Amsterdam

After I got back from my Trip Around the World, I spend the summer at home in Upstate New York, and on Nantucket. I hung out with family, caught up on life, and ran. And just like that. It was over. And I was off on my next trip. This time to Europe.

My first stop was Amsterdam. My friend Lindy and I made plans to visit the city before heading to Berlin to run the marathon. After only a couple of hours of sleep after my sister's wedding the night before, and one last run over the Brooklyn Bridge, I met up with Lindy to head to JFK. Of course our Uber wasn't as quick as we'd like. I'm used to public transport, and tried to not get anxious with the amount of traffic we were encountering. Fortunately once we arrived at JFK, checking our bags and going through security was seamless and didn't take much time. A rare occurrence at JFK for sure.

Last day in the USA for a couple of months.

Once we boarded, my plan was to watch one movie (Allegiant) and sleep as much as possible. Which wasn't much. Leaving at 5:30pm from NYC doesn't bode well for sleeping a lot on the plane. I got about 1.5 hours according to my FitBit. It was something I guess. We arrived in Dublin, had a bit of a layover, and I took another nap on the flight to Amsterdam.

Dublin airport shenanigans.

I visited Amsterdam 5 years ago, and it was nice to see it again. It was Lindy's first time, and we got to visit with my friend Raz, who I met last year in Thailand. He was a great host and showed us around the city when he wasn't in class. Our first day was a little low-key as we were crazy jet-lagged. We grabbed food, walked around the beautiful canals, and drank some beers on a boat. A great first day in Europe.          

Our sunglasses hiding our tired eyes.

                                                                                                     

Visiting Raz!

Canals galore.

And then it was time to sleep. And sleep we did. Over 13.5 hours. I haven't slept that much in a very long time. If at all. We woke up refreshed, and it was like were new people. The first thing we did was go for a run in Vondelparc. It was nice to see the park, even if it wasn't for very long. I was reminiscing when I ran through it at the end of the Amsterdam Marathon 5 years prior. 

Post-run pancakes. 

We spent the next couple of days exploring the city. We looked for secret courtyards "hofjes", went to the Anne Frank House, walked along more canals, and went to a museum. Lindy went off to the Van Gogh Museum (I had already gone), and I went to the Moco Museum to check out Banksy and Warhol.

Bicycle scene.

Warhol and Banksy.

And of course we got our obligatory 'I am amsterdam' photo.

Proof we were in Amsterdam.

Another fantastic visit to a lovely city. I can't wait to return.