Arriving in Amsterdam

With our first week in London down, we decided to spend a weekend in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  It is such an easy flight from London, only about 45 minutes, so why not visit?  T was able to get off of work relatively early and we caught the 6:45 flight out of London and arrived in Amsterdam at 8:45 (with the time change). I had been to Amsterdam before, and knew that it wouldn't matter if we got in late.  Amsterdam is a pretty safe city, and there is a lot to do at night! Although we had a late start, we seemed to do and see a lot for our first night there! We immediately took the train into the city from the airport.  It is only about a 15 minute train ride.  We debated on trying to figure out the tram system, but we decided against it, and just took a taxi to our hotel, only about 10 minutes away from the train station. We stayed at the Amsterdam Marriott Hotel.  It was in the PERFECT location and we were able to walk everywhere! We were just a few steps away from the lively and popular square that had a ton of bars, restaurants, and a lot of shopping.

Excited to have a real king bed and not a pull out couch for the weekend!

After settling into our very nice room, we began bundling up to brave the cold weather.  We were very surprised that it was a tiny bit colder than London, but we were sure to pack extra layers!   (the little that we had)  We began a stroll down the street to Leidseplein Square, the famous square near our hotel.  There was a lot going on, and there were a ton of people! You could definitely tell that this is where A LOT of students who are studying abroad go on the weekends.  

Since we had not really had dinner, we got a quick bite to eat.  It was a great little place called 'Wok and Walk.' I have to admit, that having been to Amsterdam before and seeing this place, I kind of always wanted to eat there.  It looked so good and it was SO busy! Since most of the pubs and bars weren't serving food anymore, it worked out in my favor.  T and I decided to split a little box straight from the Wok.

Rice noodles, chicken broccoli, in a sweet and sour sauce

Yup... we definitely demolished that!

A great little spot for late night eating!

We then headed back to Leidseplein Square to have a few beers and people watch!  We watched many many interesting people walk by, enjoyed the atmosphere, and enjoyed a few beers!

We then decided to go walk around the city.  We even ventured to the famous 'Red Light District.' Around 2:30am, we finally headed back to our hotel room, plopped into our comfortable bed, and got some much needed rest to prepare for the following day in Amsterdam!