Amsterdam in August

I swear I’ll get back to the present moment soon, but I did my first post-Covid international travel in August. It was a gorgeous week in Amsterdam to celebrate my best friend from elementary, middle, and high school’s wedding. It’s a beautiful thing to have friends that you’ve known and have known you for that long. Celebrate it wherever you can!

I’ll admit that I almost didn’t make the trip, because of all the uncertainty in the world. But I’m so glad I changed my mind due to a high sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) and some irresistable booking.com specials.

Amsterdam is a quaint city full of canals, flowers, and cute houseboats. It was actually my third time visiting (as I’ve mentioned, I’m spoiled by life). I went on a soccer trip in high school where we hit all the tourist spots. And a party trip in college for the red light district and coffee shops, during which we wandered around aimlessly until every day ended up in a hangry search for snacks. This time I simply wanted to ride bikes in parks and sit to slip my coffee nice and slow.

Arrival day was jet-lagged, and I can’t say I gave the Van Gogh Museum the full attention it deserved. But I recuperated from walking outside in the Vondelpark. I’m happy to say my body clock adjusted quickly after a good night’s sleep, and I was feeling fully refreshed for the wedding weekend.

I visited the daily street markets to try plenty of Dutch delicacies. My favorites were stroopwafels (like a firm waffle/cookie sandwich with caramel in the center) and poffertjes (puffy pancake balls covered in powdered sugar). I won’t rush back to the fried herring stand, but most everything else was delicious.

I secured my bike rental from the hotel and took it on a grand adventure across the city to the Amsterdam Forest. I’d heard about a little family goat farm where you can touch and feed the animals. I also heard about their yummy apple pie, and that’s my kind of a day.

There was an art and sculpture festival happening on the way back, so I passed through one of the “hip” parts of the city.

EVERYONE rides bikes here. Did you know? And I mean everyone…

The “rehearsal night” was a dinner cruise down a canal with some tasty Indonesian food.

And the wedding was perfectly intimate in a majestic little garden. Audrey and Nelson make a very fun and photogenic couple.

The weather report had predicted rain all week, but it hardly rained at all. The wedding day was ideal and I loved my first steps out of the country in a while.