Europe Diaries – I love Amsterdam – Contrive Your own Life

As described in my previous blog, we all were ready to go for our first trip outside Germany. We were busy looking up things, making notes of what we could do or see. So the things which were required for the small weekend trip are shown below –

Things to take in Weekend trip

After we packed our bag we left for the bus and occupied the window seat so as to see the view outside from Hanover to Amsterdam. The bus is fully WiFi with comfortable sit and bathroom. As you can see in the video shown, we came across great traffic control system, wide roads, natural beauty in form of beautiful blue lake, greenery grass and also huge wind turbine which is common in the developed nation. Moreover, you can notice that there is a red line side of the road for the bicycle.

: Hanover Bus Stand

: Stop in the way

: In Amsterdam

At last we reached Amsterdam. Mostly in every city Of Europe, we have to buy the single day pass by which we can travel inside that city by it’s any transport – boat, tram, metro or bus for one day. As we reached the bus stand at 8 pm so we decided not to take the pass as we did not need to travel on that day and just want to go to Main Amsterdam Center. So we went by bus and driver caught us, but he let us go without any fine. So kind of him 🙂

As you can see in the video the main center is vibrant and alive and thus it become one of my favorite places. Moreover, the canal here is so much famous that if you walk along the canal you can use free canal WiFi. We walked along the canal and as in Amsterdam most thing is legal so we thought to go for a while for it.

: Main Square Amsterdam

: Along Canal

: Famous Bar

: Canal side view

: Famous Coffee Place

: Church at night

: Street of RLA

: RLA

After eating dinner and walking for 3-4 hours, we thought to find now the accommodation for the night. But the tragic part was that we did not get any accommodation 😦 We tried every method from student dorm to youth hostel to Hotel, but no one had an empty room. We could not sleep in central station (Hauptbahnhof) as not allowed. At last we came to know that mostly in every city of Europe there is Gurudwara. So we thought to try that. But for that we have to go far and wait a lot as the frequency of bus at 3 am in the night is less. But Gurudwara was closed and next bus was after 45 min and we have no place to sit or sleep and have to wait for the bus in that windy condition (16km/h) 😦

At last bus came and we went back to main center at last we found the McDonald but it would be opened after 2-3 hours. So now we had to walk for 2-3 hours more. Then we went to see how main center and near area looks in the morning. The scene was beautiful, full of the bicycles, canals and birds. After that, we went to McDonald and tried its WiFi to book the ticket to home back as we were not in condition to see more Amsterdam. But we did not find the return ticket on that day that mean we have to stay one more night in Amsterdam. Moreover, as we asked previous night, they all did not have the empty room for 2-3 days. At last we came to know that McDonald would be opened that full night as it was Friday night. TGIF. 😀

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So we went to see the famous Museum of Madame Tussauds. Here we enjoyed a lot as you can see in the video below. We danced with Charlie Chaplin 😀 which made us a little happy after going through what happened the previous night.

: Madame Tussaud

: Inside Madame Tussaud

: Top View from Musueum

After that, we went to the famous I Amsterdam letters place which is the famous spot in Amsterdam to take the photo. What I noticed while going there that Amsterdam has great other things. There is number of canals in Amsterdam and the buildings are unique in structured as shown below. The XXX shown on the streets and building does not stand for pornography, it symbolizes the three kisses that Dutch people give when greeting. There is so much cycle on streets that each person goes through it to the office, party or wedding 😀 and also it is most stolen items in Amsterdam as I read later. After that, we went to flea market, which is the type of market where we can do shopping cheaply. I bought souvenirs to bring back with me, that serves as a reminder of the trip and brings back memories whenever I see it. After that, we went again to the main center after visiting various other museums and gardens in between.

Flea Market

Mickey mouse near I Amsterdam letters 😀

I Amsterdam letters

Great work near streets

Different Buildng in Amsterdam

Evening

Boat

At last we spend another night in McDonald and near the main center area. We could not sleep as we have to order things so that we can sit there till morning. We went off back to Hanover by bus in the early morning. We were lucky that the rain started after we were in the bus.

Thus, it sums up our first weekend in Europe. By this tour, we learned a lot of things regarding traveling and survival. As next week would be an extended weekend so we thought to go Prague and Berlin, which I will tell in my next blog which is also unique in another sense. Till then see my full album on Facebook about how cool Amsterdam is. If you want to see more pics or want to know more about my trip then just ping me 🙂

Thus, as told this is how Amsterdam make my first week different in Europe –

Two sleepless nights in a city.
Spending night at McDonald
First rule break in Europe – Bus one
Visited Madame Tussauds Museum (Not visited much Museum on later trips)
Dance with Charlie Chaplin (My favorite character since childhood)
Souvenirs – Plates, key chain, bottle opener, Ticket and other keepsakes as shown below