Hallo Amsterdam and Vaarwel Holland!

Next stop- Amsterdam! Yes you heard right my mom and I decided to incorporate Amsterdam in our trip! Now I know what every one thinks, Amsterdam is a place where you shop for women in windows and go to coffee shops to enjoy recreational weed. Ok yes you can do this but we discovered Amsterdam has so much more to offer then what most people think! Our first night in Amsterdam after we settled into our B&B we hopped on the tramline- hello convenient and decided to stop at a place along the way that caught our eye. This place was called Moeder's or Mother's in Dutch ( Rozengracht 251 1016 SX Amsterdam). We somehow stumbled upon a very well known restaurant and it was packed with locals! We somehow got a table just in time and had one of my favorite meals of the trip. Not only were the waitresses so helpful but they were so friendly! The best part about the unique restaurant was the tradition they had started- customers from all over the world were invited to tack a picture frame with their mother on the wall and the walls were covered! I absolutely loved it!

Now for the food- We started with two different beers made in Amsterdam- one glass will actually have you buzzed it's so strong! For an appetizer we got Mama's Happas- which was a plate with various small appetizers- delicious would be an understatement. Then for dinner we got Vegetarian and Regular Hotchpotch- I recommend the Vegetarian it was cheesy and rich. We definitely went to bed with a full stomach and a great first impression of Amsterdam!

The next morning we woke up and had a very European breakfast- my favorite!

And headed to the Dam square to explore and meet up with our bike tour guide. Well turns out we had chosen the new tour and it was just my mom and I- So we scored a private tour through downtown Amsterdam and the Dutch countryside! The weather couldn't of been better and we even visited a 300  year old pancake house! Because who doesn't need a food break!

Fresh Mint Tea

Rebecca was an amazing guide and knew exactly how to navigate us and was very nice! I absolutely loved seeing the countryside and overall the bike tour was the highlight of our time in Amsterdam. I have a new found respect for the Dutch because it is much more difficult then it looks!

 Next on our agenda was the Heineken Tour- Ok this is an absolute must when staying in Amsterdam! Not only do you get two beers, but the tour is so fun and who doesn't love learning about the best thing on earth- BEER! For example who would of known that the foam has a purpose and shouldn't be frowned upon, or how to properly drink a beer!


Next we were off to the Anne Frank house which we had tickets booked for ahead of time- but seeing as our trip was off by one day due to our layover we didn't know if they would let us use them! Sure enough the dutch pulled through yet again with their friendly ways and let us skip the entire line and start the tour! Although the tour was quite depressing it was amazing to me how much larger the annex was then I had imagined when reading the book! After Anne Frank we were feeling ambitious and went to the Van Gogh Museum- and learned that on Friday nights they have a band accompanied by cocktails! The Museum was a very nice collection of his work, but our feet were about done for the day so we headed to go find somewhere to rest and more importantly EAT.

What I love about European dinners is the pace. Yes some may say it is slow, but that just means they're an American in a hurry. On vacation the only hurry should be the flight or train your about to miss. Besides that, sit and enjoy dinner at the locals pace, go through the garden and take time to smell the flowers, and wander through that street market even if it's only to look. This is one thing that differentiates us Americans from many Europeans; we like to hurry to our next task and are always looking ahead to what is next- instead of just enjoying the moment which is in my opinion the better way to do it! Obviously I am an American at heart and have countdowns for just about everything in my life but I still manage to enjoy the little things and not rush to the point of insanity.

Having said this we found a very cute Italian restaurant called Bon Apetite. Our waitress was absolutely hilarious and humored with us on how most Americans could not understand her accent and was a real pleasure! So after a glass of wine, or two, or three we ordered our main dish- deep dish lasagna and I had spaghetti bolognese. We even had quite the entertainment with a bachelor party outside at the bar and one was even in a wedding dress. Yes, a big fat man in a wedding dress- something you would not forgot, but made for a memorable dining experience! After dinner was when we decided we felt like grabbing some desert. Ok disclaimer- DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT aimlessly wander the streets of Amsterdam late at night. Lets just say 1) We found no desert 2) We ended up doing circles through the red light district- talk about creepy! Somehow we managed to make it back mapless thanks to my new found direction skills! Ok might be a stretch I'm directionally challenged but somehow manage to navigate through Europe quite well!

Skip ahead to the next morning, we're sitting at a cafe enjoying our coffee and ham and cheese croissants eager to get our day started and I realize this is the life. Not only do they have better coffee and hello it's acceptable to eat croissants and cheese for almost every meal but there is always something new too see- sounds like paradise to me! I again reflect on our last day in this country I never want to leave (think this thought crosses my mind every time we leave- guess I am easily impressed?) So after our quick breakfast we hopped on the tramline to the Rijksmuseum to be there right when it opened! I was very excited because I am an art history minor and many of the works I studied last semester were inside this huge museum! So of course we first took the obligatory Iamsterdam pictures before venturing inside.

In my day I have been to a fair amount of museums- Inlcuding MoMa, Louvre, Getty, Lacma, Uffizi, etc, but this museum had the best tour system we had come across yet! Sometimes those audio tours get so long and boring all you want to do is put it on mute, but then your like wait I paid 15 euros for this I better keep it on just in case I miss something important. No this place had a highlights tour which was the perfect length and gave us just enough time to explore the flower district- which had the added bonus of cheese shops with free samples- before catching our train to Paris! 

Link for Moeder's
Bike Tours with Rebecca