Here’s the thing about day 1 of Amsterdam. A lot of it was spent sleeping, on a plane, or in the airport.

We got up at 2:00am to drive to the airport, after about an hour of sleep. Happily, I slept on the flight. Chris wasn’t so lucky. We ate lunch at the airport because check-in wasn’t until 2:00pm, and we made our way to the hotel. After my Atlanta debacle, I was a little gun shy about picking a place to stay, but it turned out well. They let us check in a half-hour early, upgraded our room, and gave us a voucher for free drinks since we are celebrating our 2-year anniversary, which was truly lovely of them. Even if they did wake us up to give us that…and wished a happy anniversary to me and my husband. 😶

After naps and showers, we looked around Amsterdam a bit, and it was a little terrifying. Bike culture is a big deal here, and unlike in the US, it seems they always have the right of way, regardless of lights, crosswalks, pedestrians, etc. We are both cyclists and fully support bike lanes, cyclists, and everything that goes along with that, but here it’s intimidating and not what we are used to. And someone yelled at us because we crossed in a crosswalk and he came barreling around a corner and got mad at us. I mean, sure, right of way. But there’s no need to be a dick about it.

We had a mediocre doner kebab near the train station and a spectacular holiday drink at a Starbucks that was built in an old bank. We collect the city mugs and were able to add to our collection. There’s just one more that exists somewhere that’s on the list. Fingers crossed!

The canals are lovely, especially at night. One of my favorite views.