Saturday, June 23, 2012

Oh, wham bam, oh Amsterdam (Yeah yeah yeah)

Hallo meine Lieben,

Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world. I love the atmosphere of the city, the architecture, all the bikes, the Dutch language....When David came to visit me in Germany last year we weren't sure where to go. I wanted to show him my home state, Saarland. But I also wanted to show him a more exciting place. We narrowed it down to London, Rome and Amsterdam and I let David decide. I don't know why but he picked Amsterdam and so we reserved a room in a really cool hotel in the middle of Amsterdam. The Renaissance Hotel Amsterdam in Kattengat. 
Before we went to Amsterdam we stayed 3 days at the North Sea in Cadzand Bad, visited Bruges and other beautiful places and then headed to Amsterdam to spend another 3 wonderful days there. We parked the car outside of Amsterdam because we did not want to take the car with us. So we took the train to Amsterdam Centraal. It was so much cheaper than finding a parking lot in Amsterdam. 
We walked to our hotel which was only 3 minutes away from the Central station and then started to explore the city.
I want to share some of our pictures with you. 



This is one of the smallest houses in Amsterdam. It is not the smallest house though. In the past the property taxes were set on the width of a building and so people built houses like this one. I would love to be able to visit one of them, I am sure it's amazing inside. 




A gracht (canal). I just can't get enough of them. I already pointed out that I love all cities that have canals such as Venezia, Bruges and Amsterdam. David and I would love to own a boat house as our vacation home. Totally awesome. There is a boat house museum but we haven't been there. 




We tried to find some great restaurants in town and searched in the not so touristy areas. This Pizzeria was really good, I think we were the only customers though. I was very suprised that David ordered a tea with his pasta. 




More canals. I am not sure how many canal pictures we took but too many to show you all of them. We just did not get enough.




David in the Torture Museum. We saw some really cool torture instruments. The museum was pretty small though. I have been to a torture museum in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany and there was much more to see. We did not regret going, it was very interesting but I expected more for the entry fee.




This is the most famous sex shop in Amsterdam, Absolute Danny. It is located in the Red Light District and we got yelled at 2 seconds after we took this picture. It was not allowed but David could not resist. The sales person who was dressed in varnish and leather got pretty mad.




A dog in front of a boat house. So perfect. I would love to sit in front of my boat house, looking at the canal with a dog next to me.




We also visited the Van Gogh museum. I think it is pretty difficult for Americans to pronounce "Van Gogh" in the correct way. European languages can be mean.
We had an amazing time at the museum and stayed a couple of hours. 




Dinner at a great restaurant in China Town. We paid 12 Euros for two cans of Heineken though. Not really a bargain but the food was great.




Gracht. People always park their cars next to the canal. I am pretty sure something terrible would happen if I'd try to park my car there at night.




Red Light District. Very interesting place to look at people. I felt a little sorry for the poor ladies in the windows. Most of them looked not very interested and just typed something on their phones. I am sure it gets pretty boring to spend your time sitting in a window getting yelled at from drunken tourists.




Flowers market. I liked that market a lot, you can find all kinds of flowers there. But it is also a very touristy place.




I love the architecture in Amsterdam and can't get enough. The houses are all so beautiful and unique.




David and I had to take a boat trip on the canals. We chose the perfect time because it was getting dark when we started. Very romantic. Schatz, thank you for the wonderful 3 days in Amsterdam. I had such a wonderful time with you! You are my everything! I love you!




A parking garage for bikes. Located next to the train station. I love that Amsterdam is so bike-friendly. You can go everywhere by bike and you always find a place to park your bike. Plus the bikes always have the priority in traffic. Love it.



Our hotel room. The bed was so comfortable!


David and I had a fantastic time in Amsterdam and I hope we will be able to visit the city again as soon as possible. It has so much to offer and three days just wasn't enough time to see everything we wanted.
What's your favorite city? Have you been to Amsterdam? What's your favorite place there?

Have a lovely Saturday!


18 comments:

  1. I would so love to go to Amsterdam! Looks like you had a great trip.

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    1. Yeah, it was wonderful! I would love to go back soon!

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  2. OMG this looks amazing! I would love to visit Amsterdam! I would love for you to visit my blog sometime!!
    :)
    Allison
    afashionfiles.blogspot.com

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    1. It's an amazing city! Thank for stopping by! I'll com over and visit yours!

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  3. Next time you come to Amsterdam let me know, I can take you to the vegan restaurants and show you the 'squat-bars' and hidden gardens.

    I lived there for a year and a half and now live in another city nearby but I do still visit a lot.

    My favorite city...umm Duesseldorf or Dubai but I have always wanted to visit Rome and Tokyo as well!

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    1. Ohhh and Paris, how could I forget Paris!

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    2. You're so sweet! I will definitely let you know, it would be great to meet you and have my personal guide. :))
      I love Duesseldorf too but I have never been to Dubai! Must be awesome! And Paris is wonderful too!

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  4. Oh wow! I seriously want to visit! It looks sooo fun and beautiful!

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    1. It is! 3 days was not enough time! I really need to go back and visit again!

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  5. I love Amsterdam! It´s great you had such an awesome time there! I would love to have a house boat, too! When we were looking for an appartment in Rotterdam, we asked our real estate agent how much a house boat is, she told us a that they average around one one million €!!! Can you believe it?! She also said that in Amsterdam it happens a lot that houseboats sink, because during festivals people will just climb on your boats and when they get too heavy, they will sink or have serious damage. So that kind of made me get off the idea of owning a houseboat in Amsterdam :D

    I loved the Van Gogh museum as well! I think we also spend a good 4 hours there...

    If you ever come to Holland again, you can see a dutch house from the inside...ours :) But it`s not one of those really thin ones, even though the staircase is pretty scary.

    It was probably really clever of you not to bring your car into the city! The first time we went to Amsterdam our car was broken into and since we lived in Holland our car was stolen :( I heard those parking garages outside of town are really safe...

    Cheers,
    Miss Sugar Shack

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    1. One million euros for a house boat? Wow, I did not know that it was that expensive. Maybe we should "just" buy at house at a canal. I don't want to pay a million dollar and then see my house boat sink. :) So no houseboat for me. :)

      You are so sweet! I would love to see your scary staircase! And your kitty! And you and Brad! That would be awesome!

      Yeah, my Dad told me that it's not very safe to bring your car to Amsterdam. I am so sorry that your car was broken into and was stolen! That's so bad! We left our car at a guarded parking garage. It wasn't even very expensive, I think 5 or 6 euros a day and that even included the train tickets.

      Have a wonderful Sunday!

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  6. We had a wonderful time when we went to Amsterdam (12 years ago now!) and we stayed in the same hotel as you!!! It was lovely. We tok a walking tour with an organisation called "Let's Go!" tours, which was very good. We also did a cycle tour with the same company. My favourite place, I think, was the Anne Frank house. It was suggested we got there about an hour before closing time - not so many people and very atmospheric too. We ate wonderful Indonesian food in a restaurant whose name I can't remember.
    We must go back again some time soon.

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    1. It's so cool that you stayed in the same hotel! I liked it a lot too. I would definitely stay there again. I regret that we didn't do a bike tour! But we will definitely do it when we go back. We also need to go to the Anne Frank house. We went there at the wrong time and there were hundreds of people in front of it. Oh, Indonesion food! I love it!

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  7. I had no idea there were so many "districts" of the city! Very cool. I love the picture of the sex shop lol.

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    1. Yeah, we got some trouble because of the picture. :)

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  8. I love Amsterdam, it's one of my favorite cities ever. When I lived in Germany I was in Osnabrueck, so it's a quick, cheap, two hour train ride on DB. I can't wait to move back so I can visit Amsterdam some more :)

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    1. Yeah, it is a fantastic city! I hope I will have the chance to visit it again soon! It's not really far away from Osnabrueck!

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