We had a relaxing start to our Saturday, waking up past 8 am for the first time on our trip (except for the day #StephanieWasSleeping, of course)! Contiki’s busy schedule for each day was definitely opt-in, but we (and most of our tour group) took advantage of the jampacked itineraries to see and experience as much as we could. Still, we were pretty exhausted from all the traveling, so the slow start to the morning did wonders for us! We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel, sampling a variety of pastries, fruit, and the mystifying espresso machine (we swear we pressed the button for a cafe au lait, but alas! — the machine did not issue forth any milk).
Chelsea, Stephanie, and I joined up with Shane for our own full day of adventure in Amsterdam. Here’s Chelsea and Shane attempting to decipher the admittedly slightly challenging map:
First up was the “Heineken Experience” — historically a Heineken brewery, it now serves as an interactive museum about the history of Heineken beer. This is NOT your typical museum; I do not exaggerate when I say the Heineken Experience is one of the best museums I’ve ever been to! Between the high-tech audio-visual displays (including one that allowed us to literally film a music video of us singing stammering along in confusion to a Dutch song), the full stable of Heineken steeds, the beer tastings (3 in total), and even an amusement park-like ride, it was an incredibly engaging and memorable, must-see attraction. For five euros, we even got to “bottle our own Heineken”: a machine printed the names we specified onto the labels of real bottles of Heineken beer! I got two made, one for my brother and one for a friend. Here are some pics of the most memorable parts of the Heineken Experience:
Of course, Steph and I posed with this shout-out to entrepreneurship! Yay!
Here, Chelsea and I are “helping the brewer” stir up some hops!
Next, we walked to the iconic I Amsterdam sign, where it was nearly impossible to take a picture with all the tourists jockeying for position! We managed to jump in for a quick snapshot!
For lunch, we walked over to Leidseplein square and ate at Le Pub Leidseplein. The meal was absolutely delicious. We enjoyed yummy sandwiches and fries!
After getting some tips from the waiter and his blogger girlfriend, we headed to the famous flower markets of Amsterdam. During warmer months, these areas are a gorgeous wonderland of blooming tulips. During the winter, real flowers are replaced by wooden ones (seriously, there were wooden tulip souvenirs EVERYWHERE — truly bizarre) and tulip bulbs are sold en masse! I was super tempted to buy some, but I didn’t want to get stopped at US Customs, which might be less than enamored by the idea of bringing foreign agriculture back to America. I decided against the tulip bulbs, much to my own sadness. I later asked a US Customs official whether or not tulip bulbs are permitted, and he said that most of the time, they are rejected — much to my relief!
The snow-covered streets made walking around slightly difficult, especially because Amsterdam’s ground transportation system is quite complex — it’s a bustling mix of trams, buses, cars, cyclists, and pedestrians…phew!
Nevertheless, the sights we passed along the way were simply stunning. Here’s some of our favorite views…
Random gorgeous canal, casually chilling, NBD:
The view from Le Pub Leidseplein:
And everywhere you looked, there were plenty of great souvenir shops for buying stationery, gifts, and other knick-knacks. Stephanie and I found these endlessly charming, and each bought a load of postcards, ceramic trinkets, and other small cute things (ever my weakness)!
Next up: more walking (we really got a fantastic workout that day) — to the Anne Frank House, now a museum. We passed through Dam Square to get to the museum, which was situated in the actual house in which Anne Frank and her family hid during the Holocaust. It was a fascinating and sobering experience to walk through the old rooms, some of which still retained the decorations Anne herself glued onto her walls so many years ago; watch interviews with survivors; and peek at pages from her original diary. This is definitely a must-see in Amsterdam.
Afterwards, we ate dinner at the nearby Pancake Bakery, the most famous of its kind in Amsterdam. What exactly is an Amsterdam “pancake”? We found it most similar to a cross between a crepe and an actual pancake as we know them — it’s large, round, super flat, and had toppings embedded on top. Hilariously, all four of us ordered the same pancake — a banana and nutella wonder! It was a little too sweet for my and Shane’s taste, but Stephanie and Chelsea were in sweets heaven. Stephanie even called it “one of the best meals” of her life! You’ll just have to try for yourself :)
By now it was nighttime, and since all the shops were closed (they closed at 7 pm!?), we decided to head home. The rest of the evening was nice and relaxing — the perfect end to our Contiki trip! We pulled on our pajamas, watched YouTube videos, ate muffins in our hotel room, and said goodbye to Shane. Goodnight!