Family Getaway: Day One in Amsterdam
We made it into Amsterdam from Paris by the early evening and were settled into our hotel shortly after. Taking the train was the best idea ever. Not only was it comfortable, but the train station was right in the middle of everything, two minutes walking from our hotel.
After getting settled in, we found a pamphlet about an Ice Bar in Amsterdam (Xtra Cold) and decided to make that our first night’s excursion. For 14 euros each, we got our admission to the world’s first 4D Ice Bar experience. We have something similar in London and I’ve wanted to check it out so this seemed like the perfect time to experiment!
For anyone that hasn’t heard of or experienced an Ice Bar, the entire place is made of ice: the benches, the walls even the cups and steins. It’s a pretty cool (literally) experience. It’s touristy, without a doubt, and it’s something you’ll probably ever only do once, but if you’re going to do it only once then why not experience it in a new city? After our thirty minutes inside we were thoroughly frozen and headed out to explore the streets of Amsterdam on our walk home.
Since this leg of our excursion was Tiffany’s pick (no surprise there), we stopped in a Coffee Shop called the Bushdocter on the way home to let her partake in Amsterdam’s offerings. Though that’s not my vibe, it was interesting to be in that type of establishment since we have nothing like that in the US. Seeing people legally and casually place their orders at a bar as if they were ordering a glass of wine was a new experience for me! Plus, the edibles were actually kind of mind-boggling. Who knew they could bake that stuff into Nutella-flavored bars? Bizarre!
After our coffee shop experience, we headed home and enjoyed our view from the Orange Tulip before going to prepare for day number two. Check back soon for a recap of our action-packed second day in The City of Excess: A hop-on/hop-off canal ride, a visit to the Red Light District, hanging out in Rembrandtplein and copious amounts of French fries (and mayo!) ingested.
