Notes from my First Trip to Europe

Europe deserves its own title and its own post. I went to Europe for the first-time last month. I very much enjoyed my 10-day trip. We spent 6 days in Amsterdam and 3 days in Brussels. Brussels wasn't really 3 days since we were inside the Tomorrowland festival for 2 whole days. So, let's just say 1 day in Brussels? And let's just say Air France (and its best friend CDG airport) messed up our flight and we spent an unplanned day in Paris.

This is extremely unideal, I would have ideally liked at least 10 days in Amsterdam, with additional trips planned, and maybe a whole week in Brussels? Maybe a couple of days in Antwerpen as well. Of course, I don't have a bottomless can of dinero or countless annual vacation days.

Amsterdam was truly amazing. In summer, some days get a slight drizzle, others are cool (20 degrees cool). 

Many houses in Amsterdam are canal facing, park or lake facing.

What really stands out (after only having seen the oriental side of the world) is the well-connected tram-bus-train system along with a very easy to use and accessible ticket buying system. The transit system is updated accurately on every stop - you know if your tram is coming in 2 minutes or 6 minutes.

I really liked the seamless transit system in Amsterdam.

Cycles outnumber humans who of course outnumber cars. This was very delightful as I cycled on 4/6 days and loved every second of it. The light drizzle, cold breeze, the lack of worry of speeding cars or passing busses as there is a dedicated cycle lane throughout the city. Also, if that wasn't enough, bicycles are given right of was everywhere (or so it seemed).

Cycling was an absolute joy (in summer) - for the city has many parks.

Every house is close to a park - and I'm not talking about a 'for the sake of it' patch of grass. I'm talking about some serious flowers (both wild and grown), swings and the like. Additionally, there are so many canals that I'm sure in many of the nicer areas, every house is facing canal, or if not, at least a lake.

This space was a park in a residential area - complete with swings and small fitness area (not seen in this photo)

And finally, there were plenty of options for eating - we quite liked the breakfast where we stayed, but also the 100s of eateries serving vegetarian options as well. Wok to Walk comes to mind instantly.

Brussels, on the other hand, paled a tad in comparison. A very slight tad. Commute wasn't as seamless. Parks existed, but I probably had already fallen in love with a city close by to again be enamored so soon. Cycles were few and far between. In fact, I had to make sure to look both ways before crossing the street, in spite of a green for pedestrian crossing.

Brussels had its own share of parks - but it hit differently.

To be fair, Brussels seemed like a lovely city - the architecture was on another level, the waffles were delicious, but perhaps if we were able to better communicate (in Amsterdam, most locals know English but in Brussels, not so much) and if we had more days in hand - I may have felt differently. 

Trams and buildings of Brussels.

An of course, the art scene in Brussels is amazing. Plenty of vinyl stores, local artists performing street side on weekends, graffiti; and not to forget - Belgium is the origin of both TinTin and Smurfs.

Plenty of graffiti across the city - an ode to the rich art scene.

A couple enjoying local band performance in Brussels.

Note to self - go back and explore Brussels. And then take a train to Antwerpen. And go back for sure to Amsterdam. 

I'm uploading a whole photo dump of my Amsterdam and Brussels trip, and you can see it here. Also, of course, my unplanned city - Paris.