Amsterdam is a city of many things. It’s an international city of many international businesses and people, have amazing art museums, restaurants and yes, famous for their coffee shops! A weekend trip to Amsterdam is the perfect city to break your monotony!
Our reason
Lisa, A dear American expat friend of ours, announced she is going to get married to her soulmate, Scottish Andy. It was a couple of months before this trip in May. The invite came along and I noticed it’s the weekend I would have just been back from a 2 week-long trip to SE Asia.
I hummed and hawed, thinking of the logistics and the physicality of it all. The wedding was a Saturday night and I would have just arrived back in Malaga from an 18-hour flight from Singapore on Thursday late afternoon.
This means that we would have to leave very early on Saturday morning to get to Amsterdam on a decent flight. For some weird reason, I found that flights to Amsterdam are dearer than to other cities in Europe from Malaga.
The trip
It came to be that I had literally a day and a half to spend time with our kids! I ‘sneaked’ off at an ungodly hour out of bed for the 7 AM flight to Amsterdam. That Saturday morning flight was full and I spent the 3 hours sleeping of course!
Arriving in Amsterdam is always like arriving at my other home. I speak fluent Dutch so it’s always a breeze to go through immigration and thereafter. Though I must warn you, for all you ladies because you might get heart palpitations as you walk around Schipol Airport.
Many friends and I swore we have never been to any other country where the police and immigration (Marechaussee) are as tall and as good looking as the Dutchmen (and women)! Hehehe…
Amsterdam the city
Lots of people book a weekend trip to Amsterdam for various reasons. The most ‘famous’ ones are bachelor and bachelorette parties organised from other countries. My hubby was invited to one a long time ago and it was not a quiet one! 😉
The fact is this city is well known for its tolerance of soft drugs and sexual activity and so this has helped with this image as a party central.
There are also people who love Amsterdam because of their art museums. If you somehow missed the news, The Netherlands is where the liks of Van Gogh and Rembrandt and Escher came from. The 2 most famous museums are the Rijks Museum and the van Gogh Museum.
Out Amsterdam
Unfortunately, this trip was way too short for us to spend time indoors. The weather was glorious for early summer/late spring and so we wanted to just walk around the city centre checking out some shops, restaurants and to enjoy the atmosphere.
I was still severely jet-lagged from my Asian trip so this weekend trip to Amsterdam was really pushing my energy. (You can see how tired I am from my eye bags seen in the vlog below 😉 )
I had to take a short kip in our unique Amsterdam lodging before starting our Saturday in Amsterdam. I had to actually push myself out of bed because let’s face it, who goes on a short weekend to sleep right?
Here are some photos of the places and things I see when I was there. Photos were taken over the 2 days I was there. (If you are on mobile and it’s showing blank space, click on it and the photos will come up)
Mr and Mrs trying to stay awake on flight Holding up my weekend tourist ‘OV chipkaart’ A typical old Holland architecture Cats looking at the tourists Tourists looking at the cats The street of Amsterdam. Behind me is the Anne Frank Museum Barges and buildings An imposing tall and old church spire Having a Sunday lunch Cheese! And yes in a cheesy country! A dutch starter Another Dutch fusion starter plate Big smile through the tiredness as food arrives A juicy chunk of steak in a fatty jus Steak and chips and foie gras Grilled mushrooms, my fave Amsterdam scene from the waterway The breeze in my hair More Dutch buildings from the waterway
The vlog
If you fancy walking with me around Amsterdam, here’s a short vlog of our weekend trip for love and romance! 😉
If you haven’t already subscribed to my channel, do give it a click and subscribe because there are loads of contents there that I haven’t shared on my blog.
If you fancy taking a trip to Amsterdam for your own short weekend, let me know in the comments below and do check out the different places you can stay at and multi-ethnic restaurants to sample.
If you love walking tours, here’s another blog of my trip to Dubai this year so you can continue discovering with me.