Having had an incredible time in Belgium, we had high expectations for Amsterdam. We arrived on Friday afternoon and kicked off our visit by hanging out with some friends – grabbing a bite to eat while catching up with each other’s travels before relaxing in a park next to the canals. It was nice to see some familiar faces again, and in the evening we said goodbye and headed to our hostel – Lucky Lake.

A few miles outside of the city, our hostel was the perfect setup. Unlike a traditional hostel, the rooms were all camper van trailers, and the common spaces were made out of hollowed out busses. Everyone there was really friendly and it resulted in a very relaxed environment right next to the lake. We soon felt at home and spent a lot of our evenings by the lake, reading under trees, and sharing food and wine with new friends.

The second day started with Ryan getting his hair cut. His plans to get his hair cut had already been foiled twice. Once in Philly because the salon in the airport that advertised haircuts online truly only gave blowouts (not a good look for Ryan). And secondly in Paris when Ryan lost his wallet en route to the haircut he had scheduled. We joked that he had bad luck when it came to haircuts and it would never happen… but it did! He is very happy especially in the heat.

After the haircut we went to the famous “IAmsterdam” sign by the Rijksmuseum and sat in the park for a while, it was such a beautiful day! Then we went to Wagamama (one of Becca’s favorite restaurants from her time living in London). We shared an amazing bowl of pork ramen and some pulled pork buns. By this time it was getting close to the France – Argentina game so we went on the hunt for a bar that we could watch it at. We wandered for a bit before settling on a small bar playing the game on a projector. It was a great game, eventually ending 4-3 in favor of France, and we made our way home for the night.

Not being ones to go too long without beer, the next day we went to the Heineken Experience and learned an awful lot about the history and success of the brewing company. While the tour started off normally enough – with explanations about the creation of the company, the brewing process and major events in the company’s history, it quickly changed into laser light shows and even a ride. We were bottled as beer, rode karaoke bikes, and used beer-themed photo booths all before arriving at the final destination of the tour – a bar. Enjoying our ‘free’ beers, we strategized about how we wanted to spend our last full day in the city.

We had lunch at a place called “Foodhallen” which had 20+ food vendors to choose from. Ryan settled on a pulled pork sandwich (a theme) and Becca got some dumplings from another stand. After lunch we wanted to go to the Rijksmuseum for a few hours only to realize that it was closing early because it was Sunday, so we wouldn’t have time to enjoy it properly. Next time!

We were disappointed, but decided that pie was an okay substitute ;). After an enormous slice of apple pie from Winkel 43 we headed back to the hostel, stopping at a mini mart to pick up dinner. They have a surprisingly excellent (and fresh!) selection!

The final morning we only had time for breakfast before heading to the train to Frankfurt. The hostel had a really great self serve breakfast area in an old school bus, and that morning there was pancake batter! It was the perfect food to keep us going through a long day of travel (our longest since the flight from the states).

We travelled by train to Frankfurt (about 4 hours) and then took another train to Ober Ramstadt (another 45 mins or so) where we are right now!

We’re getting to this blog post a bit late as we’ve been in Ober Ramstadt with some of Ryan’s family friends for a few days now, so stay tuned for a new blog post on our experiences here soon!