And, as promised, an Amsterdam post. Jenny and I went (for her first time) the last weekend in February.
The week Jenny and I went to Amsterdam we decided on
Thursday that we were going to go. We drove up on a Saturday morning, got lost
and arrived Saturday night, and left to come home Sunday early evening. It was
a BLAST! (as are all trips to Amsterdam)
The reason for the trip was that Jenny had never been and
had no idea what she was missing.
The car ride was bunches of fun. We voxed Melanie and Tyler a bunch and jenny slept due to her crazy prior evening that had left her pretty wiped out.
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| Sleepy bellybean. |
Couldn't forget to post our awesome sign. Welcome to Titz everyone.
We left about 930am and planned to drive to a park and ride
to leave the car. Our hostel didn’t have parking so the P&R was essential.
Only flaw- once we crossed the boarder my phone didn’t work (or so I thought!)
and our address for the P&R didn’t take us to it. We then preceeded to spend, I’d say 2 hours,
looking for a place to park and ride the train into the city. We finally found
one, ditched the car and got on the train by about 6pm. It was a hectic few
hours as I hate being lost luckily Jenny kept her calm and calmed me down.
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yay for finally snagging some train tickets into the city
Breukelen to Amersterdam Central Station. |
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| just in case we forgot where we left the car... |
Once we got into the city we found a bathroom, checked into
our Hotel, and headed out for dinner.
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| our dark front to the hotel |
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| the lobby of the hostel (we had a two person room = yay) |
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| cause cows. |
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jenny's yummy hot chocolate at dinner
because it was cold outside. |
We ate at a little Italian restaurant and
then walked around. Since it was late ish we didn’t get to do much shopping but
saw the red light district and stumbled upon my favorite bar in the center. I
always had forgotten to bookmark the location but had been to this bar each
time I went to Amsterdam. I now have the location booked and it is called the
Irish Pub Slainte. It is my favorite! The bathroom could stand to be cleaned,
for sure!, but it is an AWESOME place. The beers aren’t too expensive (compared
to other bars around), the bartenders are amazing, and the atmosphere and
people there rock. Jenny and I snagged some seats at the bar, ordered some
drinks and began the night. I was introduced to Desperados and um I LOVE THOSE
GUYS. They are an awesome lime/tequila beer and I drank them all night.
Everyone should try one. At first Jenny wasn’t feeling too hot but, after her
first drink, her tummy came around.
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| my new favorite drink. |
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| and place. |
And then, the bonus of sitting at the bar kicked in. We got
to socialize with all sorts of people. First, the dumb English guy. From afar
we were making fun of his outfit. You know the guys who wear the fitted polo,
backwards ball cap, scarf, and tuck their polo into the front of their pants
with their boxers possibly showing a bit- yeah, that was this guy. He comes
over standing next to Jenny and tries to strike up a conversation with us. Only
bonus- his awesome English accent.
“Oh where are you
guys from” he said. “Germany” “Really your English is like perfect. You must
have spent a lot of time in England” …… ? You’re from England; we don’t have
your accent? Or a German one for that matter. Slow much? So I said “I didn’t
say we were German” guy still looking confused. Really. I’m one beer in and
your stupidity is paining me.
Next conversation was with the Australian bartender. He was
funny and said we had to have been living in Germany for a long time because we
were a lot quieter than most Americans he’d met. Jenny and I found this
hilarious A) because its true that Americans are loud and B) because I mean,
Jenny and I? Quiet? Haha, no. We just didn’t know anyone and were two girls
sitting at the bar. He was nice though.
Then, the next encounter introduced us to awesome Irish
friends. So, we’re sitting at the bar, minding our own business when this guy
comes up. He’s nice and polite but obviously very hammered. He is standing
behind Jenny, orders a pint, and then proceeds to like lean over the back of
her chair while waiting for his drink. It’s possible he almost dozed off. So,
while this is occurring, we’re laughing and I’m worried he’s going to pass out
on her. His friend, later we find out named Gary, comes over and is like “eh
lad your scaring the ladies” or whatever insanely adorable Irish wording he
used. Then, a small funny tidbit- the
bartender comes back to give the drunk guy his change and, since he moved so
slow, the bartender sat it on the counter and continued on.
So anyways, we get to talking to Gary, much of the
conversation is about how we each pronounce things funny and use different
works. Ex: Jumper in Ireland is like a pullover sweatshirt. Jumper in my mind-
a dress, usually one a young girl wears. Gary says he’s there for a friend’s
bachelor party and introduces some of the other guys there with him, he said
there was about 20 of them. Gary introduced Chris at some point and they were
both our pals for the evening. By at his point we’re all having lots of laughs,
I think I cried a few times, and they were so nice and respectable. *I love it
when guys find out I’m married, respect that, and still allow us to have a fun
night* - Why is a respectable gentlemen a surprise nowadays? How sad.
Anyways, we left to find another bar (that the Australian bartender recommended). We stumbled upon on a different places where
our first drinks were INSANELY expensive, and we left and headed back to the
pub. It was meant to be because our Irish friends were still there. We got a
table and all joked for the whole night. I would love to go back and do a
repeat every weekend. I swear Amsterdam always has the nicest and most
interesting people. Still my favorite city and I’m sure that won’t ever change.
We ended up staying out till about 4am and then wandered
back to our Hotel in the sprinkling rain. That was no fun, but the alcohol
helped make our walk more enjoyable. We got back to our hotel- got bumped up to
the ORIGINAL ROOM WE PAID FOR and crashed. It was an awesome night.
Side note: We stayed in a hostel and paid for a private room
with a shared bathroom. The guy at the desk when we checked in made up some BS
and said that our beds were two of the beds in the room off the lobby
(traditional hostel room) so we said whatever, left our stuff (some on the bed
and some in lockers), and headed out for dinner. But, when we returned the guy
at the desk said that was a prior error and we could grab out things and go to
our new room (yay for some privacy!). So we grabbed our stuff, and headed up
the steepest stairs ever to our room and crashed.
Next morning we showered and headed out to walk around some
more, snag breakfast at the best crepe place ever, and hit the Anne Frank
House. I’ve been to this crepe place twice before and it is always the bomb so
we knew we had to get breakfast there.
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| cause this is what heaven looks like. |
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| and this, this is jenny in heaven. obviously. |
I got the dutch apple crepe and Jenny got a banana nutella
one. Both- amazing.
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| jenny's crepes |
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| and mine. |
After eating we went to the Anne Frank house and waited in
line. It was only an 1.5 hr wait (I thought it would have been way longer!) but
it was worth the wait because Jenny had never been before.
After we left the
museum we snagged lunch on the way to the train station and hit the road back
to the car. Sunday was a quicker day it seemed because I didn’t want to leave
the dogs with their sitters too long into the night (since it was a Sunday and
the sitters worked the next day).
Here are a few random pictures from walking around:
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| because who wouldn't pay bookoo bucks for some string?! |
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the bar we went out to find but couldn't the night before.
I vow to go next time. |
The car was happy and healthy when we found it and the drive
back was painless and a LOT faster.
All in all, AWESOME TIME and I can’t wait to go again.
