Amsterdam — Living Our Dream

Amsterdam, Netherlands
September 27th-30th

We arrived in Amsterdam at a decent hour. We walked a short distance to our hostel. This hostel was on a boat! We quickly realized how small a houseboat hostel room would be. We had just enough room for the both of is to stand, or one of us to twirl in a circle. Of course, this didn't bother us as we were really excited to get out and enjoy the city.

The weather was ncie. Warm during the day, and cool enough to at night to bring a light sweater. By the time we had finished getting settled into our room, the sun was setting. The sky was absolutely breathtaking. We set out to find some food to eat. We didnt know where to go and didnt have much WiFi so we did what we normally do and followed the people. We each had a glass of wine and shared an appetizer plate. We got ribs, chorizo, onion rings, chicken wings, and cucumbers, It wasn't what we normally would order but it was so good. We also shared tomato soup. When you are eating out all the time you have to change it up a bit. After another glass of wine we decided to walk around town. The city seemed pretty alive and we could tell it was just getting started. Unfortunately, we wereexhausted and headed back to our houseboat for a good nights sleep.

The next morning we decided it was going to be a busy day. We got up early and rushed to join a bike tour. We made it just in time to grab a quick croissant and hop on a bike. We joined the city in their extremely efficient biking system. It was a bit intimidating considering I haven't been on a bike in a few years. After a few minutes of getting used to riding, It was a blast! We rode by the Anne Frank House, the I Amsterdam sign, through the Red Light District, and all of the place in-between.

Once we were finished with the bike tour, Taylor and I chose to head towards the Heineken Experience. Usually, I am not a fan of Heineken beer but we were told this is something we shouldn't miss. I am not going to lie, it was awesome. We learned all about the history of the beer all the while feeling like we were inside a video game. At the end of the tour, we enjoyed two glasses of Heineken before picking up our personalized Heineken Beer Bottles. We each got two designs and had our names put on them.

By this time, we were hungry. We walked the 45 minutes back to our houseboat to drop off the things we had bought. We saw a pizza restaurant earlier in the day and agreed that would be our meal. In true Herring style, we each ordered our own pizza and a glass of wine. There was a table sitting near us who stared at us the entire time we ate. This is not an exaggeration. Regardless, we stared back while eating every last bit of our pizza. It was so good!

We had a little time to kill before heading to our next destination so we walked through the city for a while and found a little bar with happy hour specials. We got little beers and little glasses of vine. Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Ice Bar. We already had tickets at got in line. We didn't have to wait long. With the tickets we got a few free drinks. One before you entered and two in the cups made of ice! I haven't been in an Ice Bar before so it was a fun experience. It was cold so we weren't in there for very long.

On out way home we stopped in a little bar to have a nightcap before walking home. Tay and I had a blast just the two of us. We sang songs and danced then called it a night. Once we got home we hit the sack and got ready for the next day!

The next morning was a rainy one. There was a Starbucks around the corner from our boat so we stopped in to dry off, have a coffee, and plan our day. Because I know you are judging me, YES I got a pumpkin spice latte and I am okay with it. I am going to miss PSL season at home. Anyways, we planned our day as follows: shop a bit, walk back to Heineken to get the hat Tay should have bought the day before, eat pancakes recommended by our hostel, and then visit the Ann Frank House.

After a little shopping and walking to the Heineken house, we decided to add in a visit to the I Amsterdam sign. It was closer than we expected so we had to walk over. It was raining so there weren't many people around. While our pictures didn't turn out as great as we would have liked, it was nice to be there without a giant crowd.

Next we went to the pancake place recommended by hour hostel manager. We were glad to stop by here because we were both hungry and soaked from walking in the rain. This place had pancake filling options with anything you could think of. They were so good and filled us up.

After eating pancakes, it was time to head to the Anne Frank House. We figured the line would be short considering the weather was so bad. While we were right, we did have to wait about an hour in line outside in the rain. We chatted with the people in line, and before we knew it we were in! This was a surreal experience. It was so heavy but very interesting getting to stand in the rooms the Frank family hid for so long. Both Taylor and I were very grateful to have been able to experience this.

On our walk home, we stopped by to get some Chinese food from Amsterdam's China Town. Once we made it back to the hostel we decided to hang out by the river. While we didn't get WiFi in hour hostel, Amsterdam has free WiFi and it works if you sit in the right place. So we posted up for a little bit an watch a little show. The weather was a little chilly which made for a perfect night by the river.

The next morning we set out to find a place to print our plane tickets. This is always something we were lucky with in the past. Our hostels usually are able to print for us. Because our hostel couldn't print this time, we had to find a way to do so. Luckily we were close to a "library". It was at least 9 stories of knowledge (books, computers, instruments, exhibits, etc..). We walked in thinking it would be simple. It ended up taking us a while to figure our their system. Buy a passcode with a credit card only. Use code to get signed on to the computer. Once signed on, find the printer and figure out how to make it work. We got it eventually. Also, this is the first place we came in contact with escalators that speed up once you step on them. Otherwise they move very slow in order to save energy. Very cool.

We left the library and were off to Dublin!

Peace & Love,
avannah