I am AMSTERDAM

Dear world,

Today was my first day in Netherland. I live in Utrecht at Airbnb accommodation. I spent my day in Amsterdam. I left the house around 10 AM. It took me around one hour and thirty minutes to arrive in Amsterdam. I visited two famous museums in Amsterdam; Van Gogh museum and Rijk museum. They are very close to each other. I just needed to walk five minutes from Van Gogh to Rijk. I spent about one hour in each museum. Also got time to visit and take pictures at I Amsterdam sign which is an icon of Amsterdam, but the place was too crowded. I even saw so many tourists climbed the sign just so they could take the best pictures on the I Amsterdam sign. As an Indonesian, I know that we also have a culture to climb something but I never knew that people from other countries do the same as we do, I smiled when I saw that.

As a solo traveler, it was very difficult for me to take pictures of myself whenever I go. But I was lucky, I saw two girls in front of me taking pictures just like any other tourists. What surprised me that time, they spoke Indonesian. I came closer to them and introduced myself. They are from Java and came only for traveling to Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland. We had a chit-chat.  It was very nice to meet Indonesians and spoke our language (No body speaks Indonesian in Brig LOL).

Amsterdam Sign and the crowd

Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum inside

After spending thirty minutes at Amsterdam sign, I walked around to see the architecture of the buildings in this city. I went to Rijksmuseum just to see what the architecture inside of the building. I spent mostly thirty minutes there, then I left the museum. Outside of the museum, there were 5 talented musicians playing some instruments. The music and instruments they played, caught my attention (I always enjoy to be in a place where I can listen to people playing instruments). I stopped there for forty minutes (they played two songs). It was such a lovely and a very good performance. I posted the video on my Instagram. 

My lunch 

I walked around Amsterdam for few hours before I finally gave up and said "I need to get lunch" but since I am Muslim, I am very picky in choosing my meal. I finally decided to have lunch at a small restaurant where they have "special Amsterdam tomato soup". I ate it with small bread. I never had tomato soup before, but when I tried it, it was really delicious. I am planning to make it once I go back to Switzerland.

Once I finished the soup, I continued walking and took some pictures.

Amsterdam is very unique with its own architectures. I really enjoyed walking around Amsterdam for more than five hours. I also enjoyed watching people riding their bicycles. Everyone rides a bicycle in Amsterdam which is a very good way of living. Saving the environment from pollution right?!

After spending my time walked around Amsterdam, I decided to go for shopping because I saw H&M  LOL. I never really plan to shop in Amsterdam. To be honest, I am not a kind of person who loves shopping. But since I was not sure anymore what to do after walking for five hours, I was thinking that looking around at H&M will not hurt anyone. So, I went there. I planned to spend 30 minutes to 60 minutes there, but I ended up spending almost three hours just to look around and try some clothes. But at the end, I just bought three t-shirts. 

Since it was already 8 PM, I decided to go to back to Utrecht, I stayed there for few nights with Airbnb with a very loving host. 

When I was on my way to Amsterdam Centraal, I tried to record video of people going in and out of the train because I was planning to make video about my trip in Europe. I paid attention to people who run again and again just to catch their train, while watching and recording them for my video, I did not realize that the train which I was supposed to take, had left LOL. I laughed at myself because it was funny and silly at the same time. I had to take the next train. I took the train from Amsterdam Centraal to Utrecht centraal, then I took a bus to the house where I stayed and arrived at almost 10 PM. I took shower, went to bed and finally got rest. It was a long and good day for me; away from school and paper LOL. Well, everyone needs a break sometime in order to recharge themselves before using their energy again. 

Anyway, that was my first day in Amsterdam. I will share my experience when I visited Utrecht Centraal and Kinderjk on my next post. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

From Netherland with love, 

Nur