I took the train from Brussels to Amsterdam after a quiet morning at the Brussels Comic Book Museum. You can read about my time in Brussels here! There were a few hiccups with the train schedules that day. The first train to Amsterdam had been cancelled, and the next one arrived late. Most of the announcements at the train station were not in English, but with the help of a very nice local, I made it onto the correct train and arrived in Amsterdam. My first impression of Amsterdam was that it was very cold. Amsterdam was in the high forties and low fifties. Those aren’t unbearable temperatures, but it was definitely colder than the Southern California weather I’m used to. I definitely need to invest in a better jacket if I keep traveling at this time of the year!
I was particularly excited to visit Amsterdam because many of the people I had talked to who had been before highly recommended it to me. My dad visited Amsterdam while he was on a business trip a few years ago, and my friend came to the city while she was studying abroad. They both enjoyed the city very much, so I was eager to explore what Amsterdam had to offer and see the beautiful canals for myself. Between the two of them, I had plenty of pointers and ideas for what I should see and do while I was there.
From the train station, I made my way to Hotel Van Gough, which was a Van Gough themed hostel. The hallways of the floor my room was on were covered in wallpaper of Van Gough’s Irises. Also a very nice hostel, my only complaint would be that the rooms don’t have lockers for your things while you are out exploring the city during the day. I was fortunate enough to share my room with a lovely group of girls that I highly doubt would have ever gone through my things, but I still locked the zipper on my backpack and tucked it under my bed to be safe. In addition to the cleanliness of the hostel, one of the benefits of staying here was that it was located around the block from the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gough Museum, which is precisely how I started the last leg of my trip!
I started my first day in Amsterdam by heading to the Rijksmuseum and the Museumplein. The Museumplein is a public square lined by some of Amsterdam’s most famous museums, including the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gough Museum. The Rijksmuseum was hosting a Rembrandt exhibit that I was particularly interested in visiting. I am certainly glad I did because seeing Rembrandt’s work for myself was definitely awe-inspiring. It’s a good thing I study Economics instead of art. I can’t even imagine how awful my attempts at his masterpieces would look like! After I went to the Rijksmuseum, I was hoping to go to the Van Gough Museum, but tickets were sold out until Sunday, which was after my flight back to LA. Instead, I went to another museum along the Museumplein. The Coster Diamond Museum is a small museum, but one of the gems from my trip (pun intended, but I know it’s a bad joke). I particularly enjoyed watching the people work. There are work stations behind a glass panel that allows you to see what they’re doing. It was interesting to learn about the history of diamonds in Amsterdam. I had no idea that it was so important to the city!
After my morning of museums, I headed to the Bloemenmarkt, which is a flower market along one of the canals. I especially loved all the little cheese shops that lined the street opposite the flower market. I got a mini container of cheese to-go for an afternoon snack! I wish I could have taken some of those flowers home though. They were so pretty, but not a great idea for a souvenir.
The highlight of my first day in Amsterdam was definitely the Anne Frank House. My mom teaches The Diary of Anne Frank to her students every year. I remember reading it myself when I was about twelve or thirteen. Ever since, I have wanted to visit the Anne Frank House for myself to see her living conditions. I was definitely taken aback. It is an odd feeling to step into a room and know what happened there all those years ago. The annex was certainly very small for the eight people that lived there, and the floorboards creaked with every step. The museum itself is especially well done. It is self-guided with a personal remote and speaker console that goes into greater detail about the people who lived there, the history of the time period, and the legacy of their stories after the war. Leaving the museum, I was filled with a renewed sense of life and appreciation for all of the opportunities I have. I could not have felt more grateful for the fact that I was traveling in Europe, that I was receiving a world-class education at UCLA, and that I have such a bright future ahead.
On my walk back from the Anne Frank House, I stopped for an early evening scoop of ice cream, which was perfect for my afternoon sweet tooth. Shortly after, I stumbled upon Vondelpark. One of my friends was adamant I visit Amsterdam’s beautiful parks, and I am very glad I took her recommendation. I cut through the park to get back to my hostel. The park is lusciously green and full of life. There are joggers, bikers, and people just strolling through (like me!). Although I was tired after a long day of sight seeing, I was glad I took a little detour through the park on my way back to the hostel before I went out to drinks with the girls I shared my hostel room with.
For my last day in Amsterdam, I made sure I visited Keukenhof Gardens outside of the city. Amsterdam is known for their tulips, and I was only one week early to the big festival. The lobby of my hostel had a series of brochures, and one of them was for a bus tour to Keukenhof. I figured a bus ride that included my ticket for admission to the gardens was likely my best option for the visit. Visiting Amsterdam’s tulips was such an amazing experience. There are fields of bright colored flowers going off into the distance, and the gardens themselves have curated patches where you can see so many different types of tulips beautifully arranged. The bus ride was only one hour outside of Amsterdam, and I highly recommend going to the Keukenhof Gardens while you are there.
Because the tulip gardens took up most of my day, I really only had time for one other major attraction to fit into my day. I decided to end my time in Amsterdam with a visit to the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. On my trip, I saw plenty of beautiful buildings, palaces, and monuments, but I especially enjoyed this one. Aside from its rich history, the building’s interior is absolutely stunning. I especially loved the maps on the floor of the main reception hall with the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was unlike many of the other things I had seen so far on my trip. The Royal Palace of Amsterdam is an easy thing to fit into your itinerary. You could spend a brief time here walking through, or spend significantly more time going through each and every room. The choice is up to you!
As much as I enjoyed my spring break in Europe, I was ready to come home by the end of the week. However now that I am back in LA, I am itching for my next adventure! Unless I do a shorter trip staying in the US, my next big travel plan is likely my college graduation trip. It is so weird to think that I graduate in only one year from now! I am looking forward though to traveling back to Europe with my two closest friends. Last summer, we all went to Hawaii together, and now we will be able to add Europe to our list of joint-travels. While my next big adventure will be with my friends, my first experience traveling solo was definitely one to remember. I learned a lot about myself in the process, and I will certainly be traveling by myself more often. At the time, I had a lot on my mind, and this trip was the perfect way to tune in with myself and move on. In a way, I did some self-care and crossed some countries off my bucket list at the same time. This spring break was definitely my favorite one so far, and I cannot thank everyone in my life enough who supported me and encouraged me to do this.
xx
Emily
