While I've been in Amsterdam for a year and a half now, there are still some new things I've yet to see for myself in the city. Much of this has been due to financial constraints or that I worked in a retail job that didn't allow me weekends off, but that's hopefully something I've sorted out now because I finally have a full time job now!
I'll pounce into a whole thing on that some other time though because this blog post isn't about that. Instead, I wanted to come by to commemorate another experience in Amsterdam: Sakura spotting.
Who knew we would find cherry blossoms in Amsterdam?
The thing is, this wasn't a surprising discovery as my other half knew about the blooming flowers last year. Unfortunately, we just never found the right time to go see it as I would be on shift on weekends and he obviously couldn't skip work on weekdays. So I guess you could say we got lucky this year because we finally got to see the flowers bloom.
Spring is here, but it doesn't mean it's less cold
And so, we visited Westerpark over the weekends in search of the best blooms. There's another popular spot known as the Bloesempark around Amsterdam Bos as well, but Westerpark was closer and more convenient for us this time around.
Cherry blossoms and boba tea in a Pikachu hoodie, I've got it all sorted
Oh the cold I braved for this...
All my life, I've always though that cherry blossoms were supposed to be in pink or at least be in light shades of it. While it could be the different types of cherry blossom trees or the weather that made the change, the trees at Westerpark boasted more a white hued flower instead. Don't get me wrong though, it doesn't make the scene any less beautiful or magical, because I never thought I'd get to see cherry blossoms outside of Japan anyway.
We did see some people bringing along picnic assembles at Westerpark, while others had some beers on hand. There was a restaurant that was open for takeaways (We're undergoing a lockdown here due to the pandemic), so that was presumably where they got most of their goodies. For my other half and I, we decided to bring along boba tea from my favourite place in De Pijp - TeaGuys. There was just something magical about drinking boba under the cherry blossoms.
Sunny yet cold - not your typical Amsterdam day out
At the end of the day, I think we lingered around the park for about an hour before we decided it was far too cold to stay out. We were graced by really good sunlight for the day, which was fantastic and sort of rare since it rained so badly the next day. Like most locals, I do hope that sunny days will be upon us again since spring is officially here. I have a love-hate thought that summer will then arrive, but I think we're a little more prepared this year with the multiple fans we have at home.
Thank you for taking me on adventures!
We do plan to visit the other cherry blossom spotting area someday - or maybe even this weekend if the weather allows. My only gripe is that we may have to cycle there, and I'm not the best on my bicycle yet despite having owned it for almost a year now. For the cherry blossoms though, maybe...just maybe I'll try and try again. Until then, I hope everyone's staying safe (enough) as we continue to fight through this pandemic!
