What's a European Vacation if You Don't Visit a Castle? - Our Day at Muiderslot

I've always felt that if you're going to go to Europe, not only do you have to immerse yourself in the culture, eat all the wonderful food - but you also have to absorb the history.  And the best way to do that is to visit historical places.  With this in mind during our trip to Holland, Hubs, Bae and I went to visit Muiderslot - a castle located at the mouth of the river Vecht, about 10 miles outside of Amsterdam.

Muiderslot - August 2014

Pannenkoeken - Heaven on Your Tongue in Holland

A pannenkoek or pannekoek is a Dutch style of pancake - one that you absolutely must partake of if you ever visit the Netherlands.  Pannekoeken are traditionally much larger (up to a foot in diameter), and thinner than they are in the good old U-S of A.  Not just that, but they also add just about anything on top to enhance the flavor of the pancake.

We went to the Pannnekoekschip (Pancake ship) which is situated in a canal in the Dutch town of Groningen.  

Pannekoekschip, Gronigen, Netherlands - August 2014

Getting Up to Mischief in the Red Light District in Amsterdam

This week, my sister in law volunteered to babysit so Hubs and I could do some adult type activities in Amsterdam.  We rode our bikes into the train station again, but missed the first train by two minutes (luckily they come every half hour). We hadn't purchased our tickets in advance, but there was a machine.  Then we discovered that the machine only took coins or Maestro (the European version of Mastercard). The restaurant next door told us that the train's "Chief" should have change. He didn't. But he let us take the train anyway - because we'd tried our best. We had money, we just couldn't use it.  

This is the outside if the train station (as an aside, on the way home in the train the last trip, I fiddled with my new camera and tried out some of the non-auto modes on this trip.  It has a panoramic mode that was perfect for Amsterdam). 

Amsterdam Train Station, August 2014

Batavia Stad Fashion Outlet and Bataviawerf

This week we went to the mall in Lelystad, Holland - it's an outdoor mall called Batavia Stad Fashion Outlet. There are a lot of high end stores at the mall. So far, it's the closest thing I've seen to an American mall. It was a contemporary town square though - with cobbled stones walking you to all your favorite higher end stores including Addidas, Asics, Converse, Lee Jeans, Levis, Hugo Boss and more.  And there's a McDonald's that has McKrokets (the croquettes that are very Dutch) and freits with special sauce (mayonnaise). 

Batavia Stad, Netherlands - August 2014

How We Got the Golden Ticket in Amsterdam

We rode our bikes to the train station and caught the train to Amsterdam on our fifth day in the Netherlands. My in-laws live about an hour outside of the city.  It was an overcast day, but the rain held off until we went home.

When we arrived, the train station was bustling with people going everwhere. The train station felt familiar - it had the same vibe as any large station in North America.  The floors were white and sparse, there were stores and food outlets in the hallway below the platform, the scents and smells you expect in a big city.  The building, from the outside, was absolutely stunning.

What Good is a Food Vacation if You Don't Try the Food the Country is Famous For??

Wednesday, we decided that our food journey was lacking something traditionally Dutch.  Cheese!!  So we decided to pay a visit to the Dutch city that's famous world wide for it's cheese - Edam.  

The city is by far one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. The narrow, winding cobbled streets, the quaint little houses all tucked on top of each other, the deep, dark canals ducking under wooden bridges.  We parked just outside them main city and walked in, following the throngs on tourists who were there for the same reason as us - Edam (the cheese). 

Inside the city there were plenty reminders of days gone by.  People in traditional costume.  Clogs.  Beautiful canals and gardens.  I really just couldn't get enough.

Bergen aan Zee - A Day at the Beach

On Monday, we ventured out to the sea. Now, prior to leaving, I had planned on packing my swimsuit - but hubs advised we weren't likely to go swimming. And suddenly we find ourselves on a beach at the ocean. And the water was warm enough to swim.  Sigh.

Observations?  Dutch people are F-I-T.  Wow.  There were some nice bodies at the beach.  And they had no issues with their bodies at all.  Not that I was looking.

As well, they don't have all the hang ups Americans have about their children swimming naked.  A number of the younger children I saw weren't wearing clothes.  A girl without a top.  A boy without a bottom.  A couple of naked 7 year old twins, blonde as can be playing in the sand and the tidal pools.  And more.  And they were having fun and not worrying about it.  (And I really hope I didn't stare...I was just so happy to see them having so much fun and not worrying about it, and it is such a rare sight for an American like me).  

Our Day at the Zuiderzeemuseum

Yesterday we visited a town called Enkhuizen (ank-hous-en) in Holland to see an open air museum (similar to your local pioneer village) called the Zuiderzeemuseum (z-ider-zay-museum).  Enkhuizen was one of the most important harbour cities of the Netherlands in the mid-17th century.  But as the harbours silted up, it lost it's top spot to Amsterdam.  

The Zuiderzee Museum was created in 1948 as a way to teach people about the fishing culture around the former Zuiderzee. The Zuiderzee was cut off from the North Sea in 1932 and it became an inland sea.  To preserve the cultural heritage, 130 historical buildings were preserved in the open-air section of the museum.  The insides have been preserved - there's a carpenter's house, a fisherman - you can see the furniture they would have used.  It was fairly ornate - but the houses were very small.  Most of them had an indoor well just inside the door.  The floors were wood.  And they had lovely gardens.  Some of the buildings contained modern art installations.

Big Things in Holland...Huge!

Hey guys!   I know this isn't normally a travel blog, but as I'm travelling, thought I would share some of my experiences.

Holland is an absolutely beautiful country and the people here are very friendly.

Observations so far:  

1. Many (if not most) people speak at least some English.  Especially those in the service industry.  A lot of the signs are in English as well.
2. The land here is very flat.  People depend on their bikes as a mode of transportation around town - but everyone seems to have a car anyway.  
3. The streets are quite narrow - I'm glad my husband is driving, as (a) I don't drive standard and (b) I'd be scared to death of hitting one of the many people on bicycles.  They don't have stop signs - they have "priority roads".  If you're approaching a priority road from a non-priority road, there is a houndstooth type marking at the intersection of your road - and you have to give right-of-way to the priority road.
4. Although she's in a suburban area, with some nice homes and reasonable sized lots, my sister-in-law is obsessive about making sure that the doors are locked - especially at night.  And the locks are incredily secure on all the doors.  But for some reason, you can leave your bike unlocked in the middle of town and walk away for several hours. 
   
5. As people are so dependent on their bicycles for transportation, apparently the Dutch are not likely to have travelled around their own country.  I have met several people (and my husband suggests it's his experience as well) who were not familiar with towns that were less than an hour away by car.
6. I may have told you before, but hubs, who is part Dutch, is huge.  The huge apparently comes from the Dutch.  They don't have little finches like we do at home.  They have huge birds.  And the spiders.  Well, the less said about the spiders the better.  Because huge f*king spiders.
7. I assume, in part, because of (2), people here are not as large as Americans (read people of Walmart).  Although I don't understand that because:
8. The food is AWESOME.  I'm sure I'm already up at least 3 pounds.

Today we went to the town of Hoorn which neighbors the town where my sister-in-law and her husband live.  There is an open market near the city centre.  We wandered around for a few hours and picked up some fish for dinner.  The market is an interesting site - vendors peddle clothing, fresh vegetables and fruit, fish and flowers.  Lots of beautiful flowers.

They have little bright red round berries (which I didn't get a picture of - these are cherries) - that I've never seen in the states.  I don't know what the equivalent is (any Dutch readers out there?) but the sign in Dutch translated to red berries.

This was the cafe we ate at in Hoorn.  That elaborate building on the far right (and likely the Westfries Museum beside it) is over 400 years old.  Most of the buildings are.  In the cities, they're packed fairly close together, and homes are tucked down narrow alleyways.  We've been in a few areas where they're actually starting to lean into the road, like Pisa.  I didn't get a picture, but I will try within the next couple of days.

We picked up our fish at this vendor:

We also picked up stroopwafels.  They're a Dutch type of cookie made with syrup that my husband introduced me to at home - but they make them FRESH at the market.  I restrained myself and only had one.  But it was the size of four.  This was the stand.

And yesterday (yes, this deserves a paragraph of it's own), we had friet und mayo.  French fries with mayonnaise.  Not just mayonnaise,  Dutch mayonnaise.  Which is awesome.  A-MAY-ZING.  

The Dutch word for cheese is kaas.  I love kaas.  And Dutch kaas is amazing.  We got some Gouda today.  There is a town in Holland that the cheese is named for.  We will definitely be going there.  And Edam.

Tot zeins!  More adventures to come!

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