Amsterdam January 2014: Bikes, Tea in Glasses, and Anne Frank

Hello all!
So I recently traveled solo to Amsterdam for three days. I was pretty nervous considering it was my first solo trip to a country I had never been to before and knew barely anything about, which spoke a completely different language to the two I know.

I took Megabus, which has been dubbed Megadeath by one of my good friends, but I actually found the experience to be quite enjoyable. I took the night bus from Porte Maillot on Saturday night and arrived at the Zeeburg Park and Ride at 7 am, which is steps from the 26 tram to Centraal Station. We had to wait twenty minutes for the first tram since it was a Sunday, but I made friends with a nice girl who is studying in Paris and we navigated the tram system together. Important note: remember to check IN and OUT of the trams by swiping the card across the sensor - I forgot this, and had to buy a new card (2.80) for my transfer tram.

I stayed in the Van Gogh Hotel (Hostel), which is located next to the Van Gogh Museum, in the Museumplein district. It was a quiet area with beautiful houses and my 8-bed dorm was lovely, with its own beautiful bathroom (the shower was better than the one in my apartment, how sad is that), and save for the huge dude who snored both nights so loudly the walls shook, it was an amazing experience.

Museumplein

My breakfast

The first day, I was slightly delirious from my overnight journey (we stopped multiple times for food, seriously, who needs food at two in the morning...?), but I managed to get out to the Van Gogh Museum:

Following the museum, which was amazing and totally worth the crazy 15 euro admission, I took a wander around the city.

And stumbled upon the Bloemenmarkt, a huge covered flower market selling seeds, bulbs, blooms, and souvenirs.

Noticed this record store and thought it was pretty cool!

My first leg of exploration culminated with a visit to my most anticipated attraction: The Vondelpark. Even in the winter, the trees stripped of their leaves and the grass barren of any flowers, it was beautiful and haunting in its splendor. I could basically feel Hazel and Gus everywhere around me.

After recuperating in the hostel, I took a nighttime stroll and got a 4.95 falafel for dinner.

Monday morning, I woke up refreshed and excited to take on my mission for the day: The Anne Frank House. I planned to get there around its nine o'clock opening to avoid the lines, but stumbled across this quintessential pancake house along the Prinsengracht canal. It was like the breakfast gods had answered my prayers. The cafe, Koffiehuis "De Hoek", served up an apple pannekoek and the most delicious cup of coffee, which fueled the stair-climbing that would follow.

There are no words to describe the Anne Frank House. To think that someone actually hid there for years during the second world war and a genocide that brutally murdered six million of her kind, while she was just a teenager, longing for freedom behind blackout curtains and hidden attics behind movable bookcases, was crazy. Definitely my number one recommendation. Do not miss it.

After that emotional experience, I trekked through downtown to Centraal Station and the Public Library, which had the most beautiful panoramas of the city from the top floor. Unfortunately, my water bottle leaked on my camera, and the pictures got a bit foggy.

On the way back, I stumbled again upon the most amazing little cafe, although the staff were slightly less friendly than the De Hoek staff, they were still lovely and the place was incredible. Latei is a combination of a vintage store and a cafe, selling little nostalgia trinkets and furniture alongside delicious Dutch cheese sandwiches and weird tea in glasses.

Lamps for Sale

On my last night, I continued my food luck by finding a burger place I had passed earlier in the day, called Burger Zaken, who professed the best burgers in town, and they probably were, although I had nothing to compare them to. They oozed with special burger sauce, and the patty was just a slab of tofu, which seems unappetizing, but melted in my mouth to the point of my having to use a knife and fork to assist in its consumption. The fries were delicious too.

All in all, Amsterdam is definitely somewhere I could see myself living, and the people were the friendliest I had ever met, and spoke perfect English (even the beggars). On the coach home, I could see lots of Belgium, especially Brussels, where we stopped to let people off and on. I had a sneaky gas station belgian waffle and a weird rolo chocolate bar that was basically flattened rolos into squares. It looks like this:

Next up: Berlin and Budpest!

Love always,

Coral