12 hours in Amsterdam.

On our way to Italy from Dubai, we had a stopover in Amsterdam as we were flying with KLM. Of course not all stop overs are quite as long, we purposely picked the flight with the longest stop over in Amsterdam, as we thought it would be a great opportunity to explore another city.

As it was raining like crazy, Philipp and I decided to seek refuge at a cozy little spot called, The Happy Pig Pancake Shop. It was here that I had the best hot chocolate of my life, which is no small feat, considering I ordered a hot chocolate with soy milk. Oh the horror, I know! Their pancakes deserve an honorable mention too! Who knew apple, cinnamon pancakes with cinnamon sauce, coconut flakes and real bacon could taste so good?

We then proceeded to make our way to the Amsterdam Museum, however, because we were constrained for time only stopped to see the art installations. It definitely was a good move because I got lost in my own imagination for a good hour staring at each piece. For some reason, I never like taking pictures in museums, probably ought to work on that.

Our next stop was the Amsterdam Cheese Company which I was really excited about especially since I decided I was going to eat all the cheese I wanted while I was on holiday. After a year and three months of no cheese whatsoever, I couldn’t have picked a better place to start eating cheese again. Philipp and me were like kids in a candy store. Not only was the cheese absolutely divine but we had a really nice lady serving us, who patiently took us through all the different cheeses and even let us sample quite a few along the way.

From there we rushed to meet Philipp’s childhood friends Lulu and Mila, for lunch at this beautiful little restaurant called Dignita, right across the road from the Museum we would visit after lunch.

Of all the things we saw in Amsterdam, I think I was most excited when Lulu suggested we check out the Hermitage Amsterdam. The Hermitage housed exhibits on the Romanov family and the Russian Revolution, a ‘Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age’ of the Dutch masters as well as a more contemporary art exhibit called, ‘Outsider Art’. At school, I had a little bit of an obsession with the Russian revolution and the Romanov family so I was really excited to learn more about their lives and the events that led to the revolution.

Our last stop before we had to rush to the airport was the Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam which are compact botanical gardens with formal outdoor and greenhouse sections. As it was still raining really heavily we only got to see the indoor greenhouse, which blew me away. Growing up in a city like Dubai, I loved getting to see so much green all at once.

Considering we had less than a day in Amsterdam, I was really impressed/pleased with how much we got to see. I’ve got Philipp and Lulu who patiently showed me around, to thank for that. I can’t wait to visit again, hopefully next time with at least 2 or 3 days to spare.