When in amsterdam

So for anyone who doesn't follow me on instagram and has been wondering about my radio silence over the past few days, it's because I've been spending my weekend living it up in Amsterdam! Me and Lauren planned a trip from Saturday to Tuesday for her belated birthday celebrations and including the flights, hotel and spending money, it cost us about £300 each which was so worth it! I suggest you get yourself comfy and maybe get a few snacks because despite my best efforts to cut them down, there's still about 50 photos that I just HAD to include and so this is possibly the longest blogpost I've ever written.

We started off by getting up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning (although Lauren felt like she had had a lie-in because she normally gets up even earlier for work) and got ready to go to the airport. We were only taking hand luggage so packing was tricky but we needn't of worried because they didn't even weigh our cases anyway. I wore my snake shirt (missguided) which I love because it's a really nice oversized boyfriend fit, and I layered it over grey jeans (topshop) and black thigh high boots (new look). I had to select my coat carefully because the baggage allowance only left space for one from my vast collection; I went with this burgundy one because it's one of my favourites and I figured you can't really go wrong with a fur coat. We started the holiday with a Frankie and bennys breakfast (and a mimosa of course, because Blair Waldorf advises you to have a lot of them) and then boarded our plane, which was so ridiculously tiny that it didn't even need a staircase attaching on; the stairs were built into the door. Not only did that mean that take off and landing caused you to fear for your life, it also meant that we had to wrestle to make our cases fit in the over head lockers. After only an hour on board though, we made it to Amsterdam! It was chucking it down when we got there and we had no idea how to find our hotel; if this trip has taught me anything it's that geography at school was a waste of time. I may be able to tell you the different parts of a volcano eruption but can I read a map and navigate my way round a new city? Nope. We managed to get off the tram at the right stop, thought it was the wrong stop, got back on the tram for two stops when we were only trying to get on it for one, and then walked in a huge rectangle before finally ending up at our hotel which was roughly a 30 second walk from where we'd first started. All of this was in the pouring rain so it's fair to say we weren't the most attractive pair when we finally made it to our hotel.

But oh my god did the hotel make up for it! Our room was absolutely incredible and we were in a really nice location. The bathroom didn't have a door which was slightly weird so it's a good job that me and Lauren have been best friends for 12 years and are waaaay comfortable with each other.

After kindof unpacking (by which I mean leaving our suitcases unzipped in the middle of the floor) and having a nap, we went out for a pizza cruise. For anyone wondering, it does what it says on the tin - an evening cruise round the canals of Amsterdam with nibbles, pizza, ice cream and unlimited beer and wine included in the price. I wore snake print shorts (it was obviously a snake print kindof day) with my embellished collar blush-coloured top, which were both from river island and finished the outfit with black boots and tights. Being very untrue to my normal self, I wore my hair up and then completed the look with Velvet teddy lipstick. The whole thing was amazing and it's safe to say we made the most of the unlimited wine.

After the cruise, we had planned to go to Easy times coffeeshop but I'm convinced  that someone was hiding it from us because it took us atleast an hour of walking round Leidseplein (which I like to pronounce 'led zeppelin') to find it. It's safe to say that neither of us would ever win the brownie badge for orienteering, seeing as we must've gone the wrong way about 5 million times. Speaking of brownies though, we did have the nicest one when we finally found it. In the midst of getting lost though, we got pounced on by multiple PR people trying to get us to go into their bars. The one we were actually convinced by was actually a restaurant who said we could have any cocktail for 5 euros. When we went in though and asked for a sex on the beach, the guy didn't know how to make it and got us behind the bar to make it ourself. So we are now fully qualified mixologists who have changed the recipe for a sex on the beach to include half a bottle of vodka and half a bottle of rum. We are available to cater for parties, feel free to get in touch.

Then in a slightly random turn of events, we found ourselves roped into a bar crawl with a free drink in every bar so it was really good value. Because we were in Holland, English music obviously takes a while to make it over there so all the songs that were played were our summer 2014 songs, so it was bringing back good memories of magaluf.

The next day, we didn't make it out of bed in time to catch the a.m. so we went straight for lunch. I've wanted to go to the Hard rock café ever since being in America and so when we saw one in Amsterdam we just had to go. It was 100% the nicest burger I've ever had and it was made so much better by the fact that we got to eat in the sunshine while over looking the canal. For the days activities, I wore my black swing dress with leopard print collar (I obviously had an animal theme to my holiday wardrobe) and thigh high boots, and finished the outfit with fur coat and sunglasses which were a must-have seeing as the rain from the day before had cleared up and left beautiful blue skies.

Then we went down to the Anne frank house which we actually found fairly easily (shocking I know); anyone who writes reviews of the Anne frank house like 'so pointless, it's just an empty house' clearly doesn't get the point of it. It's really poignant and interesting to look round, especially if like me you've read her diary.

Then after another napping session and another outfit change, we were ready to go back out again. We had plans to go to the Ice bar so I planned my outfit wisely for once; I wore a fluffy white jumper with black and white striped skirt and black boots, and then my fur coat, leather gloves and puffer coat that they give you before you go in (and red lipstick to finish off). It's really good for the price; 16 euros (I keep typing 'euros' because I don't have a euro sign on my keyboard) for a cocktail in the normal bar and 2 drinks in the ice bar (everything made of ice, the bar, the seats, the sculptures, the cups, everything) which were really strong (in a good way) vodka and orange. My smart dressing actually paid off because I wasn't actually even cold. Taking photos poses a problem though because it's too impressive not to take any and too cold to take your gloves off and iPhones don't work with gloves - so Lauren ended up using her mouth to work her phone so we could take plenty of selfies. Definitely a skill she should put on her resume.

This is a very rare occasion - I'm dressed casually! Well my version of casual anyway, which basically means that I was wearing flat shoes. Although I kindof had to because the plan for the day was a bike ride. I wore black and white printed skorts (new look), white bralet layered under a white mesh tee (both missguided), burgundy fur coat and white converse. And sunglasses of course. I am good at a lot of things but apparently bike riding is not one of them. I fell over so many times and nearly ran over so many innocent Dutch pedestrians with my bad steering skills. I've decided it's because I wasn't destined to a ride a bike; princesses should be driven around on four wheels, not pedal themselves round on two. But clearly I'm a danger to traffic so god help me when I start driving (watch out everyone, you have been warned).

Then after having lunch and actually managing to find our way back to the bike rental place (it's a miracle, as is the fact that I got myself and the bike back in one piece), we went to the Rijksmuseum. I can appreciate art but I'm not totally sure I get it in the way some art-lovers do. I did love the building itself though, it was seriously impressive. My favourite part though was the giant library they had because it reminded me of the one in Beauty and the beast. Then we did the most #TypicalTourist thing we could do by taking photos in front of the I Am Amsterdam sign. It's actually really hard to fit it all in one photo aswell so appreciate the skills.

For our last night out, I wore pink satin shorts with a zig-zag print top which I've owned for about a year and a half but haven't actually worn, with black boots, fur coat and Twig lipstick by MAC. We went to our favourite area of Amsterdam for dinner (Leidseplein) and had the nicest meal at a cute little Italian restaurant. We actually had so many nice meals while we were there that I could never live there full time because I'd get way too fat. Not to mention that I've probably drank my body weight in wine this weekend which can't be too good for you.

Then we went to see the infamous red light district - and surprise surprise we got ourselves lost again. We went down a street which was covered in red fairy lights so we thought that must've been it despite the fact that we didn't see any girls in windows. It was only by accident that we found the actual red light district because we carried on walking looking for a bar. It's definitely something you have to go and see; like you have to see the London eye when you go to London. The main thing about Amsterdam is that everything about it is honest and open; the drugs, the prostitution. Which makes it less seedy weirdly. Even as two teenage girls wandering aimlessly round the red light district (yep we got lost on the way back too), it didn't feel unsafe or scary or anything. It's probably less threatening there than round the streets of Nottingham. When we finally found our way back out, we found our way (eventually) to a bar for cocktails where we had frozen banana daiquiris. Even now, I'm not sure what I thought of it. It was definitely the weirdest cocktail I've ever had but weird in a good way (I think).

Then on our last morning, we went and had a look round the sex museum (another thing you just have to do while in Amsterdam). For anyone who thinks fifty shades of grey invented S&M, think again (not meaning to rhyme there) - there's photography of BDSM stuff from 1890! Along with a load more extremely weird photos and drawings and statues that I don't think I want on my blog. We finished the trip with the best English breakfast ever (the Dutch do it better than we do!) and then caught the train to the airport. Just as we were starting to master the public transport it was time to come home! I've had literally the best time and I would highly recommend Amsterdam to anyone! Not just for the smoking weed aspect which most people go for, but for the culture, the people who were all so friendly, the history and of course the city itself which is so pretty it made me want to never come back home.