I’m back from another trip to Europe! I think out of all the trips I’ve been on this was by far my favourite. I was lucky I had near perfect weather, which made sightseeing and dining much more enjoyable. It was also super easy traveling between cities, especially the day trips I took from Amsterdam and Brussels. Fall is also one my favourite times to travel, and I think it made all the streets and canals look even more beautiful than other times of the year. 


The only minor setback I had was at the start of my trip, as my flight out of Pearson was delayed by an hour. Red eye flights are also the worst. I only managed to get around 2 hours of sleep by the time the plane landed in Amsterdam Schiphol the next morning. After I finished grabbing my luggage and exchanging my IAmsterdam card, I was on the train to the city. 


It was nearing 1pm by the time I made it to the hotel. I was tired and hungry, but luckily I was able to check in to my room ahead of time and had a chance to freshen up. (On a side note, I actually had a really nice stay at Volkshotel. I pretty much avoided all the open areas on the ground floor cause I found the hotel a little too hipster for my liking, but my room was spacious and I had everything I needed, so it was an enjoyable stay.)

Since it was warm and sunny, I decided I would scrap my plans to visit the museums and headed out on foot from Centraal Station. It seems like no matter where you go in Amsterdam the streets are busy with people and bikes. I was a little sad I didn’t get to experience riding a bike in Amsterdam, but since my IAmsterdam card came with public transportation, I didn’t feel the need to pay extra to rent one. 

The first thing I did was grab a snack off the main street. Frites with mayo! I’m pretty sure frites and all the sausage rolls I got from the convenience stores were my favourite foods from this trip. =P

That afternoon I ended up visiting the Royal Palace and doing a canal tour. The Royal Palace isn’t included in the pass, so I paid the admission separately and was given headsets for a self-guided tour inside. After the palace I spent some time enjoying the square outside and then I finally joined a canal tour. By the time the tour ended I decided to ignore the jetlag/lack of sleep that was creeping up on me and had an early dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called Puri Mas.

Since Indonesia was a Dutch colony there are lots of dishes that were inspired by both countries. In particular I was interested in trying rijsttafel, which means rice table. It consists of many Indonesian dishes served in small portions. As this was my first real meal since leaving Toronto, I was lucky that I worked up quite an appetite before dinner!

By the time I finished eating, I made a quick visit to the Stedelijk Museum. Since the museum closes at 10pm on Fridays I decided to make use of my pass, even though it wasn’t at the top of my list to see. Hehe. I only managed to stay till 9pm but it was nice seeing Vondelpark and the other museums nearby as the sun was setting. After an extremely long day (technically two days put together) I finally made my way back to the hotel and had some proper rest. =)