At the end of September I took a trip to the beautiful city of Amsterdam to celebrate my best friends birthday. This was actually my second time visiting Amsterdam and I’m so happy with how the trip turned out. The first time I visited Amsterdam I was in college and it was very much a low cost euro trip vibe. We stayed in a hostel in the Red Light district and survived off of free hostel breakfast and beer. This time around, my trip to Amsterdam was much more well rounded and made me fall even more in love with Venice of the North. After a few days of dodging cyclers and touring museums in the bicycle capital of the world I can now say that I’ve fully visited Amsterdam and I am a big fan. I loved walking along the canal at sunset, gorging myself on pancakes, exploring thrift shops and spending the day in museums.
I love my Baboon to the Moon bag to the moon and back
This trip was not only my return to Amsterdam, but my return to Amsterdam in ~style~ because it was my first official trip with my new Baboon to the Moon bag. I had originally bought this bag for a trip to New Orleans to visit friends, but unfortunately a hurricane derailed those plans. Instead my beautiful green bag had it’s debut tour flying across the Atlantic to Germany and then on to Amsterdam!
Lovely stay at Studio Koggeschip
While in Amsterdam we stayed at an Airbnb called Studio Koggeschip. This was one of the best Airbnb experiences I’ve had and I highly recommend this spot to anyone travelling to Amsterdam. The location of the studio is on the main canal and close to Amsterdam Central Station, which makes travel into and out of the city a breeze. The Airbnb itself was huge and fully equipped with shampoo, conditioner and a nespresso machine. Truly an amazing home base for Amsterdam!
TAKING OUR TIME AT tOKi cafe
After landing in Amsterdam and checking in to our Airbnb we decided to stop by a café called Toki and relax from our early morning travels over lattes and expensive breakfast food. I got a toast with baba ganoush and it was delicious. Absolutely worth the money and the perfect way to kick off our trip. After I got back to Berlin I did a little bit of research on Toki and found out they have another shop in Berlin. Looks like I won’t have to go without the perfect toast for too long!
NEAT FINDS AT noordermarkt
Noordermarkt was a recommendation from our Airbnb host and we are so glad we decided to follow his advice and stop by. The market was a large and sprawling vintage market underneath the Noorderkerk (“northern church”) and it has been a staple of the Amsterdam flea market scene for almost 400 years. We spent some time walking the stalls of the market and diving into bins of records and buckets of jean jackets. It was a great little surprise and we owe it all to the amazing Airbnb host. Thanks Ron!
SUNGLASSES AND SELFIES AT EPISODE THRIFT SHOP
After rummaging through the vintage stalls in Noodermarkt we were fully in the mood for thrift shopping. On our walk back to the Airbnb we decided to pop into Episode, which is a popular chain of second hand stores in Holland and Denmark. We spent an hour searching for hidden gems and landed on sunglasses and selfies as the main takeaway.
SUNSET CANAL TOUR WITH BOTTOMLESS DRINKS
We hit gold when a quick google search lead us to find a sunset canal tour with bottomless drinks. We found the cruise through Viator, which is a trip adviser company, and the booking process took maybe a maximum of 5 minutes. The canal cruise is run through a company called boatamsterdam.com and it was a 10/10 experience for me. The cruise takes you thorough the main canals of Amsterdam and the live guide is able to point out all of the main sights along the water. We spent the entire hour talking to our guide and asking all of our questions about Amsterdam. For example, why do the buildings tilt? how much does is costs to own a house boat? and how deep is the water is in the canal? If you’re also curious… 1. The buildings tilt forward because the apartments in Amsterdam have tiny staircases that don’t fit furniture. Therefore, there is a hook on top of the buildings that is designed to raise furniture and items from the street to the top rooms of the house. The buildings lean slightly forward so that when they raise up the furniture it doesn’t hit the house! 2. House boats are hella expensive and all of the space for boats is already spoken for. It’s nearly impossible to get a house boat lot in Amsterdam, but if you want to try there is a waiting list that is years long. 3. The canal is 2 to 3 meters deep and it is said that the bottom meter is all bicycles. Each year thousands of bikes fall or are thrown into the canal AND every year there are 35 cars that fall in too.
In addition to these three question, our guide was able to answer everything easily and add in even more context. I loved this experience and most important of all… the drinks were cold, the vibes were chill and the ticket was only 26 dollars.
ANNE FRANK MUSEUM
Visiting the Anne Frank museum was the only thing I wanted to do the last time I was in Amsterdam, but I didn’t know to book my tickets in advance. This time I came prepared and booked my ticket months in advance because I wasn’t missing out on this museum a second time in a row.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and I think the Anne Frank museum displays the past in a unique and emotional way that makes the history even more memorable. In my eyes, the museum is a must see in life and for anyone who visits Amsterdam. Starting in 1933, the museum walks you through the drastic changes of society in the Netherlands and in daily life for the Franks throughout WW2. It was powerful to see the actual artifacts from the Frank family alongside the key dates throughout WW2 that marked a stark decline in rights for Jewish citizens in the Netherlands.
In 1941 the Dutch embassy made carrying identity cards compulsory and the museum showed the id cards, school rosters and tracking information on the Frank family and all Jewish families in the Netherlands. In 1942 the yellow star patches became mandatory in the Netherlands and not long after the Frank family went into hiding for 2 years. The entire museum experience was very powerful, but the image that stuck with me the most was the section of the wall in Otto and Edith Frank’s bedroom that marked the height of Anne and Margot frank during their time in hiding. Over the course of the two years Margot grew 1cm and Anne grew 13cm.
During that time in the secret annex, Anne Frank kept a journal and wrote about life in hiding. She dreamed of becoming a famous writer and after her death in 1945, her father was able to recover her diary and accomplish her goal with the publication of her book ‘The Secret Annex’ in 1947. I remember reading Anne Frank’s diary in school, but it was powerful re-reading the quotes again as an adult. She was so well spoken for a teenager and her thoughts and messages have been able to stand the test of time. I’m planning to read her book again now that I have actually visited the secret Annex. I’ll update this post once I’ve re-read the book, but copied below are a few of my favorite quotes from the walls of the museum.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
“Because paper has more patience than people. ”
Van Gogh Museum
I love exploring new cities through their art and the Van Gogh museum was exactly what I was hoping for in an Amsterdam art museum. We booked our tickets in advance, but for this museum I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to have the tickets that far in advance. We also purchased the audio guides for the paintings and it made the museum walk through even more meaningful. The museum is set up to slowly walk you through Van Gogh’s life and depict how his art changed over time and throughout different stages of his short but impactful career as an artist. We also did this museum on Pat’s 27th birthday, which was funny because the first thing we learned in the museum is that Van Gogh was 27 when he first became a painter. I guess it’s time for Pat to pick up a paintbrush…
VONDELPARK
Vondelpark is the main green space in Amsterdam and one of the most popular parks in the Netherlands. We lucked out with the weather on the day we chose to go to Vondelpark and we were able to wander around the beautiful park under a pretty blue sky.
FANCY DRINKS, RUNNING THROUGH THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT AND HAVING A LOCAL BUY US A ROUND
It’s not a trip to Amsterdam without a stop in the Red Light District. This time we went to a dive bar and drank with locals, we classed it up at the Flying Dutchman Cocktail bar and we ‘splurged’ on two for one cocktails at Belushis.
FLOATING FLOWER MARKET
The floating Flower Market is a classic stop on the Amsterdam tourist tour and we obviously had to walk through it on our trip too. The flowers have been floating on the canal since 1862 and it was cool to walk through a little bit of colorful canal history. The market is the only floating flower market in the world and it was still in bloom despite it being the end of the season.
SCOTCH AND SODA
When I moved to Berlin I decided to start from scratch and not bring any clothes with me. My plan for my new wardrobe was instead to buy new pieces from all of the countries I visit and build out my European fashion style from scratch. For Amsterdam, the piece I had my eye on was a Scotch and Soda jacket. They released this cool black and white jacket at the start of September and just in time for my trip to the Netherlands. When I went to the store to buy this jacket they gave me a 20% off discount for world smile day. The discount and the cute new jacket made me smile for the rest of the day, so I think world smile day was a success!
Ton of delicious food
We had so much good food in Amsterdam! We were able to find vegetarian versions of all of the Amsterdam staples, ranging from bitterballn and soup to pancakes and apple pie. My favorite of all of these delicious meals were the pancakes from Moak, but the vegetarian bitterballn was a close and strong second.
Bitterballn 
Soup at Toki 
Apple Cake at Winkel 43
Vegalicious Pancake at Moak 
Pink Lady Pancake at Moak 
Amsterdam is beautiful and I am a big fan
I loved Amsterdam! It’s a beautiful city with rich history, vibrant colors and great food. The nightlife is unbeatable and the museums are unique and captivating. I’m so happy that I was able to go back and relive Amsterdam in style.
