Amsterdam hostel

By some stroke of luck, each hostel we have stayed at has gotten better.  Although the Stay Ok Vondel park has far less character than the hostel in Paris, it had sizeable rooms with separate shower and toilet facilities, making it easier to share with room mates.  It also had fabulous breakfast - not just bread and jam, or croissants and honey, but actual cheeses, meats, yougert and fresh fruit.

I had to laugh when we first headed to our rooms on the 2nd floor.  This is the sight that greeted us.  Delaney had just been remarking that she was getting a little tired of spiral stairs on this trip (we've climbed a lot of church towers, and even the catacombs in Paris were accessible by a long set of spiral stairs!)

I remember the "recyclable" jam cups from our last visit.  They are made of some kind of biodegradable leaf and stitched into a cup.  No plastic disposable cups here either, all the dishes were washable and reusable (unlike Paris that had disposable OJ/coffee cups).

To top it all off, the service at the front desk was great!  I asked about when the trams started running on Sunday morning because we had an early train and was told not till 7:00 (our train left at 7:00).  So she looked into a 'night bus' option, but that was kind of pricey, so in the end she scheduled 3 taxis to take the group to the station for $25 euros a piece.  Quick and convenient, and cheaper than the night bus.  In addition, she arranged for take away breakfast packages for the group.   yeah!

To cap it all off, there is a bike pump in front of the hostel for anyone needing it.