Travel Diary | AMSTERDAM

7:43 PM

De Wallen / Red Light District

Happy Monday you gorgeous people! I'm in a really great mood, the past week I've been attending courses for my summer job from 08:00 hrs - 16:00 hrs every day and it's been great. Each day is always different and we learn something new. I'm finishing the course this coming Thursday and straight after I'm going to start working full-time so this summer there's probably not going to be any travelling for me seeing as I've already gone to Copenhagen and Amsterdam (2x) in the past two months. Although I have a feeling that for my birthday this year I want to visit a new place, we'll have to see about that next month.

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Anyway back to the post, as I mentioned in the past blog posts, I recently went to Amsterdam; which by the way is my favourite city. I went there for an open-day and also later for interviews and presentations so it was all very exciting except for the fact that on the recent trip I caught some virus and fell sick instantly after arriving home and I'm just not getting back to feeling like myself again. I want to share with you some pictures I shot while there, they aren't many because I was too busy enjoying my few days there sightseeing and drinking too many glasses of Heineken.

Leaving Keflavík International Airport

As you can imagine I was very excited to get out of the funk above, the winter/spring here has been crazy, storms almost every other weekend so it felt great to soak up a bit of sun in Amsterdam, although one day it was raining but I still didn't let that stop me from exploring.

Amsterdam is widely known for it's Red Light District, the Tulips, the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, Anne Frank House and it's many cannabis coffee shops to be found at nearly every corner in the city. I've never set foot in a coffee shop and I don't intend to but the thrill about it as well as the District excites me.

Schiphol Airport

I AMSTERDAM letters - they are a city icon and very popular among tourist for photos, especially standing by the first letter of your name. The signs are located behind the Rijksmuseum on Museumplein and at the airport. They used to be three but I have no idea where the third sign is located. It's a great place to be at, especially if the weather is good and you can enjoy a cold beer either as you arrive at the airport or after a tour of the Rijksmuseum. It's a tourists nest, you'll find everyone out with their Canons, Smarphones and selfie sticks so be aware of someone poking you in the eye with their stick.

Bloemenmarkt - Flower Market (along the river bank to the left)

The Bloemenmarkt is the world's only floating flower market and most fragrant places of interest in Amsterdam. It's located on Singel between Muntplein and Koningsplein. There you can find countless types of flowers from tulips to narcissus as well as a range of souvenir shops, it's actually one of the main suppliers of flowers to central Amsterdam.

Beautiful sunsets with a view are my weakness.

The photos were taken on an evening walk around the neighbourhood where my hotel was located. It was a gorgeous sunset and I couldn't resist snapping a picture, I'm a sucker for sunsets especially if there are trees and water around. I'm just weird like that...

Oude Kerk (The Old Church) in the District

This cathedral is located right in the heart of the Red District, it was originally built as a Catholic place but today the church symbolises the tradition and the present-day of Amsterdam. The church is beautifully built with high windows full of light and impressive old granite gravestones on it's floor, from the church's main entry you can see a coffee shop just left to it and sex workers working their magic in the windows, it's crazy. Nonetheless the church remains one of the unique sites to visit.

The District leaves nothing to the imagination and it's inspiring to see how open minded people there seem to be and despite what people might say about it I think everyone should experience it at least once in their lifetime, of course it's not for everybody seeing as some of us are more conservative than the rest. Just keep in mind to not take pictures of the female entertainers as it's strictly banned.

Amsterdam Central Station

The building behind is the Central Station, if you're lost anywhere in the city, just take a metro, tram, train or bus that goes to the central station and from there you'll easily find your way. That's my tip to you in case you end up missing the last tram like I did, just find a night bus that goes to the central station and you should be good and safe.

The DAM

I can walk around the DAM all day long, there's so much to see and I suggest you not to bring a map but instead to fit in with the locals and get lost, I've learned that by getting lost in a foreign city you discover more places that aren't packed with other tourists, especially for shopping, food and coffee. There's a lot to see around this area and it's not far to walk to the next square, I also suggest checking out Leidseplein, you can easily take tram 2 there. There's shopping, dining and sight-seeing places, also quite a lot of pubs/bars.

I hope you enjoyed my travel diary, I love going through photographs from my trips just to get to relieve whatever feelings I felt when I captured those moments.

Esther x