Brussels to Amstermdam

I am finally going to make it to Amsterdam- YEAH🎉🥳💜- Brigitte and I had planned to visit in 2018 but because of a calf injury (Brigitte) we pulled the plug and went to the Opal Coast in Northern France instead.

We took a taxi from Limal to Brussels MIDI where we caught our train. There were only three stops during the trip - Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam airport and in 2 hours we arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station.

It is a very nice station, but very big and easy to loose your way. We finally made it outside and it is a little cool and although rain is predicted and it had been raining, for our walk to our hotel it remained relatively dry. Again, maps is challenging me and it took a couple of goes to feel comfortable we were heading in the right direction. It did take us off the beaten path a couple of times but overall was pretty accurate.

We are staying at the Pension Homeland, which is a Hotel, Restaurant, Bar and Brewery. The building used to be a former Royal Navy officer’s residence. The building was constructed in 1964 and is quite retro and funky and is very centrally located. There are some lovely parklands adjacent to the hotel and it faces the water and there are many museums nearby as well as canals and waterways.

We thought we would head straight to the hotel, about a 2km walk and if our rooms weren’t ready we would have lunch in their restaurant- rooms were ready - so we did a quick unpack and then headed down for a late lunch. Food and wine was excellent and I even had room to try a piece of the famous Dutch Apple Tart - it was great but huge - so Brigitte helped with finishing it.

As the weather has come in quite wet and windy we decided to have some down time and just meet for a light dinner this evening.Read more