Volkenhalte: THE NETHERLANDS!

By: MJ + PJ

See our photos of this fabulous country here – PHOTOS: The Netherlands.

It isn’t far to the Netherlands from Belgium, so it was nice to have the European experience of taking a short trip to cross a country to arrive in another country. We had secured a cosy Airbnb outside The Hague, not far off a main tram line. 

Our first day was filled with visiting the Escher Museum (highly recommended for all ages), walking around the city streets looking at the people and architecture, and taking a look around the Scheveningen Beach area.

At Scheveningen Beach we went out on the covered pier, oddly enough called ‘The Pier’. AJ got some time in a huge play jungle and we waited with our backs to the glaring sun – occasionally catching a glimpse of a very optimistic surfer below us. We then walked westward along the beach looking at the sculptures and people. This walk cost us three euro – that which fell out of MJ’s pocket while he was lying on the pavement to get a photo. It was getting a bit cold so we took a tram back into the city where we walked around before calling it a day.

Day two was the main event: Keukenhof Botanic Gardens. To get there we took the regional train to Linden, then a special Keukenhof bus to and from the gardens. The weather was not looking good – it started raining as soon as we arrived. Luckily the ticketing area is sheltered, and once inside there are several pavilions in which to stay dry. Since it was quite early in the season, the gardens and local fields were in bloom, but not yet in full bloom. There was still an amazing amount of flowers to wander through, and the clogs and windmills were ripe for tourist photos. Only a few of the flower fields were in bloom but it was still quite breathtaking! Inside the main pavilion it was truly spectacular. PJ was in flower bliss as she walked through the many different types of tulips. We had no idea how many different varieties are out there! Impulsively, we tried to take a photo of every one of them!

Returning to Linden by bus, we took a short walk into and around the town for an hour. This gave the evening rush hour a chance to whizz past us – it was a bicycle rush hour on the street leading to the train station. Wandering the small but interesting canals and streets we found a windmill almost in the centre of the town. MJ declared after being in the town for about half an hour that he could certainly live there. It just had that good feel and busy but easy vibe.

Since we were passing through The Hague central train hub each day, we stopped to ask about booking our onwards train to Austria. This trip would be similar to our Barcelona-Brugge transit in that it was a long day on several trains. We were able to book our trains at this office for the entire journey using our Eurail Pass (see post on how that works). This was a pleasant surprise, and with a journey print-out provided, all we really had to do was get to the first train on time on our exit day (like our Barcelona exit train fiasco!).

Amsterdam was next on the list – a day trip to an iconic city saturated in history. (Ha!) We arrived a bit late to check in for our Sandemans tour, so got bumped a half hour to the next tour. This gave us a chance to grab a coffee and pause after the hour train ride. 

Our blunt-yoga-loving-Bolivia-visiting guide took us around a few places of interest, and explained a lot of the history and architecture. She also pointed out the problems that tourism presents a city with, and explained how in coming years the city will be quite different to what is seen now. There has been an initiative to remove souvenir shops from the city area, enabling more traditional stores to re-establish in the inner city. Additionally, the number of walking tours permitted are likely to be limited – or at least become more regulated. Ending near Anne Frank House, we parted ways and headed off toward the NEMO Science Museum. In doing so we forgot to actually go to the actual front of Anne Frank House, which we realized once back at our Airbnb in the evening!

The NEMO Science Museum is a great place to spend a half to full day with kids – there is plenty to explore and learn about and (most importantly) try. Adults will not be disappointed as there is more than enough to keep them busy as well (particularly on the upper levels). There is a central atrium in the building where twice a day they set a complicated kinetic energy system into action. It’s quite interesting and you have to pay attention to follow the events occurring in the system. One lucky kid (not ours this time!) gets to start the system.

We walked back into the city proper via a different path, wandering through The Red Light District and back towards Dam Square. A random path to be sure, but one that led us right past a bicycle bell store. This you may not be excited about, but we had been surrounded by thousands of bicycles for about 10 days – take a look at this photo:

While we had contemplated spending another day visiting Amsterdam, we felt that there was still more to see local to where we were staying. In Seville at the Real Alcazar of Seville, we had seen an exhibit on pottery styles and eras. There we had spotted a sample of Delft Blue in the exhibit. Since we knew we were headed near to Delft, we made a point to add it to our targeted experiences list. 

The town of Delft was a quick and easy train ride away. Once off the train it was about a 15 minute walk to the south east to the Royal Delft Factory and Museum. We spent almost two hours exploring the museum with the help of a self-guided audiotour. It is worth mentioning here that if you are taking frequent audio tours, you should carry your own headphones. Some audio guides come with them, but the quality and comfort can be inconsistent. Some come with no earphones and you have to hold the device to your ear… for hours. Most devices do have a earphone jack. It is best to not share an audio guide – trying to share just causes frustration and tethering issues! 

We digress! Back to the factory and museum! This factory is the last one existing from the many Delft factories of the 17th Century. The industry grew out of imitating the Chinese porcelain that the Dutch East India Company had brought back to Europe from the Far East. The variety of pieces in the museum is extraordinary to say the least. See our PHOTOS: The Netherlands to see what we are talking about. You get to walk around inside the factory part and see the various stages of the process in action. We were reminded of our time in Porto, Portugal, and the amazing painted ceramic artwork we found there in the public spaces. Delicately walking around the shop at the end you appreciate the artistry that goes into the original pieces, and why they demand such a hefty price tag! One display notes “The price of a full set of Delft Blue tableware in the golden age is the same as the price of a Porsche Carrera with golden wheel covers now”. That is about $USD300,000.00 in case you are wondering. (During the same era tulip-mania saw the cost of a single tulip bulb peak at a round $USD32,500.00!)

Gouda was our second stop for the day, which required another short two train journey. Clearly, cheese was a topic to pursue, but we had also heard about siroopwafles. The storekeeper at Kamphuisen Siroopwafles booked us in on a tour for the next hour, then rushed us out the door to see the clock mechanism in action as the hour struck on Het Oude Stadhuys. He also advised us to take a walk around the city streets and towards the main shopping street. There we stopped at a ridiculous traditional cheese shop called ‘t Kaaswinkeltje, and AJ took a brief look in the LEGO store. 

Having just been to Belgium and being blown away by waffles there, we were curious about how the Dutch defined waffles. The Kamphhuisen siroopwafles tour started with some chaos – the audiovisual was a great but the audio was a mashup. We hurriedly downloaded an app to get the English translation but this delayed the audio. On top of that we couldn’t hear our phone audio due to the surround sound volume of the Dutch audio of the video. Talk about overstimulation! The rest of the tour was interesting and fun: a giant exercise wheel to power the mixer, syrup tasting, a close cofounder with the production line, and a safe to open for the recipe. This was all followed by a giant slide back down to the main floor! The Dutch waffles are very different to the Belgian ones, but no less delicious! FYI – Siroopwafels are different from Stroopwafels. Investigate that if you wish.

It was only then that we made it to the De Goudse Waag, the “weigh house” cheese museum at the northern aspect of the main square. We watched the cheese making process at the top level, with occasional interruption by the guide to explain some of the more subtle aspects of what was seen but not explained on screen. If visiting, be sure to check out the fish on the wall of the shop to the east and investigate the story behind it. 😉

Wandering around the shops lining the square we encountered a fries store, which was very busy. As our luck would have it on this particular day, it was the grand opening and a large cone of fries was one Euro. We had ordered two cones – one with ketchup and one plain – so were happy with the price! This was an odd reward for being unable to understand the signage about the grand opening prices!

Back at our Airbnb in the evening, we packed and got organized for an early departure and a long day on the rails as we headed to the region of Bavaria.