Return to Amsterdam
- Andrea
- Dec 13, 2025
- 23 min read
Updated: Jan 7
The Second Great Girls' Adventure series
This post is the first in a series on the Second Great Girls' Adventure, a trip we took in October 2022. The "girls" of the title are my daughter [whom I will refer to throughout the series as E] and me! Our adventure included Amsterdam [this post], Paris, Nice, Cinque Terre, and Milan [in that order]. Each place in this incredible list has its own post. Going into the adventure, I was excited to experience all five places and to test ourselves as we navigated bits of Europe mostly by train.
A little bit of background📝
Our first Great Girls' Adventure took place in 2015, when E was turning 15 and just about to embark on her final two years of schooling. We were fortunate to experience Türkiye, Greece and Romania on that trip. This time, our Great Girls' Adventure was a belated celebration for our two milestone birthdays [21 and 50!] that came and went during the pandemic. Our second Great Girls' Adventure saw us in Europe for three weeks in October 2022, flying into Amsterdam and out of Milan with Qatar Airways. Looking back now as I write this post in 2025, we had an incredible experience and I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to travel again with my daughter.
The second Great Girls' Adventure was different as E was an adult [almost 22 by the time we began our trip] and completely involved in all the planning. We organised the flights, ground transport, accommodation and things to see and do together, and we halved the cost of everything. We like to do similar things so it was fun to plan our itinerary. E had Paris on her bucket list even though I'd been twice before, so we included it in our plans plus two places I hadn't been before - Nice and Milan - and a return visit to Amsterdam, also on E's bucket list. We chose Milan not only because I hadn't been before, but because we could get there by train from Nice with a side trip to Cinque Terre, a lovely bonus to our adventure.
I am calling this post Return to Amsterdam as I first experienced the unique city in 2011, just for a day trip, so I was keen to return to explore the place further. I've always thought of Amsterdam as a kind of magical place, with its pretty canals, stunning architecture and cobbled streets. I was so excited that Amsterdam was to be our first stop!
The bumpy road to departure✈️
This was 2022 and the world was starting to emerge from the pandemic. I'd already travelled internationally twice that year, to London in April and to Toronto in August, both for work. We booked our Great Girls' Adventure flights in June before I knew I'd be returning to London for a second time that year for work.
In retrospect, 2022 was huge for me in many ways. I found myself on three international trips after three years of pandemic isolation. I was knee-deep in a global training manager role in an international travel assistance company that was in a state of flux that left me exhausted and on constant high alert.
My second work trip to London in November was arranged around the Great Girls' Adventure so that I could facilitate induction training in the new London office at the end of my holiday. This meant we changed our original plans so that E would travel back to Australia from Milan on her own and I would head to London for six weeks. All that meant a bit over nine weeks away from home for me!
There were all kinds of challenges at work leading up to the trip, including my new London Trainer lasting only two weeks in the role. That alone was stressful enough, but the knock-on effect was that I had to run the next 6-week induction training and try to fill the Trainer position while I was in London. I was so busy in my chaotic global role that I was working right up until E and I got on our flight to Amsterdam. I packed at the last minute, after having sent a bag of work clothes to London to be looked after by a colleague so that I didn't have to carry them around on my holiday. It was a crazy time!
The other stress we had to deal with leading up to our departure was the delay in receiving E's renewed passport. She'd applied in April, along with thousands and thousands of other Australians whose passports had expired during the pandemic. The Australian passport office was in chaos, as they'd had to hurriedly onboard new staff to handle the massive number of applications once the borders opened up. We waited several months - a process that usually only takes a few weeks. When it got closer to our departure, E tried calling the information line multiple times, but nothing moved. In the weeks leading up to our flight to Amsterdam, E repeatedly tried to get information on the progress of her passport, but again to no avail, and at times the information was conflicting.
The day before - yes, the DAY BEFORE - we were due to fly out, she still didn't have her passport. I ended up going up to the passport office in Brisbane city and did something I never do, and that's complain about the situation. The waiting room was full of people, all waiting for passports for flights due to depart the next day or in the coming week. I was promised E's passport that afternoon, so I sat about waiting for it. One by one, people disappeared from the waiting room, either with their passport in hand or the promise of it if they returned the next day. I was determined not to leave until I had E's passport even though the poor person on the counter had to stay back late to help me. I ended up sitting in that darn waiting room for SIX HOURS, from 3pm until 9pm. I couldn't leave to get anything to eat as I wouldn't have been able to get back in after hours. At one point, I was told the passport was printed but with an error, so it had to be done again😏. I was completely exhausted and emotionally spent by the time I finally had the document in my hand.
Finally on our way🛫
After the bumpy ride to departure, we were finally on our way, on the 10.30pm Qatar flight from Brisbane to Amsterdam, on Thursday 13 October 2022. I'd booked us on Qatar as my experience with them earlier in the year for my work trip was great and I'd joined the loyalty program to collect more flyer miles. We managed to book bulkhead seats for both legs - Brisbane to Doha then Doha to Amsterdam - and that helped us cope with the long journey from Australia. I absolutely recommend booking these seats as the leg room and freedom from being wedged in between two other rows does help make the flights just that little bit more bearable.
We're here, Amsterdam!🎆🧀
Our arrival in Amsterdam was smooth, getting us to Schiphol by mid-afternoon the next day. The train station is inside the airport so we had no trouble finding it and purchasing a single trip ticket [around €5 each, I think] to our destination. We figured out which train to get on but asked an attendant to be sure. Super easy!
We found when we were booking our accommodation that Amsterdam is quite expensive. We managed to find a hotel in Sloterdijk that was cheaper than central Amsterdam, but still the most expensive accommodation of our trip. Sloterdijk was once a village in the Dutch province of North Holland and now part of the municipality of Amsterdam. On the below map insert, it looks a long way from the centre of the city, but Sloterdijk is actually only 3km and a 10-minute train ride from Amsterdam Centraal station.
The train station at Sloterdijk is a large transport hub and we had no trouble getting in and out of the city from there during our stay. The hotel we booked is only a few minutes' walk from the station. We rather liked going back to the hotel in the evenings after the crowds of Amsterdam during the day. It was lovely and peaceful and there were several supermarkets within walking distance of our accommodation.
We found Hotel2Stay on Booking dot com at a cost of $1435AUD for five nights. That's way more than I like to pay! The hotel was lovely and completely worth the expense, though. The staff on reception were friendly and helpful and our room was clean and beautifully appointed. We had a small kitchenette and a decent-sized bathroom, so we were comfortable during our stay. [It's totally my jam to avoid paying lots of money for accommodation. It's just a place to sleep to me. All I need is to be comfortable and be able to get around.]
We felt pretty good on that first afternoon and rather proud of ourselves for navigating our way to the hotel. We settled in and went for a walk to the Spar near Sloterdijk to buy some groceries. I love European and British supermarkets - unlike Australia - as it's easy to buy decent food when travelling without needing cooking supplies. I wrote in my journal that I had chicken with couscous salad for dinner and we found some suitable breakfast food as well.
Day 1: First city glimpses, museum treasures, and a Miffy quest🖼️🐰
It was cool and somewhat bleak start to our Amsterdam wanderings. This was October so we weren't expecting it to be hot, but day 1 served up a moody atmosphere as we headed into Amsterdam central. Below are our first glimpses of Amsterdam. Even the dreary day couldn't dampen our enthusiasm for being there, though!
We took a short walk to find a Starbucks for a much-needed warm coffee and chai latte which we later sat and drank in the pretty Vondelpark before embarking on the obligatory canal cruise. I'd been to Amsterdam previously, as noted above, but way back in 2011 and only as a day trip from Brussels. A canal cruise was part of the day tour I did, but I was happy to do it again, as it's a nice way to truly appreciate the beautiful homes along the canal. I recall sitting on a park bench with E enjoying my chai and thinking how fortunate I was to be back in Amsterdam.
OK, so a canal cruise is kind of naff, but a must-do in Amsterdam. European cities on canals sure are pretty, even on a bleak day. We'd pre-booked our cruise before leaving Australia but that isn't strictly necessary, I assume unless it's peak season. There are multiple cruise companies along the canal and different pick up points. Our pick up point was near the Hard Rock Café and we paid €15 each for our cruise.
We'd managed to get tickets to the Rijksmuseum for the afternoon as this was a bucket-list item for me that I'd missed on my first visit. I remember a time when all tickets for things were purchased at the point of entry and lining up was just something to be done. Nowadays, pre-purchasing tickets online for timed entries is a much more efficient system. That said, we still had to line up, but only for about 20 minutes.
We dodged the showers after we came off the cruise and found a poke bowl place 500 metres from the museum for lunch. The bowls were delicious but we both remarked on the cost - over $50AUD for two bowls and a drink each. That was a lot for us, known light spenders when it comes to food!
The Rijksmuseum is located in Museum Square, Museumplein, to the south of the city centre. It is absolutely worth a visit if museums are your jam. We spent several hours there and became completely absorbed in the museum's treasures. I'm pretty sure we didn't see it all, though! Tickets cost €25 at time of writing but not bad considering there are over 8000 works of Dutch art and history housed there, including masterpieces by Vermeer [The milkmaid], Rembrandt [Night watch] and Van Gogh [Self-portrait]. The building itself is grand, both on the inside and out.
The history of the museum begins 1798 when the government commenced its bid to create a national museum to store important objects. The original museum opened in 31 May 1800 in The Hague. The collection was moved to Amsterdam in 1808, to the Royal Palace, when Holland was under Napoleon's rule. At some point, national treasures and artworks were housed in different locations across Amsterdam until they were all moved the current building and a new national museum was opened in 1885 [rijks meaning national]. The current treasures housed in the museum have been built up over 200 years, originating not from a royal collection, but from purchases and donations over that period.
The museum underwent a massive renovation between 2003 and 2013, costing €375 million! It is now the most visited museum in the country and houses its largest art collection. There is a new stunning atrium inside the museum that separates the two main squared parts of the building. There is also a beautiful library, shown in the above collage.
Weirdly, we didn't have a poke around the gift shop at the end of our visit [something I love to do], but I think we might have been peopled-out by then as the museum was quite busy. To be fair, this was day 1 after a long flight so the tiredness might have been kicking in by then. Shame.
Actually, the reason might have been that E was on a Miffy mission! E had discovered a Miffy shop in Amsterdam on her research prior to leaving Australia so we traipsed down there in the showery weather. Google Maps tells me it's a 2km walk from the museum but it felt like longer.... Actually, I recently looked up the Rijksmuseum gift shop and it stocks Miffy merchandise. Oh, well.
We successfully completed our Miffy mission and E spent up big. I only ended up buying the little pillbox in the above photo. Later regretting it, I bought my own Miffy soft toy in London after the trip.
The Dutch nijntje is a fictional rabbit in a series of picture books written and drawn by Dutch artist, Dick Bruna in the 1950s. The books later became a television show and a film. There's a Miffy square in Bruna's hometown of Utrecht. Thirty-two picture books were produced over Bruna's career, translated into 50 different languages with over 85 million copies sold worldwide. There are even Converse and Tommy Hilfiger Miffy menswear collections. Miffy merchandise seems to have taken on a life of its own these days. As a sidebar, I believe that Dick Bruna died in 2017, aged 89, and the rights to the character were not sold.
To cap off a huge first day, we walked the 4km back to Amsterdam Centraal station to take the train back to Sloterdijk and then another 3km round trip to the Lidl for supplies, including soup and ravioli for dinner.
Day 2: Beautiful Haarlem, canal wanderings, and a sobering piece of history💖😔
The weather perked up the following day, as did we after a terrific night's sleep. We took the train in the morning from Sloterdijk to Haarlem, a city of 160 000 plus people to the west of Amsterdam central. It only took 20 minutes on the train at a cost of around €4 each way. Actually, although Haarlem is a city in the province of North Holland, it is part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area.
Haarlem Station is worth a mention. The station opened in 1839 on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam railway line, the first in the country. It is now listed as a national heritage site. The current station building was completed in 1908 and is the only station in the Netherlands built in art nouveau style. Cool, hey?
We had a lovely morning wandering around the town centre. It seemed compact and quite small so it was hard to imagine over 160 00 people living in the city, especially since it was so quiet. We were there on a Sunday and it was so peaceful after the chaos of Amsterdam. We found a lovely café on the canal and had a chai latte and coffee and some delicious banana bread and just sat and relaxed and took in the vibe.
Haarlem dates back to pre-medieval times and was granted city status in 1245. It sits on the Spaarne River, 20km west of Amsterdam near the coastal dunes, and just 7km from the North Sea. The city has a rich history, its early wealth earned through toll revenues for ships sailing to Leiden. Haarlem survived a Spanish siege in 1572 and the city saw its resurgence through linen and silk manufacturing, crafts, beer brewing and tulip growing in the 17th century. The ten Boom family lived in Haarlem and their original watch shop can be visited. I read Corrie ten Boom's book, The hiding place, as a teenager, learning about how the family provided safe haven for Jews during WW2 but were betrayed in 1944. Corrie survived Ravensbruck, the only family member to make it through the war.
In 1632 a tow canal between Haarlem and Amsterdam was opened. I think the canals in Haarlem are just as beautiful as Amsterdam but with more open spaces and way fewer people. Here are some shots I took during our wanderings.
We walked over to the De Adriaan windmill after our morning tea. The original windmill dates back to 1779 but it burnt down in 1932. Rebuilding took place in 2002 on the original foundations of the old windmill. It is fully functional today and capable of grinding grain but it is mostly a tourist attraction now.
There is a reformed Protestant Church in Haarlem in the main square, or the Grote Markt. The Grote Kerk, or Church of St Bavo, was first mentioned in historical records in 1245 and had various bits added to it throughout the 15th and 16h centuries. It's a rather imposing structure and dominates the city skyline, with its Gothic architecture and low buildings that surround the church. We had a poke around the exterior as the church is closed on Sundays, so we couldn't see inside.
We loved wandering around, even though it was super quiet in Haarlem and nothing much open on a Sunday. There's a nice vibe about the place and the architecture is stunning. We were lucky with the weather, too, as it was cold but sunny with blue skies.
The best part was wandering around the cobbled streets and finding interesting little alleyways. We saw a few people about, getting their Sunday morning coffees, and I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to live there. It seemed idyllic to me.
The two below shots are my favourites of the ones I took that morning. I mean, look at these photos! What a beautiful place! I'm so glad we took the train out there - a spur of the moment thing. That said, we probably should have done some research first as there's actually a lot of stuff to do in Haarlem, just better planned for a Saturday or week day when things are open.
We headed back to Amsterdam on the train and got off at Centraal station. It was a beautifully sunny day all day and we had a lovely time wandering around the canals for most of the afternoon. It's so easy to get caught up in the beauty of the centre of the city and stroll around endless pretty streets. Does Amsterdam live up to its hype? I think so!
I remember that we found - randomly - a Vietnamese cafe on one of the canal streets and ate our sandwiches on the outside tables watching the world go by. We had pre-booked tickets for Anne Frank House for a timed entry late afternoon so we stayed in the city all afternoon and explored the canals. Here are some of my favourite shots of the gorgeous grandeur of Amsterdam canal houses from our afternoon wanderings.
I want to say this is where we sat and ate our sandwiches but if memory serves me correctly [and I am writing this post almost two and a half years after our trip], it wasn't, but I took this photo nearby. i just liked the vibe of it...
Below are shots of a couple of key landmarks that we spotted on our afternoon wanderings. The two outer shots are of Westertoren, the tallest church tower in Amsterdam at 85 metres high. Protestant Westerkerk [Western Church] sits on the edge of the famous Jordaan neighbourhood. It was built in Renaissance style and first opened to parishioners in 1631, although construction was not completed until 1638. The church is not far from where Anne Frank lived and I believe the church's chimes are mentioned several times in her diary. The upper part holds the emperor's crown and a carillon [set of bells]. It used to be possible to climb the tower is closed for restoration at the time of writing this post.
The middle shot is of Ronde Lutherse Kerk, or Koepelkerk, a former Lutheran church built in neo-classical style. It sits on the Singel canal in the Canal Ring Area which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The church was built between 1668 and 1671 for the Lutheran community. The church transitioned to hosting concerts and events in 1935 and became a dedicated events space after renovations in 1975.. Looking up the church for this post, I can see that it's now a swanky events venue for the Renaissance Hotel.
I visited Anne Frank House on my day trip from Brussels in 2011 but was happy to go again so that E could experience it. The museum has had a major facelift since my visit and I have to admit that it feels like it has lost some of its authenticity. I remember a small museum shop adjacent to the house that was entered from the canal-facing front of the house. Now the museum has a huge glass structure built in 2018 that swallows up the original house, complete with café and bookstore. I understand the significance of the museum to Dutch history, but all the snazzy upgrades just made me feel sad.
Visitors can only enter with tickets purchased online for a timed entry. The museum is hugely popular. I waited to book until two weeks before we left Australia and the only tickets I could get across the four days we were in Amsterdam were on day 2 of our stay at 4.30pm. We paid €14 each for our tickets. I suggest an hour is all that is needed to experience the museum.
There were bunches of people waiting for their turn to enter as we sat and waited for ours. I still found the museum experience moving - even second time around - and I think it is a must for any Amsterdam visit. It just didn't feel quite the same to me now that it's all schmick and shiny. That said, the fragments of Anne's original diary and items from the family's everyday life are on display and it's a powerful experience to visit the house, particularly to get a firsthand perspective on the secret annex.
As a sidebar, while we sat waiting for our timed entry, we watched with awe as a couple seemed to be moving into an apartment across the canal. They were using this nifty hydraulic platform to lift furniture and other heavy items from the street up and through large windows to their third floor apartment. We were fascinated!
It had been another big day of walking and we were tired by the time we headed back to Sloterdijk. Fortunately we had leftover supplies from our previous night's shopping stroll to Lidl that we could have for dinner.
I'm finishing off day 2 wanderings with a collection of bike shots. Yes, there are bikes everywhere, as one would expect! Several times I almost collided with bike riders. I guess they are used to whizzing around the canals, but it can be a bit overwhelming for visitors unused to the amount of people and bikes in such a small space [and the lack of barriers along the canal's edges!].
Day 3: Showers, shopping, and a stunning sunset🌦️🛍️🌆
Our third day in Amsterdam saw a return to cold and showery weather. We took the train from Sloterdijk into central Amsterdam in the morning and had a bit of a poke around some shops. E bought a load of clothes but my only purchase was a sleeveless puffer jacket from Primark [ha!] as I was feeling the cold. We had a warm drink and pastry from a café near Centraal station and then headed back to the hotel for lunch from our supermarket supplies and a few hours of rest. I guess we could have looked at going to another of Amsterdam's 90 plus museums, but we were happy to have some time to recharge and we'd had a nice time pottering about in the morning.
Here are a couple of shots of the Royal Palace, looking a little grey in the bleak weather, that we strolled by on our wanderings. The Palace is located on Dam Square and is one of three palaces in the country that is at the disposal of the Dutch royal family. Construction of the palace began in 1648. Apparently, the building was constructed on over 13 600 wooden piles driven deep into the sandy soil. Tours are available of the palace's interior that was renovated between 2005 and 2009.
One of the things I love about European cities is how beautiful they are at night. After our restful afternoon, we headed back into the city as the sun was setting. We headed to a different part of the city we hadn't yet explored, passing this cool alley along the way. As it says on the below collage, the alley totally had Harry Potter Diagon Alley vibes. I stood for a bit and stared across the street as it really did feel as if we were on a Harry Potter film set.
Below is a collection of shots from our wanderings as the sun was setting. How pretty the canals and streets looked as the lovely lamps came on. These shots were taken around Leidsestraat, a busy main shopping area in central Amsterdam, connected to one of the main squares, Leidseplein. The street dates back to the 17th century so it's worth a wander for the grandeur of the old houses.
These shots below are even more beautiful, showcasing the stunning canals set against the pinks and oranges of the October sun set. We were so glad that we'd headed back into the city in the early evening to experience this magnificent sight.
I took loads of photos that evening but I've singled out the below two images as they are my favourites. I remember we were just strolling along, taking in the vibe, when we suddenly turned and saw the beautiful colours of the sunset through the canals. I love how the sunset changed from pink to orange and how well my phone's camera captured the experience.
Equally in awe was a couple walking near us and they stopped and asked if we'd like a photo together. The bottom shot above is my favourite of our whole trip [partly because it's the only one of us together that isn't a selfie!]. I have it in a frame on my desk in my home office, a constant reminder of the beauty of Amsterdam and my love of sunsets.
The below picture is another of my favourite shots from that evening. The combination of the olde worlde lamp, the bikes, the leaves and the light of the canal houses is just magical. I am rather partial to charming old lamps, so...
Later, we headed back to Amsterdam Centraal, unfortunately at the same time as bajillions of commuters. It can get super busy in the area around the station - just wall to wall people, really. We ducked into a supermarket for dinner supplies, discovering for the first time the amazing Albert Heijn chain. It's the largest supermarket chain in the country, with around 40% of the market share. Albert Heijn has been in operation since 1887, grown from a single store opened by its namesake. There are a whole bunch of Albert Heijn to go stores now that specialise in products for commuters. We found the food to be fresh and convenient as travellers, although a little higher cost than what we are used to. Generally, we found Amsterdam to be an expensive city, so be prepared for that.
I don't have any shots of the front of Amsterdam's central station but I found these to give some perspective. The station is HUGE and the paved area in front of it and the road leading to the main entrance was often crowded when we were there. The canal houses in the below shots are just to the left of the station.
To cap off our incredible sunset experience, we saw these beautiful canal houses lit up at night, right near Amsterdam Centraal. Amsterdam, you sure are pretty at night.
Day 4: Our final exploration of the city and a Van Gogh immersion👨🏼🎨
Our final full day in Amsterdam was beautifully warm and sunny. We had mid afternoon timed entry tickets for the Van Gogh Museum so we took the opportunity to have a final wander around the city first. We found this cute café on the canals and shared a plate of Dutch pancakes. Delicious!
As we wandered around on our final day I found a fab little art shop where I bought the below prints as memories of my experience in the city. They sit in a frame now in my lounge, along with one of my favourite shots of Haarlem.
Here's my collection of favourite old door shots in Amsterdam. I'm a bit partial to old doors, especially ones that make me curious about what might lie behind them. I love the idea of restoring old buildings and I always wonder what it is like inside old buildings in European cities.
We found an Albert Heijn near the Van Gogh Museum and bought some delicious picnic food for lunch. We ate it in the glorious green space - Museumplein - on which the museum sits. We spent a lovely few hours enjoying the open space and warm sunshine before our museum entry.
We had a poke around the museum shop before we went inside. I could have spent loads of money there as their stuff was so cool. I settled on a print of Van Gogh's 1889 painting, Sunflowers, that I framed when I got home. It now sits proudly in my living room.
I loved the Van Gogh Museum. The permanent exhibition of some of Van Gogh's masterpieces was incredible to see in person. I like the way the paintings are accessible and the timed entry system meant the museum wasn't crowded when we visited so we could take a proper look at the artworks. The museum tells a story of Van Gogh's artistic life and works in paintings and I like museums that take that narrative approach. I admit I find massive, eclectic museums like the British Museum and Rijksmuseum a little overwhelming even though they are well organised. It's easy to get a bit "museumed-out" in those big places, leave, and then feel like there was important stuff missed.
The Van Gogh Museum was opened in 1973 and contains the largest collection, understandably, of the Dutch master's paintings and drawings. It's the most visited museum in the Netherlands. My below photos show Almond blossoms [1890], three of Van Gogh's nine self-portraits, and Sunflowers [1889]. The two landscapes are Seascape near Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and The harvest, both painted in 1888 in the south of France.
It was back to Albert Heijn for dinner supplies and then our final night in Sloterdijk before heading to Paris the next morning.
Amsterdam, I fell in love with you even more on this second visit. The pretty canals, cobbled streets and historic buildings - especially the houses with their gabled facades - make Amsterdam a distinctive city, full of charm and beauty. It's super easy to navigate on foot or by bike and the centre of the city is quite compact. There's an atmosphere in the city that is vibrant and warm and the vibe totally draws me in. We found the people we interacted with friendly and welcoming and English is widely spoken so we had no issues with language barriers as we don't speak any Dutch.
I recognise that the historic centre is crowded and overrun with tourists, all vying for a spot on the canals where there is limited space. It must be hard to live in the city, especially commuting from the central train station, as tripping over tourists everyday must get tiresome. Sure, there were times when we felt overwhelmed by all the people and dodging the bikes means constant vigilance is required. I almost collided with one rider near one of the many canal bridges. It's actually a little scary, as bike riders fly past at quite high speeds for the limited space.
There's plenty to do in Amsterdam with over 90 museums in the city. Just remember that these days most require pre-booked timed entry tickets and it's usually not possible to buy tickets for things at the last minute or at the entrance.
There's just something about Amsterdam💞. I will keep it rated at the top of my list of favourite European cities. We had 50% lovely weather and the other 50% bleak and showery, but nothing could dampen my enthusiasm for the city. Here are my reflections on what our Amsterdam experience meant to me and my most vivid and lasting memories of the city.
I was thrilled to have a second chance at Amsterdam. I truly feel like I properly experienced the city this time and our four day visit gave me plenty of opportunities to soak up the gorgeous architecture.
Staying at Sloterdijk gave us a quiet place in the evenings to return to, and I am proud of us for mastering the trains and getting ourselves around.
Wandering around the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum was a privilege to share with E. It's lovely to visit museums with a kindred spirit.
The canals, the cobbled streets, the beautiful buildings, the lamps, the leaves, and the spectacular sunset. Amsterdam [and Haarlem], you sure are pretty.
Dodging bikes, people and cars parked precariously close to the edge of the canals. All unique to Amsterdam!
I love poking around foreign supermarkets! Weird, I know. We had a blast in Albert Heijn to keep us fuelled.
Sitting in the sun, eating our Albert Heijn picnic in Museumplein and people watching while we waited for our timed entry into th Van Gogh Museum.
Where to next?
So, that was the first part of our Second Great Girls' Adventure done and dusted. Our next stop was Paris, for my third visit to the iconic city.
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