Ls In Amsterdam
Visiting Amsterdam in February was probably the final straw. I have never felt so cold visiting a European country in my life and I went to Romania earlier this year. I damn near lost the will to live at points. I’ve banned myself from booking any trips to cold places for the next couple of years. No matter how cheap.
Weather aside though, I really loved Dam.
Like a mug, and in uncharacteristic fashion, in an attempt to bougiefy my travelling conditions, I booked an Airbnb and was like yasss, prestige. Um, no. I realised when I got there that Zaandam is not in Amsterdam, lol. There’s a 15 minute train, but because I spent my allotted travel money on essentially an all Amsterdam 3-day travelcard not realising it is redundant in Zaandam, I did some next cross-country train & metro trips over the 11 mile journey to Dam which took about an hour. Do you know how humbling this is? I can’t even explain. I’ve never made such erroneous travelling decisions in my life. Lmao. A part of me died inside when the woman at the bus station told me. I wanted to slap her smiling friendly face, but instead I walked away in a daze, and decided that in spite of this wahala, me, a whole me cannot downgrade completely to long bus travel in this place.
Irrespective of that though, being in Zaandam I think was better than staying in Amsterdam. It’s cheaper for one, but Zaandam also has its own attractions and is genuinely a really nice place to stay. There’s a massive high street with lots of shops, museums, and windmill farms. Furthermore, the long journey into Amsterdam meant I got to see a bit more of Holland than I would have. Did I mention when I arrived I took the wrong train on my way to Zaandam after being told what train to take (but I thought I knew a better & faster route – impatience o), realised after a few stops and maybe 10 minutes, got off, pressed the information button on a talkpoint, struggled with someone speaking Dutch, who then went to fetch someone who spoke English, who gave me instructions to take trains & change platforms I promptly forgot, and so I jumped on a train and prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me to my Airbnb. I made it. God is good? All, the, time.
External of this Lemony Snickett-esque series of unfortunate events, Amsterdam city centre was cool and reminded me of a Moroccan Medina. If you have a poor sense of direction, you have no business being there lol. I went to all the regular places, but for the fun of it, (or to make the travel expenditure feel less an anchor on my chest), I took the trams to random suburban places, got off and walked around a bit. In one place, kids were tobogganing down a hill with their parents, and building snowmen, and it brought warmth & hope back into my cold disillusioned heart. What I liked best about Amsterdam was everything; the food, the shops, the people, and the ambience of the place. I didn’t bother with all the museum stuff (as in entering them – I went up to them and took pictures LOL) as for me Dam is definitely somewhere I’ll come back and do all that. I just wanted to chill for a few days. Also, I had a really bad cold for the first couple of days (I know, L #5000000000), so my primary focus was to find shelter from the cold and eat, even though I walked loads. I think it’s definitely more appropriate to visit in Spring or Summer so yeah, I’ll be back.