I arrived last night and after approving my hostel I ventured out into the city center. I am centrally located about a block away from Dam square. My stomache was telling my to eat food so I wandered towards the south west where my friend Alex told me there was great soup. The soup was BOMB and so was the walk there. It’s funny to me the contrast between the old majestic buildings and twinkling canals and the condom shops and weed cafés. It was too cold at that point to continue walking so I headed back to the hostel where I met my roommate Camila from Brazil. With her broken English we were able to become friends and agreed to venture together the next day. We had a few drinks at the bar attached to the hostel and called it a night.
The next morning met us with a nice layer of snow on the ground which only made everything that much more charming. We wandered towards Vondelipark and checked out flower shops, canals and took photos on our way. After a short cold stroll through Vondeli we headed east towards the Heineken factory. We had a discount coupon from the hostel, so why not! Many free beers later we headed out again to track down the IAMsterdam letters and then pursued some food and hopped into a Spanish restaurant has it started to snow again. It is so brutally cold here. I am not used to such weather and despite my best efforts I realized how unprepared I am for the climate. We headed back to the hostel and dethawed. At that point I realized I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy my time here unless I bulked up a bit so I hopped around the corner to the shopping area and bought myself some serious wool socks a thick hat and a warm pair of boots. I now have high (and warm) hopes for tomorrow.
I am totally blown away by this hostel. If they all were like this I would stay in hostels ALL THE TIME. So clean, the free breakfast was incredible and they even have a straightening iron and blow dryer in the room for you to use. I feel pretty spoiled. I still have my stuff locked up as if I had a million bucks in my bag. It is a hostel, after all.
As I’m typing this I am sitting in the smoke filled bar listening to drunk and probably high people laugh talk etc., Not necessarily my scene but people watching Is great here. People are eyeing my table seeing as I am by myself at a place for 5. I am almost done researching my plans and route for tomorrow . It includes canals, good coffee, museums, taking photos , yummy food and maybe a little smoking.. haha. Good day no? I guess we’ll see!
Broost! (cheers in dutch!)
