It was January (2016) and I was unemployed (best time of my life – I’ve been working since when I was 16…). I was desperate but not because I was unemployed, damn no – I was in desperate need to go somewhere. We were looking for a new home to buy, and we were desperate for that as well, as we weren’t able to find any. I was bored (what the hell was I thinking?!) and one day I told Daniel something like ‘Look, we need to book a flight to somewhere soon otherwise I’ll go crazy here!’ so… we booked a flight to Eindhoven as a cheapest point to reach Amsterdam in May.
2 months later I got new job, we found our place and shit got real.
However, we told our real estate agent that we’re having a trip during May so any contracts we should sign must be signed afterwards. (By the way this was sort of mistake, but I’ll tell you that story later) (I think I’m saying that pretty often, yeah?) And I have told my new employer that I’m having a trip, so I need vacation right after I start. They agreed.
Back to the trip, I have checked that Netherlands’ weather is quite awful all the time, so there is a big chance to be rainy in May. But summer tickets (with better chance of sunny weather) were too expensive for my unemployed budget, so I booked late May hoping for the best. Let me tell you something – no matter where we go – there is always at least one rainy day. Every place we’ve been. Like a curse. And yes, there were rainy days in Amsterdam too, but there were also sunny ones.
We have booked an apartment through airbnb and till the very last minute I was thinking if we’re going to find that place, if it would be nice like the photos, if something will go terrible wrong… Well, it went perfectly fine, place was nice and as expected, and located close to the central station (Amsterdam Centraal) and NEMO Science museum. I can definitely recommend you that location – quiet, peaceful, public transport nearby, close to everything and especially – close to the city center. In case you would like to be in the center of the city, close to the pubs, coffeeshops (light drugs), brothels and so on, you can check for places nearby in airbnb, or to book local motels and hostels there. Just have in mind that 3 stars (and above) hotel rooms with private bath are really, really expensive. Shared rooms with shared baths is absolutely not what we were looking for… (are we too old?).
So, 2 hours and a half (or it was 3 hours? I don’t remember clearly, sorry) we landed in Eindhoven. We took an hour or something direct shuttle from the airport to Amsterdam Centraal. We walked 10 minutes from there to the apartment we booked and took the keys from the landlord. After we left our baggage, we walked through the neighborhood to explore and we reached the center shortly. By the way, I had a plan where to go on the following days, so actually I was prepared (could you believe that?) 🙂
What to see in Amsterdam for few days – top attractions check list:
- museums – Rijksmuseum(of course you should take a photo in front of iamsterdam letters!), the Stedelijk museum of modern art, Van Gogh Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum, Tropenmuseum and Allard Pierson museum (remember – those ones only, otherwise you’re lost)
- canals – long walks on foot or with a boat
- Oude Kerk and De Nieuwe Kerk
- Vondelpark
- Dam square and streets nearby
- windmill (at least 1 of them)
- coffeeshop and The Red District
- everything else is a bonus 🙂
Amsterdam is nice, good looking, well organized and interesting place to visit. It’s crowded of course, but there are a lot of options so you can easily avoid the mess. You can have long walks through the city, just enjoying the architecture and canals. You can easily spend hours and days in the numerous museums that Amsterdam could offer you, and you can visit couple of windmills nearby city center.
As I have told you before, I prefer to be ‘far from the madding crowd’, to feel the cities, to be like the locals, just to walk through city streets and enjoy the life… Have your time in Amsterdam like that, have a beer in some of the local pubs near the canals, try their delicious pastries and have a good cup of coffee in the park.
I love that city, truly, I recommend you to go and see it.