Amsterdam. July 10

Hey so today was super good you guys. We headed to the train station this morning after having our regular Hagel slag and stroopwaffel breakfast, to hire some bikes! So Ash hadn’t ridden a bike since she was in primary school and lets be honest, Elise was never the confident one with bikes in the family, but we got them anyway and it was the best decision ever. We took the first hour to ride around our little housing estate, and then headed off along the highway in a mystery direction. We were super nervous to go on roads, obvs, but we had been told by our tour guide that bikes are ALWAYS in the right, and so we at least felt better about it than we would in Melbs. We found ourselves at  a really lovely park where we stopped to have a walk around and drink some frappes from a little stall on a communal cubby house.

After getting enough sun and refreshments we took the path around the park, through a little foresty area with some surprise sculptural installations and then onto some main roads to get closer into the city. Getting used to riding is one thing, but getting used to riding around very confident and fast riders on a road that is in reverse to Australia definitely got our hearts beating, but we got used to it quicker than we thought and it turned out that the trickiest part for us was trying to find a free post or fence to tie our bikes to. Once we found a flimsy fence to park our bikes against, we stopped in at a café to have some lunch. We had some super yum Mexican food served by a really friendly waitress as we sat in the shade outside. While we were eating and drinking and relaxing, Elise was texting her fam on viber, as Jeanette and Andrew were at the airport, about to set off for Amsterdam to start their holiday! AMAZING FAMILY TIMES TO COME. STAY TUNED.
So we decided that after our cheesecake and coffee, it was probably time to get back on our bikes and do a little more exploring. We rode around the canals some more and then decided to head back out towards our area again. On the ride back, having just mastered a very complicated intersection, we happened upon a park, that turned out to be a bike riders dream. The park is called Vondelpark and it’s so, so, so, so good. Look it up bros, we were too busy having the time of our lives to take photos. We spent ages here riding around before we gave into our sore bums and headed back through the maze of roads and canals towards our train station.

After dropping off our bikes and after having a small break at home, we headed back out again, this time by metro! Our tour guide had told us about Friday nights at the Van Gogh museum the other day, and although we weren’t actually allowed to wander around being fancy with wine in our hands (like he said!), we did have a really good time. The music from the DJ in the central foyer rises up through the floors and it makes for a pretty fun and different way to experience the gallery.

Walking to Van Gogh Museum

Hawt babe, hawt babe

When we had ingested all the Van Gogh we could, we headed down to the docks behind the main station to catch the ferry to a restaurant/bar that our host had suggested to us. We waited for half an hour, slightly freezing at the terminal, but the ferry ride during sunset was seriously amazing. Super beautiful!
Once we docked we, and the many bike riders squished on with us, poured off the boat, splitting off towards different venues around the old industrial district. We first came across an art/music performance and watched that for a while, but decided that as it was about 9.30, we had better go find a table and order before the kitchen closed!
The place is called ‘PLLEK’ and is a large, double story, glass walled building made out of shipping containers. We found a table and ordered just before cut off. The food was amazing! We were pretty content.
Later, when it came time to leave, we squished onto the ferry with a huge number of bike riders, and a much smaller number of walkers, and headed back to central Amsterdam.
Once we had caught the train back to our place, we crashed! Lucky we had number one comfy bed of the entire trip!

Love A&E