-literally! It was about -10 degrees Celcius in there!
On our way to the market on Thursday, we saw this bike! With so many bikes in the city, this is one way to make sure your's doesn't get lost in the sea of bikes!
The outdoor market seemed to just keep going and going and going!
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