Spent my first time in this city last weekend, hanging out with my good friend Chris. Here are some notes.

• Nothing planned at all except for the Van Gogh museum (learned the hard way about museum booking in advance after Paris).
• The Van Gogh museum is absolutely worth it and one of my favorite museum experiences to date. Something new I learned was that he started seriously pursuing painting later in life and studied, practiced and struggled to improve for years to develop what would eventually become is signature style. One of his earliest works (The Potato Eaters) was heavily criticized because the figures had “tons of mistakes”, and one of his idols wrote to him “you can’t be serious” when he saw a print.
• Now I understand the bike thing in Amsterdam. I love it and am jealous that the city it built for it, but it does make it hard to be a pedestrian at times.
• The beer is superb and we sampled many, some of my favorite spots from the trip (with many other still to get to):
  • Brouwerij Troost: https://brouwerijtroost.nl/depijp-amsterdam/
  • Brouwerij ‘t IJ: http://www.brouwerijhetij.nl/
  • De Biertuin: https://debiertuin.nl/
• I enjoyed the architecture and the canals and the cafes and alleyways. Something new everywhere you looked. It felt dense but not claustrophobic.
• Went to plenty of “coffee” shops to sample the wares and it was nothing special after living in the states where it’s legal to buy. Not as many options seemingly and the quality could be excellent or just ok.
• Food was good, but I didn’t really get a chance to go to any spots I would consider particularly amazing. Bakers and Roasters was a particularly good brunch spot and the pancakes were good at De Vier Pilaren.
• Amsterdam airport is 👍🏼. Easy to get into, out of, and through.
• I heard Maxwells Urban Hang Suite multiple times at different place while there. 🤔
• People were friendly but not overly so. Not a lot of chat.
• There is a colony of parakeets living in Vondelpark: https://theculturetrip.com/europe/the-netherlands/articles/a-colony-of-wild-parakeets-is-flourishing-in-amsterdam-heres-why/