¡Hola amigos! On día 21 I had my regular classes and then ran to catch the Aerobus to the airport. On the way I grabbed a jamón sandwich from Masamara and ate it on the bus. When I went through security I looked like a rookie because I forgot to dump out my water before going through. I asked where I could dump it out and the lady told me I had to chug it. Needless to say, that is the most hydrated I’ve been since I got to Europe.
I always try to leave early for the airport because of transportation issues, terminal changes, or other last minute issues. I had enough time to walk the whole airport, check out some of the stores, and enjoy a glass of wine with patatas bravas at Mussel before I got on the plane.
I got so lucky and didn’t have anyone in the middle seat so I could comfortably sleep. When I landed it was about 11 pm so I had to take a taxi to my Airbnb. The taxi took me 3 miles and was 35 euros…35 eurosss ugh. Don’t take taxis in the Netherlands. The Airbnb was cute and the owners left stroopwafels and a tea kettle out for me. I watched a movie, snacked on some stroopwafels, and drank tea, then went to sleep.
On día 22 I woke up early to walk to the train station because I made it my mission to not take another taxi. It was a 3.5 mile walk to the Eindhoven train station, which felt longer carrying all the stuff in my backpack. I had time to get a shawarma bagel with a chai latte before I met up with my friends and we hopped on the train.
We were close enough to walk to our hostel and got a great view of Amsterdam as we walked. We checked into the hostel then went on our way walking around the city. We stopped at the Pasta Factory for lunch and I got a veggie pizza. The owner of the store took our order and was taken aback when I ordered and asked me in a very concerned way if I was vegetarian and to that I said I just like veggies.
We saw hundreds of canals and it became a joke that we had to walk 2, 3, 4, etc. canal lengths before we reached our destination. The Netherlands is known for tulips and we got to see tons of them in the market. They also had cheese shops which was kind of funny to see because the windows were lined with big wheels of cheese you could buy.
I realized I didn’t pack warm enough when we arrived. It was a bit chilly in Spain when we left, but nothing like how windy the Netherlands was. We walked so much that it wasn’t too big of an issue though.
We went to Van Holland and split a speculoos flavored stroopwafel. We stopped in a few English bookstores because they had a ton of bookstores there. There were also a few markets open that we got to saunter around. We saw the Zuiderkerkhof, which is a 17th century Protestant church that stands in the capital of the Netherlands.
We bought tickets ahead of time for the Anne Frank House and went that night. We paid 7 euros and I would’ve definitely paid more. It was a well thought out self-guided tour where we got devices that would explain Anne’s story in each room we walked into. We got to go into the original annex and of course it was renovated, but done in such a way where you could imagine people living there. If you go to Amsterdam I recommend seeing Anne Frank’s House.
It was pretty late when we got out so we wandered around then walked down the Red Light District. It wasn’t as crazy as everyone raves about honestly, but of course we had to walk down it once. After our swift walk down that road we stopped at Burger Farriek for some fries then went to sleep.
On día 23 we walked to the Happy Pig Pancake Shop for some rolled pancakes. We walked to the Royal Palace, Rijksmuseum Gardens, and the Van Gogh Museum. We stopped at Olijfie for some Mediterranean food. I got falafel and we split hummus, olives, aioli dip, tzatziki sauce, and bread. We went to Brouwerij’t IJ and shared a flight of beer. None of us actually like beer but we felt it was necessary for the ~culture~.
We started our trek home and ran into the NEMO museum on our way so we stopped to watch the sunset on their rooftop. We made a pitstop to grab chargers and went to Mama Pancake where we got cappuccinos. We sat there for a while and read books. We walked to a cute restaurant nearby and I got eggplant ravioli for dinner.
We waited in line for the famous Van Wonderen Stroopwafels and we shared an Oreo stroop. We all agreed that we liked Van Wonderen Stroopwafels better which was funny because we didn’t have to wait in line and they were cheaper. We got fries later on at night and walked back to our hostel to go to sleep.
On día 24 we got ready and checked out at 10am from our hostel. We walked to a nearby coffee shop called Cocotte where I got an espresso macchiato. We walked to Foodhallen, which is like a giant gourmet food court that’s famous in Amsterdam. I got a 12 pc sushi that was delicious. I walked back towards the train station to head towards Eindhoven, took a shuttle to the airport, and waited in the craziest line at the airport before I got on my flight.
¡Todos los días caminábamos de 20,000 a 30,000 pasos y me encantaba caminar por la hermosa Ámsterdam!
