IJ-HALLEN AMSTERDAM

I asked my mother if she was up for a Saturday in Amsterdam and she said yes! And so we headed to the train station early on Saturday morning. When we arrived at Amsterdam Central Station we wanted to get a drink somewhere.

We accidentally found a new café that instantly became a favorite: EXKi.  Healthy, fresh and cheap. Definitely a hotspot. You can get salads, smoothies, sandwiches and even macarons but we just went with a cappuccino and green tea. 

After we finished our drinks we left the train station via the back entrance and walked towards the ferry that was gonna take us to the NDSM-shipyard. The ferry passage is completely free of charge, which is a plus, and goes very frequently so you never have to wait for more than 5 minutes. Once we arrived it was only a short walk to the IJ-Hallen, which is the biggest flee market in Europe. Let me rephrase... the IJ-Hallen are huge! And there were so many stalls we didn't know where to start. Two large hangars and more stalls outside in between.

The idea to visit the IJHallen didn't appear out of thin air. The wonderful Laura Ponticorvo told me about it in one of her most recent vlogs. Since two months I've been following her on social media and I definitely reccommend the vlogs on her YouTube channel. So much fun! We talked for a bit and she sold me a cute leopard printed skirt. Gotta love animal prints (as long as they're fake).

I used to have a gigantic collection of Barbies and My Little Pony's. This made me kinda nostalgic.

After two hours we were done strolling around at the flee market. Our thin harvest: two books and a skirt. We tried to buy more but we couldn't agree on the price.. Hey take it or leave it! But I did get some other nice fall items in the afternoon. I'll make sure to show you the items that I got in another blogpost. The ferry brought us back to the main land ;-) and we walked into the heart of the city: Dam Square. We shopped a little here and there. Favorite stores: Bershka, Forever 21 and the many many H&M stores this city has to offer. I counted six. 

Next stop: my favorite place to go for a drink or lunch, Blue°. My sister-in-law took me here three years ago and I've found myself coming back to this place, introducing new people to this "hidden" secret at the end of the Kalverstraat. It is not actually hidden but funny enough tourists know to find their way there and locals don't. I don't know what it is but we were the only people speaking Dutch in the entire café. I liked it.

I chose the homemade ice tea and French toast, which came with banana and sugar, dear heavens. My mom had fresh orange juice and cheesecake. I absolutely love the atmosphere at Blue. It's very transparent, you get a lovely 360° view over Amsterdam and the food is good. 

All and all I had an amazing day in Amsterdam with my mom. We were both really tired from walking around all day so when we got home we made ourselves pizza with avocado and goat cheese and had tiramisu as a dessert. What more could a girl wish for? I  ♥  Amsterdam.