My very last trip in Europe before heading home was to Amsterdam. This day trip was fast-paced and quite short, but definitely worth it. My flight back to Edmonton from Brussels was June 30th and this day-trip to Amsterdam was June 28th.
We went through the company Megabus and left from a train station in Brussels and arrived at the Amsterdam Sloterdijk station. The Megabus was a solid 30+ minutes late (so we departed around 9am), but was comfortable and the three hours passed quickly. From Sloterdijk we took a quick train to Amsterdam Central then headed to "The Nine Streets" neighbourhood.
Amsterdam Central Station
As you'll see from the pictures in this post, Amsterdam really is a unique city. Even though I've visited Ghent and Brugge in Belgium, which are also canal cities, something about Amsterdam truly earns it a special status.
The cutest doorsteps
I thought Leuven had a lot of bikes until I came to Amsterdam
Unfortunately, the poor bench has been written and carved on all over
Of course I wasn't about to go to Amsterdam and not sit on the bench from The Fault In Our Stars. The bench actually has its own Google Maps location, which is funnily convenient, and it was much less surrounded by people than I thought it would be. But I did have to wait a good chunk of time for the group of girls ahead to finish recreating poses from the film before being able to snap my own.
Super casual and not at all planned
The fries that really gave Belgium a run for its money (sorry, Belg)
After some nice crispy fries for lunch we met up with a free walking tour of the city.
Amsterdam's first "coffee shop" (a.k.a. weed shop that called itself a coffee shop or cafe)
Oude Kerk ("Old Church") in the Red Light District. As the guide put it, this was the perfect set-up for sailors to stop off in Amsterdam (particularly this district), then leave with a free conscience.
A movie filming one bridge over; I still have to fish around online to see if I can figure out what it was
The only medieval building standing in the city
Rembrandt House
The Oost-Indisch Huis: an early 17th-century building that was a headquarters of the Dutch East India (trading) Company
Dam Square: our tour's meeting spot was the National Monument (the tall white statue on the right)
Royal Palace of Amsterdam
The Smallest House in Amsterdam: the little red block in the middle
More cute doorsteps
Anne Frank Huis
The line to get tickets for the Anne Frank House was insane. Our guide said it was the longest he'd seen in a while and would probably take the people at the back a good four hours to get in.
One of three triangle monuments (the Homomonument) dedicated to gay men and women who have been subjected to persecution because of their sexuality
Big wooden clog in front of Dam Square Souvenirs
Amazing churros
More clogs - this time in front of a cheese shop to make it more Dutch
To end the day, we missed our 5:30pm Megabus back to Brussels... by a short few minutes. The bus that had us waiting a good 30 minutes at departure was now on time down to the exact minute; so you can imagine we were not happy. Luckily, though, there were some decently priced train tickets still available from Sloterdijk to Leuven (it was 25 euros I was hoping to not spend, but whatever). Just when things were looking up, we experienced what seemed like a never-ending series of delayed and cancelled trains. What began as a small hour setback quickly multiplied. We were originally supposed to be back in Leuven by 9pm and had actually ended up returning after midnight. Regardless, I enjoyed the city more than I hated the trip back.
I hope you enjoyed this look at Amsterdam! I most definitely need to go back in the future, because the atmosphere of the city was so unique and I feel like my time there was far too short. Amsterdam is one of those hyped citites that you hear or read about almost too much, like Paris, but completely lives up to the reputation.
Thanks to anyone and everyone for reading this post and others over the past 5 months. I plan to share one last time about Leuven itself, but this was my final "trip" post. Again, thank you for both keeping up with and sharing in my adventures.
- Alexandra
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