Luckily I was feeling much better by the weekend, and my boyfriend and I were off early on Saturday morning to Amsterdam! As we landed pretty early, it was too soon to check into our hotel, so we wandered the canals of the beautiful city. They have a brilliant transport system, where trams leave very often to pretty much everywhere, and bikes... so many bikes. I loved looking at all the wonky houses, each one had it's own personality.
By 3pm, we had checked into our hotel, which was a grand building right next to a big park, which was lovely to look out to from our room. I really loved the décor of the place, so I made sure to take lots of photos of it. Unfortunately the bedroom wasn't to the same standard as the public areas of the hotel. It was an extremely awkward layout, with the bed up some very steep stairs and the bathroom downstairs, it was almost like staying in an attic. However, the breakfast made up for it! Luckily the bed was extremely big and comfy, so I had a nap before we headed out to dinner that evening. After dinner we made our way to the Red Light District. It was actually really fun to walk around, it was so crowded, however I did feel a bit sorry for the girls in the windows.
The style and layout of the breakfast area was my favourite part, especially the plants on the wall dividers. The velvet seating and the marble tables really complemented the space. There were big open windows all around us which really lit up the whole room, including the industrial lighting. They had a big log burner by the bar, with upholstered leather seats which added warmth to the space.
Once we were stuffed with smoke salmon and breakfast smoothies, we headed out for a long day in the city. We needed the extra calories, as we walked the whole day. We walked around the local markets, sampling all the cheese, unfortunately I was told by my boyfriend who hates fish I wasn't allowed to try the local delicacy ‘Hollandse Nieuwe’ - which is raw herring. Much to my dismay, I was allowed to choose the lunch spot, where we had a big bowl of Pho. We wanted to visit the Anne Frank house, however we didn't realise people book tickets up to 6 months in advance, which I was a bit bummed about. However, we then made our way to the Sex Museum.. interesting to say the least. After a lot of shopping and taking photos of canals and buildings, we ended back at the hotel. We got ready to head out to an all you can eat sushi place, after having a nice walk round the park watching the herons and ducks. Once we felt like we were going to be sick after eating a ridiculous amount, we went back to our hotel. We were then off to catch our flight ready for the next working week! I had a lovely time.
