A day-trip to Amsterdam

If you followed the first part of my blog, you would probably remember that I currently am living in Enschede, Netherlands, a small student city 2 hours and a half away from Amsterdam. Thanks to NS train product of NS Flex weekendvrij we can travel free on weekend just by paying 32 eur per month. This price is comparably low when you know the price of single ticket to Amsterdam from Enschede which can reach 27 euro one way. In order to get this package, we firstly have to get the personalized OV chip kaart where you can top up the package you want. We found a quite relax weekend and decided to go for a day-trip to Amsterdam. 

This was not my first time to Amsterdam so I was not really in looking for landmarks or something famous but more about to enjoy the walk and eat well with my friends.  We had one train change in Zwolle and reached Amsterdam at around 11. The Amsterdam-Centraal train station is so beautiful with its red brick and a tower clock. Unfortunately, there was this big reconstruction along the way from train station to the crossroad going to the Madame Tussaud so people even needed to be managed by the police officers like managing cars just to be able to cross the street. Outside the train station, we could see the river and the boat trip starting from 12 eur for an hour or so. Some boat are with closed transparant roof, some are opened and you could rent it without the guide. We did not try because the weather was gloomy. 

We went along Damrak street to reach the Dam Square when we saw this building with an exhibition of Audrey Hepburn called "Intimate Audrey". It costed only around 12 euro but we were starving so we just grabbed the free beautiful postcard of Hepburn and wished we would have enough time to exactly see the exhibition. A lot of international restaurants were spread along Damrak street among the shopping destinations like Lush, Uniqlo, Zara, H&M, Primark and a lot more. People were just gathering and took picture in front of the Madame Tussaud square. I really love the ambience there. It is like when people were just dropped out of his plane and being put in the middle of Amsterdam; full of excitement and smiles. 

Just to the right of the museum, we could see the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. For students it was 9 eur which is not that expensive but we did not try to go in. So perhaps next time we will arrange a visit there. Near this square there was also this Magna Plaza mall with a very nice exterior. It even looks like a palace itself for me. We would like to first find a nice lunch near the Anne Frank museum. I visited this museum in 2012 and still remember how heart wrenching my visit was seeing her bed room and her handwritting on her wall. As far as I know, now if you want to visit it, you have to first buy it online and follow the visit quota per hour or so. We took several picturesque photo at Jordaan neighborhood with the background of Wesrerkerk tower. This canal also has multiple bridges with beautiful random bikes parked to it. In the vicinity they also have Museum of Cheese and Museum of Tulip which would be interesting to visit. We ate at this cute café in the corner of the street and I ordered just a modest hamburger of 13 euro which is a bit overprice. 

We then walked for about 30 minutes to the famous Albertcuyp Markt which is a traditional market in Amsterdam. I visited this place in 2012 where my friend, Fahmi got his wallet pickpocketed. It was such a bad experience, so make sure you take care of your belongings because it is indeed a crowded place. Our first search is the street poffertjes which is Dutch little pancakes springled with powdery sugar and melted butter. We actually bought from a wrong stall because it was overcooked. So, look carefully and choose the one with longest line. However, I found a very good Stroopwafel car that made it fresh in front of you. This one tasted better than the ones you could find in supermarket because it was warm, a lot thinner and less sweet which is really lovely. We stopped by a shop which sell thousands of spices and tea varieties. I ended up buying a pack of mixed colorful tea with the tea strainer to start my tea journey. The whole market was basically a mix of clothes, bed sheets and cover, street foods, souvenir, cafés and also the weed products. We regret not buying brownies and cookies with sprinkle of weed here because the price was a lot cheaper (half than the one we later found in the city center). 

We went back to the city center to Uniqlo and Lush also to find a nice coffee shop. Here people call the weed cafe as coffee shop and normal cafe as cafe. I did not know this fact before, so beware! We found one which was so crowded that the line was until few meters outside so we decided just to buy a packed cookies from a shop which turns out to be a very good base cookies with no taste of the weed at all for 15 euro! Such a waste of money though. It felt really great to walk in a nice shopping avenues with people shopping everywhere for Christmas. I mean, compared to Enschede, this is a huge difference where you could really feel like shopping and spend your money. At the end of the day we had a tea time in a turkish fast-food restaurant because we were exhausted of walking. We took train back to Enschede at around 18 pm.

This is basically my first time exploring a place without a plan. It was not bad either just to hanging around without exact landmark destination to be crossed out and have a relaxing time with your friends. Definitely worth the day trip and we will come back the next time with more visits to museums. 

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