Amsterdam - on our way!

For our first mini-vacation from Geneva, we decided to take a trip to Amsterdam. R needed a few days off from nannying for a personal trip so we decided to take advantage of this. We considered a few driving destinations but ended up choosing Amsterdam for a number of reasons.

On Thursday morning, S and I did some final errands while J worked. We then headed out to the airport on the bus. The ride was easy and the bus wasn't too crowded because it was mid-day. We had lunch at the airport and were on our way. During the short wait for the bag, we purchased our train tickets and were quickly on our way. The train ride was quite easy. That said, I have a new appreciation for the cleanliness of GVA public transport.

We had just a short walk to the hotel and then checked in. Our hotel is very interesting - the building is over 100 years old and has been recently renovated into a hotel. S had her own toddler bed, which made her quite happy. We had a quick snack and then headed to the 100 highlights canal tour. This was the perfect activity for our first day as it allowed us to get aquainted with the city. Once done, we headed to a pizza restaurant the concierge recommended for dinner and then stopped at a grocery store for milk, fruit, and cereal for the room.

Some observations from day one:
- WOW, there are a lot of bikes
- coffeeshops are more prevalent than I expected
- I am so glad we came to Amsterdam - this city is different than any other I have been too- the architecture details are great, the canals are beautiful but different than Venice, and there is a ton to explore