adventures and holidays: amsterdam

It’s now July, I’ve been in my “new” job for almost five weeks. I have my first check up thing in the next couple of weeks to see how I’m doing and how I can improve and things like that. The summer holidays are almost around the corner and booking a holiday is top of the to do list. I guess if I was off somewhere foreign and sunny I could be looking for a new item of swimwear. I can never decide if I want an all in one job, a tankini or something to go with board shorts (because I don’t really like showing off my legs lol). I’d also be looking for lovely maxi dresses and new shorts. I’ll probably be staying in the UK so unless the weather gets warmer I’ll be wearing my jeans and rolling them up when the sun comes out.

I guess for now a girl can dream. I love to travel and explore new places as it happens I have a list of places to go to or to go to again.

Some places I’ve wanted to go for as long as I can remember like Italy or new ones that have been added more recently. I actually joked to my friend that I’m secretly Italian given my love for Italian food and culture.

So where would I go……

Amsterdam
Back in 2007, Chris and I went to Amsterdam for our honeymoon, pretty much since we got back I’ve wanted to go again and the list of places to go to keeps growing. We attempted to go to AnneFrankHuis (Prinsengracht 263-267) while we were in Amsterdam but the queue was so long that we had to choose between standing in the queue and not getting to see other bits or go visit other bits and come back. We tried a further two times but again it was far too busy. So that’s back on the list of places to go “next” time.

Amsterdam 2007

This sculpture was in the Vondelpark when we went to Amsterdam. I would describe the Vondelpark being to Amsterdam as Central Park is to New York. It’s not right in the centre but it’s reachable on the tram system. The Vondelpark was good for wandering round and deciding what we wanted to do next. We also went to the film museum that is in the park. I looked it up but the EYE Museum has now moved to Amsterdam-Noord instead of being in the Vondelpark now. The pavilion is still a lovely building to have a look at if you like architecture like me.

There is also the Van Gogh museum, I can’t remember what put us off going there….maybe have to ask Chris about that one. We went to the American Book Center which was a two storey book shop that sold primary books in English. I bought a copy of The Diary of a Young Girl while I was there (I need to track it down and finish reading it!)

We also visited Madame Tussauds, it was a little disappointing as it’s pretty much the same as London with a sprinkle of Dutch celebrities for good measure. I had my photo taken with Freddie Mercury.

Another fun place we visited was the NEMO museum, it’s pretty much like the Science Museum but it’s more hands on and interesting. We got to play with giant bubbles (you have a hula hoop and try and pull the bubble up around you!)

All in all I’m sure there are other places we visited. Normally on trips I keep a journal of where we have visited and things like that but I hadn’t started doing that until the year after Amsterdam. Clearly we need to go again!