690. Amsterdam Part 2 | New Year's Eve & Rijksmuseum

I can't believe it has already been a month since NYE! It feels like so long ago. We celebrated the new year in Amsterdam. We started pretty last minute to make plans for that night (like the day before) so unfortunately didn't manage to find any good restaurants that were still available.

We ended up just going out and going into the first restaurant we saw with tables available. It was an Argentinian steakhouse (which there are a ton of in Amsterdam) and it was the worst and most overpriced meal from the trip. I had a salmon and it was extremely undercooked. I sent it back, then they brought it back out and it was still undercooked. So they took it again, brought it back out etc..by that time it was almost midnight so we had to rush.

We made it to Dam Square with literally ~3 minutes to spare.



There were fireworks all around and they went on for hours! People there all celebrate out on the streets, drinking and lighting their own fireworks. After walking around for a bit we went for a drink at Freddy's Bar inside L'Europe Hotel.





On New Year's Day, we went to Rijksmuseum.











When we were in Spain I discovered this book, Factfulness, and really wanted to get it. We visited several bookstores in Spain but nowhere had an English version. I finally managed to find it in Amsterdam! & read it during the flight back. Also I got this orange bag from Bimba y Lola which is a super popular brand in Spain.

Probably the only time we managed to have traditional Dutch cuisine. I really loved it. They are "stamppots" which is basically just spinach (or other vegetables) and mashed potatoes with a sausage.



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689. Amsterdam Part 1

We were in Amsterdam for 5 nights. We were to celebrate New Year's Eve here. While the city is very beautiful, there isn't too much to do there. So it was a very relaxing several days and I guess that was a good thing since we were both pretty sick during those days. I've been to Amsterdam once before when I was 17 but I don't remember much at all, so it was nice to rediscover the city again.

On our first day, we visited the Anne Frank House which I've always wanted to go. It's a very popular attraction so we booked our tickets about a month in advance. I didn't know this before but all the rooms in there are empty and unfurnished. They only included a photograph of a recreation of the room in each. I felt that took away from the full experience but it was the wish of Otto Frank (the father) to leave the rooms unfurnished. We were not allowed to take photos inside so all I have from that visit is this pic of our apple pie lol. It was really good actually:








I really love the style of the buildings here. They have a lot of character, especially the "crooked" ones. All of the ones I saw the inside of were so spacious and nicely furnished.










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688. Dinner at La Cabra & Last Day in Madrid

On our last evening in Madrid, we had dinner at La Cabra, a Michelin-starred restaurant by chef Javier Aranda. Unfortunately I was pretty sick those days and happened to lose my sense of smell/sense of taste that night. Needless to say, I didn't taste anything at all :( Unluckily this was the only meal during the entire trip I couldn't taste lol. My boyfriend had to describe all the tastes to me along the way. He said everything was really delicious. I still thoroughly enjoyed the experience though, and everything was so beautifully and uniquely presented. Each course came with a different set of utensils that perfectly matched with how to eat it.

My favourite presentation was the eggs dish. I thought the square stands they were on were just pieces of paper to prop them up. But they were edible. I think they were made of extremely thin slices of fried potatoes.





The following day, with a few hours to spare before going to the airport, we just walked around the city park and streets:









& I got a new Kenzo sweater!


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687. Day Trip to Toledo

On our second day in Madrid, we took a day trip to Toledo which is a historic fortified city/UNESCO heritage site about an hour away. First we had breakfast at a famous chocolate restaurant (Chocolateria Valor) which was conveniently located beside our hotel. Afterwards we headed to Toledo. We spent a few hours exploring the streets then walked up to the viewpoint that overlooked the entire city. It was a pretty exhausting walk but the view was well worth it.

PS - we actually arrived back in Toronto yesterday so I'm updating this now from home!












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