#weareonaboat

Amsterdam was the first stop my 30th bday eurotour, and I was a lovely way to kick off the trip. I had high expectations of Amsterdam mostly because I feel like it's hyped up amongst my traveler peers and instagrammers alike. 

Jeff and I knew we wanted to stay in an airbnb so that we could really be entrenched in the local feel of the city, but we really upped the ante when I came across this houseboat. While it was a really cool experience, it didn't come without it's share of hiccups (the guests before us flushed a bunch of tampons down the toilet (????) just before our arrival so we didn't actually have working plumbing for the first full day of our stay, but luckily our hosts were super nice and let us use theirs in the house part of the boat downstairs. Their little boys were adorable and only spoke Dutch which significantly upped their cuteness). I would recommend trying out the houseboat life because its such unique experience, but if I could do it again, I think I would do it for just 2 nights. By the third night the novelty had worn off and we felt a little claustrophobic in the close quarters. 

We fought jet lag on the first day by powering through the Amsterdam Wine Festival and drinking our way “around the world” - each country had a themed area with a ridiculously long list of wines from all the regions of that country. It felt like a really educational way to get wine drunk. 

The next day we covered all our tourist hits at once: Anne Frank House, Pancakes!, Van Gogh Museum and Heineken Experience. We ended the day with a more hipster vibe with cocktails at Hiding in Plain Sight and smoking a (legal) joint on our houseboat patio. 

The next day the weather was perfect so we brunched and walked around De Piip, took a boat ride on the canal (we bought tickets at the stand right by the Rijksmuseum) and walked around Vondelpark. We pregamed our final farewell meal at a brewery in an old windmill before venturing to De Kas, a restaurant in a greenhouse that came recommended from my friend Ali who lived in Amsterdam a few years ago. 

recos (and skips)

Anne Frank Huis - By far the Anne Frank House was one of the most moving experiences I’ve ever had – buy tix online in advance (try to get the earliest possible) and you can cut the line and walk right in. I was inspired to download and read her diary the night after we visited - AF was a boss! 

Van Gogh Museum - Skip this (but with a caveat): If you have time to museum hop, by all means go here, especially if you are interested in learning all about Van Gogh's life (I recommend the audio tour in that case cause otherwise it's a lot of reading in a crowded space). Because I am spoiled with the Art Institute (aka the world's #1 museum) and I had attended the Van Gogh exhibition there about a year before the trip, I was underwhelmed with the way this museum presented his life story. It wasn't nearly as interesting and engaging as the AIC and AIC also has more of his famous works than they do in Amsterdam! Turns out they get loaned out to museums all over the world so many times there is only one or two at the actual VG museum (in our case they had the Daisies). This is what happens when you live in a city filled with culture...

Hiding in Plain Sight – This bar was super unique and cozy with great cocktails. It felt like drinking in your rich great uncle's study and has serious Logan Square vibes. 

Brouwerij’t IJ - This is a really cool brewery in an old windmill, basically everything you could want in an Amsterdam experience. The beers are great and so is the branding (#important) Get the cheese! It's made by nuns and served with celery salt (don't ask just go with it)

Restaurant De Kas – This restaurant is set in a beautiful greenhouse with coursed menu that is not only reasonably priced, but unbelievably fresh given that most of the ingredients are grown on site. Must make a res in advance. 

Bakers and Roasters - This is an awesome little coffee/brunch spot in De Pijp which is also a very cute area to walk around.

Heineken Experience  - I would skip this unless you are a huge Heineken fan. It was super touristy (dare I say cheesy), and you're way better off just finding a traditional brown café (pub) and getting a Dutch beer there. BUT if you do go make sure you volunteer for the perfect pour competition at the bar portion of the tour so you can redeem my sad loss!!

Marie-Stella-Maris - This is a actually a water company/lifestyle brand with a mission to provide clean water to people around the world. They make skincare products and mineral water, and they also have a beautiful shop where I wanted to buy everything. instead of doing that, I bought a bottle of rose oil and proceeded to drop the glass dropper on the floor at our Berlin hotel a few days later and shatter it. I emailed the shop asking if I could buy a new one and have it shipped to Chicago, and instead they sent it for free! If I wasnt already obsessed enough with this place, that really sealed the deal.