Amsterdam

I went to Amsterdam for a very short trip on St Patrick's day weekend. It was my first time in the Netherlands. I arrived there on Sunday afternoon, since it was mid-March the air was quite cool. I dropped my backpack at the hostel, St Christopher's Inn, and started exploring the city.

What a nice city it really is! Small and compact with endless canals and quiet streets. I loved the fact that there was no traffic jams, hardly any cars in fact in the city center! Since everyone has a bicycle or a scooter. How brilliantly it works over there! Sadly Dublin is the exact opposite of that.

On Sunday I had just time to visit the Van Gogh museum after spending most of the afternoon just happily walking around. In the evening I took a budget option for dinner and bought some sushi and a bag of carrots from a supermarket to enjoy back at the hostel.


On Monday it was a bit warmer and in the morning first thing I headed to the famous Albert Cuyp market. A mile long market street where one can buy just about anything. I bought some mini pancakes. They're covered in a thick layer of icing sugar and served with a dollop of butter that melts nicely so you can dip the sugary treats in it! It was delicious, but I had a black trench coat on and as I was walking along the street while eating I ended up having half of the sugar powder on me.


After the market I visited FOAM, a gallery that had an exhibition of Richard Avedon's photos. Did some more walking along the canals and river Amstel. Then some shoeshopping -of course!

To fuel my shopping I bought some frites from Vlaams Frites Huis, a tiny little chippie on a side street that has been making probably one the best fries in Amsterdam since 1957. And for my sweet tooth, I got a caramel stroopwafel from a bakery called Lanskroon.


I had to buy some stroopwafels from Albert Heijn supermarket to bring back to Dublin too. They really are so deliciously addictive!