Amsterdam - Part 4

Woke up on our last morning in Amsterdam to beautiful blue sky! We had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport so we went on a little wander, got some breakfast and enjoyed the sunshine. I thought Amsterdam was beautiful when it was raining but against the blue sky back drop it was even more 'woah'... I think the photos speak for themselves so here you go:

It wouldn't be a trip anywhere without a few obligatory selfies and I had to take advantage of the cool snapchat stickers at the airport!

So, until next time Amsterdam, I definitely hope we meet again, but maybe in the summer so that I can ride around on bikes and sit outside drinking until the sun sets...

Amsterdam - Part 3

We did some more cool, exciting things in Amsterdam. Including, of course, visiting the 'IAMSTERDAM' hollywood-style sign, located next to the Rijksmuseum.

I really wanted to go to the Rijksmuseum, the huge art gallery of Dutch art but it was quite expensive and as students on a budget we decided against it and opted instead for the Diamond Museum. I love diamonds, what girl doesn't, but it was pretty cool to learn about how they are extracted, the different types etc.

Did you know that only 10% of the world's diamond are used for jewellery? The rest are used for industrial purposes as diamond is so strong. 

We went to the Heineken experience after the Diamond Museum. This was Tom's choice of activity as I picked the Diamonds but it was actually really good fun! It was very interactive and you got free beer (which is great, if you like beer). Apparently women don't like beer because we sip it, tasting only the bitter foam and not the golden goodness of the actual beer which I didn't know but I have since tried taking larger glugs of beer and i'm still not sure that I like it... 

Another perk of the Heineken Experience is the canal ride at the end, included as part of your ticket, which takes you on a half hour canal tour round to their factory store. We didn't know this was going to be included but I would recommend it for this reason. With the 2 hour tour, free cold beer, and then the canal ride it is definitely worth the 16 euros the ticket cost! 

Amsterdam - Part 2

When in Amsterdam one has to visit the Red Light District. Architecturally its as beautiful as the rest of Amsterdam but I was a little shocked to see the underwear clad women stood in windows in the middle of the day! I guess they must have good heating...

As it was December everything was lit up and christmassy once it got dark which was nice, especially given my un-christmassy christmas that was coming up (as you'll see soon in the blog). 

I wish that I had a better camera so that I could get a kind of focus on certain things and then a blur on the background (definitely not the technical terms, I know). But anyway you can still appreciate the beauty of the city in the photos I took. 

AMSTERDAM - PART 1

So in November I turned 21 (*gasp*) and I now feel suitably old.  I actually found my first grey hair last week, ran downstairs hoping it was blonde, only for it to be confirmed as grey by a housemate and then not knowing how to handle the situation, burst in to tears.

Anyway... so I turned 21 and my lovely boyfriend took me to Amsterdam in December as my birthday present!

I had never been to Amsterdam before so it was pretty exciting and to be honest I didn't know that much about the city before going except that it is mostly famous for it's red light district, weed and canals.

I can tell you there is a lot more to Amsterdam that just that so i'm going to post a few of my highlights and really interesting things that we did and that I would recommend.

Anne Franks House

I didn't know a great deal about Anne Frank's story before and it was incredible so see the actual attic that she spent all those years hiding in! I didn't realise that her father survived the concentration camps either and the whole museum is so tastefully and informatively done. I think I am going to have to read her diary one day because she seemed like such an insightful and intelligent person for such a young girl and it's just awful to think what she had to miss out on whilst in hiding and then endure once captured.

As you can probably tell from these photos we didn't have great weather. In fact it was horrible, cold and raining but it allows you to appreciate the beauty of the architecture, and almost my down jacket and fur trimmed hood! 

I love how some of the buildings are just leaning slightly like "hey i'm just gonna take a break and lean on you, i'm tired of standing upright". I also love the huge window panes and quirky little roofs. I would love to live in Amsterdam with a bedroom overlooking a canal through those huge windows. 

Happy New Year! Hello 2015!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Firstly, I'm sorry I've been so bad at blogging recently, I just seem to get so occupied doing exciting things and then I forget to share them with you. So my resolution (from now) is to make more of an effort to keep my blog more up to date!

The next few posts will feature some highlights from last year which was a great year for me. I travelled to some cool places, experienced new things and hopefully this year will be even better!

I spent my new year's eve in London with my best friends, as one studies and lives in London so we could stay at his. Tom got a disposable camera which is always lots of fun and here are a few of my favourite pictures from the night. I love the vintage feel of the developed photos, they're so 'of the moment' and I couldn't have spent a happier new year's eve getting drunk on champagne and partying with the people that I love the most.

Cheers to a great new year!