The time we went to Amsterdam for the cost of a cocktail in Paris

I hadn't particularly planned to travel around Europe after my weekend in Athens in late October. If we want to get nitpicky, I'd originally expected Edinburgh in late September to be my last weekend abroad for 2012. But then Megabus arrived in Europe. Megabus is my favorite form of $1 transport from Philly-NY or NY-Boston trips when stateside. I soon realized that for 12€, approximately the price of a cocktail here in Paris, I could get myself from Paris to Amsterdam and back for a weekend getaway, and at that price neither Peter nor I could say no.

With little time to plan for the weekend nor even any certainty until the evening of our departure that Peter's work schedule would allow him to accompany me, I'd awaited Friday evening with bated anticipation. Luck was on our side and so on Friday night we hopped on our bus with little more of a definitive plan than our hostel reservation for the following evening.

Though tired after a night spent on a bus, our early Saturday morning arrival (before sunrise) gifted us a remarkably full day to enjoy the city. After dropping off luggage and breakfasting at the hostel, we swung by my favorite café, Café De Jaren, Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20 - 22, 1012 CP Amsterdam, where we properly started the day over hot cocoa and a basic chess tutorial.

We started off our Saturday morning in Amsterdam over hot cocoa at my favorite café

After this, we enjoyed some time just strolling through the narrow streets and along the picturesque canals that give Amsterdam its charm.

I don't care how many times I've been to this city, I still find its canals almost painfully picturesque.

During our day's wanderings, luck brought us into a trendy and cozy café with massive windows and vibrant tiles that included biblical verses written in mismatched font letters (a tiled version of ransom font, if you will). With its eclectic seating arrangements, upside-down potted plants hanging in the windows, the organic menu, and the random piano in the corner that seemed available to anyone with a musical inclination, the theme was more hipster than pious, and I whole-heartedly recommend the place. Dwazezaken, Prins Hendrikkade 50.

Dwazezaken, an unusual and trendy café where we stopped for lunch.

In our relaxed afternoon, we passed through Begijnhof, an all-women's community of houses which form a small courtyard, originally established as a Beguine (Roman Catholic nun) community back in the 1300s. The main highlight of the afternoon was, however, the Rijks Museum, a museum which highlights the Dutch Golden Age, housing historical artifacts, furniture, Delftware, and of course a large collection of Rembrandt and Rembrandt-inspired paintings which place a strong emphasis on lighting.

A sampling of the sights in the Rijks Museum. The luxury carved pistols in the upper left were offered as gifts to foreign diplomats. Below this is a doll cabinet filled with an exact replica of the home, complete with its furnishings, of a wealthy Dutchman from several centuries ago. This was no child's toy: it was common practice for the wealthy to commision miniature replicas of their homes with all their contents which they then put on display within their homes to impress their friends. To the right of these two photos are an example of the veneer wood of an ornate cabinet and a sculpture of a servant of Neptune commissioned by the Danish king from a Dutch sculptor. Top and center is an image of Delftware, typically Dutch blue and white pottery. In the lower right panel is a satirical image of the two camps of the Protestants, on the left bank, and the Catholics, on the right bank, fighting for the souls of the people still in the river water, symbolic of the strife between the Protestants and Catholics in the 1600s. The rest of the images here are part of the classic Dutch painting collection in the Rijks Museum. Only one is a Rembrandt. Can you guess which? (Spoiler: It's the painting of the elderly biblical prophetess Anna reading.)

Finally, cultural education aside, we dropped by the hostel for a much needed nap before an evening out on the town.

A sexy Christmas: Amsterdam was all lit up for the holidays. Despite the legalized drugs and prostitution, we were still surprised by these Christmas angels which lined many streets (safely outside the red light district, at that!).

Though we'd originally planned on sampling some Indonesian cuisine since immigrants from the former Dutch Indies colonies know how to cook delightfully spicy dishes that you just can't find in Paris, we were sidetracked by a delicious distraction:

Who can resist a bowl of poffertjes covered in whipped cream and strawberries cut freshly upon order? Heck, even the name for these little traditional Dutch pancakes, "poffertje," is just too cute to turn down.

With a stop for some spicy stir fry and another swing past De Jaren to cap off the evening, we had an amazingly rich, full Saturday a world apart from Paris, if only a bus ride away.

By the following evening we were back home, tired but very refreshed from the brief escape. The only thing we'd forgotten to do was take a single picture featuring either one of us! But anyway, with tickets at these prices, I'm sure we'll get another chance. Megabus Europe, this won't be the last you see of me.