This past weekend, I spent my days in Amsterdam. I went with Ada and Ellen, another girl that I have met during my time here at Maynooth. The plane ride was nice and short, and my playlist was perfect for the mood so that helped for sure. We arrived sometime in the evening, and Elexsa and Paula met us at the airport. We stayed at the Hyatt near the airport (fancy I know) and they offered a free shuttle to and from the airport every half hour or so; that was perfect for us. The first night we simply dropped our bags and were starving, so we headed towards the city center to appreciate all that the city had to offer and basically stuff our faces. I thought I was prepared for the cold weather, but no. I most definitely was not. That night was short, we had some falafel and went back to the hotel to veg out.
The next morning, we woke up and took full advantage of our free breakfast at the hotel. This is for sure the fanciest place I have stayed at throughout my European ventures – I drank about 4 cappuccinos. Just because they were free. No regrets. That day we went back into city’s center and we saw the beautiful canals that run straight through the city. The architecture throughout the city was incredible. The buildings were right up to the canals; it looked like they were floating. We knew we wanted to go to Anne Frank’s house that day so we ventured over there and waited over an hour to get in. While it was a very cold and painful wait, it was so worth it. Having heard so many things about this very house, it was unreal to step foot inside and delve into some history. The rest of the day was spent wandering, in and out of various shops and enjoying the sights and sounds of Amsterdam.
Our second and last full day in Amsterdam was filled with lots of touristy photo ops. (I also got a ton of coffee again. Yay) We went to the I Amsterdam sign and saw a Donald Trump protest right next door. Interesting. We ate french fries and saw the beautiful Christmas lights throughout the city. We had planned to go to some museums but they were very pricey so we never actually made it inside. That night we made our way back to the hotel to warm up and recharge our phones, and then went to an Irish pub. We just can’t get away from Ireland. We all hung out and talked for hours before the pub closed and we realized we had to go to the airport in about 3 hours…Nice. So by the time we got back to the hotel, we had enough time to sleep for about 30 minutes before heading to the airport.
That was my first time sleeping in the airport. I cuddled with my backpack and slept for a solid 2 hours before going through security. Needless to say, I was asleep on the plane before everyone had even boarded and didn’t wake up until everyone was exiting the plane in Dublin.
This week my sister is here to see Ireland and we are taking a trip to Spain this weekend. Until next time!