So finally Amsterdam has been after being so excited for so long. This was the boyfriends Christmas present from myself and it's been the longest wait ever.. I don't know who's been more excited me or him!
Obviously needed an entire new wardrobe for Dam so March was spent shopping..shopping..shopping!
This year we had the BEST idea in the world and stopped over at the Manchester Airport Marriott the night before which to my delight has a San Carlo Restaurant inside the hotel. PERFECT'O filled our tummy's with Italian Stodge (as we might of possibly been out partying all the night the night before) to cure our minor hangovers and full on KO'd at 8:30pm ready for our 4am get up!
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Obviously drinking Latte's for a complete change.
So feeling fresh after our amazing nights sleep at the Marriott, we touched down in Dam for about 9:30am was at the hotel, room checked into and out and about in the city centre for 11am! It was such a beautiful sunny day although a little nippy still and a perfect day to explore!
After fuelling our bellies with some Dam Street Food and Coffee we headed over to Amsterdam Dungeons which has got to be the most HILARIOUS experience of my life. Not cause the actors weren't scary but 99% of the tourists on the tour where high as kites and just so witty and fun, even the actors where struggling to compose themselves. I can imagine it actually being really really scary if it wasn't for all the europeans higher than snoop dogg making it so funny. It was then we decided we needed to try an Amsterdam Coffee Shop for ourselves.
We stumbled across the famous The Bulldog Coffee shop to try out our first cake (when in Dam) and both of us felt absolutely nothing. The worst 14euros ever spent, for the next three hours I kept saying "you feel it yet?" to get the same response NOPE! Even though they where named space cakes I'm genuinely wondering if we just purchased normal over priced cakes haha! We're both first timers so I wanted to feel it like a smack in the face and enjoy the afternoon floating on clouds.
Okay so our first night in Dam I'm booked us into 'Supper Club' and it has got to be the strangest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I needed that entire bottle just to chill me out. The idea is a club come restaurant that you reserve a bed instead of a table and you eat on the beds. It's pretty cool but it's just so weird to be led on a giant bed, in a club next to loads of other couples, eating a meal. It's 59euros for a 5 course surprise menu, which is VERY daring for me as I'm only recently getting more adventurous with my food and still have a massive thing against seafood (except prawns, standard.)
I really enjoyed it though, there was a couple of things I wasn't sure about but at least it's an experience and I can say I've tried them now! The club bit where we was laying/eating was playing house/techno music and downstairs they had a RnB club. I must say if you're looking for something different and wanting to make Amsterdam special I definitely recommend this place as it's a very different experience from anywhere else.
Monday Nights Outfit (comfort and warmth was key)
Fur Pom Hat - eBay
Padded Coat - Zara
Military Jumpsuit - George @ Asda
Cross over bag - River Island
Chelsea Boots - Public Demand
Day Two
So Tuesday we woke up FRESHHH after SupperClub and ready to take on the day. All the clothes I'm wearing in the post above have been featured before, alongside my Nike Air Force Ones and my padded Zara coat, I felt every part a European Tourist!
Tuesday was so much fun we started the afternoon off after lunch by visiting the Heineken Experience. It's absolutely amazing, I was a little bit sceptical at first cause I hate beer but I really really enjoyed every part of it. Even drinking the two free Heinekens at the end despite thinking I didn't like it. To anybody visiting Amsterdam I would definitely put this on your to do list, I loved it!
Tuesday was also St Patricks day and even in Amsterdam everyone's celebrating for the Paddy's hard. All the Irish bars where packed out with crowds of people, pouring out on to the canals drinking Guinness and listening to live Irish singers. There was such a buzz of an atmosphere that we ended up pub crawling until we was drunk up the Red Light District, popped into watch a peep show and even bagged ourselves a free Irish Stew for Dinner. We didn't even end up going back to the hotel but staying out all day in our trainers loving life with the Dutch/Irish.
Day Three
Wednesday was meant to be our day to rent bikes but it was so windy and cold we ended up finding ourselves sheltering indoors in Coffee Shops sampling what the locals enjoy most, window shopping in all the amazing trainer shops (Ell finally got himself a unique Patta jumper which is really cool in the boy world) and wondering around the red light district again (I literally love looking at them all in the windows they're hilarious) we headed down to Anne Franks house after taking a year to find the place to find a two hour long queue in the wind and cold so kinda phased that out and went to the sex museum instead haha! There's so much to do in Amsterdam there's random museums everywhere. After spending the day being silly, laughing so much I nearly wet myself several times and eating lots and lots of fries/waffles and other crap from the street stalls we went on a mission to find the Hard Rock Cafe.. I can't even remember why!
Look how happy I am there with my cocktail.. little did I know at that point it was gonna cost me 24euros. Least I got to take the glass home cause that makes it worth every penny... (insert sarcastic face here)
Wednesday night was our last night (and we'd already had to draw more money out..Dam is expensive!) so we decided to be really cool kids and buy a few beers (for Ell) and a bottle of Prossecco (for me) and have a chilllllllled evening in the hotel listening to jams on the Bose speaker that goes EVERYWHERE with us before heading out for dinner.
We then headed up to the SKYY bar in our hotel before dinner which is an amazing cocktail bar on the 10th floor, completely glass (opens out in the summer) with stunning views over the city. I enjoyed a Pornstar Martini as usual whilst Ell had a more manly stronger cocktail. We was gutted we hadn't been up there earlier cause it was really busy, with such a good atmosphere and a little feeling of class to bring to our afternoon spent in Coffee Shops!
Considering Wednesday was our last night we was planning on going for a really nice dinner and choose to head over to Gauchos for a steak.. Only to actually leave the cocktail bar after a few to many and arriving at Gauchos for 11:45pm to find it closed (classic Heather and Elliot) we found a really nice steakhouse a few doors down called 'Ranchos' we both had a couple of drinks (myself on cocktails) with steak, rice and salad each. All for only 40euros for everything! Bargain of the century, Gauchos being closed was a blessing in disguise which meant we had more pennies to stay out all night partying in what Ell described as 'Magaluf cheesy bars' and basically just crying laughing all night and then try and figure out the night buses and google maps our way back to the hotel, (which I'm sure if you have me on snapchat really appreciated the videos posted on my story haha.)
Day Four
Our last day was hell, we was so hungover but I was determined to get a few 'touristy' photos. I loved the canals, the bikes and the beautiful buildings but all my photos seemed to consist of where drunken selfies. Above I'm wearing :-
Coat - Zara
Roll Neck - Autograph, M&S
Jeans - Topshop
Trainers - Nike Thea
Scarf - McQueen
Sunglasses - RayBan
Bag - River Island
To shake off our hangovers we went looking for Vondel Park and after reading online that this was a legal place to have open sex we thought it would be hilarious to have a wonder through. Zero open sex but the park was beautiful and so peaceful. Runners, dog walkers, families and people lazing around in the grass. Apparently Vondel Park has a lot of free open air concerts throughout the year so if you're planning on visiting Dam it would definitely be worth having a look to see if theres any concerts on.
En route to finding Vondel Park we stubbled across the I amsterdam sign, it's just outside the Van Gough Museum but being the lazy, hungover kids we was on our last day we decided to give any more museum visits a miss and just have a chilled day out together wondering around the city one last time, as it was such a beautiful day. Upon our aimless wondering we came across Barneys Coffee Shop which had been recommended to us for its milkshakes and a smoke. I must say if you're visiting Amsterdam and fancy a smoke, Barney's in our opinion was a much nicer coffee shop than The Bulldog I've posted a photo of above. We also really enjoyed The Green House Coffee Shop just off The Red Light District which had photos on the walls of all the famous people who'd visited there including Rhianna and Snoop Dogg (the only people I can remember haha.)
So hope you enjoyed reading my 2625282 page blogpost on our AMAZING time in Amsterdam! I hope it helps anyone that's travelling over to Dam for the first time to pick up a few tips on where to go.. And anyone that has already been, do you have any recommendations too? Cause I'll definitely be returning!
Heather xxx
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