Blown Away in Holland

Just after a day and a half of being in England, it was time to jet-off again. This time to Amsterdam. There is an underwater train that goes from England to Brussels, Belgium and from there we transferred onto a different train to take us to Amsterdam.

We got to our hotel mid-afternoon and rested for a little while before heading back towards Central Station and the main canals to take a canal boat cruise featuring the Amsterdam Lights Festival. It was a beautiful way to try to get our first bearings with the new city. The tour was about an hour and a half. There was an audioguide that went along with what we were passing and explained the various buildings in addition to the light displays that are set up for a month and a half during the months of December and January in Amsterdam. It was a little challenging to capture night photos while on a boat but I am very happy with the ones that did turn out well. Getting to photograph this whole experience, has been such a blessing. I have watched my photography improve a lot over the years. Not only have I gotten better cameras, but I'm learning more and more about how to handle them properly.

Bikes! When people say that the Netherlands is filled with bikes, they are not kidding. I wish I would have taken a picture of the bikes parked outside of Central Station, at least five hundred of them and that is just at one entrance. They definitely think they rule the road.

For our first full day, we had arranged for see two of the biggest museum exhibits for Amsterdam: the Van Gough museum and the Anne Frank Huis. In high school, I took several classes in art studio and art history. I studied Van Gough a bit but I learned so much more about him in my two and a half hours in that museum. The audio guide that went along with the exhibit was incredible and provided a lot more information about the context of the paintings than you can get by just studying the art. Modern art isn't really my thing and Van Gough borders on that line. So I don't like all of the pieces but I did enjoy most of them.

We had some time to spare so we visited another museum about the Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation during WWII. But the museum wasn't very well organized in my opinion and it was a little hard to follow.  I felt like I was trying to find my way through a maize. We also had a short timeline for our visit because we already had reservations at the Anne Frank Huis. So we were really rushed, so maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had more time there.

But I was very excited for our next stop! When I was in seventh grade I read the story of Anne Frank for English class and loved it. It is hard not to be moved to tears with the emotional story of these eight people living in that storehouse for two years. I have to say that upon arriving at the official house, I was surprised at how big the space was. When reading the story, I imagined the space to be much smaller. But these rooms were also shown without furniture so that might have made them appear larger. Either way, being constrained to one space for two years is certainly no easy task. I am so glad we were able to visit this historic house.

In this picture, the city and canals looks so calm and peaceful but that was far from the case. While we were there, Amsterdam experienced its worst windstorm they have experienced in the last 100 years, according to the concierge. There were winds up to 90mph; people were being blown off their bicycles, bike racks were blown into the canals, they had to cancel flights and trains, and unfortunately Holland reported two deaths due to the storm.  We definitely didn't have the best weather while we were there, it was cold and raining except for one day. But I'm very glad we got to go either way.

Friday was much better, the sun was even out! I had arranged for us to go on a tour of the countryside and to see the windmills and a few other things. I couldn't leave Holland without seeing some real old-fashioned windmills. They serve so much more of a productive purpose than I knew. We got to go inside one of them which serves as an oil mill. The miller explained the process of crushing the grounds into powder-like flour and then cooking it and pressing them into oil. It was really neat. His main export is peanut oil. He even let us climb the ladder to view the windmill from the balcony.
It was chilly and I was ready for a cup of hot cocoa before getting back on the bus. Even the time we spent on the bus was educational. You could plug your headphones in and there was an audioguide discussing the countryside we were driving through and how Holland deals with their water management. It was full of little neat facts. And with that we were off to the fishing towns of Voloden and Marken. In Voloden, we got to see how they make the traditional dutch clogs. It was so intriguing. They used to be made completely by hand but now they are made by machine although it still needs to be operated by a person, and then they are finished off by hand. It was so cool, I video'd the process and I would love to show it to anyone interested.

  

From Voloden we took a boat across to Marken which took about 25 minutes. It was such a nice ride, they had coffees and drinks for sale. I went above deck for awhile and watched as a group of pigeons followed our trail. These little fishing towns are so precious. I would totally go back and explore them more if I had had more time.
They said the town of Marken actually gets more tourists than Amsterdam does. I can see why, it has so much charm, but a few too many souvenirs shops, in my opinion.

In Marken, we went to the Cheese Factory and learned the process of making and aging Dutch cheeses. I have never been to a cheese making demonstration, so it was neat. We even got to sample the cheeses. Unfortunately, I don't know that much about cheese so it wasn't entirely my thing, but it really interested my grandfather, so I am glad that we went.

After that we grabbed lunch. I had Dutch pea soup and while others tried the fish and chips. It was tasty. Our final stop of the day was a bakery that makes stroopwaffles. For those of you who haven't tried them, you are really missing out! I love these things. My aunt used to live in Holland and would bring them for us when she visited the States. And now I know how to make them, not sure I will be able to do that successfully but I now know. And of course I bought a box to bring home: one for me and one for my mom. That was the end of our tour- it was such a great decision to go on.

Saturday was National Tulip Day in Amsterdam. We had been told to head out to Dam Square at 11 because they would be giving out free tulips. I was imagining a lot more tulips than there were but it was still cool to experience. At 11:30, they still hadn't started giving out the tulips and we had a midday train to catch, so we didn't stay. But all and all a great visit to Holland and I am so glad I got to see it. It is different from the Western European countries I have visited thus far as it felt a lot more like a city, while still having gorgeous old architecture. We would pass so many businessmen and women headed to work, etc. But that may just be based on the cities I did visit and the touristy things I was doing.

I am excited to be back in England now. I have caught up on posting photos to Facebook and enjoyed reading my book a lot while sitting in front of the fireplace in my grandparent's living room. Emily arrives early early tomorrow morning and I shall meet her at the airport. We have so much planned for the next three weeks I am so excited. It has been nice to spend the last two days at home, as from now on, there were will be lots to see and do.

The Brunette