Like our trip to Paris, our flight to Amsterdam was at 7:30am, but unlike our trip to Paris, we did not sleep through our alarm. We took a taxi to the airport with plenty of time to spare and stepped on the plane bound for what has now become my favorite city in Europe.
First off, let me just say, that as soon as Lizzy and I got off the plane, English was the first language we heard spoken by almost everyone around us. As we got into the city, we heard more Dutch being spoken, but almost EVERYONE SPOKE ENGLISH!! It was heaven on earth, I’ll tell ya.
Secondly, I was immediately struck by the height difference. I am 5’6”. Very average height for a woman in the United States. Lizzy, on the other hand, is 6’ tall. Not so average for an American woman. Lizzy one time told me that her family got themselves extra tall toilets for a Christmas present for themselves. Definitely not average.
What I’m getting at here is that while in Spain, I felt tall. Most guys were a few inches taller than me, but not by much. Lizzy was the tallest person in almost every room. So when we went to The Netherlands, I yelled, “LIZZY!! We are among your kind now!!” For the first time since middle school, I was once again the shortest person in every room, and also the only brunette.
Anyway… upon arrival, we caught a bus into the city center. We had directions from the stop to our hostel 5 minutes away directly next to the Vondelpark, which was Amsterdam's version of Central Park.
The hostel, named StayOkay hostel, was one of the best places we have stayed in so far. A 24 hour desk, free wifi in the lobby, free breakfast, and bike rentals, we were extremely happy. Our roommates for the first night were a few German girls who were incredibly nice as well as an older Scottish woman (who didn’t smell too good…) but was friendly enough. Lizzy and I both had some difficulty understanding what she was saying, but we hoped that was just because she was missing some teeth and not a reflection on all Scottish accents. (Otherwise, we would have some problems when we went to Scotland after our 3 months in Spain were up…)
After we locked up our stuff, we went for a walk around the city. We didn’t exactly have a big plan set for Amsterdam. Paris had all of these different monuments and historically significant buildings that we HAD to see, but Amsterdam wasn’t like that.
Directly out the front door of the hostel was an entrance to the Vondelpark.
FUN FACT #39: The Vondelpark was open to the public in 1865 and is 120 acres.
The Vondelpark is GORGEOUS! This is really my kind of park- it is very overgrown with really old willow trees and lots of bike paths and ponds. We walked around for a long time until we came out of the other side of the park to find a lovely little cafe. Starving, we ode red a couple of turkey sandwiches that literally changed our lives. This was the first sandwich I had had since arriving in Europe that wasn’t pre made and sitting in a display window for hours on end. It was on homemade brown bread with tomato mayo. If I could marry this sandwich, I would. It was that good. Lizzy and I still talk about it. A truly magical experience. Like if I sat in front of the Mirror of Erised, I would see myself eating that sandwich. It was that good. 
After lunch, Lizzy and I got lost in Amsterdam. Not the least bit stressed, we walked around aimlessly shopping enjoying the sights.
FUN FACT #40: Heineken Lager Beer was first brewed by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in 1873 in the Netherlands and is still brewed there today.
Stupidly, we didn’t realize that Heineken was made in The Netherlands until we got there. There were so many Heineken signs and restaurants everywhere!! We grabbed dinner and some drinks at one and hit the hay early. Big plans for tomorrow!
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