AMSTERDAM

Hey guys, we are back with a Travel post as promised, and thanks a lot for the over whelming response for our last post, means a lot. We hope you like this post as well, so without further ado I’ll just get right into it. (x

For sure Amsterdam has got to be one of the coolest cities I have visited till date. I am not the nature-loving, looking-out-for-picturesque- backdrop kind of person, but if the city gives me that and a tad bit of excitement and cool things to see and experience, I live for such kind of things. I don’t want to ramble and bore you with what ‘I’ like and don’t per se, what I am going to talk about is how amazing AMSTERDAM really is. You can tell I am not over it yet.

My trip was petite it was only a three day vacay with family.

SO basically as soon as I reached Amsterdam, plan was to stay back and rest for the day and then explore from the next day. But, the ride from the station to my hotel, was so great that we were legit dying to get up and go about the city as soon as possible. The architecture and the narrow lanes; it was essentially for pedestrians, trams, and the general vehicles, all stacked up in narrow lanes, all of it was the prettiest.

So obviously we rushed and checked in, shoved our luggage into the luggage room and we were off.

First off, we had to take the boat ride, to be honest I would recommend the half hour ride, though there are around 165 canals and each area has its own vibe to it, it’s much more fun to walk around the streets and experience the culture. So yeah the boat rides have this audio facility, so you have a fun commendatory through out the ride. Also there are a range of different categories of rides to choose from, like if you want to go for romantic candle lit one, or a boat for your group exclusively etc. We went for the boat ride mainly cause that was the first thing we spotted after we headed out of our hotel.

Pretend-clock(it wasn’t even working)

Through the Canals

After the boat ride we wanted to chill for a while, so we decided to go to Hard rock Café cause I am a sucker for their mocktails. Also it’s located right amidst the Holland casino, Van gogh Museum and best of all Paradiso live music venue, who doesn’t love live music?

So my first day was a ball.

Next day pretty much passed by on killing them bills, I went shopping, personally, Amsterdam has a lot of high end dutch boutiques which have pretty cool and quirky things, like the store De looir Antiques Market was quite over-whelming. But I for one am not fond of such things. I went chic mode ON, got myself a pair of basic Nike shoes and oh also I went way too basic with my shopping, check my closet all you’ll get is grey’s and black’s, not sorry. We also had a moment of self consciousness, since we hadn’t made most of the second day and we really didn’t want to come off as people who travel only to shop as opposed to people who travel to indulge into new cultures and activities(even though we still fall in the first category).

We decided to go check out the Anne Frank Museum, towards the end of the day.

Okay, so the museum has these time slots, to visit and only then can you come and get an entry. Now we didn’t know that so we casually came and HAD to stomach this never ending queue starting from the tram station were we got down at, till the museum, we knew for sure we wouldn’t make it, but had to give it a try; more like we were obliged to give it a try for the reason I mentioned above. Buuuut after 2 hours of constant irritation, and ticking off at everything and one calm Dad also after lots of cheese pretzels (which was great) WE GOT IN. And might I say it was totally worth it, even though in the queue I kept saying “I bet there is no point of this stupid museum anyway”.

No one knew, but I may or may not have just cried a little bit, by the end of the house tour. It was beautiful, I swear by it. PLEASE DO NOT MISS IT AFTER SEEING HOW LONG THE QUEUE IS, you’ll regret it.

Also I had read a little bit of the book and found it boring, so after the museum I did pick up the book and read it(the entire book) that day, it’s pretty damn amazing and not boring at all. It was from a jewish people perspective, when she was helping her family during the hiding period(2 years) from the Nazi persecution during the second world war, the story was super insightful, it was a good read.

With that my second day was a wrap.

Okay so the third Day we went for the Heineken Experience, its a tour which shows basically how they process beer from scratch it was really fascinating. And by the end of the tour you can even pour out your own pint of beer, apparently it’s an art to pour out the perfect pint. Steps include Rinse, pour, skim, check, it was fun and if you do it “right” you get this cool certificate which certifies you as an eligible pourer. It’s cute okay, I got one (now I can pour, WHAAAT?!?!) If you are a beer enthusiast then you must visit this place.

Trying to learn the art of poring

We were exhausted after the tour so we went out to eat, and also no one leaves Amsterdam without going to their tiny café’s which serve the most authentic pancakes and crepes. I for one am a die hard pan cake fan, so I was really pumped to try theirs. We went to this deli and had a huge pancake filled our tummies for almost 10 days.

Splurged into a little shopping okay and then went to the “IAMSTERDAM” monument thing, hung around there for a while until sunset, also during the winters an ice skating rink is formed which I guess would be so much fun.

This was pretty much my Vacay to Amsterdam, it was short but it was the most fun I have had in any city. I forgot to mention, I went there during the summers, mid July, great time to visit Amsterdam, beautiful weather that time of the year.

With this we come to end of the second post. Hope you liked it. Would love to know what you think about the blog; like and leave a comment. Feedbacks would help us give you our best. You can even mail us at themixtape420@gmail.com . Thank you for the love and support