As much as I hate flying, I truly enjoy traveling and strangely enough, airports, (as long as it is not Charles De Gaulle in Paris).

I feel like as an American, if you’re not headed to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean for a spring break or summer, you’re likely headed to Europe.

Or, I mean, if you’re like me, the first out of the country trip was to Cairo, Egypt with the Model Arab League team. It was such a magical experience in 2011. Some months after the beginning of the revolution, and who would’ve thought that all those years ago, that was the semester where I had class with H, and he traveled to Cairo as well, as friends back then.

I feel like our relationship is serendipitous in many ways, but it’s weird now that we’ve known each other for 11 years.

After completing my Corps commitment to TFA in 2014, I planned a trip to Europe with stops in London, Paris, and Barcelona. It was also an amazing and eye opening experience as all three were so different, although Barcelona has my heart. I feel like it matched me the most.

In this foreign service life, you tend to think that you’ll go to all the most known places and how cool it would be. Although, you tend to learn that it’s not always the case, and while Lisbon, Athens, Bogota, and a host of other top spots were on our first list, we came to Togo instead.

When we were bidding for our second tour, we had certain priorities. Although before we received our potential options, we looked up spaces where we could bring our beloved Stitch. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that this Mr. Worldwide is the best dog, but unfortunately banned from a lot of places. Nevertheless we hoped endlessly for an Amsterdam, Stockholm, Brussels, etc. Essentially places where he could go. None of them ended being on that list. And that’s okay, we’re pretty stoked for where we’re going next. I’ll share at the end of October, because that’ll mark the year countdown till we’re there!

By now you’re probably thinking, “wait, isn’t this about Amsterdam?!” It is.

So without further rambling, I’ll get to the good stuff.

For our baby moon, we chose Amsterdam. Neither of us had ever been. In our youth maybe it would’ve been the European city where we get to get in trouble (legally) for things that we can’t do back in the states. This time, it was just about relaxing, getting to spend time with each other, and also, baby girl. It also gave us a glimpse into what it’ll be like in Europe.

We stayed at Hotel Arena near Oosterpark, and I have to say that it was magically located, peaceful, and not far from transit options, food, and some exciting sites. We were placed in a suite with a nice street view, and our room was loft style with our bed being upstairs. They were some very tiny winding stairs, and while it was a nice touch and I’d stay again, it wasn’t super conducive to being pregnant and having to get up to go downstairs to the restroom in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, it was fine for the three nights we spent there. They’re also very eco-friendly, and that is much appreciated. I’ve found that throughout this pregnancy, I’ve been really diving into more sustainable options and practices.

We arrived on a Thursday night, EXHAUSTED due some less than ideal circumstances on the flight from Washington DC to Paris. In reality, a Danish High School travel group was seated next to us, and it made H question whether the Danish Parenting book we ordered is really worth the time, obviously just kidding, but woah.

Luckily for us, it was very rainy and that called for some delicious Thai. We found a spot nearby and were very satisfied leaving and then passing out for the evening.

In all truthfulness, we went to Amsterdam without a plan. It was a lot of off the beaten path experiences, but amazing none the less. Let’s dive in.

I’ve always had this habit of eating at foreign McDonalds. One, because they offer free wifi, and two, I like to see and try the different menu items abroad. I’ll maintain that the best one yet was Egypt. So in Amsterdam, we stopped at a little hole in the wall McDonalds and tried the “Chili Chicken Burger,” and it was just sweet Thai Chili sauce thrown on McChicken. A 2/10 for me. Also, a thing to note, is that McDonalds abroad only have a small and x-small drink option. None of that medium or large business like you find in the USA. Explains probably why they’re healthier. Anyways, here is said Chili Chicken Burger:

It is in this McDonalds however where we planned our remaining day. It consisted of a lot of walking, a lot of on-and-off rain jacket maneuvering and visiting two historical churches. Not that we’re particularly religious, but there was a Brazilian Artist exhibition in one, and the other was a secret church from many years ago. Needless to say, the architecture was still immaculate. I’ll be detailing those visits in my next few posts because there are too many pictures for this one.

After visiting the second church, we wandered into a very historical bar in Amsterdam, with a really interesting history.

In’t Aepjen is a small bar, that hosted sailors returning from various trips with the Dutch East India Company. These sailors would port for drinks, women, and recreation and with them, they brought their spoils from sailing. This included various monkeys, spices, and other goods. After getting way too plastered and having way too much fun, they quickly ran out of money as one does in those situations, and traded their monkeys as payment to the bar for a place to sleep.

In essence, it became a monkey and sailor hotel.

So much so, that there was a flea infestation and the owner of the bar created the Amsterdam Zoo to house the creatures.

Now a days, this small bar still operates and is decorated with a ton of, you guessed it, monkeys. Sculptures, figurines, you name it. I enjoyed a Coke, H enjoyed a house brewed beer, and we then went on our merry way back to the hotel before resting and freshening up for dinner.

For dinner, we went to a Food Hall for a wide range of food options. We definitely had our fill, me, meatballs from the Dutch Meatball Company, and most of H’s fried mac&cheese balls, while he got a few meatballs from my plate, he also enjoyed the hot dog that he ordered. After filling up on warm good food, we went on our again merry way to see more of the city.

As we walked, we saw rainbows, stopped for a photo on the canals and also take a picture of the essential Dutch bicycle. It really is the most efficient way to get around the city, however being only 5ft tall in a city of tall men and women, it wasn’t easy to find a bike for me that wasn’t a childs bike. Oh well 🙂 Also saw a breath of fresh air in the mosaic bench.

We then popped into one of the oldest pubs in Amsterdam, Cafe Chris, sat for awhile and got to witness people playing games, imbibing on drinks, and socializing happily. It’s something we miss in Togo. Honestly, it was so dark in there that none of my photos turned out, but it was still a really good experience.

We then walked to a Mexican restaurant in another neighborhood just as the evening was starting to fire up. It was Mexican Independence Day, so we stopped for an appetizer and drinks before heading back to the hotel, it only seemed appropriate.

Simple day, but just nice and what we needed.

I will say is that the amount of parties happening in apartments with people sitting on an unprotected window ledge smoking, was a bit alarming. I guess that is Europe and I will now have the next year to prepare myself.

When we returned to the hotel, we had a nice drink by the hotel/restaurant bar fireplace.

We then retired to the room to watch Shark Tank with Dutch subtitles, and that was probably the most interesting aspect of that show.

I have to say, I think visiting places with zero plans is the way to go. We just went with the flow, we were in the moment, and got to sort of live like we belonged there.

While I have more coming up, I have to say that while I’m still recovering from some remnants of blisters on this trip, they were 100000000% worth it.

Until Amsterdam Pt. 2,

Carrie