Sunday 7th April
Amsterdam
Our day started early as our time in Ireland had come to an end and we were off to Amsterdam!
We said farewell to Pheebs and walked the short distance through the sleepy city to the bus station, making perfect timing, only to find out when we tried to get on the bus that they don't take card and don't have change for a 50 euro note! So we hop off and go on a hunt for somewhere to change our note. We try the shops at the station. Closed. We asked a taxi driver. No Change. Aha! A cash machine! Perfect!
Now, let's try again. The next bus pulls up, we hop on and away we go!
Today we fly in style. We'd moved up in the world and were flying Aer Lingus, Irelands national airline (definitely not because Ryanair was booked out...)! We were even allowed to fly out of the nice terminal this time!
It was really interesting sitting people watching while we were waiting for our flight. I didn't realise, but Dublin is a big hub for flights to America, so there is a whole US departure section which was opposite our gate. We found it interesting that they have to go through so much extra security clearance.
Our flight was excellent and we had the entire row to ourselves! So I stretched out (well, as much as you can on a plane), put in my headphones and fell asleep to my all time fave David Attenborough.
We landed in Amsterdam! It was so confusing, we walked off the plane and into terminals and shops? We kept walking and walking and just when we thought there wasn't any immigration, we turned a corner and saw a queue. They do have immigration, it was just after all of this!
We made our way through and were met on the other side by Russ, Kirsten and Aaron!
After finding all our luggage we jumped on the train to our accommodation in Diemen Zuid, just out of the city.
It is such a cool Hostel, called Via Amsterdam. The downstairs common areas are really arty, modern and chill, yet lively to hang out in. It's spacious with good music, vibes and even has a bar and kitchen!
The afternoon and evening was spent hanging out downstairs eating pizza and drinking beer while we caught up, which eventually flowed into dinner. It was such a lovely evening.
Hours of chatting later we all climbed into our bunks for the night!
The room was really great! We had a 6 bunk dorm and the beds were soooo comfy! They were really cool, the way they were designed meant that you had a little privacy around your head and the headboard had a light and USB charger in it! We also had a private bathroom in our room!
Monday 8th April
Amsterdam
The morning started with brunch downstairs in the hostel. We all had avo feta smash on sourdough and let me tell you something, when you haven't eaten an avo for MONTHS it makes this feel like Christmas!
After being reunited with the perfect green little fruit we jumped on the metro into the city. The metro trains here are rather funny. They're like a cross between a tram and train, essentially just a very short train!
We arrived into the central station and stepped out to beautiful architecture, a wide bustling canal, and forms of transport everywhere! You have to be so aware! There are bikes zooming past, trams, cars, motorbikes and even tuk tuk looking vehicles!
We started to wander around the city and oh. My. Goodness. Did I have my eyes opened. So I'd forgotten about the stereotype of Amsterdam. All I'd been thinking about was canals and tulips. Nope. Apparently we were in the red light district and lets just say I saw much more than I bargained for.
It was honestly really rather trashy, girls in window boxes like animals in a zoo, dancing in nothing and tapping on the window trying to get people to come in. The smell of weed everywhere (again I'd forgotten about how "free" they are here), and posters on shops and displays in windows of all sorts of things that should not be visible to anyone on the street.
After a rather shocking and less than flattering first impression of Amsterdam we weaved our way out of this district and further into the canals and heart of the city. Here it was much prettier with the classic canals and bikes on bridges photos. Still no tulips though.
It was much prettier in this area and I slowly started to see the beauty to the city. We wandered around the canals taking it all in and playing with photography, learning a few new tricks from Russ. And we found the tulips!
We passed through some local markets in our wanderings and had some of the freshest and most delicious pineapple and watermelon, while watching a cat in a window trying to convince Sam that it was indeed real and artificial intelligence hasn't quite come that far yet!
We also had a mission for the day, to find Sam a camera charger for his new camera. Well a good few hours and many photos later we found the shop and the charger for a bargain! Success!
We continued to wander the streets and canals, passing shops upon shops just advertising weed in all it's different forms, even informing you about it with strength charts! It's just so strange to see because of how locked down it is at home.
The day turned to evening and we found ourselves on a nice boat cafe/bar on a canal, where we sat and had drinks soaking in the last of the days sun and the beauty of the canals.
From here we made our way to the main square of the city to see what it was all about.
Soon enough it was dinner time, and funnily enough we ended up in an Irish pub! It was a wonderful dinner full of great company, Guinness, and bangers and mash! We did make it a little Dutch though and had an entrée of bitterballen and croquettes.
By the time we left from dinner, night had now fallen and given a different light and feel to the city. It looked less trashy at night, even wandering back through the red light district didn't seem quite as disturbing as during the day (although still not very nice).
We had a nice wander around the canals in the dark with the lights of the city giving it a new beauty and beautiful reflections. We also found a little kiosk that does Poffertjes (Dutch pancakes) with nutella so of course we stopped for some! They were delish!
After our little treat it was time to head back to our super cool hostel.
Tuesday 9th April
Amsterdam - The Hague
Our last morning waking up in a bunk bed. It really was a very cool room. We headed downstairs for brekkie before packing up and all saying goodbye as we head our seperate ways again. It was so great to catch up and have a couple of days exploring together, and picking up tips and info for countries they've visited that we're heading to next.
The hang out area of the hostel was so chill and just had such good vibes (and tunes) that Sam and I spent the day hanging around the hostel, catching up on photos and blogging and soaking up the atmosphere!
We ordered a pizza for lunch, and later on when we got snacky ordered a round of nachos. I decided to try the jalapeños. They were hot, but added a really nice flavour, so I worked through the heat. Well it all hit me about 15mins later when my insides felt like they were on FIRE. Oh my woooord! My insides felt firey for the next few hours!
We left the hostel around 5:30 for a 6pm train to The Hague, thinking rush hour will be over by then. Wrong. It was very much still rush hour. I don't think I've ever been so crammed in my life. The train was stuffed, literally stuffed full of people, conductors were trying to push everyone down the train and urging more people on but there was no room left! We weren't even in the carriage! We were standing in the part where you go to between the doors of the carriage and the doors to get off the train. So here we are with our big backpacks like sardines in this little compartment with more people being shoved on. Every time the train stopped, people in the middle would be trying to get out so because we were so big with our bags, we'd have to try to get off the train to let them pass and then struggle to squeeze back on. It was honestly one of the most uncomfortable experiences and quite anxiety inducing.
Finally we made it to the Hague!! (In reality everything is so close and it was only about 45mins, but it felt like hoursssss, especially with heavy packs).
I already like the Hague, it seems like a really nice area. We squeezed out of the train, bought tram tickets for the next couple of days and jumped on a very un-crowded (thank goodness) old tram to Sheveningen, the beach area of the Hague where we are staying.
The hotel was really nice, right down on the beach. It was called Easy hotel and had the same colours as easyjet, turns out it is part of easyjet! The rooms are designed really well, making efficient use of space (as you'd expect from an aircraft company). The bathroom door really impressed me (it's the small things). So imagine a rectangle and you walk in the middle of the long edge. Straight in front of you is a sink, to the right the toilet and to the left a door which has behind it the shower. Now, when you open that door, it opens into the space you just walked through and becomes the door for the bathroom! Very very cool.
After dropping off our stuff we headed down to the beach to have a little explore. It is really really cool, it very much had Brighton vibes going on. There was a big enclosed pier which had restaurants and food stalls all inside it, and at the end was a ferris wheel, zip line, and bungee jump! The biggest thing though was that there was sand! Real sand! We were so happy to see a real beach after so long!
It is so beautiful down by the water, I had no idea the Netherlands had beaches like this. Restaurants lined the beach with a big walkway much like the Gold Coast. We walked around watching the sun set before going to find some dinner.
We found a salad/wok bar called Eazie wok (just to keep with the theme of the day) and after standing in there for a good 10mins trying to decipher and translate the menu, we found the english menu at the counter when we went to order. Oh well, we learnt some Dutch!
We brought our delicious looking meals back to the hotel to eat while re-watching the last season of Game of Thrones before the new season comes out.
I had a Poke bowl and Sam had a salmon wrap and they were both delicious!
We had been told about this Dutch chocolate called Tony's which is meant to be delicious different flavours and all fair trade and ethical, so we had picked up a nougat, and a caramel pretzel to try. It was a good recommendation because OMG we tried the nougat one and it was so scrumptious!
Wednesday 10th April
The Hague
We enjoyed some time at the beach and then headed back to Eazie Wok for an early lunch. I know we keep coming back here, but it's such good value for such healthy and delish food!
We then jumped on a tram into the city to explore for the day. The trams are really cool small old carriages, but they also let you purchase tickets and load up your cards on the tram! Such a good idea! The number of times we've had to miss trams at home because our tram cards weren't topped up.
The Hague is a really beautiful place, particularly the Binnenhof building which is the government's office, is an architecturally gorgeous old structure right on the water with a lovely walk around it with trees and blooming flowers.
We spent a little more time wandering around the city, before hopping on the tram to visit the Peace Palace.
The Peace Palace, as the name suggests is a beautiful palace and home to the International Court of Justice as well as the Peace Library.
There is also a beautiful old tree there that has thousands of white notes all tied to it. On each white note is a wish for peace that someone has written down.
Out the front of the gates was the peace flame. The Peace Flame is seven flames from five continents brought together in a stone pillar as a symbol of the wish for peace. The eternal flame is a symbol for international cooperation and unity in the name of peace. Surrounding the pillar is the World Peace Flame Pathway. This pathway is made up of 196 stones contributed by the 196 countries as recognised by the United Nations in 2004. Each stone is of important significance to that nation. For example, Germany contributed a piece from the Berlin wall as their stone.
After that, we decided to head back down to Sheveningen as the beach area was so cool. We walked along the path next to the beach taking everything in, and there were these really funky art installations all along the walk!
On our walk we also came to a food truck that sells churros so we indulged and sat on the beach enjoying the cinnamon doughy goodness.
We continued to walk along the beach until it got too windy that the sand was stinging our faces and chilled in the apartment for a bit.
As the wind died down we headed back down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset.
It was then dinner time from you guess it, Easzie Wok (at this point we had to keep the tradition of eating here). This time on the menu was the special of green Thai curry which we enjoyed over another episode of Game of Thrones.
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