Okay, okay – you might think I’m dragging our short weekend in Amsterdam out a little bit, but truth be told, there is a heck of lot of ground to cover! You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Not only do I hope I’m helping any of you who are looking to travel to this wonderful City, but I also love the fact that I’ll be able to look back on this trip and remember all the great adventures we have been on (especially as I have such a terrible memory!) Our last and final day meant we had to check out of our apartment at 11am so we needed something that would keep us entertained till our late night flight.
We decided that we would wander up to the flower market to buy James’ Grandma some bulbs for her birthday and stop off for some dutch pancakes at Studio 52 (a spot we had been to previous years ago) to people watch and chill out. The sun was shining gloriously, much different to the couple of days before so we concluded over our coffee and pancakes that we would make our way up to the Artis Zoo, an attraction neither of us had done before.
Now for those who have not tried dutch pancakes, I can assure you that they are like no other type of pancake. When I say they are the bomb diggity of all pancakes in the world, I am not lying at all. James slathered his in chocolate sauce, whereas was just happy with butter and sugar dusting. I could have devoured 2 plates or more of these delicious sweet treats but I don’t think my hips would have forgiven me, even if we were about to walk quite a few miles that day!
James was busy choosing what bulbs/colours/flowers he was going to get for his Grandma so it gave me the perfect chance to snap some shots of everything. Everywhere you turn there is something so “instagrammable” about the place that it’s hard not to keep snapping away. I mean look at all those cacti? A bloggers dream, or what?
We also popped in to the famous Christmas shop and I purchased a couple of baubles for our tree to hang when we got back. A tradition of James & I’s is to get a magnet for the fridge wherever we go on our travels but we already had quite a few Amsterdam ones, so we thought we would slightly break tradition this time.
We made our way on the tram over to Artis Zoo once we had picked up all our bits. The air was pretty brisk but lovely in the warm sun. Once we arrived at the Zoo it took us about ten minutes or so to get tickets – it was an early Sunday afternoon so expected it to be a little busy. Once we were inside though, there was so much space and you didn’t feel like you were in each other’s faces.
For me, the highlight was watching the “Mummy” and “Daddy” lion sunbathing and bathing one another. Daddy Lion gave us a little show with some great big roars. They really are the most beautiful creatures. To go to a proper lion/tiger sanctuary would be a dream for me, so ya know, if anyone is reading this and wants t send someone – I’m all yours (LOLZ) Another great area to watch was the Gorillas. There was one little baby monkey who was so daring and playful that he was rather loving the attention when he climbed and swung around the ropes and let go to fall in his straw filled bucket. He was certainly the star of the show!
Made friends with a rather large pelican on the loose too, I daren’t get any closer but lots of people were enjoying the spectacle of the escaped big bird!
Watching the Sea Lions was so funny too, they came hurtling in to their pool making the funniest noises and then put on a spectacular swimming and diving show. It was so great to be able to watch them underwater too through the underground section. So beautiful!
There was also a great indoor aquarium too, which meant that as the day began to get much cooler we could head inside and seek some warmth. It was so colourful! There were some crazy fish, some ugly, some really beautiful. There was even some little “Nemo’s” too, I tried to get a good shot but he kept hiding from me!
Once we realised we had made our way round most of the Zoo we decided to head back in to the centre of the City to get some food. WE got off at Dam Square but really struggled to find somewhere that a) tickled our fancy and b) wasn’t ridiculously over priced so we walked further up and made our way down the street that eventually meets the back of the Palace and found this amazing burger place called Burger House, from the outside it reminded me a little bit of a Five Guys type of place and it certainly didn’t dissapoint. Had I not been so hungry slash tired from all the walking I would have got a photo of this burger.
After we ate we (reluctantly) started to make our way to the train station which was only a few minutes walk away. After purchasing our tickets and heading to the platform it was time to wave goodbye to Amsterdam. Usually, I feel really sad when we leave because we always have to time everything with going back to our hotel to collect luggage but because we only travelled with rucksacks it gave us that freedom to just do what we pleased, I’m always going to travel with a hold-on now for city breaks.
It is heartbreaking to leave somewhere you love – but I know we will be back very soon and should we ever win the lottery we will be purchasing an apartment there (I can dream right?) I really hope you have enjoyed my posts on Amsterdam and it might have given you some inspiration for a trip there in 2016!
Do you have somewhere that you never want to leave? Somewhere that has the uncontrollable, gravitational pull for you? I’d love to know!
Bee xxx
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