Despite Amsterdam having a pretty polarized reputation for being a party town with lots of porn, I really didn’t have any particular expectations about it. I wasn’t even planning on going to Amsterdam when I booked my spot for The Signature Atelier, but plane ticket prices from Houston to Paris were astronomical…as in $1600. That was a straight up no way Jose! I had to get creative about getting to my workshop. My husband was actually the one that worked out the airfare debacle and my final itinerary had me flying in and out of Amsterdam. I only had a nights stay in each direction, but it ended up being a great bookend to each side of my adventures in Paris.

Since I had such a small amount of time, I decided to skip the museums and tours and just wander the city. Other than my Rick Steves Pocket Amsterdam book to clue me in on what I was looking at, I just walked where my heart desired. This is really the best way to experience Amsterdam. I talked to the locals (I didn’t meet a single person that didn’t speak perfect English) and even met a fellow solo female traveler at dinner and we had an awesome conversation over our Asian faire and Heinekens! After no more than 40 hours in the city, I came away with seven highlights I hope will inspire you to consider at least a nights layover in the Venice of the North!

1) Edibles

…and I don’t mean what you think I mean…necessarily (wink, wink). For real though, one word: Stroopwafel. This divine little cookie made up of two thin waffles with a layer of caramel in the middle is freakin glorious! Move over Oreos. Also, cheese. I LOVE cheese. This leads me to the conclusion that for their equal love of cheese, the Dutch are my soul mates. That’s actually a little bit literal, as my husband has Dutch ancestry and I love the $hit out of him too. I didn’t get too crazy trying all the cheeses because some of them are rather stinky, but I did try a nice array of the pleasantly pungent kind, of course including Gouda!

2) Heineken

It tastes better at the source. Coming into drinking age when I lived in Michigan, my beer of choice was Labatt’s, a Canadian beer from just over the border, a stones throw from where we lived. When I moved to Florida, I learned a valuable lesson about beer when I purchased a pack of Labatt’s and it tasted like crap. Travel does something to beer, so the closer you can get to the source, the better it will taste. I was never a fan of Heineken, but when in Amsterdam… I had one with my teriyaki bowl while overlooking the ferry port at Centraal Station and it was pretty amazing!

3) Water

Speaking of the ferrys, water and boats for days. The Dutch have a rich maritime history. Amsterdam began as a small fishing village, but in the 1600’s became one of the most important trade ports in the world with the advent of the Dutch East India Company in 1602. Soon after, the city became the financial center of Europe. With all that money and trade, city planners devised a plan to expand the city and the canals were born. There are boats everywhere, even houseboats where people still live. One of the things I was a little sad to miss was the National Maritime Museum, but I’ve got it on my list for my next visit. Even if you miss the museum you’ll see little homages to seafaring all around the city. One of my favorites was a passage I stumbled upon that had an elaborate tile mosaic on the ceiling that featuring fish and nautical instruments. It also had lights on the walls in the shapes of sea creatures. If you’re traveling by train to another city (which I highly recommend just for the experience) take a walk through the bicycle tunnel at Amsterdam Centraal Train Station and see the beautiful hand painted Delft Blue tile mural depicting sailing ships.

4) Bikes

Not to be outdone by boats, bikes are everywhere and as far as the eye can see, but I didn’t ride one. Why didn’t you ride one you ask? Because, in a word, you need to know what the heck you’re doing if you ride a bike in Amsterdam. You can’t be looking around and taking it in because you will literally get run over, into some kind of horrid accident, or end up in one of the canals. You need to know where you’re going. The best way I know how to explain it is, if you’ve ever been on the 405 in California at 5pm on a weekday and seen how people drive, pretty literally on top of each other, then all you need to do is replace the cars with bicycles and you get Amsterdam. Even if you’re just walking around you need to pay close attention to where you are in relation to the road. Many of the streets have multiple medians and curbs. To cross larger roads you may have to go over a bike lane followed by a median followed by car lanes in one direction, and then another median followed by car lanes going the other direction, and still another median and another bike lane…all before you get to the other side of the street! And sometimes there’s no curb, there’s just a line dividing the sidewalk from the bike lane. I learned that when I almost got run over by a 5 year old because I didn’t realize I was in the bike lane! He was screaming at me. It was equally hilarious and terrifying because he had no intention of stopping…he would have run into me and not thought anything of it!

5) Architecture

I’ve never seen buildings so old in my life. If you look closely at some of the photos you’ll see how crooked some of the buildings are…for instance that second photo under the water section. A good amount of the structures in Amsterdam are older than the United States and it was so crazy to me not only to see buildings that old, but to see people still live in them. It helps that part of Amsterdam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so we are able to see the city operate modernly in an historic setting. Probably one of the most stunning buildings in the city is the Royal Palace in Dam Square. It was built in the 17th century as a city hall, but later became a palace for the monarch.

6) Flowers

Flower boxes everywhere, even on bridges, and vines growing up door frames and spilling over to the sidewalk. Amsterdam is an old world concrete jungle filled with master container gardeners. The muted colors of the buildings were happily offset by bright colored blooms, and the unmistakable scent wafting out of coffeehouses was met with the fresh, clean scent of lavender.

7) Guys in white pants and t-shirts

Okay, this one maybe isn’t a highlight, but it’s hilarious and, therefore, worth mentioning. Why don’t I have a photo…I think I was so confused it never crossed my mind to take one. There was a larger percentage of guys than I feel is socially acceptable, wearing the white t-shirt paired with white skinny jeans look and I periodically felt like the whole city was punking me. I don’t know if this is a trend there (is it a trend in America and I just missed it somehow?) or if there was a Backstreet Boys convention or what, but it was definitely “a thing.”