My (Pretend) Birthday in Amsterdam

Today was one of the very best days!

Tomorrow is my birthday and since we will be traveling home all day tomorrow, we decided to celebrate today. It ended up being so special!

The first thing we did was stop by a bakery for breakfast and then go on a morning canal cruise. It wasn’t that early, it was at 10am but it was still early enough that we were practically the only ones on the canals. We had booked the “experience” on Airbnb and there were just a few of us with our awesome Captain Theo. He was an awesome guide and gave us a lot of history and information. I loved getting a different view of Amsterdam than usual! It was so beautiful and we traveled quite a bit on the boat. He even took us past the zoo and we saw elephants and giraffes!

Afterwards we were brave and tried herring. We aren’t normally picky or nervous about trying new food, and usually we end up liking the weird things we try. Well herring stood no chance. It was nasty! It seriously tastes and feels like they just grabbed a little fish out of the canal and slapped it on a roll. I am ashamed to admit that I couldn’t get past a few bites. Bailey got through most of his but had to throw away the last few bites and then felt queasy. I don’t think I’d recommend it but Bailey thinks that it should be part of the Amsterdam experience. 

We then went to the Bloemenmarkt which is always cute and super busy. We were in search of fresh cut tulips and literally only 2 stalls had them. AT THE BLOEMENMARKT. I'm pretty sure that word translates directly to "flower market"! What?! So we didn’t have many options but Bailey picked these sweet tulips out for me to go with my main gift.

If you know Bailey and I you might know that we are very different in the ways that we show love. Bailey is very much a things person, and I’m much more of a quality time/experience person. I tried to convince him that the whole trip should count as my birthday present but he wouldn’t have any of it. What we decided on was a good compromise. A photoshoot!

We’ve never had a photoshoot while traveling and I’m always a little bit sad that we never are able to get good pictures of the both of us. Bailey is awesome and gets lots of pictures of me, but unless we ask a stranger to take a (usually blurry) photo of us, we  usually only have a few train selfies to show that we were together. So I was super excited about this shoot, I think that the photos will be the best souvenirs!

We met up with our photographer who was the cutest and sweetest Hungarian girl. It seemed like she really knew what she was doing, and I can’t wait to see the photos! I had found her and booked her through Airbnb. She was really fun to spend the hour with and we got along super well. She showed us some cool shops she likes, and took us to the most beautiful, quiet places. I’ll eventually post those pictures when we get them back, so stay tuned!

After our shoot I thought about the fact that I can’t take my flowers home with me tomorrow so I thought I’d leave them on sweet Anne Frank’s memorial. We didn’t go to her house this year because we just went last year, but it was nice to remember her for a minute and pay some respects.

Herring was not necessarily a filling lunch so we went to a pancake restaurant to try poffertjes. They were so delicious! I’m not usually a pancake sort of girl but I’d totally eat these again. I’m glad we had the chance to try them, they’re a traditional dish but for some reason we didn’t see them last year.

Also last year we didn’t realize we could go into the Royal Palace. I am so glad that I found out we could, because we did the audio tour today and wow!!! Gorgeous! I have to say, it was definitely more my style than all of the magnificent English palaces. I loved the bright light from the unobstructed windows (stained glass is awesome but it blocks so much light!) and the white interior. I’m also a fan of a good pagan theme. My very favorite was this Atlas sculpture. Absolutely breathtaking!! The tour gave us some good information about the architecture and art of the place, and a bit about its political relevance. I really don’t know as much as I should about the politics of The Netherlands, but it was nice to get a taste of it.

Then came the time that Bailey has been waiting for all week. Primark shopping time! Primark, my friends, is the best of all stores and it is a true shame that we don’t have one in Utah. It is basically a cheap H&M. Like, €4 T-shirt kind of cheap! So we went to town and treated it as a birthday shopping spree for the two of us, since Bailey’s birthday was not too long ago. Of course we couldn’t go too crazy - whatever we bought we knew we’d have to lug home on our backs tomorrow!

I was glad that Bailey bought some sweats because the walk home was a little chilly. I looked like a crazy lady with my dress tucked into his sweats but it didn’t stop us from sitting down for some Halal food on our way home! Bailey was so happy to find some kapsalon and I enjoyed my doner wrap so much. The perfect birthday dinner!

We walked home and enjoyed the evening light. The day was a truly wonderful ending to a magical trip. We have so enjoyed our time in Europe and aren’t quite ready to leave! We crammed so much into the past 8 days and saw some amazing things and ate some seriously delicious food. I can’t wait until we can come back!