UK/Amsterdam Trip Recap

So we are stoked to report that our entire trip went down without a hitch! 

On this trip we:

Walked an average of 5 miles a day

Went to 3 countries:

England

Scotland

Netherlands

Went to 9 cities:

San Diego

London

Liverpool

Manchester

Leeds

York

Newcastle Upon Tyne

Edinburgh

Amsterdam

Saw 5 theatrical productions:

Burnt City

Six

Life of Pi

Back to the Future

Come From Away

Attended 2 football matches: 

Man City vs West Ham and Man city vs Aston Villa

Saw 5 different football stadiums: 

West Ham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle

Went to 15 museums:

British Museum

Sir John Soane Museum

Tower of London

York Castle Museum

Liverpool FC museum

National Football museum in Manchester

Army museum in York

Anne Frank House

Hash Marihuana and Hemp Museum

Edinburgh castle

Museum. Of Edinburgh

National Museum of Scotland

Surgeon’s Hall

National War Museum of Scotland

London Mithraeum

Took in every kind of transportation imaginable:

Plane, train, subway, car, ferry, bikes

Ate at restaurants that served cuisine from 11 different countries:

English, Scottish, Syrian, Nepalese, Vietnamese, Greek, Lebanese, Indonesian, Dutch, Indian, Kurdish

On the way home, we met a catholic priest in the Amsterdam airport lounge and talked to him for 3 hours. He lived in San Diego and the Bay Area but was based in France. He was nice and put up with all our philosophical questions as we passed the time between flights. 

We had to get a picture with him as we do with all the fun characters we meet on our travels.

And with 6 different flights, a cross country train, a rental car,  5 diffferent AirBnbs, traveling during a pandemic (had to test before returning) and the Queen’s 70th jubilee, we didn’t have a single problem (except some dodgy Wi-Fi in Manchester). All in all, it was a terrific trip!

Amsterdam: A Foodie’s Dream

Amsterdam is such a cool city. It’s the kind of place you have to absorb by walking around it rather than run around and do “things” if it’s your first time. 

This was Helmut’s first time.

Helmut checking out the hot food vending machines

We stayed in the red light district in a cute little Airbnb and it was perfect! This part of town can get noisy on the weekends, but we were there mid week, so it wasn’t an issue.

Our Airbnb (red brick)

Amsterdam’s cuisine is unique and we wanted to try as much of it as possible, so we booked a food tour through Airbnb’s “experiences” to try some signature dishes. Our host was Angus, and he took us on bikes to 5 different places 

That’s Angus on the far right

On this tour we got to we got to try:

Dutch Apple Pie

Bacon Sandwiches

Kibling (chunks of fried cod)

Fries with yummy sauces

Bitterballen which was sort of like fried beef stew balls (hard to explain these…you just have to try ‘em!)

And these mini Dutch pancakes called poffertjes 

The tour was fun and there were only 5 of us. It was a great way to spend the day!

We had to go to at least a couple museums while we were there since Amsterdam has some of the best in the world, so we started off with the Anne Frank House.

Exterior of Anne Frank House

No pictures were allowed inside which is understandable. It was a somber place, but a really well done museum. It really gave us a good understanding of what Anne and her family went through when trying to hide from the Nazis. 

We then visited the Hash Marihuana and Hemp  Museum which was right across the canal from where we were staying. This was also a very good museum and we learned a LOT about the history of weed (which was everywhere in Amsterdam. You couldn’t walk down the street without getting a whiff of it). 

Weed isn’t legal in Amsterdam, but it is tolerated. And that means they can sell it in small amounts over the counter in “coffee shops”. We went to one called Dampkring. 

Amsterdam is a totally walkable city, and boy did we walk!

Smallest car we’ve ever seen!

 One day we walked over 7 miles. We walked all the way over to the Albert Cuyp Market which was kind of like a swap meet, where we got Syrian street food and a “stroop waffle”. 

Albert Cuyp Market

These stroop waffles became our new favorite snack. They’re a chewy waffle cookie type thing with caramel in the middle. SO GOOD! 

For our final dinner, we went to an Indonesian restaurant called Sampurna and got something called Rijstaffel or “rice table”.

Amsterdam is known for this kind of meal which is a bunch of small dishes with different foods. Kind of like an Indonesian dim sum, but you get it all at once. Super delicious!

Even though we were only in Amsterdam for 2.5 days, we made the most of it. We didn’t get to some of the best museums like the Van Gough or Rijkmuseum, but that’s because we know we will be back. Schipol airport is a very popular stop for a lot of destinations, so it will be an easy add to a future trip.