Emma Joan

Travel Diary- Amsterdam

Hey Dolls,

So the next stop on our trip was Amsterdam. The train from Brussels went fine it only takes like 2 hours to get there so it was grand. The hostel was actually a boat called the Christina. It was way over priced though for what it was! But then again Amsterdam is super expensive, so I suppose it was reasonable enough for there.

What we done:

A definite must for Amsterdam is to rent out bikes and cycle around the city, the city itself is really big and you cover more ground by cycling rather than walking. Plus it is what everyone does over there. There is even separate roads for cyclists, not many people drive over there. We rented bikes from star bikes near the central station, the only cost 7 euro for the day which was unreal, most places are around 7-10 euro anyways. We ended up cycling around the city to Museumplein which is where all the museums are, including the Van Gough Museum. And it is also where the IAMSTERDAM sign is! We went to the Stedelijk museum which was all about contemporary art. I would defiantly recommend checking out this museum if you’re interested in contemporary art. It was really inexpensive to only 8 euro for a student and I think it was 12 for an adult.

We were only in Amsterdam for a day and a half because of how the train times worked out so we did not make it to Anne Frank’s house. However I would recommend booking it a day or two in advance before you go because of the queue.

Nightlife:

We stayed just on the docks outside the red light district which is possibly the tackiest place I’ve ever been (& that is during the day). However at night it is shocking. I’m not going to get into it too much. But the way the girls were in glass windows and people were just passing them by staring reminded me somewhat of a zoo! It literally was degrading for the women to be stared at behind these glass windows! That part of Amsterdam I was not at all impressed by. It really is something you must see though if you go it is crazy to think that kinda shit is legal.

As for the actual night life, it is for stag dos really. The ratio of men to women at night is probably 10:1 (excluding the ladies of the night of course) There are some really good pubs there though, and of course if you want to try something different to drinking there is always the coffee shops which the city has no shortage off. There is a more chilled out vibe in them than the pubs which can be a nice change, especially when the city is filled with lads on holiday. We all know they can get a little cray!

That’s about it for our Amsterdam adventure. Berlin will be coming up shortly.

Emma x.

Travel Diary- Brussels

Hey Dolls,

It has been awhile. As I mentioned in my last post I was going away for a couple of weeks travelling Europe. And I am back to the cruel reality that is normal life, Le Sigh! My initial plan was to keep you guys up to date while I was on my travels but I didn’t bring my laptop and the blogger app is really annoying to use so I left it until I came back. I did keep a travel diary while away so I have everything written down so I would not forget it.

So as you probably have already guessed by the title this post is going to be on the first place we visited, which was Brussels. I do not think any of us had high expectations for Brussels as we didn’t really know that much about it. However, we were pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be one of the best spots of the trip. Brussels as a city in general is so pretty the architecture is just amazing. They have the most beautiful square 'Le Grand-Place', it is actually spectacular at night which I defiantly recommend checking out.

If you go there I would defiantly recommend trying a Keirk. It was recommended to me by a college friend (Best recommendation I ever got). It is a type of cherry beer, very sweet but Oh my god it tastes amazing. We went out to a bar Delirium, which is such a cool bar it’s got over 2500 different types of beer, you literally could get any type of beer there it was ridiculous. I think we got the delirium pink beer (which isn’t pink unfortunately) nevertheless tastes amazing, easiest beer to drink even my friends who wouldn’t be too fond of drinking beer loved it. Also Delirium is right down the street from the square so you could definitely go there after to check it out all lit up.

The areas around Waterloo avenue is really good for shopping, they’ve got a really good Zara and like 3 H&M's within like 5 minute walking distance from each other, I swear they love H&M over in Europe there's so many of them.

The palace is also another area we walked over to see, it’s nothing really special just looks like a smaller version of Buckingham palace, the park in front of it though is really nice to stroll through. That’s about all we got up to in Brussels, we were only there for two days there before we had to head off to Amsterdam.

Oh and the hostel we stayed in in case anyone is wondering was H2Go and it was really nice, very good location and clean which is all you really want from a hostel. It also had a really cool lounge area where we all watched the opening ceremony of the world cup so the atmosphere was pretty good at night.

The Square at Night

Keirk in Delirium

Couldn't go to Belgium and not have a Belgian waffle!

Manneken Pis

Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

Sorry no wifi at Delirium

The Square

Outside the Cathedral

I hope you enjoyed this post & stay tuned for the next instalment on Amsterdam,

Emma x.

Vanilla and Cinnamon Butterfly Buns

Hey Dolls,

Because I moved back home from Uni I have gotten back into baking, so I decided to share some of my recipes on the blog. I wish I could say that theses are some form of 'healthy' alternative to buns but unfortunately there not. However they taste amazing so you forget about how much sugar is in them quick enough!

Ingredients

130 grams of margarine or butter
130g of caster sugar
130g of self raising flour
2 medium eggs
2 table spoons of Vanilla extract
2 table spoons of grounded cinnamon
Strawberry Jam
Whipped cream
Sprinkles (optional)

Directions

Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees celsius.

Put the butter and the sugar in a bowl and mix until light and creamy.

In a side bowl crack the two eggs and whisk with a fork. Then add to the butter and sugar and mix together.

Add the flour a little at a time to the mixture while mixing, once all the flour is added mix until the batter is a creamy texture.

Add both the Vanilla and cinnamon into the mixture and mix well.

Divide the batter equally into the bun cases.

Pop into the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

While waiting for the buns to cook, start to whip the cream until it takes consistency.

Leave to cool. Once cool cut the top of the buns off and cut them in half. Spread the Jam evenly onto the surface of the bun followed by the cream, stick the two pieces of the top of the bun into the cream so as they look like butterfly wings.

Decorate the middle of the cream by adding some colourful sprinkles.

And voilà your butterfly buns are complete.

Emma x