I just slept for 2 hours because we have to go to Southend Airport by 5.30 and the car journey takes about 2 hours from Paddington London. We use Easyjet airlines which take only 40 minutes to go to Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport. Our apartment that we rent for 3 days is above a vegetarian restaurant named "Golden Temple". The staircases were quite steep, the light were dim, everything looks wooden and so we thought it's not as nice as we thought. The good thing was that 9 people was able to sleep well and that's that ( forgetting all the other crazy stuff that happened).
Must go places:
We found Albert Cuyp street market on the first day where people sell souvenirs, street foods, flowers and many others. I ate Churros with sugar that taste like donuts but much more crispier and different in shape. There are a lot of different flowers that made me go crazy. Everything looks so fresh and lovely even in the cold weather.
On the first night,we went to Centraal Station (That is how they spell it) where the central station is. It reminds us of St Pancras station in London. It is in the city centre and we walked around the area. The night scenery was so magnificent, It was satisfying. I can see many hotels, building, unique lights and the canals that I saw in pictures before.
On day 3, we went to Anne Frank house. We almost give up because of the long queue but we didn't give up. It was an hour queue in the really windy weather!Nevertheless, it was the number one place that I wanted to go to because I've always love the story of Anne Frank that I read from my book a couple of times. It was a really an interesting place and will always recommend it. I felt a rush of emotions in that historical place. I bought a Anne-Frank-diary-look-a-like as souvenirs ( I love collecting notebooks and diary)
We went to Waterlooplein shortly after that as it was nearby. It was said to be a floating flower market but we weren't convinced because we didn't really see it as "floating". We spot a lot of interesting flowers like flowery cacti and Venus Fly Trap.
We also went to NEMO science centre. The building looks like a green ship. It is near to a chinese restaurant that looks like a chinese temple. It is the mush more bigger version of OGDC in Brunei. On the top floor of NEMO we can see so many parts of Amsterdam so we took a really nice group picture. Spent hours in this centre because it was really interesting. There are many fun and weird facts and games we had so much fun. We were even fascinated when we saw a big bubble making metal ( water bubbles ).
Around Dam Square is the Royal palace and some posh looking shopping centres. On the centre there is The National Monument from world war II.
On the last night before dinner, we went to the famous I AMsterdam sign which is at the back of Rijksmuseum on museumplein. We spotted the other sign on Schipol airport but it was harder to take picture with. We took so many pictures ( Actually, we took pictures with every letter ).
The things that shocked me:
People ride bicycles. I never saw that many bicycles at one place ever in my life. They even have their own roads for riders which makes tourists like me confused on where to walk. They also use electric trams everywhere. We bought a 72 hours ticket for 16.50 to go anywhere with trams. It was scary how we have to be quick to get out of trams because once, we missed our stop and end up walking from another stop back to our apartment.
 |
| How are they suppose to find their bicycle?! |
In Dam Square, there are a few blocks of souvenir shops. I bought a lot of souvenirs including magnets, keychains and even Amsterdam shopping bags. Some of the souvenirs here are sort of "explicit" and it was the cons of Amsterdam. The only thing we can do was to avoid them. We went back here the next two days for more shopping!
Hey our apartment was a complete shock but oh well.
Interestingly there are a lot of Halal restaurants in Amsterdam and we can easily spot Indonesian and Malaysian restaurants as we walk across the streets(some of them are not halal). We ate alot of arabic food because most of the Malay food restaurants are not halal. Ironically, I ate more steaks and beef in Amsterdam than in my school. We ate at a Malaysian WAU restaurant on the last night. We have to wait for an hour for vacant seats. It was really expensive and sadly we were slowly out of cash. HAHA.
I guess Amsterdam have a little Indonesian influence since there are some people that we encountered taht can speak a little indonesian-malay and of course the many indonesian restaurants.
Netherland loves cows and I love them too. There are a lot of cow prints on souvenirs and there is this one shop where there are actual size cow sculptures which are upside down on their ceiling. I managed to took a picture of it.
The other thing is the buildings. They have different shapes every each block. I bought many magnets of the different building so that I can make a puzzle out of it. Haha.
So we walk through the red light district. We just walk straight really quickly and get out of there feeling completely shocked. Fullstop.
Amsterdam Special Food:
So I stated Churros but the other famous food is their pancakes. It was rounded and very large so I shared with a friend and was still full in the end. We ate at Sara's pancake house. We ordered American pancake with whipped cream, chocolates, banana and ice cream. It was amazing! We saw people eating Poffertjes which is mini cute pancakes. Of course if there are pancakes, there will be waffles. We bought waffles with strawberry and bananas in Chinatown. Some of us ate mini crispy waffles called Stroopwaffles. They look nice ( I didn't get to eat them ). On Albert Cuyp market, we came across a stall selling mint which is made from Eucalyptus ( I think this is the name of a tree). It tastes like those sweets for sore throat e.g Strepsils.
The tongue twisting names:
Rembrantplein: Named after a guy named Rembrant. His statue and some soldiers' statue were in the ccntre of Rembrantplein square. We took so many pictures here to start day 2.
Prinsengracht: It took a lot of practice to pronounce it. Our apartment is here and Anne Frank house is also along this area that is why this is the most frequently visited stop.
Keizergracht: If we take the tram, this is the stop before Prinsengracht.
Languages:
Most of the sign boards are English translated. The people and tourist mostly can speak english but of course we were curious about dutch and try to learn some.
Hello: Dakh
Toilet: Svallet
Yes: Ya
No: Ney
Thank you: Dank u well
Do you speak english? : Spreekly engels?
We didn't really use them but it was nice to know. There were a lot more but I already forgot most of them because it was a complicated language for me.
Post Amsterdam Mood:
Just yesterday we got back from Amsterdam to London Southend and now I am already in my boarding house in Harrogate. I will certainly miss all my friends that I will meet again next year (going back home this December). Half term is over and we have school tomorrow. It is time to be serious about school work again although I'm getting really nervous about it now. I am really looking forward to winter break since I will be flying back home in a month time. This will be a short term but feels really long. I will promise to work extra hard!
That phrase " So close but still so far" but InShaAllah, we can do it!!!
Amsterdam has always been one of my "must go places" and this makes me really want to go there soon! Wish I was there. Amsterdam looks and sounds as lovely as ever c: The halal thing was helpful, I must note them just in case, haha.
ReplyDelete