We went to... Amsterdam!

So last week I took my girlfriend to Amsterdam for her birthday. It was probably the most beautiful city I've ever been too. We got there early Monday morning and was able to check in a few hours early! We stayed at Hotel Luxer, and I couldn't fault them at all. They held on to our bags a few hours as we was early, the rooms were great too. We were also slap-bang in the middle of Amsterdam so it was a very busy street, but perfect walking distance to anywhere we wanted to go!

We planned on doing a few tourist things each day, but it was a tight squeeze with time. On the Tuesday we went to the Heineken Brewery for their Experience too. It was SO GOOD. I wasn't expecting that much from it, but it was so interesting. 

 

It's a self guided tour through the Brewery! From past to present, it was interesting to see all the old adverts, beer bottles and how the beer grew. We got to taste what just barley with water tasted like... well don't try it, it was disgusting. There was small talk on how the beer gets made (28 days apparently) and we also got to do some "beer tasting" which was good. It ended with a Champions League section and we got 2 free beers each! You can't say no for 17 euros (I think).

Second day we went to Anne Franks house. Now if you're going, you have to queue about an hour but it is so worth it. Unfortunately you can't take any pictures, plus it's a bit cramped, but it's so worth the wait. You get to go through every room of the secret annex, even climbing the steep stairs through a bookcase. If you ever go make sure you do it, it's so surreal to see the story everyone knows. There are even posters on the wall which she had put up. It's only 9 euros too, which my opinion is barely anything to what you experience.

We also went on a Canal tour...which was OK. I think the fact we had 50 Chinese tourist next to use kind of spoilt it a bit. But, so interesting to see how everything works and how big these canals are. My advise would be to go on a small tour, not a big commercial one, it got a bit boring after half an hour.

The rest of our time was spent drinking and eating! I have never in my life seen so many pizza places, I mean every 3 shops sold slices of pizza (even a Dominos). The food there is very samey, very pizza/burger orientated. So if you're going, research some restaurants before hand or you'll spend an hour looking for places like we did.

The coffeeshop experience was odd too. Never in my life have I sat and read a menu for weed and hash. It was strange, but the people were so polite and we didn't get any weird looks. Coffeeshops always looked busy, but there a plenty of bars you can go and smoke it (as long as you buy a drink). We ended up in the same bar, Route 66 (I think) and the service was great.

I recommend going here to anyone. It's such an experience (a very expensive one), but well worth it. Even if you're not interested in drugs and sex... there's so much to do. Just make sure you get a map and don't make eye contact with any prostitutes.