Birthday Travels- Amsterdam

I have to say, I’ve been very spoiled during the month of October for the last two years. Last year, I woke up on my birthday in a resort on one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand (Railay Beach). This year, I spent my 26th in Amsterdam with my sister, Jac, and her boyfriend, Michael.

While the weather and sights were at the opposite end of the spectrum this year, my birthday was once again absolutely amazing and full of unique experiences.

Admittedly, the start of the weekend was a bit rocky from my own doing; since I am a rather cheap person, I decided to take an overnight bus from Prague to Amsterdam right from school. At the time of booking online, it seemed like a good idea- I could save some money and I was used to taking overnight buses in Thailand.

However, I failed to take into account that I would be stuck in my teacher’s clothing for a 14-hour solo bus ride. With no leg room. Without any Wifi (read- without Netflix). And with a chatty person sitting next to me. And I forgot to bring a book. It was a verrrrryyyyy long night.

At 5:30am the next morning, the bus dropped us sleep-deprived people off at a random bus station on the outskirts of Amsterdam. With no WiFi, I had no clue what to do from here. Thankfully, I had become friends with my chatty neighbor, Raj, on the bus at this point and just followed him to figure out how to get to the center of town.

Unfortunately, to get to said center, I had to wait outside in a long line for a transportation pass from the only functioning ticket machine. I immediately lost the feeling of my toes, ears, and nose from the blasts of icy wind. However, I did meet another new friend, Olia, from the Ukraine.

After navigating the underground (incorrectly- we were supposed to take the train instead of the metro), we made it to the Amsterdam Centraal Station. Which, by the way, is a gorgeous building for the amount of chaos that goes through here on the daily:

Olia was just visiting Amsterdam for the day, but she was nice enough to keep me company as she waited for stores to open up and I waited for my sister’s plane to arrive. We talked about traveling (obviously) and how people from different cultures regard each other. Meeting two new people from totally different backgrounds, yet with similar mindsets, was a nice way to begin my birthday.

Around noon, my sister and I finally found each other (it was rather difficult as the station was large and we both had limited WiFi access). After figuring out how to stow away our luggage and grabbing a bite to eat, we were ready to explore Amsterdam!

In my opinion, the best way to see a new city is just to walk around and take in the surrounding sights.

Very easy to do in Amsterdam with its intricate network of canals, cookie-cutter brick houses, cheese museums, bikers, and people enjoying the benefits of legal “coffeeshops” everywhere.

We did, however, sign up for an hour boat tour of the canals.

Totally recommend doing. For me, it was a way to learn some history and see the city from a new perspective (literally). For Michael, this was a way to catch up on his zzzzz’s. To each their own.

Afterwards, we hauled our belongings to our Airbnb and I was finally able to change out of my teaching clothes. Later that night, we ate at a very traditional Dutch place for dinner. No pictures though because we were too hangry at that point.

The next day, we went to the Rijksmuseum to view some art and check out the library:

We then stumbled upon this famous sign:

People were clambering all over the letters and I half expected (maybe hoped?) to see someone fall. You could just feel the tension as everyone not-so-subtly tried to push people out of their photo backgrounds.

After stopping at an open market and replenishing with street food, we then headed over to the Van Gogh Museum.

Now, my favorite Van Gogh painting is Starry Night (I know, very unoriginal). I was looking forward to seeing the painting and picking up socks with the Starry Night design on them, which would inevitably be at the gift shop. Don’t ask me why, but I’ve wanted these socks for years. Perfect time to get them!

Well, as it turns out, the Starry Night painting is not in the Van Gogh Museum. In fact, it’s not even in Van Gogh’s home country. Rather, it’s all the way in… the MoMA in New York City. No socks for me.

Cool. So I was 3 hours away from this painting for most of my life… too bad I live 4,000 some miles away now…

We didn’t stay out late while in Amsterdam. Mostly because the temperatures dropped very low at night and the wind was that piercing cold that you associate with the dead of winter. In a way, this was okay because on Day 3 we woke up early for the part of Amsterdam that I was looking forward to the most:

A visit to the Anne Frank house.

Like many people, I have read The Diary of Anne Frank. In fact, I’ve read her diary multiple times. Each time I’ve read it, I imagined the Secret Annex to look a certain way. Walking through it for real then was a mind-numbing experience. The rooms were much more dark and small than I had imagined. To see all the artifacts- from Anne’s playing marbles to her photographs still hung on her walls- was chilling.

Visiting the Anne Frank house was probably the most meaningful part of the trip for me.

After, the 3 of us had breakfast at a pancake house nearby (none of us got pancakes though) and then walked over to the cheese museum where I had my second breakfast of free cheese samples. It was heaven.

Seriously, if you are in Amsterdam, do NOT miss going to a cheese museum.

After, the rest of the day was spent walking along the canals, drinking at cafés, shopping, and going to the flower market:

Before returning to Prague though, I had to do one more thing that you simply have to do when in the Netherlands- eat a Dutch Pancake.

I blame the lighting for why this doesn’t look as appetizing as it was delicious.

And, like every good trip, it comes to an end too soon. The next morning, I took a 1.5 hour flight back to Prague.

Please note for a future reference:

Bus ride + 14 hours = miserable Deanna     Plane ride + 1.5 hours = happy Deanna

The next day, Jac and Michael flew into Prague too so that I could show them my neck of the woods for a few days.

Thanks for the amazing birthday weekend, guys!