Hey! I am SO behind on my travel blogs so I’m going to combine our last two stops to move things right along at a rapid pace.
Our second last stop of the Euro trip was Amsterdam! A town where there are more bikes than people (do not get in the way of anyone on their bike, they’ll straight up run you down), canals, houses built on angles and a whole bunch of both cofee shops and coffeeshops…
Let’s start and finish with the coffeeshops. It’s just about the only fun story I have from Amsterdam.
OBVIOUSLY when in the Dam, you visit a coffeeshop. All one word. These are the places you go if you want to try a little bit of the fun stuff, which isn’t actually legal in Amsterdam, it’s just regulated, which I didn’t know til after I visited a coffeeshop lol. They regulated it because they had a massive issue with hippies and heroin in the 60’s, so they decided to regulate marijuana in the hopes of driving out the junkies. And it totally worked. They have one of the smallest rates of heroin users around the world. There’s some fun trivia I learnt on a walking tour for you.
ANYWHO. We went to a coffeeshop and I got a hash brownie. Thought it would be fun and a good chill time. #notfun #nochill.
I can give you all the details in real life if I know you, but let’s just say I lost about 12 hours of my life to a bad reaction. I ate a lot of food, and I will probably never touch that shit again. BUT WHEN IN AMSTERDAM HEY???
Nick was just sleepy af.
Apart from that experience, we basically just walked around the city to check it out, did a walking tour, went to a fantastic brunch spot called Bakers and Roasters (cheers to our kiwi pals Dane and Bryce for the recommendation), ate delicious Dutch pancakes, and watched the world go by on the million+ bikes. Then after 4 days it was time for our very very last stop of Europe, LONDON.
Okay so as I was uploading the photos I found photos of the Heineken tour we did. That’s an 11/10 so if you ever go to Amsterdam, do that one! Now moving right along.
London was epic. Loved it way more than I was expecting.
We did all the tourist things- Big Ben (rudely under construction), Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, the London Eye (well we looked at it from a distance), Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Camden Markets, took a ride on the hot and packed tube and on a red double decker bus, I went shopping on Oxford St while Nick saw Arsenal play some team I’ve never heard of in the soccer, had some scones and tea, went to Piccadilly Circus and Trafalger Square, China Town, Carnaby St and took a classic tourist photo with a red telephone box. Those things are dirty. We did all the things.
London had such a cool vibe, and the people were super friendly. Yeah it was pricey, but you also have the budget friendly option of picking up snacks and food from the supermarket, and save yourself some money to go towards more necessary things like a tasty alcoholic beverage after a big day of walking.
We also happened to be in London when the AFL grand final was on, and Nicks team were playing. So we headed to Belushis in Camden at 4.30am to watch the Tigers play the Crows. We walked into the bar and bumped right into a friend, Emma, from home, which was so unexpected and so much fun. The tigers smashed the crows for anyone living under a rock so Nick was a very happy boy! Happy but tired. We slept a lot that day after that rude early rise.
We had 5 days in London, and loved every minute of it.
I genuinely loved loved LOVED all of Europe, and the saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ could not be more true. I swear I blinked and it was time to jump on a plane to another continent.
Though the 2 months we had went by SO quick, we left London feeling super ready for a change of scenery, and America was calling our names…
Kelly x
