Grad Trip Part 1: Amsterdam

So we did it. After 8 years of collage I finally have a useful degree, a job offer waiting for me at the beginning of next month, I am finally AN ADULT (better late than never, right).

So this last student holiday needed to be something special. Something I planned for the last few months as a distraction from (as it seemed) never ending study period. We are also on a budget so we couldn’t go too crazy (backpacking in South America got disqualified pretty early due to expensive flight prices), so here we go, good, old and always surprising Europe. Interrailing (travelling mainly by train and other public transport) to be precise, with one backpack filled to the brim and supposedly enough for 3 weeks- could we go more ‘student holidays’ than that?

 First part of the journey: Amsterdam. A place filled with hen & stag parties’ legends, surprised me positively. But before that, confused me. The best I could describe it is ‘New York of Europe’ (I have never been to New York but that’s the vibe I got). The mix of cultures, skin colours, different languages with English predominant. Classy and fashionable mixing with tacky and vulgar. Old and traditional mixing with modern and liberal. I fell in love with the architecture, canals (a bit of water makes everything looks better) and abundance of plants and flowers used to decorate doors, windows, stairs…. All the buildings are built in the same fashion, tall and skinny, yet you won’t find any two the same. Fun fact: the houses’ stairways are so steep and narrow, it is impossible to bring up any furniture. There is a hook in front of each house, where the furniture and heavy objects are pulled up on and transferred through the windows. Another thing that I loved about Amsterdam is you can do it as cheaply or as expensively as you want. Street food is second to none (Wok to Walk!), yet fancy restaurants are on every corner. You can get expensive cruises on the canal or a free ferry. It is up to you.

 

 We arrived in Amsterdam airport, took the train to the city centre and got to our hotel in the early afternoon on Sunday. The city welcomed us with a lovely weather and mass of people and cyclicts coming at you from all directions. Our hotel (Frisco Inn), was very basic and small (with 3 steep flights of stairs to climb every time) but situated perfectly. The first day we spent mainly by exploring the neighbourhood and getting used to the place (ah, and we had to find an Irish pub to watch Ireland-Austria game. Luckily (?) finding an Irish pub in a big city is never a problem, there were 2 on our street).

 






Second day was significantly colder and it was used to ‘tick’ all the touristy bits we wanted to see. First of, we walked around Vondelpark, a park in the city centre with lakes, grass, and lots of wild birds- definitely my cup of tea. 

 

From there it’s not far to the Rijksmuseum, the national art museum. It is quite interesting to notice, that although all the pieces were unique, I found that European culture across the ages was quite similar. There were some pieces by famous artists, as well as the furniture and hobby equipment of people from certain eras. Dutch have a lot of colonies so there is certain exotic influences. We passed by the famous IAmSterdam sign, which was overflowing with people.

 

The next and final day we didn’t really have anything particular planned. We started with Begijnhof, one of the oldest inner courts in Amsterdam (from the early 14th century!), a little oasis of old buildings and flowers hidden away in the centre of busy Amsterdam. People still live there, which is pretty incredible.

 

Then we walked to the Blumenmarkt, a flower market filled with selection of hundreds types of tulip bulbs and other plants and herbs. We got carried away with the idea of our new garden and bought way too many stuff…

From there we wandered down Singel canal, admiring the beautiful houses and enjoying the sun, until we reached the Cat Sanctuary. This is a cat shelter situated on a little boat parked on the canal. Visitors can visit cats daily between 1-3pm, play with them, donate some money and possibly even adopt them. The cats were pretty wild and scared, but I’m sure they enjoy their multiple cat scratchers, comfy beds and even a little outdoor area when humans get out.

 




 


Searching for other cheap/free attractions we took a free ferry to the north side of Amsterdam, NDSM wharf, an old shipbuilding area that is now filled with industrial warehouses that house small startups, alternative arts and hipster coffee places.  

 

 

And in the evening we managed to see a free jazz concert at Bimhuis, some kind of art. centre, which was AMAZING! I wouldn’t say I am a jazz music afficionado but I definitely would like to see some more in the future…

 
To sum up, Amsterdam gained a warm spot in my heart. I don’t think I would like to live there, too crowded and too hipster to my liking (getting old, oops!), but will definitely come back!