Amsterdam Day Two | Travel Diary

After our first evening in the busy city, which you can read about travelling to Amsterdam and what we did when we got there here. We had set an alarm for 7.30 as Amsterdam is an hour ahead of the UK. So after waking up and sorting ourselves out we headed out for the days adventure.

We decided to go to the zoo, as it was only a ten minute walk from the hotel, plus the weather was sunny and fairly warm. We arrived at the zoo just before 10am and there were only two people ahead of us buying tickets. We bought a map and wandered around the zoo. I was really looking forward to seeing the elephants as they had a baby!

The zoo was really nice, there were lots of animals to see and as the morning went on it got busier and busier. We went to see the elephants first but they weren’t in their bigger enclosure yet, so we walked around the rest of the zoo seeing the jaguars, butterfly house, gorillas and many other animals before going back to the elephants! The elephants were all out and it was amazing to watch as they interacted with each other!

The resident cat JP in Charlie’s Kitchen

At this point it was lunch time, and we were starving. So we headed to the cafe, but they didn’t have a lot to offer. So we left the zoo, which had now got a queue going outside the entrance and down the street! We had wandered past a restaurant that had caught my eye when wandering round on the previous day, so we made our way towards Charlie’s Kitchen. As there are so many restaurants to choose from, luckily it wasn’t busy. We got seated straight away and ordered food. I ordered a sandwich and my friend ordered a burger, both were delicious!

After eating we had planned on doing a museum, but as we had already walked over 10 thousand steps, we felt too tired to make the most of the museum. So we took a slow walk of the city centre and Dam Square. Where I found out the hard way that some restaurants/shopping centres charge for going to the toilet. We shopped a little around Dam Square, there were so many shops it would be rude not to!

I also realised that crossing the road in Amsterdam is on a whole other level. Whilst the green man might be on, cyclists don’t care and will continue to go. Not all cyclists of course, but you definitely had to check multiple times before crossing as there are bikes, motorbikes, cars, trams and buses to look out for in all directions!

Making the most of an empty bridge!

Wandering around the city

Wandering around Dam Square

It was so nice to walk without really having anywhere to rush to, to just take in the scenery of the canals and streets. By the time it got to dinner, we’d walked another 10 thousand steps and felt exhausted, but a happy exhausted. We had dinner at Destra del Ponte, which was another Italian! After we took another slow walk thought the many canals and back to our hotel. By the end of the day we’d almost done 30 thousand steps!

I was a little worried before we left that I didn’t know a lot of Dutch, but all the signs and museums were in Dutch and English, as well as all the staff at the shops speaking English.

I loved our second day, I didn’t feel it was as busy as the day before, probably because it was now a Monday. Plus I loved seeing the elephants and wandering through the city! Overall we had a great day and the weather had been really nice. I was really looking forward to doing a bus and boat tour of the city on our third day, which I’ll be posting next week!

Thank you so much for reading! What place/city is on your bucket list?

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