I hope the title didn't got you too curious since I did came into contact neither with the one nor with the other. Sorry!! Well, to be exact, I ate a cake and funnily enough it tasted disgusting, made my wallet eight euros lighter and literally nothing happened to me. I wasn't even slightly dazed. I also didn't find everything super funny and sat giggling on my bed all night. Actually, I was rather frustrated that I didn't spend my money on good food instead. So much for that. Now, that we've cleared the very important weed question which I'd got to answer about a hundred times whenever I told someone I'm going to visit Amsterdam. Luckily, I can tell you that Amsterdam offers so much more than just exploring the red light district and smoking joints. In case you want to find out what this is and also get to know the number one rule which will save your life in this city, stay tuned!!
Monday
Before arriving in Amsterdam, we had a short stopover at Roermond Designer Outlet since I wanted to check out their Vans and Dr. Martens offers. Sadly, they didn't sell any plateau shoes at the Vans store or something else which might have had attracted me. So I went on and stepped into the Dr. Martens shop where I spotted some really rad collections. Although it was an outlet, the shoes still were a little too pricey for me but I had to take a picture of the shoes as to remember to check their price on Amazon now and then or maybe save them as a birthday wish. There were a lot of other shops located at the area such as Nike or Levis but I'm not really into these brands so we got back to the car and found ourselves at our little hotel room in Amsterdam about 3 hours later.
We booked the Easy Hotel because it was cheap and had a convenient traffic situation. Located around the Johan Cruijff Arena, we took the subway right into the centre of the city and continued our way by foot over the beautiful bridges of Amsterdam. At this point, I want to give you the life saving tip I mentioned earlier: Beware of the cyclists!
I'm not quite sure if you really caught this one so here it comes again: You do have to keep an eye (better both eyes) on the freaking cyclists!! Otherwise, they will knock you down. I bet it's even stated somewhere in the Netherlands' law that the pedestrians have less rights than the cyclists. You'd probably have to pay for the damage on the bike if someone runs you over. It doesn't matter that the bike way is at least four times bigger than any walkway. It doesn't matter if you hear them coming. It doesn't matter that you're a tourist. There is simply no mercy on Amsterdams' bike ways. Therefore, kindly accept my advise and just pay attention to the cyclists! Thank you!
After annoying a lot of this lot and finally working out that you're supposed to jump out of the way in each and every case, we arrived at the Jordaan quarter and spotted some cool stores like Pull & Bear, Lush and Monki, just to name a few. I got myself a Jurassic Park shirt which you can see on the pictures below. I also went for metallic false nails at Primark and applied these later. If you want to read a feedback about them, let me know in the comments.
Moreover, I spotted an interesting book at Waterstones which is called 'Other minds' written by Peter Godfrey-Smith. Unfortunately, it cost fifteen euros so I didn't bought it since I know it will be cheaper in London which is my next travel destination. I'm actually in the air plane, heading to London right now while writing this post. Anyway, we didn't do much on our first day, just strolled around Jordaan quarter and later, got ourselves some fries.
Tuesday
We planned to have breakfast at one of the Corner Bakery cafes, located around Vondelpark. I stumbled over their Instagram a few months ago and wanted to try their food ever since. To tell you the truth, I was pretty disappointed not only about their prices but also about the taste. I had the healthy pancakes which come with mixed fruit and a little cup of maple syrup. I expected kind of a pancake tower as it is shown on their Instagram photos but I only got two small ones which didn't exactly tasted as if they were fresh made. I didn't get a drink since the pancakes were already ten euros. To be fair, the stuff was really friendly and immediately got us a place inside the cafe as there were a lot of wasps outside. Still, it was packed inside and hard to talk due to the volume.
After we finished our breakfast, we took a walk through the Vondelpark which I was looking forward to. I didn't brought a book so I just sat there, listened to some music and enjoyed the view. Some time later, we headed for a store called Sharp Gear whose products I'd seen on Instagram. They sell jewellery, mostly earrings made of wood or pearls and other stuff like gemstone necklaces and rings with beautiful details. Always on the hunt for new rings, I bought one with an implemented moon stone surrounded by an elegant, silver pattern. Additionally, a simple black bracelet with silver pearls and a centred turquoise swirl left the store with me. I paid about seven euros in total thus I can only recommend this shop for it's cheap and offers several neat, unique jewellery.
At about 4 pm we decided to get ourselves some food so we searched for a Vapiano nearby. I've never been to Vapiano before hence I was quite impressed. Being offered a large range of vegetarian/vegan pasta and pizza for a fair price, I went for a pizza with spinach, tomatoes and basil pesto. I was literally over the moon since it tasted so good!! I wanted to try their tiramisu for dessert but it was sold out so I got a strawberry mascarpone mousse instead which was also absolutely delicious. Afterwards, we discovered the Waterlooplein quarter whose famous flea market was already closed so we decided to go there the next day. I still wanted something sweet so we just got straight back to Vapiano (yes the very same restaurant) and I can tell you their death by chocolate cake plus cappuccino were worth every metre we needed to go in order to come back.
Wednesday
Choosing another cafe for breakfast this time, we headed to a bakery, located near the hotel. Does someone else feels like the focus on this blog entry lays 99.9 percent on food, too? Because it surely does! If this poses a problem to any of you, kindly let me now and leave a comment. I will read it, then ignore it and proceed writing about what I eat on my travel journeys because if you don't share that passion for food, we can't be friends. I'm sorry. The guideline is: Fries before guys, pancakes before handshakes, foods before dudes. Anyway, Lebkov & sons is a good spot when it comes to breakfast. They sell fresh baked croissants, fruit yogurt, avocado toasts and peanut butter sandwiches. The only disadvantage: It's a non- cash company so you've got to pay with card. Apart from this, the cafe has a beautiful interior, furnished with great wooden tables and cute little cacti. The huge windows ensure a cosy, bright room and invite you to stay twice as long for breakfast as planned in the first place. At least, they did in our case. I just read the last paragraph again and I seriously consider a carrier as a speaker for a teleshopping TV program now. Second plan after earning millions with this blog. We will see.
At around 11 am we headed to Waterlooplein quarter and strolled around the flea market where colourful Dr. Martens and lots of Vinyl were awaiting us. I got another ring with a dark blue stone in the centre as to enlarge my collection. There were also a few vintage shops like Zipper and different kilo stores located in this area. Naturally, I couldn't resist taking a closer look whereto I sadly didn't find anything fitting. Next stop was Coffee Company where I got an iced Latte and a chocolate brownie. Both was very tasty and I could have done with another coffee right after the first one was finished.
The weather was pretty sunny that day so we decided to sit down near the water and enjoy the warm sunshine on our faces. The rest of the day, we were just wandering through the streets and finally reading a book back in the Vondelpark.
When I looked up where to have dinner later, I decided for a place called Foodhallen because I expected a great offer of different tasty stuff. However, all I found after a thirty minutes bus drive were overpriced meat meals. The solution was of course Vapiano and their basil pesto pizza again. After another delicious strawberry dessert, we headed back to our hotel and found out there was a big football game on that evening. There were lots of people and beer cans everywhere. Funnily enough, no sound made it into our room whatsoever.
When I looked up where to have dinner later, I decided for a place called Foodhallen because I expected a great offer of different tasty stuff. However, all I found after a thirty minutes bus drive were overpriced meat meals. The solution was of course Vapiano and their basil pesto pizza again. After another delicious strawberry dessert, we headed back to our hotel and found out there was a big football game on that evening. There were lots of people and beer cans everywhere. Funnily enough, no sound made it into our room whatsoever.
You may have noticed I did not go partying on one single evening which is because I basically prefer cosy pubs over crowded clubs (I'm 100 % getting a shirt with this quote printed now hahah). Since we have planned to drive back early to Cologne the next morning we decided to spend the evening in the hotel room, watching Netflix. I was also working on finishing my steampunk cosplay for Gamescom which took place two days later. Do you want to read a post about Gamescom, too? Let me know in the comments!! I might combine this post with writing about the Medieval Fantasy Convention. Until then, have a nice weekend. After reading this, some of you might consider spending one of the following in Amsterdam now. 💙
