Road Trip to Amsterdam

3/14/14

Day 1: Our friends, Jayde and Nick, asked if we wanted to take a road trip.  I of course was all for it so I jumped on the computer and found a Groupon sale for the Park Inn Hotel in, what I thought was Amsterdam.  It was only $89 per night with breakfast so we booked our rooms, filled up with gas, and headed to the Netherlands.

I have to be honest, I never ever thought I would be able to travel to Amsterdam.  I guess I never envisioned a time when all these places would be accessible to me, so while I imagined how cool the canals would be and how I might end up trying one of their famous "brownies", I did not think it would ever happen.

It only took us 6 hours to drive from Germany to the Netherlands and it was a very pretty drive.  Since it was March, it was still a little cooler but Spring was already happening so the colors and landscape were looking lush.  Our hotel was actually about 10 minutes away, with shuttle to Schiphol Airport and train station.  From there, it was a 20 minute ride to downtown Amsterdam.  That really wasn't bad and it gave us a chance to us public transportation.  In the States, we never had to use public transportation so we weren't great at it but it wasn't difficult.

Our hotel

Our room

Great decor!  I loved the colors.

The the trains!

Public transportation.  Woo hoo!

Amsterdam train station

Our first day, we took the train to Amsterdam and just ate dinner at a traditional Dutch restaurant.  It was much more expensive than we anticipated but for the most part it was alright.  The novelty was better than the food.  My pork medallions were so under cooked, I couldn't really eat them but they were so bland, a little more cooking wouldn't have helped.  The beer was good though and at least our stomachs were full.  After dinner, we walked around and then went back to the hotel and called it a night.

Day 2:  After a very good breakfast full of delicious sausages and plenty of fresh fruit, we headed to downtown Amsterdam.  When we walked from the train station across our fist canal, we saw that they had water bus tours.  We thought that would be a good way to see the city and it's canals.

Our water bus tour

View inside our water bus

The buildings in Amsterdam were pretty amazing

I could spend some time in one of these places!

Just love those windows!

I think we saw most of the canals

One of the things that struck us most here was how many people rode bikes.  It's like everyone rode.  They had parking garages for bikes!  Thousands of bikes a day are parked at these places.

Just one of many parking areas for bikes

After our boat tour, we went shopping for cheese.  It's one of the yummiest things they have in Amsterdam and they take their cheese very seriously.  Almost as seriously as their flowers!

Just look at those tulips!

Cheese, cheese, everywhere!

Such a selection...

Cheese AND wooden shoes! ;)

After our cheese frenzy, we went to the Anne Frank house.  The line was pretty long but it moved quickly.  I think the Anne Frank house was our favorite part.  It's hard to imagine a young girl having that much intellect and depth...I can't imagine what an amazing woman she would have become.

Just a small idea of the lines

The Anne Frank House

After the house, we did a lot more walking, drinking, and eating.

Around Amsterdam

Bikes all over

Day 3: On our last day, we had breakfast and headed home.  We never did eat the brownies.  It was everywhere and actually, after first thinking that Jayde and I might eat some, the smell alone gave us head aches and we just weren't up for it.  Over kill I think. We had a great time and really loved all the sights but I think I won't be going back to the Netherlands until Tulip time! :)  It was terribly expensive and the food was pretty average.

Jack, me, Nick, & Jayde