2 Days in Amsterdam (Stroopwafel, Anne Frank House, and more)
The last leg of our little Europe adventure was by far the most tourist-y, but charming all the same! We flew from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, took the train into Central Station, and then took the tram to our new neighborhood of Spui. I knew from the first glimpse of one of many bookstores (below) that I would love this area.
Having spent the day wandering around Copenhagen, we took it easy on our first night in Amsterdam. We took a quick walk around the neighborhood and then ducked into the first restaurant we saw where they miraculously had vegetarian bitterballen! We rolled across the street to our AirBnb and hit the hay!
Our morning started off with a stroopwafel from our kind host and after a struggle to get down the stairs of our apartment (see the video!) we were off! We headed to the Bloemenmarkt first just as everyone was setting up. Since we couldn’t bring anything home with us on the plane it was a bit of a bummer to only shop with our eyes, but one day I’ll smuggle some Dutch tulip bulbs to America!
We then walked our way up towards The 9 Streets to oogle at the gorgeous house fronts, and stopped in a cafe for omelettes and coffee.
Because breakfast always served best with dessert, we made a much needed stop at Van Wonderen for our first fresh stroopwafel experience. It was as if I had never had stroopwafel before - it was seriously amazing. We made the mistake of sharing one between the two of us, but later in the trip we got our own ;)
We continued to walk aimlessly through the city and ended up near Our Lord in the Attic. This museum was so interesting, as I knew nothing about this part of Amsterdam history before. Amsterdam was known for religious freedom, but at the height of the Protestantism, Catholics were made to worship in secret. This caused wealthy Catholics to build churches in the top floors of their homes (hence, ‘Our Lord in The Attic’)
This one was incredible and we were completely fooled by the marble columns - they were actually wood painted to look like marble!
Without really wanting to spend too much time in the red light district, we ended up finding an adorable cafe with a garden and the best apple pie I have ever had in my life. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of place so here’s the map!
After taking a nap back at the house, we walked over to the Van Gogh Museum (no photos allowed and quite crowded) and finished our day with dinner next to the museum (grilled salmon sandwich and tomato soup).
I found myself taking less photos on this leg of the trip so forgive me for the lack of stills! We kept with our tradition of breakfast dessert for our last day by heading to the Happy Pig for Dutch pancakes. I got chocolate and baked apple and oh my goodness, I didn’t want it to end!
We then wandered around the Houten Huys, the oldest house in Amsterdam. The neighborhood was reserved for women who wanted to live lives serving the community, similar to nuns, but didn’t want to take a religious oath. There are still women living there today and they ask you to be respectful and quiet. We saw two people be scolded by locals for bringing in a tour group and walking on the grass ;)
Our afternoon was spent at the Anne Frank House. You MUST book your tickets online and often many weeks in advance. The ticketing opens 2 months before the date so we bought our September tickets in July. It was interesting how large the space was, Olivia and I were expecting a very tiny apartment but the living quarters were actually huge, making it that much more remarkable that their friends were able to hide them for so long. The audio guide (free!) was excellent and it was worth the time waiting in line.
To pick up our spirits from the museum, we had an early dinner at Pluk, probably our healthiest meal the entire trip. We split a smoothie bowl and then each had different versions of avocado toast.
After that we just walked around the city some more. The leaves had just started to change and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect so we just admired the canals and houses until nightfall. We both had to be up before dawn the next day for our flights so we hit Van Wondren one last time for stroopwafel and then headed to bed.
We could have done much more in 2 days here but I’m glad we took the relaxed route. Thanks you Amsterdam for the perfect end to our trip!
