Amsterdam Part 3

When you travel the most important thing you want to bring is a good travel companion (or companions). Nothing can make a trip go better than someone to share the experience with. Or, if your trip has gone terribly wrong a good travel buddy will be able to ease your stress and worries. In the case of Amsterdam, I was lucky to be able to travel with three good friends that made my trip memorable.

My Amsterdam travel buddies from left to right: Rachel, Colin, Lara and myself.

We opted out of flying to Amsterdam in hopes that driving would save some money. It did. However, a road trip that should have taken 8 hours to reach our destination ended up taking about 12. We started the trip by going south down to Austria instead of east towards the Netherlands, and then proceeded to freak out on the autobahn as we continued to get lost. Luckily we booked a hostel in Frankfurt for a night to rest, although we ended up circling the city for two hours trying to find a way in. In the morning we ate a cheap breakfast at our hostel, and after loading our pockets with travel-sized Nutella packets (duh) we were ready to get out of Germany.

When we finally arrived in Amsterdam, we parked Opal (the name given to our rental car) in the Olympic Stadium. I highly recommend this to anyone driving to Amsterdam - it’s a little way out of the city center, but only costs 6 euro a day to park and you get train passes into the city. Just make sure you keep the passes because they are required to get out of the parking garage.

We were in The Netherlands: let the adventures begin! Although the Heineken Brewery tour and other unnamed aspects of our trip were ridiculously fun and amazing, nothing stands out more in my memories of Amsterdam thangoing to the Anne Frank house. Growing up I've heard the story of Anne Frank time andtime again, but the reality of what happened during The Holocaust had never set in. Seeing the small space that the Frank family hid in for two years really opened my eyes for the first time. Throughout the tour you were able to read different passages from Anne's diary, as well as see the actual diary she wrote in. Knowing that this girl had so many ambitions for her future only to end up dying in a concentration camp was very emotional. I encourage everyone to make it a point to visit the house at some time in their life. Cost of the tour: 8,50 euro (12 USD). Make sure you get there early because there is almost always a line around the block, especially on the weekends.

After a very sobering and memorable experience we decided to lighten up with some breakfast. We had heard from a lot of people in our dorm complex that Sara's Pancake House was a hotspot. Since it was near the Anne Frank house we decided to give it a try.

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The place is run by Sara herself, and it really is a one-woman show. There are about ten tables and one waiter to take orders and make espresso drinks. Meanwhile Sara is behind a counter in plain view of everyone cooking up orders. The food is delicious. Dutch pancakes are much thinner than the American version that we all are used to, but are a bit thicker than crepes. I decided to order a plain pancake (I was on a budget). Lara ordered a waffle, Colin ordered the American breakfast (men), and Rachel ordered a pancake with cheese, bacon and bananas. Sounds gross right? She swore by it. Some flavor combinations just go well together I guess! On the table there were two types of syrup to top our pancakes with: plain maple syrup and CARAMEL syrup. Yes, I was in heaven. Here are some pictures to make you drool:

My plain dutch pancake dressed up with powdered sugar and caramel syrup...yum.

Rachel's pig in a blanket, dutch-style.

Lara's waffle: simple and delicious.

Delicious syrup. Must order some now.

There's still more to come! Keep a lookout for Amsterdam Part 3.