Amsterdam - Arrival

I have a very good friend who I have known for a good few years and every so often I like to see her. You see my friend is Dutch and thus what better reason is there to book a little jaunt to Amsterdam!

Leigh and I booked our flights for a few days in the half term break (the pain of working at a school!) just for 3 nights, but we know from experience that with a city break that's all you really need.

We hopped on a plane from Gatwick early afternoon...

...and 50 minutes later we were at Amsterdam airport where we were met with lots of hugs and kisses by my friend. I haven't seen in her in over 2 years so you can imagine the shrieks of excitement.

After jumping on the very large double decker train we pulled into the gorgeous main station building in the city center to commence our 3 days of exploring.

We stayed at the St Christopher Inn on Warmoesstraat, literally in the middle of the red light district. We figured what the hell, and we wanted to be in the center of town as it made a good base. The hostel in itself was very nice, we opted for a private room and we had our own bathroom, a very comfy bed, and fresh linen and towels daily. The decor was a little unusual - our room was spray painted silver with a Crystal Maze type theme but as we were only there to sleep it wasn't really an issue and made for some laughs when we first walked in.

Dropping our stuff off we headed out to find somewhere for dinner. My friend had to leave us at this point but not before she had handed over some instructions on where we should eat. I have to say when I saw the recommendation I had my doubts but it turns out that you really shouldn't judge a book my it's cover or a restaurant by it's name. Cannibale Royal. Does that fill you with joy? It should. If you are ever in Amsterdam go here, you can find it tucked down a little street called Handboogstraat. The burger was one of the  best I've ever eaten. As for the service, they weren't quick to seat us and so when we decided to seat ourselves we got a bit told off. But the food more than made up for it. I wish I had been able to take a better picture of my meal but lighting was nightmare, the dark, macabre atmosphere not making for well lit pictures!

Strolling back to our hostel we walked through some very pretty streets before stopping in the bar attached to our hostel for a couple of drinks and proceeded to eavesdrop on all the other conversations around us. After flirting with the idea of heading out to a nightclub we realised that we were far too old and far too tired to do anything of the sort and so we went to bed to build our strength for the following day's exploring!

C x