All about (that) Amsterdam,

Categorize this one under "Note to Self". I really had a truly wonderful time in Amsterdam (which is why I CONTINUE to post about it. #Amsterdamneverdies). And on that note, Dutch sounds eerily close to english. I'd be 2 minutes into eavesdropping on a stylish couple's conversation before I realized it wasn't even in my language. Not sure what that says about me but I figured it would be fun to laugh at in 20 years.

(the only reason I have a blog! Think of all the fun we will have at my blog reading party in 2035. Don't worry, everyone is invited.)

Note to self because: these places are cool and I'd like to go back.

Carry on!

KITCH KITCHEN (which has nothing to do with kitchens...):
 I seriously loved this place. It was filled with party supplies, piñatas, picnic blankets and basically all those cute, candy colored things that you really DONT but yet somehow desperately need. (That's pretty much me in every store, but you get the idea.) I recommend sending the dudes you are traveling with somewhere else though because it's kind of a GIRLS ONLY store if you catch my drift.

DAILY CAFE IN HAARLEM;
Haarlem stole my heart for a variety of reasons but this place was one of them. You know cake is good and all but somehow cake in an aesthetically pleasing, Instagram worthy environment is at least 10 times better. I only took like 45 photos on this cafe run because you know, I try to be casual and blend in with the locals.

Mission accomplished.

AMSTERDAM TULIP MUSEUM
Ironically enough, I didn't actually go into the museum. We walked in the store, wandered around a bit and then I took flower photos (again, ALL I did the entire trip) and then we proceeded to the cheese museum next door. Only later, after googling and such, did I realize we never made it INTO the Museum! So Well played Tulip Museum but next time I'm coming for ya.

There you go! How to not go into a museum and all that jazz.

RIJKS and for once I spelled it right.

I had a little epiphany in the Rijksmuseum a few days ago. And while that epiphany is probably better suited for a journal or a diary or maybe a piece of paper to be crumpled and shoved under my bed (you should see the stash! Actually, you shouldn't.) But, it was an epiphany that made me happy and bubbly and left me that way for a few days...and it was nice to have that little epiphany to think about when the Flu came to say hi (bonjour actually!)

Also have you ever written about an epiphany because that word is addicting. Epiphany this, Epiphany that!

A MONDRIAN!!!! We almost didn't go to that wing, but, wow. Mondrian has been my favorite for forevvver. Now it's time to make this, because who doesn't want to eat their favorite piece of art?

As you can see, the Rijks was quite dreamy. Both from the perspective of taking in art and creating your own, if you could call it that. To each his own! Van Gogh painted a selfie for pete's sake! There's probably a hashtag on the back or something....time to go back to Amsterdam. You know, just to check.

(also for a million other reasons.)

HALLO HAARLEM

If you equate Amsterdam to New York the Haarlem is the Brooklyn of this situation. Haarlem (though different from New York's Harlem, I'm assuming!) was amazing. All kinds of amazing cafes and shops and REAL people. Like families and babies and puppies and people who look like they're doing more with their life than tasting pastries.

Which is basically all I do so um...

LEVI'S WINKEL

So what a coincidence that I'm talking about pastries next! (Is Pie a pastry? Or its own category? Carry on.) This cafe is unique because It's owned by a 14 year old boy, who we saw in the flesh and I was tempted to ask for his autograph. Just because, you know! There's a video on it here (all in dutch, granted) but I will tell you that Levi has had a haircut, thankfully, and now looks as good as that pie. Well....almost, because pie.

TEN BOOM MUSEUM

Everyone and their second cousin has read the Anne Frank Diary, which is fine and all, but that means its way more popular. Instead of waiting in the 3 hour long line at the Anne Frank House we went to the Corrie Ten Boom house in Haarlem. It was incredible and in my opinion, better than the Anne Frank House simply because the tour was lead from a Christian perspective (and the wait was probably 15 minutes so basically Ten Boom>Frank House. But suit yourself.)

Grote Markt and Ons graan jouw brood
After the house tour we walked around Haarlem and explored the Grote Markt and the smell from Ons Graan guided us in. It was a nearly divine experience. Forget boys, fresh bread is the way to my heart.

On another note, I can't figure out why my clothes are a little tighter.
The two can't be related. ;)

A PLUS FOR AMSTERDAM.

*cheesy Fault in Our Stars Quote*

I swear the only reason teenage girls know that Amsterdam exists is because of Hazel Grace Lancaster. Despite all the history and the VAN GOUGH museum and you know, other things of significance. I am happy to report that I DID in fact know Amsterdam existed before the craze, but even after I still wasn't interested in coming. I was convinced that Amsterdam was nothing more than sex and the fault in our stars....which may or may not be one in the same.

AMSTERDAM IS SO COOL. It's amazing. The people are friendly and most everyone speaks English very well, I've never seen cooler coffee shops in my life (Paris needs to get with the times) and the cute canal streets are an instagrammers dream, if I may be so shallow as to say so.

Amsterdam is broken into many parts because, Amsterdam.

#gramthedam

BOCA'S
Now I'm NOT  a foodie but I did really enjoy the food/cafe portions of our trip. So much so that I actually wrote down everywhere we went (That was good!) Our first night we ate at Boca's and ended up ordering the same thing as the people next to us, unintentionally. They probably thought we copied them but whatever.

BLOEMENMARKT
A floating flower market! This made my flower loving heart very happy. It was different than I expected (super touristy and not a ton of fresh flowers) but there are bulbs upon bulbs of every type of tulip you can ever imagine. I ended up with a bag of peonies bulbs because I like to prove that I am not swayed by cultural norms or the status quo but instead choose to be different and original and forge my own path.

Also, I really like peonies.

HI EVERYONE HERES A PHOTO OF ME ON THE SAME BENCH THAT ANSEL ELGOT SAT ON....AKA HOLY GROUND. CUE ALL THE FEELS AND PUNS AND METAPHORS.

Also, I actually don't really love The Fault in Our Stars. I just really like participating in average teenage girl things.

More Amsterdam coming soon and PS:

Really proud of my snapchat story that day. ;)