My name's Charlotte and I have a passion for travelling and documenting my adventures through writing and photography. Having lived in several countries and visited 30, I've seen a lot of the world, but still have much more left to explore! Here on this blog, I do full recaps of all my trips - big and small - and write about a range of travel-related topics. Hope you enjoy and find plenty of travel inspiration!
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Sunday, 28 January 2024
Life in Bristol: Update 2
Sunday, 21 January 2024
Amsterdam
We have now arrived at my final post about our pre-Christmas tour of Europe!
The last city Claudio and I visited was Amsterdam, a place neither of us had ever been to, but which I'd wanted to visit for years. Our journey there from Bruges was quite exciting - we first took a train to Ghent, and then one to Antwerp, which is one of the most beautiful train stations I've ever been to.
It would have been nice to see the outside of the train station and also to have a coffee in that very posh looking café. But we didn't have much time there before it was time to get on our last train and cross the border into the Netherlands!
The journey was longer than we expected (the train had to stop for a while just outside of Antwerp) but quite enjoyable. We passed through a large proportion of the country on our way to the capital, and saw some interesting sights, including an amazing mosque in Rotterdam and plenty of windmills. I just had to take a (very bad!) picture of one of them through the train window!
It was nice to get to see these sights on our journey, as we were only going to be in Amsterdam for a short while as part of our multi-destination trip through Europe, and we didn't have the chance to visit other regions in the country. Though of course, if we come back to the Netherlands in the future, I'd definitely like to explore more outside of Amsterdam.
Arriving at Amsterdam Centraal station was actually one of the parts of the trip I was most looking forward to. I'd seen pictures of it on the internet, and it's such a grand and beautiful building. But what I wasn't expecting was for the views outside the station to be so incredible. As soon as you exit, you're greeted by the sight of those famous canals and lots of tall Dutch houses. It was definitely a "wow" moment! (I had thought that the harbourside in Bristol was somewhat reminiscent of photos and videos I'd seen of Amsterdam, but it turns out it really can't be compared to the real life version!)
After grabbing some pizza nearby, we took the train over to Amsterdam Sloterdijk in the west of the city, which is where our hotel was located. This area of the city is really modern and futuristic, with every type of public transport you can think of, and a huge parking lot filled entirely with bicycles!
On our first evening in the Netherlands, we took a little trip out to the city of Zaandam rather than heading back into the centre of Amsterdam. It's a really pretty place that's definitely worth a visit!
The next morning, we had tickets booked for the Rijksmuseum, and so we took a tram from literally just outside the hotel right up to the museum's entrance. I always enjoy travelling by tram, as you get to see a lot of the city along the way.
The Rijksmuseum was one of the places I was most excited about visiting, both because of the famous Dutch paintings inside the museum, and because of the beautiful building that houses the museum. During the pandemic and also last autumn, my parents and I watched a lot of the detective series Van der Valk, which is set in Amsterdam. It was always interesting to see the different locations across the city where various scenes took place, and the Rijksmuseum was definitely one of the places that caught my attention the most.
I'm glad to say that our visit there did not disappoint! It was very special to see paintings by Van Gogh, Vermeer, and Rembrandt, including the famous The Night Watch, as well as countless other interesting works of art and historical artefacts. What made it even better was that, unlike the Louvre, it wasn't packed out with tourists taking selfies for Instagram, so the overall experience was a lot more pleasant. And the building is also very beautiful to see in real life.
Another great thing about the Rijksmuseum is its café! It's such an elegant setting and all the waitresses and waiters wear posh outfits. We ordered brownies and hot chocolates, and while Claudio wasn't keen on the amount of dried fruit in the brownies, the hot chocolate was one of the best I've had in my life. I loved how the whipped cream came on a little plate!