Amsterdam And Bruges – My Birthday Weekend

I know a lot of my readers have been anticipating this post for a long time now, and it is finally here.  I would grab a cup of tea and a biscuit for this post, because it is going to be a long one!

My flatmates had decided to go to Amsterdam and Bruges, but the trip happened to fall on the weekend of my birthday which pretty much made it a birthday present to myself. It would have been too rude to miss out on such an opportunity…right?!

Where do I start? We left London at Victoria Station on Friday 7th March, the eve of my twentieth birthday. We were had the pleasure of having the best tour guide ever, may I add – Karleen was a gem (if you are reading this Karleen, we love you!) We set off on our travels, the next stop after London was to Brighton to pick up some fellow passengers that were joining us. 

We then left Brighton and worked our way towards Folkstone on the coach, where we were going to get aboard the Eurotunnel train to France. During the process, it had hit midnight (I was determined to stay up for the run into my birthday). This was the start to the best birthday I have had in years. If you look back at ____ post you can see that my birthday’s have not been great. I had also wished for  three days of birthday celebrations and I got exactly that but it was unintentional! I was presented with the cutest handmade card that had all my flatmates comments inside, it genuinely made my day. I am going to be so sad when they go back to America, because they are the most kind hearted and caring people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

We then arrived in Amsterdam, the morning of the 8th March at 8am, whilst Karleen was announcing   our arrival she added in that it was my birthday and the whole coach proceed to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ – cutest thing. Once we reached our drop off point we were taken on a tour of Amsterdam, seeing as the main attractions. I personally think Amsterdam is a beautiful place, at many points through out the day, I expressed my love for the place and how I wanted to live there one day. The atmosphere in the air is so positive, it is hard to explain unless you experience it for yourself. The best part of all though, the sun was shining and it was so hot, I think it was 18 degrees?! 

After touring around, we went for a quick breakfast after a long trip. I indulged in some delicious Nutella pancakes, they were to die for. So yummy!

We were then let loose to go and explore Amsterdam for ourselves, just walking around and seeing the beautiful street art made me realise how talented the dutch really are – unbelievable. 

My favourite thing about Amsterdam has to be the many small canals and the bridges, but apparently at least 20 people and 2 cars fall into the canals each week (and I thought the British were nuts!) but there is something about slow flowing water that puts a relaxing hint on the place. Since we are talking about things I did like, I should probably express my hatred for the many cyclists there. Amsterdam being a small place, bikes are the easiest and quickest mode of transport around the place, so they have cycle routes everywhere. So you have to look out for cyclists, cars, trams and buses – it is a bit manic!

On our travels around Amsterdam, we felt it was mandatory to take a couple of pictures with the I Amsterdam sign, clearly a tourist attraction.  We soon enough found ourselves in search for Anne Frank’s House, which did involve a €9 charge and a 40 minute wait in a queue but boy oh boy was it worth it. It is exceptional, you really get to see where and how Anne lived – makes you appreciate what we have at home!

Afterwards, we met Karleen back for a canal cruise which was a lot of fun, seeing Amsterdam by water is definitely a worthwhile thing to do whilst you are there, it is so beautiful and peaceful. 

The daylight frolics were complete and we headed back to the hotel for a shower and a freshen up and then we started our evening antics. Where we headed back into the centre of Amsterdam and had a tour of the famous red light district. I had to admit, you do feel sorry for some of the girls that are working there. Some are probably no older than 25 using their body to make money. One man literally stopped and stared at one of the ladies, where she then decided to pull the certain across her body in shame… but it was an experience! We then headed on to the sex museum, which was such a laugh – the dutch are not afraid to share anything are they?!

After a bit of grub, we soon enough headed back to the hotel to sleep – all that walking around definitely knackered us all out. After all, we had another full day of it ahead of us, therefore we needed all the sleep we could get!

We hope up bright and early Sunday morning, ready for a delicious continental breakfast provided by the hotel. The croissants were fresh, warm and crisp, just how I love them! After breakfast, we packed up our suitcases again and jumped back on the bus to head to Zaanse Schans, a small dutch village.

On our arrival at Zaanse Schans, we were greeted by beautiful scenery of old dutch windmills in rich green fields. It was another great experience, getting to see how the famous dutch clogs are made and how they make their quality dutch cheese. Tasting the cheese was of course my favourite part, so many different flavours and tastes… mmmm! Oh, I am also a horse magnet because I spotted some riders on their Dutch Friesians and they allowed me to have a stroke of their beautiful creatures. 

Once again, we jumped back on the bus but this time for a three hour bus ride to Bruges. On our arrival, we were blessed with another sunny warm day, making our trip that little bit more brilliant! Karleen took us on another walking tour around Bruges, seeing the stunning medieval city with amazing untouched architecture. Not many cars are allowed in Bruges, as they try to preserve the old cobble roads, so the main source of transport around in by horse and carriage – as you can tell I was in heaven!

Whilst we were there, we had to try the famous belgian waffles and they do live up to their name of having the best waffles around. Soft, doughy, tasty and pure excellence, I could do with one right now! Belgium is also famous for their Belgian chocolates, so creamy and sweet, I just had to bring some back for the family!

After all the antics, the day drew to a close and it was time to head back to London. I have never felt so sad to leave anywhere and go back. When comparing Amsterdam/Bruges to London, I would love to stay there even as much as I do love London. Nothing compares to the atmosphere in Amsterdam and Bruges.

It was worth every penny, every minute was spend in pure awe of everything and I would go back in a heartbeat. Just writing this post has made me get my post travelling blues back again… Take me back!