Our trip to Amsterdam began with a two hour flight elay (thanks BA, I definitely woke up at 4:30am to spend some time at Gatwick). Once we arrived though, we were quick to find our Air Bnb, an apartment in the Westerpark area. It was a 20 minute walk from the city centre, the perfect location. We took a walking tour on Friday afternoon to get our bearings and then spent the rest of the day looking at souvenir shops and local boutiques. Candy Freaks is worth a visit for the huge range of vegan pic n mix gummy lollies.
On Saturday, we went to Anne Frank house bright and early (having booked our tickets online in advance, to save queuing). I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it didn’t feel overly touristy and neatly presented the reality of her live in the annex. The stairs were steep and the rooms crowded with people, but it’s definitely worth seeing. We had lunch at Vegabond, great sandwiches and juices and vegan necessities.
The highlight of our trip was hiring a paddle boat on Sunday and cruising along the canals from Anne Frank house to the Rijksmuseum. We were overly confident at the start and managed to wedge ourselves right under the first bridge, but soon got the rhythm of Danielle steering and not peddling too fast. We had One Direction playing on loud speaker, the sun was shining, what a great way to spend our final morning.
We didn’t visit any of the museums, but there was a craft market on the square at the front of the Rijksmuseum. Lots of local artists and food stalls and of course, people crawling all over the I Amsterdam sign. I lost Danielle at one point, so climbed the r to find her.
Every canal was so gorgeous and we took many photos of the flowers and bikes leaning against the railings. We didn’t rent bikes though, because we didn’t think we had the road sense, so we just enjoyed walking through the city. Amsterdam is so beautiful, I have no doubt we’ll be back soon.
