690. Amsterdam Part 2 | New Year's Eve & Rijksmuseum

I can't believe it has already been a month since NYE! It feels like so long ago. We celebrated the new year in Amsterdam. We started pretty last minute to make plans for that night (like the day before) so unfortunately didn't manage to find any good restaurants that were still available.

We ended up just going out and going into the first restaurant we saw with tables available. It was an Argentinian steakhouse (which there are a ton of in Amsterdam) and it was the worst and most overpriced meal from the trip. I had a salmon and it was extremely undercooked. I sent it back, then they brought it back out and it was still undercooked. So they took it again, brought it back out etc..by that time it was almost midnight so we had to rush.

We made it to Dam Square with literally ~3 minutes to spare.



There were fireworks all around and they went on for hours! People there all celebrate out on the streets, drinking and lighting their own fireworks. After walking around for a bit we went for a drink at Freddy's Bar inside L'Europe Hotel.





On New Year's Day, we went to Rijksmuseum.











When we were in Spain I discovered this book, Factfulness, and really wanted to get it. We visited several bookstores in Spain but nowhere had an English version. I finally managed to find it in Amsterdam! & read it during the flight back. Also I got this orange bag from Bimba y Lola which is a super popular brand in Spain.

Probably the only time we managed to have traditional Dutch cuisine. I really loved it. They are "stamppots" which is basically just spinach (or other vegetables) and mashed potatoes with a sausage.



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648. Victoria Day Weekend

By pure coincidence, I now realize that pretty much all my meals out this week were at Japanese restaurants. I only just noticed this when editing the photos for this post. All sushi and matcha related lol. I mentioned my new matcha obsession in my previous post. Maybe subconsciously that also made me want Japanese food. Hmm...

Victoria Day was yesterday. We went to watch the fireworks at Ashbridge's Bay/Woodbine Beach. There were so many people. I think it's the first time I ever went somewhere to watch fireworks like that...or at least the first time in many years. I have seen fireworks before but from a far distance. I've never gone to the "official" spot to see them. Large crowds scare me but it was a fun experience! Getting home was a bit of a hassle but it was worth it.


More and more people came as it got darker..







Dinner with my boyfriend and sister at JaBistro



I really loved the pear dessert on the right


Of course I had to get the matcha (virgin) cocktail



The most beautifully kept lawns in downtown Toronto


Dinner at Saku again! Our second time here, 1 week after the first. Their sushi is really good.




Post-haircut


Homemade matcha chia pudding

Homemade matcha cookies, round 2. They turned out a lot nicer than my first batch but still not perfect. Still amazingly delicious though!


Dinner at Nami


One day I was sitting at my desk working and was about to get up..turned to my side and see this on the floor. I didn't even realize or know how my robe ended up on the floor lol.


Dinner at Fune





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583. Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day!!! I realized today that I never fully celebrated a Canada Day before. I love my country and I feel I am patriotic, but I always try to avoid big holidays because I don't like huge crowds. Today was different though..I was out almost the entire day and had such an amazing time.

It seems as if all of Toronto went to the harbourfront today. That giant rubber duck arrived on our lake so I guess it attracted more people. I never experienced the area quite so busy before. It rained on and off for a bit but stopped by the evening which was great because we got to see the fireworks! The forecast had actually predicted thunderstorms and I was so glad they were wrong about it, as usual. So far this weekend I did the exact opposite of what I talked about in my previous post (about no new friends lol). I went for a walk around the harbour with a new friend and it was super packed. We wanted to go somewhere for a drink but the wait was like 2 hours..so we ended up just walking around..then it started pouring rain so we went into Pawsway to watch a dog show. Then I came back home. At that point I was feeling so tired and almost decided to just stay in for the rest of the night.

Luckily I didn't and ended up going out with my friend and some new friends we just met to watch the fireworks by the CN Tower (see photo above). After that we just walked around and made our way to the harbour again in time to catch a bit of another fireworks show (this one was even more amazing). We just continued walking around and trying to decide where to go next. The amount of people and cars/traffic was crazy. We decided it was best not to take a cab and just walk somewhere...so in the end we went to Earls for some drinks and food. & that was my Canada Day!

Here is the Canada Day decor in my lobby. They also had a plate of Canada cupcakes which I resisted:



The world's largest rubber duck, which cost the city ~$200k. I remember seeing this in Hong Kong (in photos only). I think it would be nicer if it was on the middle of the lake to look like it was swimming.



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