{Travel Tuesday} Amsterdam

With it's pretty, canal lined streets and abundance of beautiful parks Amsterdam is a city that seamlessly merges urban life with nature.

Stroll through Vondelpark

Unlike Dublin, New York, Buenos Aires or London, Amsterdam doesn't take itself too seriously. Tall, thin and incredibly good looking, the Dutch seemingly invented the look hipsters the world over try and inevitably fail to imitate. I have never in my life been surrounded by so many beautiful people at one time before. Like a more stylish older brother of Prague, Amsterdam oozes classic cool design in everything from buildings to bikes to people.

classic Dutch style

Combined with warm and welcoming hospitality, an incredibly efficient and easy to navigate city layout, clean streets, design shops galore and incredible food, everything about Amsterdam encapsulates this infectious vibe that makes you want to pick up and move there.

even their playgrounds are seriously cool

On Friday S. Monster and I danced to our newest favorite artist - Parov Stelar - who did not fail to impress at the VRIJ Festival. A DJ and live band rolled into one, Parov Stelar put on a fantastic set that you couldn't help but jive too. By the end of the day we'd picked up a few important festival tidbits. First, if a festival goes from noon to midnight, don't show up at noon. Second always double check and see if you're allowed to leave and reenter the venue before going in. This is especially true if the venue only serves overpriced shots of beer and pizza. You live and learn though and despite a few setbacks, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

getting our dance on

The rest of the weekend was spent lazily dodging the rain by popping in and out of design and vintage shops as we explored the city. We sipped vanilla lattes in quaint cafes, played silly games and in the evenings sought out delicious food.  

all the pretty little houses

One particular epic quest took us through wind and rain to a floating Chinese palace - ironically called The Sea Palace - whose food, more than made up for our not so dry journey. 


Despite only visiting when it was cold, or, as was the case this weekend, raining, my love for this city has yet to diminish. Rather it simply continues to grow. Even though I could have stayed an entire week (or more!) our weekend trip was oh so lovely nonetheless. 


Overall, it was the kind of trip that relaxes and revitalizes you. We had no fixed agenda, and despite or maybe because of the rain we just enjoyed each moment as it came, wandering and altering plans as we saw fit.

rare glimpses of filtered rays 

{all photos taken by me}