3 Days in Amsterdam

We couldn’t believe the moment was already here, after our one and only transportation delay of the whole trip, we arrived in our last European city, Amsterdam!

We checked into our Airbnb apartment in the De Jordaan neighbourhood, which we realized immediately was the perfect choice for us. The neighbourhood had a great vibe to it, and was located within an easy walk to the city centre.

Porem Cocktail Bar

After getting our bearings and some food in our bellies, we went for a walk to a tucked away cocktail bar called Porem. You have to ring the buzzer to get into this place, and the bartender comes up to let you in! We don’t know why that’s so exciting, but for some reason, it really gave this bar a cool vibe! Also, the cocktail menu was separated into three sections, each titled by a different Dutch public figure. These public figures all apparently had quite striking personalities, so the cocktails in each group were created to resemble the personality/characteristics of each of these people.

Red Light District

After our cocktail, we walked through Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District, grabbed another drink from a local tavern, and headed back home.

The next day, we got up and made a delicious home-cooked breakfast… our favourite part about staying in Airbnb apartments instead of hostels or hotels! Dermot has perfected scrambled eggs. After breakfast, Desta’s birthday gifts kept coming, as Dermot had booked a couples massage as a special birthday treat!

After so many weeks of carrying backpacks from destination to destination, a massage sounded like heaven to us. After an hour of deep tissue massage, we walked out feeling like we had new necks and shoulders. Completely refreshed!

I amsterdam Sign

The massage therapist studio was also conveniently located by the I Amsterdam sign, so we wasted no time, and got right back to sightseeing (and undoing all the relaxation of the massage) by climbing up the giant sign for a photo op!

Anne Frank House

On our final day in Amsterdam, Dermot woke up bright and early to go to the Anne Frank House. Desta had been to Amsterdam previously, and had taken the tour at that time. It’s a very sobering  and eye-opening experience to walk around the house and learn about the living conditions Anne Frank and the Jewish population of Amsterdam endured during the Nazi occupation.

Vondelpark

Once Dermot was back home, we ventured up the the Vondelpark area, and took a nice walk through many of the city’s neighbourhoods, stopping at the Heineken museum, and ending up at Rembrandt Square for some Starbucks. We continued our walk back to our apartment, stopping to take in some of the beautiful views over one of countless Amsterdam canal bridges.

Trying Bitterballen

That evening, we decided to stay in the neighbourhood for dinner, and stopped into a local restaurant for a tapas style dinner. Here, we got to try a Dutch appetizer called bitterballen (kind of like a mini meat croquette) which was really good! We did a little restaurant hop, and went next door for the best apple pie Desta has ever had. There are no pictures of this dish – Desta dug into it in record speed!

We returned back to our apartment to pack up, and get some rest. The next morning, we would be embarking on our 21 hour journey to Melbourne! We were sad to say good bye to Europe, but also so so excited to begin our next adventure in Australia.

Our European adventure was more than what we imagined in so many ways. We saw some of the most remarkable places, met lifelong friends, learned so much, and felt closer to each other than ever before.