#jessabroad ~ Keukenhof and Amsterdam

   Sunday morning, we woke up, grabbed some toast for breakfast, and made our way to the train station in Leiden to catch the bus to the Keukenhof. This is one of the world's largest flower gardens, and it's open every spring in the Netherlands. We planned to meet up with some of the other members of our German class and, conveniently, we all arrived at exactly the same time!

   Together, the seven of us explored the gardens. Now, I've grown up with EPCOT and the Flower and Garden festival for pretty much my entire life, but honestly nothing can compare to the flowers at the Keukenhof.

   Throughout the day, we wandered through the rows and rows of flowers, listened to concerts, and explored all the different areas of the garden. We also grabbed some ice cream, and sat around and enjoyed the atmosphere.

   After we finished at the gardens, we headed into Amsterdam to explore the city before dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Bulls and Dogs, featuring specialty hot dogs and, best of all, sweet potato fries! Amsterdam was amazing, from the canals to the atmosphere of the city, and I'd love to spend more time there on another trip some day in the future. 

   We finished our dinner and headed to the Ice Bar. Our tickets included a drink in the regular bar and two drinks in cups of solid ice inside the actual cold bar. The best part--the whole bar was pirate themed, and as anyone who knows me knows, pirates are one of my favorite things ever. After, we parted ways until the next morning and headed back for our last night in Leiden 

   As an end to our first weekend in Europe and our weekend in the Netherlands, visiting Amsterdam was a great stop. From the quaintness of Leiden, to the beauty of the beach, to the diversity of Amsterdam, everything in the Netherlands was absolutely amazing.