Go Dutch *Photo Heavy*

On the penultimate day in Amsterdam I decided I would blog the trip and just hope that I had taken enough photos on the previous days.

I follow so many bloggers, especially Singaporean bloggers and have wanted to give this a shot for a while now. I hope you enjoy looking at this, it may be the start of something good.

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I had to get up at 5am to get to the airport even though it is no more then 15 minutes away from my house. It was such a nice change from having to drive at least an hour out to a major airport. When we were in the air we learnt that the flight was only 30 minutes long which was also amazing! 5am to 11am flew by (no pun intended) and I had high hopes for the trip. However, the adjacent train connection to Amsterdam Centraal made for a pretty depressing journey and I had to stand the whole time even though the train was a double decker.

We spent the first day mooching around the capital and looking at the array of shops.

The quirky shops were a favorite of mine.

 

When in Amsterdam you quickly learn three things:

1. Pay to pee.

2. Pedestrians are like plants in the food chain. You may not get eaten but you will get hit with an adrenaline rush when you navigate/dodge the transport here.

3. Every 10^th store WILL be a Mc Donalds or H & M. Must be a European thing.

A pet hate of mine is having to pay to use a toilet but there is no escaping it here when you out the realms of your hotel.

Correction – The toilets on the boats were free. But when you see an old and slightly dopey man stagger out of the confined space just nonchalantly staring at you, well, I can sort of understand why they are free.

You will quickly realize that when in Amsterdam, pedestrians have the lowest rank on the food-chain, so to speak. Trams, cars, bicycles and pretty much anything else will probably have right of way over you and pedestrian footpaths are a free-for-all! Even if you think you are out dangers way, you are most likely walking on a cycle path you don’t even know about. But don’t worry, the flutter of bicycle bells will soon put you in your place. 

Bikes are easily the Natives favorite form of transport. They say in London you are never more then 6ft away from a rat. Well in Amsterdam you will struggle to move a millimeter without catching a glimpse of a cyclist. That includes the one that is about to hit you unless you get out of its way. Oh and motorcycles speed down the narrow ‘bicycle paths’ too, so no biggy if you accidentally/ are forced to step onto the bicycle path. It is not like a motorcycle will zoom past you.. oh wait. So whilst the majority of tourist are taking photos of all the touristy monuments like Dam Square, here I am taking photos of bicycle paths. Just for you. 

 

I couldn’t get over how pathetic this particular path is. The left side is the designated bicycle path and the smaller right side is for us walking peasants. You’d be forgiven if you thought this was just an assortment course because unless you brought your high jumping pole with you, you won’t be getting around the trees or over the.. other.. boxy things.. in the way. My point is, well actually there is no point to this, period.

If you haven’t been hit by a bicycle yet, then you’ll probably get smacked in the face by a tram. No really. Tram lines run everywhere and although I now freaking love trams and think that every country should have them because 97% of the time one turned up in under 6 minutes. Even when we literally missed one and the tram driver just stared at us as she erm drove trammed off? Another one appeared just three minutes later. Amazing. There are no barriers, it is your duty to not be in the trams way when it is pelting towards you. I honestly could not believe I did not see anyone get hit. It is all too easy to cross the street and suddenly realize a tram is fast approaching you.

Click to enlarge.

So we all know how to cross a road but do you actually know how to get across Amsterdam style? In my helpful picture you can clearly see pedestrian crossings, but you will more often than not find yourself separated from the crossing by about five thousand tourists, all trying to get across. It takes a while to get into the habit of checking for cyclists both ways before walking across a cycle path and there are always cyclists you have to wait for.. and another one.. and another one.

Cross the road. Pretty standard stuff really but it is all back to front because they drive on the wrong right-hand side. You then have to check for trams but the back-to-front-system means you will be continually checking for trams both ways. By this point you would have looked both ways so much that you almost don’t take anything in. Even that dog on the insurance advert never shakes his head this much. But you then have to cross another road and bicycle path. That Think! Hedgehog animation makes crossing a road look so easy. I wonder why they didn’t do one for Amsterdam. Probably because they would never make it to the other side. You need more then a catchy song to get you through all of this.

I liked venturing down the side roads as the architecture and graffiti spots were interesting. I did not on the other hand like smelling all the hash bars which were impossible to not inhale as a passer by. With the added filter, the almost sub-urban photos have a dream-like quality.

If you like this sort of thing, check out my post here for more photos like these at

Miffy!

 Amsterdam is famous for something quite special – no I’m not talking about what you are thinking… the canals! We decided to explore more of the area on water. It was so nice being able to sit down for a full hour in the hot weather. I don’t think I have ever walked so much in my life.

Great views – bring your camera!

One of my favorite things in the world. Food. The bakeries here are so different to what I am accustomed to back home. 90% of the cakes here all look beige and really dry. After succumbing to eating their cakes, they are actually surprisingly good. I got a massive slab of their version of Madeira cake for under 90 cents which came home with me. Albeit slightly crushed around the corners D:

Pastries are so good here, the croissants were on par to those I’ve eaten recently in France. A small coffee shop called Hema sells lots of pastries for good prices. Croissants cost 50 cents if bought to go.

Amsterdam is famous for its chips and mayonnaise combo.

You can also, unfortunately, find frankfurters everywhere. I found it really weird how home-ware stores would also sell loose frankfurters. They really smelled! :/

  

My bargain of the trip: a large pack of cherries for 75 cents. I really want these again or maybe I am just craving the price wtf.

We voyaged to Amsterdam’s Museum quarter. Totally worth it with the I Amsterdam pass, “free entry to museums + free travel”. You have to swipe the transport cards on and off like an oyster card, they automatically void themselves if you forget to swipe them getting off.. no pressure then. It was okay until the cards accidentally swiped twice and then I would swipe them again and panic as the tram stopped at our destination. The Dutch swipe message really wasn’t helpful. I was quite surprised with the lack of written English. #IgnorantBritishTouristExpectsEnglishEverywhereInAbundance 8-).

Stedelijk Museum

 

The building from the outside looked MASSIVE. But there was not much inside. Some of the ‘art’ was quite pretentious like a couple of bins on a shelf. Amazing. Overall it was fun walking around without the crowds.

Secret gardens were so pretty to look at not to mention the interiors of the former Royal’s house.

We decided to go pay a visit to Amsterdam’s zoo even though we are generally not the biggest fans of zoos. This had the most expensive entrance fee on the list of 19.50 euro which we claimed back with our cards. It was also the first time we had to que up.

 

Unfortunately my camera battery died but I was able to snap one more photo of the elephant’s backsides before it clanked out for good. You are most welcome. As I wasn’t expecting much, I was quickly won over by what we did see once we walked through the main gate. Sometimes it does pay to be a pessimist, if I were expecting the zoo to be amazing then it probably would have disappointed me. The outside space went on for miles and even the pathways looked pretty. We did not even walk around the full diameter of the zoo because we were achy from all the walking on the previous days. Yet what we did see has left a positive impression on me. If I ever go back to Amsterdam then I will definitely pay another visit to the zoo with a fully charged camera.

I’ve intermingled the days together just to group relevant photos and I have left out a days worth of activities because I have no extra time to blog them. We also visted the Flower Market, Rembrant’s Museum House, The Van Gogh Museum, Diamond Museum and Foam gallery so let me know if you would like a mini review on those places (all free with the IAmsterdam card).  On our last day, amongst other things, we visited the Albert Cuyp market after reading good reviews.

But unless you thoroughly enjoy Pitsea market I would give this a wide birth. Trip Advisor states you can “easily” spend three hours here.. we did it in 20. If you spot a really negative review on Trip Advisor regarding this market then it was probably written by yours truly 8-). Aside from all the free food tasters there was nothing special here. I was happy I went because I got to try Amsterdam’s version of a waffle which looks like a dry biscuit but is actually really chewy and yummy. My only regret is that I did not buy more waffles. Greedyfirstworldproblems D:

Looks familiar!

 

I loved the owl bags but not the price ｡･ﾟ･(*ﾉД`*)･ﾟ･。

 

Stay classy, Amsterdam!

Market was a let down.

Thanks for reading 8-] Until next time!

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