The Student had a 5 day conference in Amsterdam, so we decided to have a leisure drive up north to experience a transition of French to Dutch culture. So what happened to Belgium in between? They are slightly more organised than the French, but less shrewd with earning tourism dollars than the Dutch. The cultural transition is obvious in the roads, as we go further up north, it gets easier to drive, from the apprehension of the road signs to the smoothness and width of the roads.
Amsterdam is pretty refreshing with those skinny houses along the river bank, not forgetting the extensive "window shopping" too. I would think a 2-3 days trip in this city is just about right. The marijuana smell makes me nausea on the streets, people smoke drugs any time and anywhere, which I really detest.
Call me contradicting, but the inconsistency in France is what makes it so romantic and one just can't get enough of. Amsterdam on the other hand is very well organised, but also very predictable. We took a tips based walking tour with Sandeman, which was very insightful and interesting, stuff that you won't know from guide books alone!I strongly recommend it for any free and easy trips to Amsterdam. However, do not book in advance unless in summer, since the booking fees do not go to the pockets of the guides who have done their job so well. Further, in other seasons, you can just pop up at their meeting point early and join them on the spot, each guide can take up to 30 pax (I think), and they have more than 1 guide doing the same tour everyday.
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| A red bricked church in Rotterdam... |
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| ...and a row of houses that look different from the typical ones in Amsterdam... |
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| We were on the way to Euro-mast for some good overview of Rotterdam |
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| It is a work trip after all, so we went to TU Delft to check out the university's environment. The campus is impressive with their facilities, housing and nearby amenities. |
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| Testimony that I'm also working.... |
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| Serenity in the campus |
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| I would certainly love to move here if the Student is studying in Delft |
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| At the town of Delft, peaceful and beautiful! |
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| The government officials in the Hague are still working on a Sunday? |
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| This is the typical river side scene in Amsterdam, which we kind of got bored of after the 3rd day. |
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| This is the building that people used to trade their goods, it is now a bar and restaurant where we chilled out in the evening. The bar tender told us not to pour the yeast from the beer bottle into our glass, otherwise, we'll have a headache the next day. Advice not proven till date. |
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| Cheese tasting is the No. 1 itinerary for us in Amsterdam. The presenter is a French, and so naturally, she pairs the cheese with mostly French wine. We came to know that the cheese in Holland are all aged and hard, which are not so strong in smell. |
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| This is a pretty neat cheese board with cutter (24 Euros), but I suppose it is not so useful for soft cheese. |
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| Starting our window shopping by the river. Being practical Dutch, they legalised prostitution to avoid it becoming an underground business whereby they'll probably run into a lot of other issues. The Dutch are really smart to legalise it, since the ladies pay taxes like a self-employed. Further, it is a business with a running cost, they have to rent the window space at about 75 Euros/day. Some windows open in bright day light to capitalise on their cost, so one can still go "window shopping" in the day. |
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| I like the Eiffel Tower condom! (1st row, 2nd one from the right) |
We had wanted to go for a "live show" performed by real couples in the red light district, but professor is here...*cough cough* stay professional....
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| It is unavoidable to see boat houses along the river bank, with a proper letter box at the gangway. There are also B&Bs on a boathouse, which is reasonably priced for a central location in Amsterdam. |
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| It was a very wet trip for us indeed, not only that Amsterdam is surrounded by water, we have rain pouring on us almost everyday too. The Eye is 1 place that we sought shelter in, and enjoyed it. There are exhibitions of short films in different eras where we can really appreciate the transition of technology and film art. |
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| To reach the Eye, we have to take a free ferry behind Central Station. The cycling culture here is overwhelming, the ferries are also designed without seats, to allow 2 wheels to get up and down the ferry with ease. Do you know what is the most rampant crime in Amsterdam? Getting knocked by a cyclist! |
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| This stretch is in the neighbourhood of Jordaan, which is actually very similar to any other parts of Amsterdam. Just that we chanced upon some pretty interesting shops along the way. |
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| After staying in Amsterdam for 3 days, I came to understand why Van Gogh's style is so grim and gloomy with peasant scenes before he picked up light and colours in France. Of course it didn't help that the weather was wet, but the colours here are indeed not as vibrant as France. |
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| My Amsterdam buddy when the men are at work! |
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| The men chilling out with us after a day of hard work.... |
We stayed in Citizen M Hotel in Amsterdam. We chose it because it is very near to RAI, and has easy access to the metro and the tram that can take us to the central area. A direct tram ride is barely 20mins. The neighbourhood is residential, although nothing much to see around here, I do appreciate the serenity and proximity to the amenities. Another plus point is that a Park + Ride carpark is just a few tram stops away.
This is by far the coolest hotel that we've stayed in. Space is always limited in hotel rooms here, but Citizen M played it very well. They have 2 tubular cubicles, 1 for shower (transparent glass door), the other for WC (opaque glass door). The bed is really huge, and can possibly fit 3 comfortably! The setting is ideal for a romantic couple...imagine bathing in a transparent glass tube..this is oh so kinky! Their accessories are also very chic. They have Citizen M's mascot, toiletries and stationery on sale in the lounge which I was very tempted to buy....and I love how our room card got transformed into a luggage tag after we checked out. Very innovative indeed! Plus, there are free films and music on the TV which makes it so relaxing to just curl up in bed in that wet weather.
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| That rag doll is their mascot...funnily ugly.. |
As part of the road trip, we also stopped by Eindhoven, 1 HR drive from Amsterdam to visit our friends. This is an industrial town famed by Philips.
I simply love our friends' apartment, comfortable size, excellent neighbourhood, and a beautiful river view.
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| 1st photo with mummy... |
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| River view from their apartment, seems like they can ice-skate on the entire river when it gets frozen. |
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| And Daddy is next... |
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| The hero of the town who contributed much to the economy here. |
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| Great dinner with a lovely family |
Belgium being in between Holland and France just can't decide what they want to be, they have the best of both worlds, and also the bad genes of both. It is also a comfortable place to visit for us, as many people speak English, just like in Holland. We drove past the little villages when we came down from Amsterdam to Brussels, and we witnessed how the architecture of the houses changes as we go down south. These 3 countries are really border-less literally, we drove into each territory without even realising it.
If I were to do this again, I would not have chosen to stay in Brussels, because Brussels sprouts are not necessarily cheaper here. No...that's not the reason...We are not city people to start with, and if we do visit one, we expect something special to take away. For us, Brussels is a place to visit not more than an afternoon. Grand Place is iconic, but that's it...further, we had a really bad experience along Rue de Bouchers when we were going for dinner. It was so stressful going through the street with waiters pestering us to go into their restaurant. When we refused their offer, our health gets cursed at. And when we do, we received the worse service ever! Seriously worse than any we received in Paris. We asked for still water, and the manager replied: "You've got a free cocktail, what else do you expect?" I don't think we deserve such treatment as we did not ask for the free cocktail, their guy who pull us in offered it to us! So if you want to have a bite, research properly....
Talking about food, Belgium fries is extraordinary....they fry them twice, so the fries are really crispy. And god knows what spices they put into the fries to make them taste so good, that we hardly had space for mussels and beer. Word of advice: Take lots of fibre for easy bowel movement...fries, chocolates and beer is a deadly combo for constipation.
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| I had the impression that chocolates in Brussels are very commercialised, these are the brands that I can also find in other countries, so what is so special about getting them here in Belgium? |
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| The covered shopping strip that served us well in the rain. |
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| This statue is a tourist scam really...what is so nice about a pissing kid in the corner. Oh well...he was a hero, but that was it... |
Bruges won hands down as our preferred town in Belgium. It is much richer in culture and architecture, and has much more to see. We also found more local handmade chocolate shops in this small town, which makes excellent pastries too.
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| The stepped gables are common sights here in Bruges. |
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| See that black structure right below the tower? That is the basilica of the holy blood. At specified timings, the church will open it's doors for visitors to view the vial that contains a drop of Jesus' blood. Legend has it that the dried blood turns to liquid every Friday for 2 centuries, which was verified by thousands of pilgrims from around Europe. The blood dried up for good in 1325. |
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| They make chocolate penis too...to be fair to both sexes.... |
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| Bruges in preparation for Christmas |
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We bought all our souvenirs from Dumon...proclaimed to be the best home-made chocolatier in Bruges. We tried their pralines and truffles, and we just can't have enough of them.
Their chocolate bread spread is also fantastic. It's not our usual Nutella...they made it with other herbs which we can't make out what, but just know that they are delicious!
Those chocolates with a spoon? They serve them with steaming hot milk, and you just dip them in to have a hot chocolate drink. There are bar seats for customers to have their drinks and sweets in the shop or to take away if you like. |
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| Doing some advertisement for Dumon... |
Lille kind of look like Brussels...this is after all a town so near to Belgium right...We didn't stop here for long, just for a short tea-break at Meert...loved their pastries!
