So we decided to take another little trip within Europe as its pretty cheap for a decent hotel and a short flight. We went for three days and two nights in March and it cost us around £220 each via
LastMinute.com.
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Our flight was fine took less than an hour to get there so we had some time to take photos with the infamous iamsterdam sign which you can find 1 of 2 outside the station (the other being next to the Van Gogh museum)
That's me in my bright trainers below :)
We stayed in this beautiful hotel called
Dutch design Artemis which is outside of the main part of Amsterdam square as we didn't want to stay near the centre, we wanted something good quality and quiet but still able to access the city centre if need be.
It took about 20 minutes on the tram to get to the centre and the line went through alot of the places we wanted to visit so we just got of as and when we went by things.
The hotel was very nice, when we arrived the staff we so pleasant they had watermelon infused water in reception if you fancied a drink and a supply of push bikes and motor scooters to hire.
The staff seemed to speak a range of languages and spoke good English and didn't make you feel uncomfortable for not being able to speak dutch.
The reception was clean and had a good selection of furniture and art around that catches your eye as soon as you walk in. They have a selection of huge sofas to relax on while you wait for one person to check your party in.
The room was nice had a small fridge, three chairs, two small double beds, a good supply of tea and coffee facilities, iron and board, some sanitary items like shampoo and body wash. A few other bonuses were an ice machine in the main hallway, free wifi and computer access and the light up mirror in the bathroom (great for a good selfie).
On our second night we didn't really want to venture out to eat and spend all night walking around trying to make a mutual decision. So we ate in the hotel restaurant there is something for everything sandwiches, soups, salads and some more finer types of dining which to be honest I have no idea what they were. We opted for the 'Polderburger' basically a bacon cheese burger with a cone of chips and a little side salad, this burger was amazing I regret not taking a picture of it it was so nice.
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When we first arrived we could not figure out which ticket to buy for love nor money, it kept coming up at
€94 per day which obviously was not right. So I downloaded an app '
GVB' comes up if you type in 'Amsterdam tram' in the app store i'll put a link to it below.
(
GVB app fpr apple)
The best way we found to get around was to get a 24 hour tram pass for
€7.50 or a 48 hour one for
€12.50 and the great think is it starts from your first check in for the full 24 hours so for example we bought ours at about midday and it lasted until mid day the next day then we didn't buy the next one until 6pm and that lasted us 48 hours until 6pm on our last day. It works in the same way as the Oyster card we have in London you check in and out during your journey by touching it on a pad.
I believe they do offer pass from 1-7 days, so you just hold on to the same pass for your entire stay and you haven't got to hunt down machines etc. Which is always handy when you don't know where the heck you are going.
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We popped into Madame Tussaud's which is in the main part of 'dam square', I won't spoil it for anybody wishing to visit but I enjoyed myself they had a few of the wax works that you are able to interact with and get some good pictures and even video clips which you can download to your phone.
We did want to go to the Ice bar but when we went they told us that they were full until 12pm so if you are visiting it may be worth booking in advance, maybe next time for me.
Down the streets that were for shopping rather than 'Cafes' there was more than a handful of Trainer shops and some of my favorite shops such as
Zara,
Foot Locker, Ton's of
H&Ms and some other clothes shops that sell a mixture of designer and other clothes. I was quite surprised at actually how many decent shops there was.
On two occasions we visited one of the infamous 'I
ce bakery by Nutella's which had massive tubs of Nutella in the window and offer Churros, macrons, cookies, waffles, doughnuts.. basically everything that your not supposed to eat all in one shop with a topping of Nutella for good measure. I loved every minute of it
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A lot of the shops have dangerous food in as in dangerous for your waistline, so on the last day I had to go back for one of these hot dogs I had seem earlier in the trip it was basically a hot dog and pizza baby... no, honestly! (see the picture below) and I did not regret a single moment or bite of it. I opted for the 'Chicken bacon hot dog' just incase you want to experience what I did lol.
I always seem to find my way to a Starbucks and or Wagamamas, no matter where I go in the world. I have no shame in the fact i go abroad and eat the same as I do at home sometimes lol.
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(prices and details correct at time of publishing. Pictures belong to me unless stated This is not a sponsored post)
