Amsterdam
I had my birthday recently, and Killian surprised me with a trip to Amsterdam! I've really been craving travel recently, and something about Amsterdam was really speaking to me this year. I couldn't wait to see the canals and bikes and shops!
Our first day was mainly spent exploring. We arrived in early in the morning (well, mid morning because we had a crazy delay after some engine problems on the plane!) so while we waited to check in to our hotel, we walked into town and checked things out a bit.
Since we hadn't eaten breakfast, we stopped at this amazing place Killian had found, Mook. They have all kinds of crazy pancake creations, and we had to have some birthday mimosas to go with our picks!
After that, we practically rolled into town to see some sights.
I immediately fell in love with the architecture. Each building looked like it was out of a children's book! They each had a hook at the top. The buildings are so tall and narrow that they need to hoist possessions up from the outside when they move house!
The next day was my actual birthday. What better way to start the day off than with an avocado themed restaurant for breakfast?! I have seen pictures and videos from The Avocado Show on social media for the past year, and I was so excited to try it. Each item on the menu incorporates avocado, and Killian and I are big fans. Although it's not on the menu, they do offer one breakfast item for a few hours in the mornings, which is what we both opted to get (Killian chose chorizo and I chose bacon). And it was freaking delicious. Although I will say completely overpriced. If I lived nearby I wouldn't go regularly, but it was fun for the novelty of it!
A few blocks away was The Heineken Experience. It hadn't been open too long, and the line was pretty short, but growing quickly. We bought our tickets online (standing on the sidewalk) for the next time slot in less than half an hour so we could skip the line and pay less. While we waited, we took a little stroll along the canal and admired some of the house boats.
Then it was time to go in! The tour starts off a little slow and crowded while you go through the history portion, but it's all pretty interesting. We both drink Heineken more than any other beer, so it was cool to learn more about the product and company.
I was in love with the big copper tanks. They were gorgeous! The whole room was, actually. Once you leave this section, you go through the horse stables, then a "ride" that talks about the process of making the beer, and then you get to these funny photo booths that superimpose you over Heineken images. We pretended like we were peeking out of one of the tanks 😂
We really enjoyed how extensive and interactive the whole place was. I would highly recommend visiting if you're in Amsterdam!
We waited out the rain in the Heineken bar, enjoyed one last glimpse of the view, then headed out to explore some more.
The I Amsterdam sign was insanely crowded, so we opted to have our lunch nearby rather than try to take pictures in front of it. I was excited to see that they had Apple Bandit on their menu, which is their version of Orchard Thieves, my current fave cider to drink in Ireland. It basically tasted like a watered down version of what I'm used to. We also got poffertjes, which are these puffy little pancakes. I didn't take a picture because I practically inhaled them. They were so freakin good! We tried bitterballen as well (deep fried balls of meat) but we weren't huge fans of the vinegar-y taste.
After exploring for the day, we strolled around the city at night. The lights reflecting on the canals ad all of the old buildings lit up were gorgeous. But of course, we had to go to the Red Light District. We'd stumbled across it the previous day, but it was a much different experience. At night, you can see the red lights coming up as you walk through the narrow streets, so it's easier to anticipate. The picture below is funny because we wanted a photo together in front of this gorgeous church, but you can see the red lights glowing on our faces. All in all though, it really wasn't as seedy as everyone makes it out to be.
For our last day, we of course had to go on a canal cruise. I was surprised at how much I learned about the city. There are so many water tours going on, it was kind of crazy. We sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the canals.
Below were some of my favourite buildings. We had noticed as we walked through the city that some of the buildings were seriously leaning. When they leaned to the sides, the space in between buildings was filled with some kind of material which you can see (black) between the ones below. They looked like an accordion in person, but the effect is sadly lost a bit in the photo.
We strolled through a flea market after the cruise, then stumbled across this candy shop. They had outrageously themed candies, a ton of options, and really cool mannequins.
But one of the best parts of the shop was their massive vegan selection. Everything below is vegan! If you didn't know, gelatin, used to make gummy candies, is made of protein from boiled skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones. So definitely not vegan! They were also made from more natural sweeteners. I chose a selection of vegan and on-vegan, they were all amazing! (If you're interested in trying them, they do ship worldwide)
The last thing we wanted to make sure we did was visit their Dunkin Donuts. We don't have Dunkin in Ireland, and it's Killian's fave coffee. Ireland is also still working towards a more "American" donut, but in the meantime Dunkin is a nice treat when we're traveling Europe. They had customisable donuts, which was pretty cool, but I went for their Amsterdam one instead.
While we waited for our shuttle the airport, we enjoyed complimentary birthday cocktails at the hotel's rooftop bar (with sparklers! but I was too excited to get my camera out in time). Not a bad way to end a lovely trip.
You can check out the vlog from out trip below.