Amsterdam, My Future Home

Just after the New Year, I followed up my week long trip to Prague with a weekend trip to Amsterdam. It took all of 5 minutes walking away from the central train station for me to fall completely in love with the city. Abundant canals and what felt like millions of bicycles were two endearing qualities, but were also the only two strong factors that separated the city's atmosphere from San Francisco. In the sense that the Dam is liberal and has looming shotgun style houses, it felt like a flatter SF. 

Everything about the city made me want to move there immediately (or at least within the next year). Any city on water easily captures my heart, but this one also has scrumptious beer. All of the restaurants we tried were small, intimate places with delicious food. It often felt like we were in someone's full living room. But it never felt intrusive, the Dutch are so sweet! They were the nicest people, honestly. The day I came in, B took the same tram 3 times in a row back and forth between the train station and our airbnb apartment. He had the same tram conductor each time and the man struck up a conversation with him, made jokes, very well may have remembered his name. Almost everyone speaks English as well, and all of the signs are in English. Very convenient my friends. 

Aside from the food and beer, which are often the most discussed points about my travels (let's be honest, that's one of the best parts), the architecture in Amsterdam was just plain fun. You can feel the age in the homes' shapes and bricks. Different from the feel of Prague, with it's charred medieval gray stone walls; Amsterdam has the air of a clean, successful, well-preserved port city. 

I loved Amsterdam, I have nothing but nice things to say about the place and its inhabitants. I could care less about the Red Light District and the tourists even though I was a massive tourist. My only regret was wishing it had been Spring or Summer as I would have cried with happiness to spend time sitting along the canals or see the windows and gardens overflowing with flowers in bloom. It just means I will definitely be returning! 

Have you been to Amsterdam? What was your favorite part of the city? xo