So, it's barely one week since we've reached Great Britain and before I know it, I was on Eurostar train with boyfriend to The Netherlands. Before Netherlands, we had a stop-over in Bruxelles, Belgium.
I'll skip the Belgium part for the next post. Let's focus on The Land of Windmill first.
First stop-Amsterdam!
 |
| Welcome to Amsterdam |
Yes, it's the land where you get all naughty and bad. Well, that's what everyone thought. but the truth is, weed is actually illegal in Amsterdam too. Not totally though. You can have up to 5gm of weed with you and still be okay. Anyway, the shops around Amsterdam are not allowed to advertise that they are selling weed. So, how do you get it? Space cakes/joints/magic mushrooms. A tour guide advised: eat at your own risk and in moderation. Make sure there is someone you could trust to take care of you if anything goes wrong. But the wrong is actually quite funny according to tour guide, you will go all weeping and shouting and howling. Hahaha. The cure for over dosage-sweet stuff like cakes and orange juice. The Amsterdam is also famous for it's red light district. Over here, prostitution is legalized, since 2000. Prostitutes need to pay tax too. And they really are working very hard, standing in "aquariums" in 8 hour blocks. But if anyone really wants it, 15 minutes for 50 euros. No pictures on red light district as tourists are forbidden to take photos of the girls.
Next stop, museums! Europe is all about museums, cathedrals and churches. So, we went to this Zaandam-Schan Museum, situated outskirt of Amsterdam. We reached there a little bit too late to go in. But we were allowed to roam around the........WINDMILLS.
 |
| Windmills |
Never in my life I see so many windmills. Some of the windmills are shops, houses for the locals and also tourist attraction, making wooden clogs and fermenting their famous Dutch cheese. We also made our way into the Sex Museum of Amsterdam. Well, I guess no excessive explanation needs to be done here.
After two days in Amsterdam, we headed over to Den Haag, stopping over Delft (University Town) to visit some of boyfriend's friends. Since we reached on a Sunday, the town is very very quiet. And not forgetting cold!
 |
| The town of Delft |
After a couple of hours and lunch, we headed back to Den Haag, which is also pretty quiet for a Sunday.
 |
| The train station in Den Haag HS |
But the next morning, the Valentine's morning, we went to explore the Den Haag town, on foot (to save money for transport). So we went to more palaces, gardens and museums to look at their magnificent architectures and sculptures. How I hope that Malaysia/Singapore has buildings like these. It'll make life so much more interesting.
So, that's about it in the Netherlands. I would really hope to return back to see their Tulip Garden in spring. Depends on my budget later. Anyway, there are not a lot of special food in the Netherlands except their Dutch Cheese.
 |
| Gouda |
The cheese is really awesome, for me. Very milky and fragrant and has a tinge of bitter after taste. There's free cheese-tasting in some shops, like this Reypenaer shop in Amsterdam.
 |
| Cheese my love |
We stumbled across this Dutch restaurant called Tomaz from Tripadvisor. They serve really really good food. Boyfriend and I had a main and dessert (we couldn't finish two mains) for 20 euros. We ordered Mash-of-the-day (Some minced meat served with mashed potatoes with bacon bits) and a triple-dutch dessert (I've forgotten what they were). After the meal,we were stuffed to our throat. Really, their servings are huge for us.
The traditional Dutch mash and their triple Dutch Dessert
For the few days in Netherlands, we stayed in a boat hostel (Boat Hostel Anna-Maria 2) for Amsterdam and Stayokay Hostel for Den Haag.
Boat Hostel Santa Maria II (top) and Stayokay Den Haag (Bottom)
One thing I like about these hostels are they served hearty breakfast. You have all types of breads and spreads (nutella, peanut butter, jams), cereal (not cornflakes) with milk, tea/coffee/juices, cheese and hams. These breakfast easily cost 5 euros per person outside. And there's no limit to how much you can eat. But of course, I cannot be a
cheapo to just eat and eat and eat or even "take-away" haha. But just enjoy and eat in moderation. It's worth the room tariffs you paid for.
Hearty breakfast from the hostel
As a conclusion, Netherlands is really cold and gloomy. LOL. Well it's because we went during the wrong season. But, I really enjoyed myself, immersing in the town of windmills and canals, with buildings as wacky as this.
They have wacky buildings as the land in Amsterdam was mud last time and as the land sinks over time, the building moves too. So in Amsterdam or even in Delft, buildings are always leaning back and forth, left and right. Interesting!
Watch out for my Belgium post next. Still missing the cheese taste.
No comments:
Post a Comment