Artis Zoo

Today I went to Artis Zoo, the zoo here in Amsterdam. 

This time my soulmate and I went with a few friends so I was there just to enjoy the animals.

I saw this little girl and couldn't resist though!

Here she is in Artis´ butterfly pavilion.

The weirdest thing at Dam Square

Yesterday it was a beautiful sunny day in Amsterdam and my rock star friend, Manon Planting was with me to enjoy it!

We first started off by going to the Amsterdam cat boat on the Singel canal. I go there every month until one day I will finally have an apartment where I can take one home!

After, we parked our “Ferraris” (Bikes) in the Dam Square and went to this cute silly little store called The Condomerie which has all these funny condoms in different colors and designs.

The sun was still shinning and we were walking around the Dam when a young adult, walked up to Manon and started making conversation with her. It was in Dutch so she later told me he was just making normal conversation and bluntly asked her age. We then kept observing that he was going around talking to random girls and reporting to an older man maybe in his mid-20s. He would talk to a girl, report and go back to another girl and talk again.

This really caught our interest so we kept observing we soon found out there was a group of older men and a group of younger adults that were doing this back and forth process. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen at the Dam Square in my life and come on I live in Amsterdam and am by the Dam square almost every day!

So Manon decided if she ran into the guy that spoke to her she would ask him what he was doing. BAM! We found him. She asked him. Hehehehehehe.

Basically it was a day course he was doing to be social because he’s very shy in… well, being social!

Luckily in the Dam Square you find the coolest and most willing people to talk to so he was set, he must have been there all afternoon!

We missed the rest of the show because we went to go sit outside and enjoy the sun at the best milkshake place in Amsterdam that is interestingly enough a coffee shop (no the milkshake doesn’t have drugs in it) AMNESIA! You go Amnesia!

Here are a few clicks, I didn’t get to take pictures of the guys around Dam Square because I was too busy observing with my own two eyes! 

Taking a nap?

Protect your knight for the night!

New performers around the Dam!

Another new performer.

Through the canals

Last Friday, a classmate of mine, a friend turned 20 and she celebrated her day going through the Amsterdam canals with friends and family.

It was my soul mates and I first time to experience this “Dutchy” way of partying on a boat in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is beautiful on foot or bike but by boat…it’s breathtaking! It was a warm afternoon and bikes were ringing and cameras were clicking all around Amsterdam.   Of course I also had to snap a few pictures but I wanted to take it all in so I had my soul mate snap some things I would see by the eye that I wanted to capture in photo.  So props to him for snapping some of the pictures below!

“Brug” was the word that stuck to me the whole day, in Dutch it means bridge. Every time we would go under the bridge someone would shout Burg for the people standing and even the taller people sitting to duck down a little. So cute J

I loved the atmosphere around. It was so warm on the boat and around the canals. The warmth of people in Amsterdam makes Amsterdam Amsterdam. Tourists and locals were waving while they were outside enjoying the sunny day just like us all on the boat.

It’s an amazing experience that I recommend all to do if they come to Amsterdam, rent a boat and have some fun in the sun…with wine!

Table out: Dinner outisde

Randomness of Amsterdam

Anne Frank ´nough said.

Rolling Kitchen Festival

After going to the Rolling Kitchen Festival last year and having such a good experience I was ready to go this year! Once again the festival didn’t disappoint.

So many people, colors and smells.

This time my soul mate and I had our Ohana Manon Planting with us to try out all the wonderful foods.

For the first time, thanks to Manons “You have to try this” recommendation we had Poffertjes! Mini pancakes with butter and a bunch of powdered sugar! Mmmmm J

Here are some snaps of the first day of the festival. 

Queens day!

I finally got to experience Queens’s day in Holland.

It’s something else. It’s orange. ;)

My soul mate and I woke up at around 5:30am to get to the flea markets early, at that time already we could see from our bedroom window people setting up their booths.

Walking around the flea markets early morning is awesome, you see so many items, gifts people received that they never liked, old ex-boyfriends gifts, handmade crafts, clothes that they have either grown out of or just don’t want anymore, and sometimes people’s old memories.  

Parents had their children selling away their old toys that they out grew. Some children would sell homemade sweets or little bags of popcorn. The kids with a bit of talent would play their musical instruments or would dance.

All these colors, smells, and noises are what make Queens’s day flea markets magical. There is so much to see and so much going on. I wished I had a watch that would stop time so many times so that there would be enough hours in the day to see it all.

When walking through the streets of Amsterdam you would see the parties. There were windows with their stereo systems blaring out music while people on the street were dancing to the rhythm and drinking their beers.  Sometimes people even set up stages downstairs with Djs.

The canals were full of boats with orange people inside. I have never seen so much traffic on water. Hehehehe.

It took us a long while to walk to the Red Light District to go to a friend’s barbeque. I was so surprised how this person had a little back yard with trees IN the Red Light District. Who would have known?

I also got to experience the spending time with friends on Queens day part. The part of Queens’s day were you sit and relax with your friends and have a good time: drinking and eating.  It was nice to do that after going through crowds of people all morning.

Unfortunately flea markets and outdoor home parties close down all at eight. So time flew!

The trash lying around everywhere is insane, but after eight you already see the city cleaning up, it’s amazing how fast they clean it all up.

 I really wish I can have a watch that stops time for next year! I feel that I saw so little.

Queens’s day for me will always be one of my favorite Dutch holidays for sure; I can’t wait for it again next year! 

Best ice cream in Amsterdam

I am a big follower on Expats on Facebook and any other international Amsterdam/Holland related pages. Today there was a post on the best ice cream in Amsterdam and consequently enough my name is there at the reference of who recommended it I guess. So funny. :)
Check it out! And get an awesome ice cream from there, Monte Pelmo is the best!

http://www.expats-in-amsterdam.com/blog/22-best-places-for-ice-cream-in-amsterdam.html

Oude Kerk: Marry in haste, mourn at leisure

I was at the Oude Kerk, the oldest building in Amsterdam, and its actually a Church. Interestingly enough its located in the famous Red Light District. Due to its location and to people after death being buried there the Church says: "Marry in haste, mourn at leisure". hehehehe.