As I left Canada for a quick stop in the Bay Area and then off to Europe, it was going to be my last time I had to head home for a wedding or other event and I didn’t plan on heading back home until the end of my trip in February.  It was the longest time I will have been travelling without coming home and it was a little bit exciting but also scary.  There was something about coming home every few moths which made the trip a bit easier.

I really have never explored Europe properly and was excited to see what it had to offer!  First stop was Amsterdam since I was able to find a cheapish flight from JFK to Amsterdam on Norwegian!

It was a redeye flight and I arrived a little bit tired, but was excited to get started.  The first day was more or less just a wander day, but I was incredibly fortunate to have my friend Andrei (who i had met in Hong Kong) also be in the city.  He had to do a bit of work in the early afternoon but came to hang out in the afternoon.

I wandered the streets, immediately appreciating the architecture and canals running through the city.

I eventually met up with Andrei and we wandered some more, grabbed some beer and hung out in the park enjoying the weather and then continued onto one of the breweries that was on the top of my list.

It was housed in a windmill and prided itself on Belgium style beers.

We then found a pretty cool bar in a really skinny building which overlooked one of the canals.  We sat on the patio and waved at all of the boats passing by!

It was super fun hanging out and the night did not end there.  We decided to head to a few more beer places which included one of the ones that was a classic craft beer place.  It was called Gollem De Bier and it had some great beer from the Netherlands and Belgium!

We realized that we hadn’t eaten yet and it had gotten a bit late so a lot of the places recommended we already closed, so we had to settle for the easy option.  Mc Dicks.  NUGGETS!

After a quick bite to eat, we wandered off to the red light district to walk around and experience the nightlife of Amsterdam.  We walked the various alleyways and for those who don’t know how things work there.  There are hundreds of glass windowed doors with ladies on display.  Each door connects to a small room behind them which can be used for the various services available.  We window shopped for a bit then found a bar overlooking a few of the doors, so we can watch and comment on the clientele taking advantage of the services.  There may have been a stopwatch involved.

We sat there for quiet some time and then decided to call it a night.  The next day was a new day!

I woke up and went for a run in the morning which was pretty cool since there are tons of canals and bridges and a bunch that have running and biking paths along them. I did a pretty long run and enjoyed seeing a bit off the beaten path that most people would not have experienced while walking.

But i had to get my photo op with my EBBR shirt in front of a Windmill Brewery.

I then went on a mission to find Haring which is a delicacy in the Netherlands.

I wasn’t sure exactly what i wanted to do with the rest of my day, but a few blog posts I had read shared that there was this artists area across the river which had studios and cool places to hang out as well as a few breweries on that side of the river down stream a bit.  I jumped on the free ferry and headed over to the NDSM area.

This was an abandoned shipyard and wearhouse area which has been converted to a few squater artist spaces as well as cool graffiti and art.  I just basically wandered around there for a while and even walked through a public art show that was happening in one of the gallerys.  I really did not understand the art, but it was still cool.  There was also a photo shoot for a Fila advertisement happening in there as well.

There was also a father and son playing with a bottle rocket in the parking lot and they weren’t putting any water in it.  I gave them the tip that if they put some water in the rocket, it was fly higher and they were very happy to accept my tip.

I am not a super art fan, so after walking around for a bit, I decided to head over to the first of the two breweries in the area.  The First one on the list had a similar vibe to the district and was called Oedipus.  It was a pretty cool looking brewery and it was a beautiful day, so I enjoyed just chilling on their outdoor area.

The next brewery was right around the corner and did not pop up on my initial searches but I found a card for a brewery tour company that had them included and it turns out they are just up the street.

I made my way about 5 minutes down the road to Walhalla brewing where there were a few guys chilling on their patio outside.

I sat there alone for a little bit but then started getting into the conversations of the guys chilling as they were talking about worldwide beers in which I could participate.  I then got into a conversation with the bartender and a guy sitting at the bar, who was doing a beer trip and wanted to be a brewer. (More on this later, turns out I meet him again in Antwerp at a beer cafe and then we ended up hanging out together for a few days in multiple locations but check out my Belgium posts for that)  Anyways, I ended up sticking around there for a while and had a great time chatting beer with the local guys.

As the sun started to set, I set off on a walk across the river (through the tunnel this time) and ended up just wandering around for a bit.

Eventually, I was going to meet up with a girl I had met in Scotland named Nina, who lived jsut outside of Amsterdam.  She came into town and we met up for a drink.  One of my favorite things about travelling was to meet people and then reunite with them somewhere else on the road.  Whether it be on another trip or in their home town.  I always try to reach out to people when I am in a place I know people said they lived.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes it dosen’t.  In this case I had met a ton of people from Amsterdam but was only able to meet up with the one person, which is totally fine.  I guess Andre counts too, but he just happened to be in Amsterdam and didn’t live there.

That concluded my time in Amsterdam and I really did enjoy it there.  It’s a pretty cool place with a lot to do, but I found it was a little flashy.  My next stop in the Netherlands was Delft to visit a friend who is going to school there and I really liked the vibe there better as it was way more relaxed, but still had the Dutch feel.  More on that in my next post.