This year I wanted to do something special for my birthday. And as travelling and exploring is a huge passion of mine, I decided spend it in Amsterdam which is one of my favourite places. We are living relatively close to the Dutch border so Amsterdam is only 2 hours away which is the perfect opportunity for a day trip. When I was a teen we often went on road trips and many of them were to Amsterdam so this city holds a lot of special memories. However I hadn't been to Amsterdam in nearly 3 years so I was really excited at the prospect of seeing the city again. When we got to Amsterdam (and finally found the car park) we just walked along the canals towards the centre of the city and admired the beautiful architecture. Amsterdam has the cutest little shops and cafés and as we were pretty hungry we went on a hunt for an Italian restaurant. The one we found had incredible interior design and a really good menu with a lot of veggie pasta options which made me really happy - who else could easily have pasta for 7 days straight? I definitely could.
After lunch we walked towards Madame Tussauds as that's where the best shops are - if you'd ask me where to go first in Amsterdam I would suggest going to this place. Needless to say we did some shopping and after going overboard at River Island we walked all the way to the famous flower market - I wish I could have bought all of the tulips! We then went for an afternoon tea (at about 6.30 haha) at one of the cafés along the canals - they are what makes the city truly special - before heading to the Van Gogh Museum. It usually closes at 5pm but luckily it's open until 10pm on Fridays so we decided to take the opportunity and do some late night museum exploring. The Van Gogh Museum turned out to be incredible, the paintings were stunning and you could learn a lot about Van Gogh's life and walking through the gallery felt like accompanying him on his life journey. Did you know that Van Gogh produced more than a painting per day as he was staying at the mental asylum? How incredible is that? It is really sad that such a talented painter was struggling with such heavy mental problems. But even though his life was short his legacy will never be forgotten. We finished the evening with a proper birthday meal and one of the restaurants near the museum - I had pumpkin risotto (and fries, not gonna lie) and homemade apple pie for dessert. Being healthy on your birthday just isn't an option. Anyway, I had an amazing day in Amsterdam and I already miss the charm and the beauty of the city. This time I definitely won't wait for 3 years before visiting again.
