Jam packed and all action, we spent three days in the Netherlands. Thanks to the close proximity between the main cities and an efficient transportation system we had a nice taste of Holland's degustation menu.
STARTERS:
For six weeks of the year this 15 hectare tulip garden is open for all the oldies with green thumbs to flock from around the world to view the pretty flowers. The morning we visited was happiness bundled up in sunshine.
Leiden and Delft
Two quaint old towns, home of Rembrandt and Vermeer respectively. You can tell by walking around the canals the importance of early environmental influence. Had these the artists been brought up in Amsterdam, I'm sure their artworks would've been dramatically different.
Den Haag
Having colonised Indonesia for three and a half centuries, we had a taste of traditional Indonesian cuisine in the centre of Den Haag. Having never ventured to Indonesia, the closest I've been to their cuisine is the dodgy bain-marie of Nelayan in Melbourne. This Rijsttafel (Indonesian banquet) definitely lifted the grade.. (picture below).
MAIN COURSE:
Amsterdam
Synonymous with a weekend in the The Netherlands is the city of Amsterdam. Unlike what we expected, there was no smell of weed in the air as we inhaled our first breath of air at Amsterdam Central Station.
Following up the visits to Lieden and Delft we saw the works of the great artists at the Rijksmuseum. Tip, if you are a complete tourist catch the Canal Company's boats around to the sites so you miss the long queue into the museum.
The next sight was a visit to the Anne Frank house to bring a reality to the sombre happenings in Holland's past. The secret annex, complete with the blacked out curtains, is everything as described in Anne's "Diary of a Young Girl". Seeing the rooms where her family and friends hid for two years would almost be unimaginable had it not been so passionately documented. Even without reading the book, this is well worth a visit.
Then, from past to present, at night, it was a stroll around the streets to Amsterdam's famed Red Light District. Of the 400 windows, 200 were recently bought back by the government in an attempt to bring down the market. But it's still very much alive as you walk through the streets and down alleyways. Crowds wander. Some as tourists, some as customers and plenty with their mates pushing them along. It's a people watching game from every angle. Who's looking in? Who's looking out? Who's got the money? Who's got the body? Oh, who's going into that door now?
DESSERT:
Rotterdam
Item 22: The Netherlands? CHECK!
