Because I'm blogging about the trip so long after the actual trip, I'll just keep the posts brief; mainly filled with photos because I took quite a lot of photos! Everything was just so beautiful on this trip which made it a very beautiful and memorable trip. I'll express my feelings for these wonderful places as I go along~
Woke up pretty early as usual for my morning flight. I always get a bit anxious when I'm going to airports because I'm always worried something bad will happen, or that I will forget something. But luckily, everything worked out fine that morning. I landed safely in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport after a short hour's flight and met Joon Tian there (as she flew in from Manchester). I got a bit scared when I couldn't find Joon Tian at the arrivals hall but I then realised that we came in from different gates! But it didn't take long for the two of us to find each other.
I took one of those airport shuttle buses from Stratford to Stansted Airport.
Of course, an adventure calls for pretty nails lol. Chose this mint green colour because it was spring time!
Schiphol Airport. It links to the railway station as well.
We then took a Sprinter train to Lelylaan to take a Metro to our hotel.
After a short rest in the hotel, we headed out to explore the beautiful city! Because we booked our accommodation too late, the only place we could afford was a place called The Student Hotel (which is actually a student accommodation for local uni students). It's further away from the city centre but since we were there for three days, we decided to buy a 72 hours travel pass which was reasonably priced for the amount of public transport we were planning to use.
I had to pull this huge luggage along with me for a while because Nia asked me to take some stuff over to her sister who stays in the Netherlands. So I contacted her sister when I got there and arranged to meet her outside the Anne Frank Museum.
I wish we took the opportunity to rent a bike and ride around the city~
The Westerkerk.
I then finally met with Nia's sister, Phoebe! It was so nice having a short chat with her and she was so sweet to bake some cupcakes for us (which were so so yummy)~ She is a pro when it comes to baking; check out her site to see all her beautiful designs! Or check out her instagram (Sephiria Taarten) which is amazing!!!
After meeting her, we started queuing to visit the Anne Frank Museum. It took us 3 hours of queuing before we got to the entrance to buy our tickets. We regret so much not buying our tickets in advance but all the tickets were sold out online by the time we checked.
It was cold that day so it was such a challenge standing out in the cold for so long but it was worth it. It gave Joon Tian and I a chance to catch up and the Anne Frank House was so interesting and her life-story during the war is so touching and inspirational.
It's definitely a must-go if you visit Amsterdam and apparently the time we went (around 3pm) is when the queue is the shortest lol. So make sure you book your tickets in advance or go around 3pm.
And just before I went for my trip, I came across this article where they included some quotes from Anne Frank's Diary, which was a really good read.
We didn't take any photos in the House or the Museum so this is the only photo I can show you.
We then spent the rest of our day walking around the busy city centre admiring the unique Dutch architecture.
This is the building of the Royal Palace.
Once again, the Royal Palace.
The Amsterdam Centraal Station.
Sunset and the Basilica of St. Nicholas.
x
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