Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Rainy days in Amsterdam

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam with my trusty travel buddies. Unfortunately, while we were there it was cold and rainy everyday. On Saturday it was the worst storm Amsterdam had seen in ten years! Before the storm hit, that morning we had a delicious breakfast at a pancake house nearby our hotel. The pancakes in Amsterdam are basically the same thing as a crepe. I got a ham and cheese pancake, it was so yummy! 
After the five of us went to the Heineken Experience, where we learned about the history of Heineken and saw the old brewery. We also had a beer tasting and two free beers at the end of the tour. The tour was a lot of fun and very interactive. I’m not a big beer drinker but I actually enjoyed it. The beer isn’t very heavy and was cool and refreshing. We then took the Heineken canal tour but when we walked outside it was raining buckets! It was very windy and freezing! Luckily the boat was dry but it still wasn’t that fun because we couldn’t see outside the windows due to the heavy rain. Walking back after the boat tour was not fun at all. My umbrella almost lifted me up because the wind was so strong! We were soaked when we got back to the hotel. Luckily the rain died down before dinner. 


That night the five of us went out to dinner with my cousin, Christina, who currently lives in Amsterdam and just finished her masters in Urban Planning. We went to this fun restaurant/pub where I had a delicious salad and fries. We then went out to some of the local bars. I got to meet her Dutch boyfriend who was absolutely adorable, very polite and nice.



The next day the weather was clear in the morning until around 6:00pm when it started to rain. Before the rain hit I had brunch with my cousin and her boyfriend at this adorable cafĂ© near her apartment. Since it was actually sunny we then went on an hour plus canal tour around Amsterdam. It was a great tour with a beautiful scenic route. After the canal tour we were hungry and went to the much anticipated, Cheese Museum. I probably tried thirty cheeses. We were all in heaven! I couldn’t decide what was my favorite because I tried so many. I ended up buying a goat cheese that was accompanied with a fig jam.




It sadly rained all day on our final day. Out goal was to wake up at 7:00am and go to the Anne Frank house but we ended up sleeping in late and not going till 11:00am. This was a HUGE mistake because we had to wait in line for three hours! Luckily we passed by time by grabbing coffee and snacks and entertaining ourselves with funny stories, but it was long, cold and rainy. The long wait did pay off once we go into Anne Frank. I remember reading the book when I was younger and telling myself that I would one day visit her house. It’s such an amazing story but a very sad one. The house was very interesting and amazing to see. It was somewhat emotional knowing Anne dies at the end. I’m very glad we waited and went. Everyone should definitely go at some point, was a moving and amazing experience. After Anne Frank, we went to the Amsterdam sign and took pictures. We tried to go to the Van Gogh museum but it closed early! We were so mad! 




I had a great weekend in Amsterdam but the gross and raining weather put a damper on the trip. I want to go back one day when it'll be sunny and beautiful. It definitely would have been a different experience if the weather was better. 

1 comment:

  1. I'm so sorry the weather actually "rained on your parade." It's good that you guys were able to still get the most out of Amsterdam. The Heineken tour seems like so much fun! I'm a huge beer drinker, so I think I would enjoy that a lot. I think the fact that it is interactive makes it so exciting. I hope you can go back to Amsterdam when it is sunny so you can have a better experience.

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