A quick flight on Aer Lingus from Dublin to the Netherlands landed me at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in the early evening. I had to check my backpack because Aer Lingus is not friendly for carry-on baggage, so after I pick it up at the baggage area, I have to figure out how to get to my hotel, The Hyve Capsule Hostel, located in the western side of Amsterdam.

If you travel and haven’t used the app Rome2Rio, I HIGHLY recommend it… and it’s not only for European travel either. This app has made traveling from point A to point B so easy! After picking up my backpack, I plug in the hotel’s address and it gives me several means of transportation to get to the hotel, how long it will take and the approximate cost for each means of transportation. You select the transportation mode you want, and then it gives step-by-step directions. I LOVE this app!

I make it to the “hotel,” and it sinks in that this is the first faux pas of my trip… which, I am going to blame on age. Apparently, I misread the name of the hotel I booked as the Hyve Capsule Hotel, instead of what it was… the Hyve Capsule HOSTEL. The word “Capsule” should have been a clue too… but then, again, blaming this on age.

My first question… “Do I have a room to myself?” Yes, but the bathroom is shared. Oh well, it’s only for three nights. My room is straight back from the entrance of the hostel, I open the door and I just stare. OMG! This is a bloody closet and half of the room is under a low-hanging ceiling! The bed is on a short platform with half of it underneath a low-ceiling that’s about 18 inches above the bed… I’m having flashbacks to my coffin rack onboard the USS WASP. There is a desk and a small stool… but on the positive side, there is air and really cool lights that change with a dial. I’m sure 20-something Sherri would have really loved this, but four decades later, not so much. But I will say, the bed was pretty comfortable. Fortunately, I am not that tall so I did not have to sleep underneath the low ceiling and the duvet and pillows were plentiful… And it’s only for three nights… er…make that two… after seeing this room… I’ve already changed my plans.

It’s late when I get in… still daylight but it’s about 10pm. I haven’t eaten for hours, so I walk outside to see if anything close is still open. I find an Arabic hamburger joint and have one of the best burgers I’ve ever tasted.

The next morning I start walking and find a huge outdoor park. Amsterdam is huge on outdoor life it seems. There are people of all ages riding bikes, and I’m willing to bet, more than driving. There are bike paths every where and I nearly get run down several times from straying onto the bike path while walking. They even have bikes buckler to take their children, pets and groceries along! The park is beautiful with small houses inside on the outskirts and so many paths to take it’s confusing. I happen upon a huge garden and was invited to come inside to see it up close. It was a children’s garden with students growing their own food and flowers. When I arrive, a group was just leaving, all on their bike’s, from tending to their area and another batch was coming in.

I find a really amazing interactive museum called Fabrique des Lumières. Its exhibits are videos but take up the entire exhibit hall. They have three they setup for different times during the day. I got there in time for the one about Egypt and the Pharaohs and lasted about an hour. It. Was. Amazing! It was like I was in the pyramids or walking down the halls of their palaces. They also showed an exhibit of Dutch painters which was really interesting to see too. It was the first time I’d ever been in that type of exhibit and I was totally impressed!

The city of Amsterdam is really amazing to see. The canals and the boats, people walking and biking, lots of families out enjoying themselves, cafés totally busy… I was beginning to wonder who’s working. Amsterdam’s is celebrating its 750 years of being Amsterdam. I didn’t realize it was that old. I find the buildings amazing, full of history and life. To think what something which has stood for hundreds of years has seen.

I take a canal boat ride… it’s actually a Cookie Boat and their gimmick is that when they get close to the bakery, if you want Dutch cookies, they will lower them down by basket and rope as the canal boat is cruising under the bridge. I didn’t spring for cookies, but the canal ride was a great experience and a wonderful perspective for seeing the city. The young man who was the boat captain, was quite entertaining and seem to know his history of Amsterdam. He kept saying when parts break off building or such they just replace instead of conserve, so shiny things we see is not clean but new.

I enjoyed walking around Amsterdam and spent a lot of time doing so… miles of walking around. One of my goals in coming to Amsterdam was visiting the Sex Museum that I’d heard about and to see what type of exhibits they’d have on display, but alas, it was closed by the time I found it. I was headed that way and would have made it in time, but that damn adult ADHA kicked in and I got distracted when I came across a Haunted Story/Dungeon exhibit which started screaming my name and I had to take part in. It turned out to be really fun and really interesting with characters acting out the gruesome tales of Amsterdam’s darker history…. I liked it so much I even bought the book! But, I have no pictures to share as they did not allow photographs… but I did get a picture of the outside of the Sex Museum.