As I said in yesterday’s post, this very weekend last year I was in the lovely city of Amsterdam. I didn’t write this blog back then, so I don’t believe I’ve ever written about my first experience of the place.. until now!
SO! Me and three friends got the train up from Nijmegen, mainly with the purpose of celebrating a birthday. We’d booked a private room in a hostel (The Meininger) one stop outside the city centre, which was really nice- clean and modern. It wasn’t the sort of hostel you’d go to to socialise with other like minded travellers, but for the purpose of our trip it was perfect.
We headed into the city and first things first, as three Brits and a German, we needed a cup of tea. We found a rather large cheese shop which had heaps of samples, and a tea room to match- perfect! I can’t remember what tea I had, with it being so long ago… I probably enjoyed it?
After this we visited the sex museum- obligatory when in Amsterdam, no? I’ve visited three times all in all, and it was always a laugh. Amongst all this we popped into many a shop, in one of which my friend Andi tried on a vest which read ‘Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go to Amsterdam’. He was a pretty funny sight, but what made the occasion so hilarious was the fact that the vest was a size small, he couldn’t get it off and was forced to pay for it. And then wear it round. Eventually he ripped it off, but not before a flipping load of laughter. Ahh good times.
We headed towards the IAmsterdam sign, and all the museums, and toyed with going in the Banksy museum. However, the two girls are from Bristol, so they’ve seen a helluva lot of Banksy before, so we opted for the Modern Art and Design museum- which was also cheaper. It housed loads of really interesting stuff, even some really famous pieces, like work from Damien Hirst. I really enjoyed this gallery, and the endless delights on display. Some delights were very very Amsterdam.
As I said, we were here for a birthday, so after a healthy dose of culture, we headed back to the hostel, got changed and hit the town, all over again. We started off with casual drinks along the river which was very nice and civilised.
But, after many beers, many many shots, and countless bars, the night ended a hazy mess, with us getting a night bus back from a nightclub. What happened in between casual drinks and the nightclub is half mystery, half drunken nonsense! (But I can say it involved Gay bars, the red light district and an insane amount of Jagermeister in test tubes.)
The next morning we woke up feeling rather worse for wear, so we went and got a Full English Breakfast. It wasn’t very English- it came with a side salad… It also didn’t help me feel any better. What made me feel even worse, though, was the boat tour we took soon after. I don’t suffer from sea sickness, but the motion mixed with my hangover wasn’t ideal. We all decided this wasn’t our finest idea afterwards…
But, I had the best weekend in Amsterdam. I look back on this weekend as one of my best of the year abroad, and definitely one of my best night out/ clubbing experiences ever. It was eye opening, fun and exciting, and I loved every minute.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and please do follow me for more!! I’m firmly back on the blog grind now!!
