Our first full day in Amsterdam was spent wandering around the canals & side streets.
We walked to Anne Frank’s House (huis). The queue was around 40 minutes but it was worth the wait, and whilst not the happiest sight to see, it was really moving & educational at the same time. I read The Diary a long time ago, but after visiting the house decided to buy it again on the my kindle.
We also found a great Coffee Shop called The Coffee Company. Amsterdam really doesn’t do Starbucks (which is a good thing) and the coffee & atmosphere was great. Good coffee & tea selection, great cakes & you can even have Muesli (as we did) at any time of the day. Also free wifi meant we could checkin on orders & deal with all your queries. Got to love a bit of free wifi!
We also stumbled upon the floating flower market (Bloemenmarket). It is amazing, full of colour. Lots of bulbs & tulips and random items. Well worth a visit if you are over that way.
We also went to visit De Oude Kerk (the old church) in the medieval part of the city. This was a pretty impressive building but more impressive where the Prostitutes. Bearing in mind that we visited this area at 10am the local ladies where already hard at work & standing in their windows. It’s surprising how much of a tourist attraction the red light district is, but it was pretty funny & we had fun just wondering about.
One thing we where not prepared for was the amount of cyclists. Amsterdam is a mental city when it comes to the bike. Bike is king in the city and after seeing just how lethal the cyclists where, we chickened out of renting some. Perhaps next time 🙂
Later in the day we stopped for Dinner at a small italian restaurant. We had bolognese & Tuna Salad & a well earned beer. Amsterdam is a great place for food and you are not limited on places to eat.
That night we went back to the Red Light district, lit up in all it’s glory. There was a great mix of people from parties of men & women, to pensioners on walking tours & local parents out walking with their kids. At first it felt a bit weird, but it quirky became normal. Well worth a visit at night. At this point we already felt like locals & we had been in Amsterdam for less than 48 Hours. After a long walk around the old part of the City (Die Wallen) we headed back on the GVB to the hotel. We must have walked around 25 miles this day, and we where ready ?Ǭ†for bed & some more cake :o)
