Jean and Barbara do Amsterdam - the journey

[jeanwales]

Jean and Barbara go to Amsterdam.





Well, Barbara and I have been doing the Christmas markets for a few years but we decided we wanted a bit of warmth so we sneaked in a few days in May and we plumped for Amsterdam as we both wanted to see the tulips.
Flights were booked ages ago and we got a good deal on a cheap hotel in the centre but the more we read the reviews on trip advisor about the real steep stairs and no lift, we decided at the last minute to change our minds and I searched around and found the Singel Hotel. Our main considerations were a smoking room for Barbara and wifi for us both and we then added on an elevator!

Be warned there are loads... and I mean loads of photos in this report!

We left Anglesey on the Saturday and made our way up to the Travelodge at Manchester via Birchwood shopping centre. After we booked in we headed over to the Romper for a meal and we met up with Jenny (Fudgesky) and her family.
We helped to celebrate a big birthday with Jennys Mum and had a great time chatting away and eating good food.

We left them and back to the hotel and tried to sleep, neither of us getting much as there was a group of youngsters in and they decided to run up and down the corridors for half the night and early morning! We got up and went across to the Premier Inn for breakfast as we are not keen on the Travelodge breakfast. It was yummy and filled us up nicely. I drove over to the shuttle park and we got a bus to terminal 2 where we had a little look round the shops and I sent Barbara down the stairs for a smoke. We got on our plane which was a KLM 737. We had a short good flight and landed at Schipol which was massive! We found our luggage then made our way to the train station and got a train to the centre. We had a good laugh on train with lovely man from Scotland and an Austrian gentleman, they couldn't believe the size of my luggage for just 4 days. They thought that would last them for four months instead of four days!
We walked out of the station and the first thing that hit us was all the bikes that were parked in a multi storey parking space outside the station





then as we walked along they were whizzing past us all the time. We had a little walk to the Singel hotel which was beside the canal.


The weather was beautiful so we got our rooms and dropped off our luggage. The rooms were small but that is traditional to Amsterdam. But the bed looked comfy and everything was clean. Barbara was tucked away in a roof building as she was on the smoking floor. We were so pleased we got a lift there though. There was also a nice view from the room.





It was really hot and sunny so we walked down the Damrack which was the main street of Amsterdam. We found C & A which is one of our favourite stores but we were both tired so didnt really appreciate it. We stopped off at a small cafe and had half chicken and chips which was tasty. We sat out in the sun to eat and enjoyed watching the people and the bikes!

We tried to find a supermarket to get water for our room but couldn't see one but we did see a gorgeous cake shop so it would have been bad manners to pass it so in we went and we really enjoyed it.


I think it cost more than our chicken meal but it was lovely. We were then drooping so we decided to have an early night and went to our rooms and we skyped the men then crashed out into a comfy bed and I managed to sleep till just after 6am.

[welshwiz]

Love your trippies Jean they give me so many ideas but my 'to do' list is getting really long!

Shame about the noisy people in the hotel!

Sounded like a decent journey but good to know that Schipol is easy enough to navigate and then getting train to city centre seemed a breeze too plus good company enroute too.

Bikes galore! I found driving difficult with car lanes, bike lanes, trams (not Amsterdan ...near Leiden) but it must be great to bike everywhere on the flat and have provision to park your bike even if it is in a multi storey!

Best bit of the day looked like your mouthwatering cakes!

[jeanwales]

Yes, the bikes were plentiful and what tickled us was that they were all old old bikes - none of your modern racing bikes.
some of them looked like they wouldnt be able to ride them at all!

[liverbird]

Yeah, another Jean and Barbara trippie! The hotel looks fab with the added benefit of the view, don't worry about the amount of photo's - the more the merrier I say Lovin the strawberry cake, yum yum .

[Guest]

Ooh hurry up with the rest - as I am off to Amsterdam on Friday just for the day to meet my dutch friend!

[Melvin Pearce]

Those cakes look lovely. Have a brilliant time Jen and Barbara, are you going to visit the Ann Frank House, it is very moving.

Have a brilliant time.

Also you Jane, enjoy your day in Amsterdam.

Melvin, Lesley, Simon and Carole

[Wills]

Love your trippies Jean. Looking forward to reading more about Amsterdam as we have been looking at trying to book a few days away there perhaps later in the summer.

[jeanwales]

Originally Posted by JaneSi

Ooh hurry up with the rest - as I am off to Amsterdam on Friday just for the day to meet my dutch friend!

See more...

First full day just gone up!

[Guest]

That cake was delicious

[DIBBadmin]

This thread has been automatically closed as it has not been posted on in 365 days.