Amsterdam: Westergasfabriek

On our first day in Amsterdam, and after the invigorating appletaart at Winkel, we headed to Westergasfabriek, a former 19th century gas fabric that was re-opened as a park on 2003 and that it holds several cultural activities.

Because we don’t have many big parks here in Barcelona we usually automatically make it a date to visit one in every new city we discover. This time we knew the weather forecast was not on our side, so we marked both Vondelpark and Westergasfabriek in our maps, for Sunday and Saturday respectively, and kept our fingers crossed. Like a good premonition of our imminent love for the Westergasfabriek park, a few minutes after we set foot on the park the sun started to shine (oh!! thanks weather!)

Parks are the perfect excuse to rest a little in the middle of a trip, and give the opportunity to take a few relaxed and uncrowded pictures. Well in our case, also add to goof around a lot! Westergasfabriek was the perfect combination between a more common city park, with people jogging in big esplanades, flowerbeads and benches, and a gorgeous marsh (even with its herons!). That left me speechless as I’ve never before seen one marsh-park in a city center.

On Sunday the rain kept us away from Vondelpark, Amsterdam can’t be so incredibly perfect after all, ha! :) but I believe Westergasfabriek made up for the Sunday rain exceedingly.

Do you usually include city parks in your trips? What do you like more about it? Indulge us by following our steps along Westergasfabriek in too many pictures!

** This post is part of our Amsterdam series **

Walking around Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us

The entrance of the park following the canal was also a good sign of what to expect.

The sun cames out - The cat, you and us

The sun cames out and so does my happy face!

Pink unicorns sweatshirt - The cat, you and us

Pink unicorns in my sweater.

Westergasfabriek balcony - The cat, you and us Beautiful pink flowers at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us

Close-up of the beautiful trees that welcomed us: piiink!

A boy, a bench and a brick house - The cat, you and us 3 duck friends - The cat, you and us

We met these three pals that were gossiping about the annoying couple with a camera.

Jumping stone pivots - The cat, you and us Brick buildings inside amazing parks - The cat, you and us Daffodils at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us

I believe these are daffodils (anyone with a greener thumb than me to give some light?)

Chilling at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us Westergasfabriek detail - The cat, you and us Chilling close-up at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us Lilac flowers - The cat, you and us Dani being adventurous at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us

Dani looking adventurous in the middle of a field, in fact there was a little path here :) but to be sincere there were also lots of bugs.

Damaris being adventurous at Westergasfabriek - The cat, you and us Two cute kiddos playing - The cat, you and us

I confirmed that soccer is also a big thing in Amsterdam (just like in Spain), kiddos were playing in the morning, grown-ups were yelling at a tv that same evening :)

Big green space and a yellow train - The cat, you and us

In this big splanade there was a gym group jumping around like big frogs.

Frog Jump - The cat, you and us

Of course, I had to join in the silliest gif we have ever made :P

Westergasfabriek exhibitions hall - The cat, you and us

Behind me a big building (the fabric I bet) that looked like an exhibition place.

Middle age couple - The cat, you and us Westergasfabriek stream - The cat, you and us Dani having the nicest view - The cat, you and us

Dani admiring the views, and looking for some real frogs ;)

Westergasfabriek swamps - The cat, you and us Bikes next to the stream - The cat, you and us

We wished we had rented some bikes, but by that time we had already explored all the park.

Raining flowers - The cat, you and us

…and a rain of flowers to thank you for following us along!

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14 Comments

  1. Ice Pandora ADDS...

    Yaaay! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed our typical Dutch parks ^_^
    And double yay for happy weather and no rain as well :D
    Again you take great pictures, love the gif. one :P I adore
    your pink unicorn sweater alooot <3 Xx

    17th April 2014
    • We reply...

      hahahah! Great to know that this is quite the typical park in Netherlands :) I definitely love them. The sweater is from Pull&Bear, the minute I set my eye on the pink unicorns I knew it had to go to my closet :)

  2. Leeda ADDS...

    omggg i love that last gif damaris!!! and of course i totally envy your awesome unicorn sweater! i love going to the park although they’re never as pretty as that over here.

    –Leeda
    at this volume

    18th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Thaaaaaaaanks Leeda!!! The place full of petals was screaming a petal fight ;) we settled on a rain though. Oh! The sweater is from Pull&Bear for this spring season, I think I’ll wear it in lots of outings, so comfy!

  3. Fiona ADDS...

    So lucky you got sun, these photos are magical, I love that little path that looks like you guys are trampling through a garden bed and I love love that shot of the eldery couple on the chairs. The gifs made me laugh and smile :) Actually every photo looks like a dreamy postcard – again you make me want to travel wherever you guys go! Your unicorn jumper is super sweet too!

    18th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Oh the sun always changes everything in pictures :) The elderly couple is one of my favorites, I got so close that I kind of scared them a little ;) but I think they were relieved when they saw that it was only a crazy pink-unicorns-sweater girl ;P We loooove that we are able to virtual travel with you guys, reading your comments is the best :)

  4. Louise ADDS...

    Oh damn, I kind of forgot how big Westerpark is. I totally adore these pictures, so cute! ;)

    18th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Hahahahah, We were also very impressed by the size of the park! We started walking and walking (it felt like a lot!) and our gps only marked half of the park! :) Thanks Louise, so sweet to read it from an Amsterdam local!

  5. Jane Y. ADDS...

    I love the two gifs! And yes! Unicorns :) And we love including parks in our getaways. I think they are one of the best places to relax but also take in a nice view! It’s funny because I think to locals it’s just a park they probably pass on a daily basis, but for us it’s this big adventure land :)

    18th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Pictures are much better with unicorns, right? ;) totally agree with your comment, it rings so right, I think that may be one of the reasons why we think Barcelona has little to offer park-wise because we don’t appreciate it as much as when we are on a foreign mysterious land :)

  6. Sara ADDS...

    your unicorn sweatshirt is lovely :)
    Amsterdam seems like the kind of place that’s perfect for a Spring getway <3

    25th April 2014
    • We reply...

      Agree! I think we visited too early (although we were really lucky with the weather!), I bet it must be lovely in late-spring and summer.

  7. kitsune-kun ADDS...

    unicooooooorns<3

    29th April 2014
    • We reply...

      I hear you ♥ ♥

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