An Amsterdam Day

Yesterday was our first morning in Amsterdam. I woke up at 2, 3, 4, and 5 AM before finally getting up at 6:38 AM — nursing a headache. It must’ve been from being severely dehydrated on our flights.

All I wanted yesterday morning was to sleep in for another hour. The headache eventually went away thanks to a concoction of Panadol and chamomile tea — Eilles brand.

This morning, though, felt like a fresh-sheet kind of day. I woke up relaxed. Fafa was out trying the hotel gym, and I’ve got this little pocket of time to myself, and I wanted to savour it.

We’re staying at the Tribe Hotel (Room 2725 overlooking a beautiful student dorm – I Googled), surrounded by what looks like light industrial vibes. Ruben mentioned this is the north side when I told him the hotel name a few days ago. He gave a few recommendations, but those are for later, not today.

Today is a no-rush, no-set-plans day. A Fafa’s day.

We took the train to Vijlstraat at 9:33 AM. Our main plan was to visit the Rijksmuseum, but first, I wanted a Dutch pancake — mostly to relive a memory from 13 years ago, when I had one at the same spot with Sarie.

Fafa wasn’t too keen on sweet things for breakfast, and the pancake carousel didn’t tempt him either.

So, we ended up at a highly rated, cutesy, Kiwi-looking brekkie café — the kind that looks better than it tastes. The food was overpriced and disappointing. I had to pay an extra €4.70 for scrambled eggs that were completely inedible. The place was packed with annoying tourists — the rich and entitled kind. Ugh.

After that, we made our way to the Rijksmuseum. Just before entering, Fafa had a long chat with our neighbour, who’s helping us assess the damage from our collapsed backyard fence.

The security guard — who looked like Hercule Poirot with a moustache — told us we had to buy our tickets online. Thankfully, he was kind enough to let us in early — we were 45 minutes ahead of our time slot.

After the museum, we tried to find the “I Amsterdam” sign so I could take a photo with it (and of Fafa too), but we found out it had been moved to Schiphol Airport back in 2018. So much for that.

We then searched for Surinamese food — something many people had recommended. But as soon as we walked in: too many tourists. First red flag.
Then we waited 15 minutes to get a menu. Second red flag.
And the food? Bland and lacking spice, which baffles me, because spice is essential in both Indonesian and African cuisine.

In short, I ate, and I didn’t like it, but at least I got to tick it off my curiosity list. I’ll give Surinamese food another shot somewhere else.

We walked back to the station and headed to Central, stopping along the way to take a few photos.

We got off at Rokin, visited a Korean photo booth, and popped into a bookstore with a strong fake-Tokyo vibe.

We wandered around the main shopping street, where I bought a Moleskine notebook to feed my journal and journaling obsessions. We also had some pickled herrings (bucket list item, though it wasn’t my first one, as I had them before in Denmark).

After some more aimless strolling, we headed to the supermarket to get stamps so I could send some postcards.

Then we went to 3 De Wallen for a midday drinking sesh.

Today hasn’t been amazing. But still — it’s nice.
Nice to be in Amsterdam.
Nice to see Amsterdam still green at the tail end of summer (it’s my first time seeing green Amsterdam).
And it’s especially nice to be here with Fafa.

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