DESIGN HOTEL IN AMSTERDAM // PART ONE WITH I-ESCAPE

I'm very excited to announce that this year Wild & Grizzly will be collaborating with the fab online travel company i-escape and last weekend we got to sample a brilliant design hotel in Amsterdam for a Valentines weekend break. I'm so excited to share our top things to do in Amsterdam and showcase our two beautiful city pads.With direct flights from Bristol to Amsterdam taking less than an hour, it's the perfect destination for a weekend city break. This is the first trip we've taken abroad without F – who stayed at my folks for a few days – and to be honest  I felt a bit guilty but the thought of being out after 6.30pm was enough to make me giddy, and as Amsterdam is so kid friendly I can't wait to return with F.

We touched down as the light started to fade and took the €5 train ride to the heart of the city, and even though the trams are super easy to use we jumped in a taxi eager to find our first hotel. Proving the Dutch do design hotels well, we were welcomed by a stunning circular copper fireplace and curved leather sofa as we entered  Hotel V Fredericksplein and shown to our beautifully designed loft suite.

After a quick change of clothes we headed out onto Utrechtsestraat, a stones throw from the hotel, a street buzzing with cafes, bars and design boutiques and spent the evening at the newly opened Guts N Glory before exploring the city's canals at night.

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After a restful sleep and with no kiddo to wake us, we pottered about our spacious loft suite before heading downstairs for breakfast in the open plan lobby area. I loved all the design details, the Bertoia chairs, feature fireplace and the design books piled high. I ordered a latte as filter coffee comes as standard with the breakfast and people watched through the window while enjoying mini pastries and granola. The hotel definitely has a *young trendy vibe – yes at *34 years old I am including me in that bracket – it certainly felt like I was part of a vibrant city staying in Hotel V Fredericksplein.

Travelling is always interesting with us, where I 'm happy to wander around, taking in the cafe culture, catching a film or checking out a design shop, Paul is much more of an itinerary man – he would laminate one if he could – and likes to see the sights so after reaching a compromise and with a vague idea of where we were heading, I prepared myself for a day of walking with my camera at hand.

We first headed up Utrechtsestraat, passing the infamous SLA cafe and veered off along the 17th century canal Prinsengracht taking in the morning sun and beautiful buildings and bridges. On realising the queue for Anne Franks house was crazy long we decided to head to the Library for lunch. Sounds weird right? but not if you've seen this library. The stunning architecture, modernist design, light coloured floors and skyline views from it's 7th floor cafe is so worth the visit, plus the food is fresh and delicious. So much so that we forgot to take a pic as we were too busy enjoying lunch!

After exploring more we made use of the free ferry service located at the back of the train station to visit Eye, a contemporary film arena with breathtaking panoramic views over the river and further down the more urban and creatively colourful area of NDSM-Werf. At first this looks like a post apocalyptic film scene so is not for everyone, but this urban playground is home to a huge creative artists studios, graffiti art and Hema flagship store. It's very gritty, with a half submerged submarine near the river banks, signs raised above the water and stacked shipping containers acting as temporary homes to students but look a little closer and you can see the creative heartbeat of the city at work.

Some walking, coffee drinking, goodie buying later, we arrived back at Hotel V Fredericksplein and slumped into our beautiful Loft suite slightly exhausted and relaxed by the fire before popping downstairs for a glass of wine and back out into the night. So that in a nutshell was our first full day, we seemed to fit in so much. I'll be posting part two next week so you can see the rest of our adventure.