Amsterdam and the Netherlands, it's chilly here in December!

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This is one of our favorite trips, we love Amsterdam! It's such a unique country. But, Bbrrrrrrr.... it sure is chilly there in December! The opportunity to go to Amsterdam came when my husband's company sent him there to work on an airplane project, so I had to rush to buy my own airplane ticket and follow him there for almost a month (at the time I wasn't working full time, so I could join him.) This was our first time going to the Netherlands (aka Holland.) I ventured out on my own a lot while Victor worked and got to know the wonderful city of Amsterdam. On the weekends we did mini-trips around Holland together. This is the most unprepared we've ever been on a trip because we literally only had time to research the weather before we went, which meant we were taking a lot of turtle necks, sweaters, and scarves. Yep, it's super cold! What I soon discovered was that the Netherlands has so much to offer, beautiful landscapes, amazing art, nature, culture, history, great beer, green living, and more. Although Amsterdam is also known for its red light districts and "coffee shops," it is way more complex and special than that! We are very fortunate that since this was a "work funded trip" everything from our hotel to our rental car and food was provided for us. Definitely an opportunity neither of us could turn down, we felt really lucky.




'Tis the Season!

It was December and nearing Christmas time so there were beautiful festive Christmas decorations everywhere around the city, including the airport, which gave Amsterdam a wonderful whimsical feel. It didn't need to be snowing in order for you to sense the festive Christmas spirit in the air. I even posed with Santa Claus in a picture at the airport. He may have been the real deal though because I heard him speaking more than three languages while I was in line to see him! We stayed at the Dorint hotel, which is a very luxurious hotel near the Schiphol airport, and was just a short train ride or drive to Amsterdam. I felt so fortunate to be practically living there, its seriously the nicest hotel I've ever seen!

Walking Vs Biking

I couldn't wait to get my first real glimpse of Amsterdam, so after I got situated and the jet lag wore off, I set off on the train to the city. The first thing I wanted to do was take a walking tour around the downtown, mainly around the beautiful neighborhoods and famous canals. The majority of people ride bikes here which I absolutely loved! Some of the bikes are custom designed, and tailored to the owner. The coolest one I saw was completely black with a yellow Batman super hero logo. Riding bikes here is generally safe, however, I did see at least one bike-car related accident. So if you do like the locals and ride bikes here, be extra careful. At the time of our visit it was too cold to ride bikes, so we walked a lot instead. A good travel App for your phone that you can download for free is one from TripAdvisor.com called "Tripadvisor City Guides" and the cool thing is that it actually works with or without WiFi, and it guides you through cities like Amsterdam on suggested walking tours. I highly recommend downloading it since it gives you a good map to go by, that way you'll always know where you are. It guided me to the Jordaan neighborhood downtown, which is one of Amsterdam's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It has the most beautiful 17th & 18th century homes, galleries, cafes, and court yards. There are so many things to discover here by foot, just let chance surprise you as you are winding through the streets... that's the fun part!

Other walking tours I took during my stay: the Art & History walking tour starting from Central station, going to Dam square, the national monuments, the Royal Palace (used to be the home of the Dutch royal family), the Anne Frank House Museum, and then to the St. Nicolas Church. I've always been fascinated by the history of World War II, so it seemed surreal to be standing in a place that endured so much of this historical war.

Everyday at around the same time, Victor and I would go out for dinner. It became my favorite part of the day, since Victor would be free to explore Amsterdam with me! I don't think you could find a bad restaurant here, all the ones we went to were so great! I did notice however, that the Dutch make a lot of food using some kind of thick peanut sauce, and this wasn't my personal favorite, so I ordered my meals without it. I finally found a "tap style" beer that I really enjoyed and it's called Wieckse. It doesn't have that bitter taste that Heineken has.

A visit to Zannes Schans & Muiderslot Village

One of my favorite days in the Netherlands is when we drove to Zannes Schans, which is just a short 15 minute drive if you're leaving from the Amsterdam Airport. This place is great if you are a first time visitor to Amsterdam because it pretty much summarizes what the Netherlands is about: cheese, dutch clogs, and windmills! They have little stores selling everything from cheese, spices, and your own pair of Dutch wooden clogs... all things that make Amsterdam unique. The windmills are my favorite part of Amsterdam because I strongly associate wind and water with this city, and the country in general.



We also visited a town 20-30 minutes away from Amsterdam called Muiderslot Village. We saw a beautiful Dutch Castle there and took lots of pictures of it. You have the option of touring the inside with admission ticket. The town is quaint and looks like it came out of a "cutest rustic European hidden towns" magazine! Besides Victor and I, I think there were literally four tourists roaming the village, which means no crowds. We took a leisurely stroll and enjoyed the beautiful town and the people. When we got cold, we went into the town's pub and ordered some hot chocolates. There were only locals here, so it felt very authentic.



What to do if it starts to rain

On one weekend, Victor and I went downtown, but then It started raining (which I learned was common here!) To save ourselves from getting wet and sick, we ran into a canal cruise tour boat which is enclosed and heated and gives you a chance to continue touring the city safe from any bad weather. This is an excellent way to see Amsterdam. A ticket on the canal cruise is good for a whole day and you can hop on and off all day long. When we went a ticket was about 20 Euros. Whenever the rain stopped, we would hop off of the cruise and explore somewhere new. We walked over to the Van Gogh museum and near by are the famous huge “IAmsterdam“ letters. We hopped on and off and saw more famous sites. It was so cold and dreary from the rain that we felt lucky to have this warm option of continuing our tour around Amsterdam that day. When it got dark outside, we noticed that almost all of the houses in Amsterdam are left with the curtains wide open, so we could see everything in their beautiful stylish homes. This stands out in my mind a lot, because we are used to everyone usually closing the curtains in their homes for privacy.




The Red Light District and the other unconventional stuff...

So I have to talk a little about the Red Light district AND the whole marijuana thing because it's no joke, these really exist here! When you walk through the downtown of Amsterdam there are plenty of places selling things like bongs, marijuana growing seeds, and posters with explicit content. The cafes are allowed to sell you "special brownies", and marijuana is actually on the menu at some cafes. Is it legalized then? Well, not really! But it is "tolerated" by the government. You can practically smell it as you walk around city. The Red Light District is the area where there are prostitutes and sex themed stores, even "peep shows". There may be a misconception that the Red Light District is an unsafe area. Not only is it very safe, it even feels very normal here. One night, my husband and I sat at one of the bars near the Red Light District and watched as a single prostitute welcomed a total of 10 guys in just 1 hour into the room she was performing her "favors". You couldn't see what was happening because they always draw the curtain while they're with a client. I was tickled by the whole experience of being here, because to me these experiences are unusual. Despite all these unconventional aspects of Amsterdam, it continues to do well selling these wild experiences to people while still maintaining order and barely needing the assistance of policemen. Who knew a country could exist with "legalized" marijuana and prostitution and still be as peaceful, beautiful, and even classy as the Netherlands?! And again, I don't believe Amsterdam should ever be characterized solely as a country of legalized prostitution and marijuana... I would never describe it as such. Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands deserves to be recognized as the charming and beautiful place that it truly is, and should be visited for other aspects such as their wonderful culture, unique windmills, food, art and more!



Quick trip to Belgium

We also decided to take a short drive to Belgium. We visited Antwerp and stayed for a couple hours. We walked around the downtown, which was crowded from all the people doing last minute Christmas shopping. You could sense that the people were cheerful because of the Christmas festivities, and also on the hunt for great Christmas presents. Before heading back to Amsterdam I couldn't leave without trying a Belgium waffle. And it was sooo good! It was very sweet, soft, BIG, and delicious. Now I know why this waffle is so famous here!



More on Amsterdam

The rest of our experience here was a jumble of fun times trying new dutch dishes and exploring what makes Amsterdam and the Netherlands special. Even grocery shopping here was fun for us because there were so many different delicious food options that we've never seen or tried before. Some days I didn't want to leave the comfort of our warm hotel, as some days were unbearably cold and rainy out. It's a good thing we were here for almost a month, which gave us plenty of chances for nice sunny days to explore by foot! It was fun to feel like we were apart of the community even if for a little while. We loved it! I hope that if we ever got the chance to see Amsterdam again, that we'd get to go in the Spring or Summer so that we could get a chance to see the tulips in bloom, and even ride bicycles around the city!

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