Luckiest Ladies in Amsterdam….

Mrs. Fancy is back on the road with Dora. So funny, we can’t be more opposite, yet travel together perfectly. This has been the longest first day, Ill do my best to recap before I close my eyes for the night. We decided to fly through SLC, as to take advantage of Mrs. Fancy Delta Sky miles lounge access. A perfect way to start this magical adventure. We had a few Mimosa’s, ate from the buffet, and started going through our list of conversation topics for the week together. After 3 hours of settling into travel/escape- lala land mode we made our way to the gate. We were lucky to have the entire row of 4 seats all to ourselves. First lucky moment of the day. 🍀

After being served a meal, watching a show and swallowing a xanax, it was bedtime. I seriosly slept for a good part of the flight, woke up an hour before touchdown to a light breakfast and coffee.

 We arrived into what might be a new fav European city for me. At first glance, it seems like a cross between Galway, Ireland and Venice. Stay tuned…..we have 6 days of exploration. I downloaded Bolt, the cheaper Uber in Amsterdam and we were picked up by a very friendly Moroccan guy who educated us about the differences of a coffee shop and a cafe. Fyi- one is for coffee and the other is for all types of smoking. Lol. He was thrilled to be our introduction and greeter into this beautiful city. We arrived at our hotel located in the Museum district, the quiet more luxurious residential neighborhood. As I type we have finally checked into our room and unpacked. It’s comical, as Mrs. Fancy describes it as a fancy YMCA or initially a hostel. I would say it is a lovely medium rated 3-3.5 star hotel. Clearly not fancy enough for my travel partner, but she is snug as a bug now in a very comfortable bed, and well adjusted. She truly cracks me up. I had a small laugh attack as i shared the NOLA hotel similarities, with no drawers. We are both excited to experience the hotel breakfast spread tomorrow. Fingers crossed it delivers to her liking, and mine too. 😊

With our 10:30 am arrival the room wasn’t ready. We ventured out dirty girls and all. Our hotel is on the canal with beautiful water views. We made our way over a bridge to the most magical outdoor food market. So many delicious smells, flavors, scenery, and beautiful people. My eyes were taking it all in, as my body was overcome with the emotions of peace, joy, and true adventurous feelings. I could live permanently on the road, with frequent visits home. The true joy of travel speaks to my heart. We tasted the most decadent mini dutch baby pancakes, covered in powdered sugar, served on a pad of butter. Yummy!

If you’re an avid DTG reader, you know we love a good 5 star hotel. We walked to the Waldorf Astoria hotel, the most expensive hotel in the city we have learned. Actually Taylor Swift & Barack Obama have both stayed in the Presidential suite, which runs $25k. A bit pricy, but wow….this place was gorgeous. We opted to share a french press coffee, a basket of brown sourdough bread, and they offered complimentary cookies. Rebecca was our waitress and the loveliest server. Dutch people are kind and gracious. This place was pure luxury and a wonderful place to rest a bit.

We had our first tour set at 2:30 pm. We walked to the City Center, what a walkable city this is, and might I share the weather is perfection. The sun is shining and it’s a brisk 59 degrees. We love traveling off season with no crowds. We met up with our new found friends: 15 of them, and the infamous Roman. I had read so much about this guy on TA. What a tour…..we ate at 8 different spots…..all so delicious while learning so much history about Amsterdam. Roman is from Paris, but moved here 5 years ago and had the most positive friendly spirit, happy to share his knowledge with us.

Ive been a mouse my entire life, meaning cheese lover. This place might be dangerous. We started in a cheese museum, tasted many flavors of gouda and different types too, accompanied by different flavors of mustards. It was all soooooo good! The next spot was a grilled cheese shop. I did try the herring dish tasting too, more decadent than expected, as long as a bite with a pickle, it was good. 

There was a loud, huge, pro-Palestinian protest happening that it disrupted the tour a bit. Police were everywhere, but we powered through, all ok. Next up was the oldest bakery for the infamous hot, Stroopwafel cookie. This was good, and much better fresh than in a package, but the mini pancake is the winner for me. We tasted Dutch Fries with the best dipping sauce, along with some bizarre friend stewlike ball. Lots of flavors sampled. Roman our guide was filled with fun facts. We learned the pop. here is 800k, and there are more bikes than people. Bikes are everywhere, and apparently a hot commodity. We’ve been told this is the safest city, yet bikes do get stolen. 1 million bikes exist in the city of Amsterdam. We ended the 3 hour food walking tour with the yummiest Dutch Apple pie slice with homemade whip cream. Delish! It was like an apple cake pie. The crust was unreal. 

When the tour ended, it was 6pm, we had started the day at 10:30am, still in flying clothes and not clean, plus not much sleep. We are serious energizer bunny’s. It’s where are similarities shine that make us great travel partners. We had learned from Roman about the best boat tour company around the canal system. With the sun shining, knowing rain is expected in the next few days, we opted to jump on a one hr boat tour with cocktails. It was sooooo wonderful, extremely relaxing and beautiful. So cool to truly have the lay of the land and see this city not only on foot, but now from the water too. More facts learned from these 2 twenty something dudes. A bit different from Roman, I guess we will need to take these facts with a grain of salt. Lol Everyone likes to quote statistics about the bikes, and how many end up in the canals. Ha We loved the ride, Tracy napped a bit. We ended up disembarking nearby the Anne Frank House. 

If you’ve been to Amsterdam, you know this is the most visited attraction. And its so small, that getting tickets is unheard of, unless you’re an extreme planner, as they go on sale 6 weeks prior to the day you want to visit. And at 3 am, US time…. Well, even me, couldn’t get the tickets booked, yet my faith in the universe, and trusting the process came through. A reason, why this post is titled the Lucky Girls! Mrs. Fancy & I walked up at 7:15 pm to inquire how we can get in any day over the next 5 days we’re here. The gal, basically told us it was impossible. Well, I shared how important this was to me, that I had no plans to return to Amsterdam again, we told her we just arrived today- loved her beautiful city, and basically while being extremely grateful, begged her for an option. Elana came through. She instructed us to return at 8pm, if the house wasn’t too crowded, she would let us in during the last hour. She told us not to post about it. We thanked her immensely and got back at 7:55pm. At 8:15, we were escorted inside to purchase our last min tickets by one of her friends who shared she must really like us. We were real charmers, lol.

Wow, what a powerful place to walk through and listen to the narrative. I have known the history of Anne Frank, but similar to walking through grounds of Auschwitz in Poland, it “feels” different on the actual grounds in the Annex of this home. We were beyond lucy to have this opportunity. 

Well, the longest day has come to an end, as I type in the dark Mrs. Fancy is asleep. We both are extremely satisfied by the firmness of the bed, i know i will sleep like a baby in my twin size bed. So happy to be here, and beyond grateful for the richness of my life enveloped by travel. 

Until tomorrow…..

Love Laurie Sue….AKA Dora 💕💫