From Glasgow, Marco and I flew to Amsterdam. Marco is originally from Holland and it was great to have a local to show me around and speak Dutch. We spent a few days exploring the city, staying at the Park Plantage hotel which was convenient to all the sights and we walked everywhere.

We visited the Rijksmuseum and were inspired to plan a day trip in the south of Holland based on this impressionist painting. At the Van Gogh Museum we made time to walk through the special exhibition which featured Matthew Wong, an artist I hadn’t heard of and one I will now never forget. His work was stunningly beautiful and his story was tragic. I could stare at his work for days and not grow tired of it. We walked along the canals, relaxed in parks, and ate lots of goat cheese salads, apple pie, and fresh stroopwafels. We also visited the Anne Frank house which I highly recommend.

We took a day trip outside the city, driving past Gouda and Rotterdam on our way to Middleburg and Zoutelande. We followed the coast through smaller towns, seeing windmills and the countryside before returning past Delft and The Hague on the way back to Amsterdam. Marco visited Middleburg when he was a child and he enjoyed returning as an adult.

I loved every minute of the three and a half days and look forward to returning.