Published November 5, 2023 · 2 min read

Ender was in Europe for a business trip and wanted to meet, so we picked Amsterdam and made a weekend out of it.

We landed on Friday night and went straight to the hotel, dropped the bags, and headed back out. Amsterdam at night has a very particular atmosphere. The canals do most of the work. Even when the food is forgettable, or actively strange in our case, the city still carries the evening. That first walk ended up being the kind of start I like most in a short trip, nothing planned too tightly, just moving through the city and letting it introduce itself.

Saturday was mostly for wandering. We found a good place for bagels in the morning, walked around the canals, did the usual museum and city-centre loop, then slowed the pace down later with a bar stop. We also went for fries at one point, but the rain had other ideas and that more or less ended that part of the evening. Amsterdam is good at this kind of weekend. You do not need to force an itinerary too much. Walking around is already most of the experience.

By Sunday, Ender was flying to Seattle and I was heading back to Dublin. Both flights leaving from the same airport felt like a neat little ending to the whole thing. It was a short trip, but a good one. Simple, easy, and worth doing.