European Escapade – Dining & Cruising in Amsterdam!

One whole week without updating my blog, woe is me! What have I been doing? Have I been too busy scouting for the best apartments in Rome for my imaginary trip that I’ve neglected my blog here? Or have I been too engrossed with myself; trying desperately to soak up every waking moment of being a year younger before my time is up at the end of this month?

Well, none of the above actually and if you really want to know what’s been keeping me at bay from the blog world, hop over to my perfume blog. Hopefully that will explain my being MIA and the lack of posting here last week.

Forgive me? I sure hope so because today I am back with the continuation of my European Escapade. Yes people, my EE posts are coming to an end ... hopefully soon. I only have two weeks left to get all my photos and stories out before my self-imposed deadline (of a year mind you!) so let’s travel back to Amsterdam shall we?

Time for lunch!

Last I stopped, B and I were ravenous from our morning adventure and we were about to have a late lunch at a restaurant we finally chanced upon while we were ‘lost’. The restaurant was located within a quaint and pretty neighbourhood. Don’t ask me where exactly because obviously I can’t remember!

Kantjil Restaurant

Anyway Kantjil is an Asian/Indonesian restaurant. We were enticed because after more than 10 days of not having anything resembling local food back home, we were craving for a little familiarity. Even the menu had some accustomed words in it, can you spot them?

Refreshing Coke Light for me

We decided to have Mangkok, which was basically rice with three side dishes and a weekly special. It looks yummy right? And believe me, it tasted delightful too! Oh I also can’t remember how much this lunch cost us.

Mangkok

As always, we opted for al fresco dining. Being in a strange exotic city makes people watching even more enjoyable and we wanted to soak up Amsterdam's beautiful weather. What a pleasant change from the dreary cold days of London!

What to eat love?

I ♥ Amsterdam!

After lunch, it was already late evening and we headed back to Dam Square where there was still plenty of action going on including street performers to entertain tourists like us. Naturally, I snapped more pictures but before that, we did a little souvenir and perfume shopping along the way.

Awesome mural full length

Mariuca in Amsterdam and loving it!

Perfume shopping

Cruising

One of the many coffee shops in Amsterdam

What is this?

Wolf Man

Street Performer

Cool Lime Green Bike

We walked back to our hotel for a quick rest and to freshen up before heading back out again for our scheduled Lovers Cruise that night. Yes, a trip to Amsterdam would not be complete if we didn’t enjoy one of the most popular tourist attractions in this city - cruising down the canal on a cruise boat at night!

Lovers Canal Cruise

Unfortunately, my camera battery died halfway through the cruise so we used our second camera to take shots of the scenery surrounding us that memorable night. Our photos were mostly blurry due to my terrible picture-taking skills or the boat was cruising down the canal way too fast for me to take proper shots.

Cruising by night

Either way, both B and I were giddy from the romance of the starry sky and the easy breeze that perfect night in Amsterdam and we didn’t mind that our pictures didn’t turn out as well as expected.

Mariuca ♥♥ B

Our excursion took about an hour and though there were seats inside, everyone was out on deck to catch the best view, which was absolutely divine by the way. I remember looking at the gorgeous scenery and the beautiful homes we passed by during the cruise and could not help wondering how the inside must look like. I was instantly reminded of the beautiful Rome apartments friends of mine stayed in while vacationing in Italy.

Boat Interior

Beautiful homes along the canal

Cruising with other tourists

Spectacular view

Cruise boat

Amsterdam by night

Lovey-dovey after our lovers cruise

Our lovers cruise came to an end and it was indeed one of the best moments of our vacation. It was also time for a late dinner so we made our way to Wok to Walk. Earlier during the day, we had spent an hour walking around in circles just to find this place, which actually turned out to be a really short distance from our hotel!

Wok to Walk was one of our favourite eating places and throughout our stay in Amsterdam, we dined here thrice! The food was reasonably priced and tasty. Plus, I got to enjoy something spicy, which I’ve been sorely missing the entire trip.

Love the carton!

Red hot chilli!

Seafood Fried Rice for me

Chicken Fried Rice for B

B enjoying his dinner

Full and satisfied with our delicious dinner, we took a stroll around the city, back to Dam Square to take photos of the many coffee shops and interesting souvenir stores selling all sorts of quirky just-for-fun items. Did we being home anything as souvenir? What do you think?

Coffee Shops everywhere!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped by a cosy pastry shop, which offered a wide array of delightful goodies! Everything looked delicious and I can’t remember what we bought but I know it was something chocolatey for me and something fruity for B!

Truly inviting

Laden with yummy goodies, we passed by the pretty restaurant a few blocks away from our hotel, which I quickly snapped photos of and finally, after an entire day out in beautiful Amsterdam, we were back in WestCord City Centre!

Pretty Restaurant

Our hotel

And that concludes Day 2 of our Amazing Amsterdam adventure! Next up, is Day 3 so stay tuned for more great photos and stories. Until then, thanks for reading and do have a wonderful weekend!

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CAROLINE
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