Is Dutch, Is Good

We've just come back from an absolutely FANTASTIC weekend in Holland! We had the best weather - blue skies & sun EVERY day :) We stayed 3 nights in Amsterdam and 1 night in Rotterdam and I'd have to say that if we went again... we'd probably stay in neither ;) We arrived Thursday night and gorged ourselves full with whatever kroketten we could get our hands on at the local FEBO (they cook the food & then put them in individual compartments where you insert money to open a window - vending machine style!). These croquettes would turn out to be the tastiest ones found over the entire weekend.

Friday was spent walking around Amsterdam city checking out all there was to see. The Royal Palace and Nieuwe Kerk were surprisingly not very exciting to see - the buildings were pretty dirty, unlike the historic ones here in London. Wandering around the canals was lovely, with lots of ducks everywhere :) The highlight for me would be our visit to the Amstelkring - in 1578 came about a new regime known as the Alteratie (Alteration). Catholic churches were recycled for Protestant use - the Catholics were still allowed to worship in private, so long as the building's exterior revealed no sign of their activities. Hence a number of hidden churches were built, the Amstelkring being the only one to have survived intact. It was actually built in the top levels of 3 adjoining buildings, and it actually looked like a proper church inside, complete with an organ. The other highlight was finding a delicious chocolate shop! We also visited the Van Gogh museum, had some traditional Dutch stamppot for tea, and then went and checked out the famous Red Light District which was absolutely full of tourists. It's pretty crazy & sad, all these women prostitutes rent a window enticing the men to come in, and there are tonnes that line the streets & alleys in this area.

Saturday morning we jumped on the canal bus and did a big loop of the city through the canals. This was pretty cool and I took a lot of video footage... only to find out later that I hadn't actually been recording at all :( Fortunately I got it right for the rest of the trip. Then on the advice of some friends, we got on the train and headed out to Utrecht, the university town. Utrecht was awesome. It's exactly what I expected to see throughout Holland - lots of canals & cute bridges, cafe's spilling out onto the streets and the sides of the canals, relaxed, and lots of good food! We had some poffertjes and I had some more deep-fried Dutch treats for dinner and we all shared a grand dessert (see the photos!). The highlight in Utrecht was climbing the Domtoren - I'd read that on a clear day you can see Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the distant, and indeed we could! But far out, my legs were hurting big time after all those stairs!! We'd actually intended on hiring bikes here, but they were all out of bikes so unfortunately we didn't get to terrorise the pedestrians on the streets like everyone else ;)

On Easter Sunday, we got up early and caught a train out to Zaanse Schans - a small recreated Dutch Village, where they had actually transported 7 working windmills from the Kinderdijk (just south of Rotterdam, where there are still 17 or so windmills). Unfortunately only 2 of the windmills were actually working on the day, but this village was so picturesque you didn't even notice! There were even some goats & ducks with ducklings :) Make sure you have a look at the photos from this quaint little village. Then we headed back to Amsterdam and caught another train to Leiden. Here we went to the Keukenhof Gardens which my Uncle Bert had recommended - and I am so glad he did, cos there were tulips galore!!!!! I had a smile on my face all afternoon and was excited to see lots of gardens & huge fields of flowers in so many amazing colours! After this we continued our journey into Rotterdam, and after checking into our hostel (our Slovakian roomies couldn't believe how far we'd travelled when they found out we were from Australia!), we then met Tonn and Annelise and went out for dinner. I had some more yummy Dutch food - groentensoep and kroketten, YUM! After dinner we dropped in and said hello to Gerry and Donna - it was nice to catch up with people we knew from Australia on the other side of the world! :)

Monday (sadly our last day, however my legs were grateful), we were going to check out the Netherlands Architecture Institute, but decided we would be too rushed. So we went for a short stroll to the "cube houses" and then caught a train to Delft. Delft was amazing. I can't believe we had decided not to go the night before! We had actually come through Delft on the way to Rotterdam and decided it didn't look too exciting, but then Annelise highly recommended going there... so thanks Annelise! Out of all the places I've seen in Holland, Delft is where I would live - it's actually where my Oma grew up, which was nice, so we took lots of photos and video to show mum & Oma :) We enjoyed our last bit of Holland by eating poffertjes & pancakes in the glorious sun, reflecting on what an enjoyable holiday we'd all had :)

So now it's time to check out the photos... I'll put a link here once we've decided which of the 263 photos should go up! Click this link to view our photos.
4 weeks till the next trip.... Italy! - esther