Saturday, March 17, 2012

reminiscing Netherlands (1/2)

In October 2011, I made a very short post about my EU trip in September. The post was so short; I cited laziness caused by pregnancy and hectic work schedule as reasons. Now that I have enough time to reminisce the whole trip (pregnant, at home and bored), I'm posting not so detailed accounts starting with Netherlands.

Day 1 (Sept 11, 2011 Sunday)
Touched down Schiphol Airport at noon. Friends who were temporarily assigned there for work met us, gave us an idea on what to expect, and introduced us to the trams (mode of transportation popular in Amsterdam next to bicycle -- or bicycle could be leading the spot.).
we occupied the attic. loveet!

The first thing we did was search for our accommodation because we long to hit the shower after spending 14hrs in the plane (not considering the stopover at Istanbul Airport). With the help of our friends and of course, the instructions provided by the accommodation, it was not that difficult. We booked two nights at Amsterdam4Holiday Bed & Breakfast located near Flower Market. We were greeted by the Filipino caretaker -- but he took pride as part owner. Not that I don't believe him, lol.

Before I proceed further, let me tell you that the B&B we stayed in doesn't deserve the name of Bed & Breakfast because they don't serve breakfast at all. We paid 240 Euros for 2 nights (double room with toilet and shower). The room is great except for the bathroom because it is located outside the room. It seems that we were sharing the bathroom with other guests. We were expecting to use it exclusively since a cheaper rate is charged for rooms with common toilet & shower.

I decided not to dwell on that issue since the caretaker is Filipino, I mean, I'm kind like that, lol.

After taking a shower and some little rest, our friends took us exploring Amsterdam via canal cruise.

Day 2 (Sept 12, 2011 Monday)
T and I went to visit the Secret Annex (Anne Frank's house). Having read her diary in 2008, I really made sure to include that place in our itinerary. The experience was just surreal to me. Seeing the windowless interior and the posters on Anne's room brought me back to her time.

After that, T and I toured the Heineken Brewery. Not much to say except that T had a blast drinking my share of the beer.

We had lunch at Van Gogh museum located at Museumplein. The museum itself featured not only Van Gogh's art works, it also included works by other artists to whom Van Gogh took inspiration with. Too bad it doesn't have his famous 'The Starry Night' painting. According to Wikipedia, it's in Museum of Modern Art in NYC. 
Museumplein (Rijksmuseum at the back). We didn't have much time left so we ended up visiting the Van Gogh museum only.
..the day started as cloudy then sun decided to show up

That night, we went roaming around the infamous Red Light District. It was fun or the aroma we got to smell passing by 'coffeeshops' must have affected our mood.

Day 3 (Sept 13, 2011 Tuesday)
Breda, Netherlands.

We visited Breda because a cousin of mine and her family resides there. She works as an assistant nurse.
From Amsterdam Centraal Station, it will take 45 mins to Breda by train. From Breda station, we took a bus to get to her home. Getting there is not that difficult because we knew our stop -- Schaffelaarstraat -- except that pronunciation proved difficult.

Day 4 (Sept 14, 2011 Wednesday)
Brussels, Belgium (to be in a separate post).

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I love Netherlands. Most Dutch (if not all) can speak English. They are nice, courteous, friendly and tall. And don't get me started with their looks. Dutch women are beautiful! It's not difficult to spot a top model potential.

The only downside (same with France and Belgium, and maybe with the rest of EU countries), one has to pay 40-50 Euro cents to use the public toilet. Though it's clean, it's still expensive.

1 comment:

Nashe^ said...

Awh. Jealous you got to see Amsterdam! It's definitely one of the cities I wanna visit!