T has two week holidays for Easter at school. And his grandmother is visiting us. So there's no question of going to the daycare during this time. So I thought, it was a good time to go somewhere out and hence I planned a family vacation, well in advance. This time, I planned to go to the Netherlands, which is the western neighbor of Germany. We have covered almost all the neighbors of Germany like Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Luxembourg. We are yet to go to Denmark which is to the north of Germany and to Poland, which is to the East of Germany. I had heard a lot about Amsterdam and the Tulip Gardens and whenever I saw or heard the song from the movie "Silsila", the desire to go there would surge very strongly. Every person who has grown listening to Bollywood songs of the '80s knows what I am talking about.
Check out the song here.
देखा एक ख्वाब तो ये सिलसिले हुए
Day 1:
We started on Monday, the 15th of April at about 8:30 am by our car and reached the rented cottage (through Air B&B) by about 3 pm. It was a small village with nice houses and smiling and greeting people. The landlady was there to receive us. She showed us around the house and left in some time. We had the whole house to ourselves along with a kitchen and a separate bedroom for 2 members. We went to Aldi which was in another town and bought stuff for daily use like bread, butter, cheese, etc. We ate dinner, cooked at home and retired at about 9 pm.
Day 2:
We planned to do Amsterdam that day and as the city is very crowded, we decided to park the car in a parking garage and then take a Metro to the central station. There is a very good system of P+R there where we could also buy the tickets to Metro at a very cheap rate. We parked at the Europaplein station and reached Central station at about 12 pm by taking a train. The train was clean and fast and the best way to know the city is to travel by public transport, I think. I was overwhelmed to see the crowd when we got down at the Central station. It was a holiday season and people from all around the world like us had obviously come here to see the city and the surrounding areas. We gathered info at the Info desk and headed towards the old church from where we were going to take the walking tour. But before that, T wanted to have some food. So we went to a Chinese restaurant and had lunch there. The walking tour started at 1:15 pm. The guide, Marcella was a young student and she spoke impeccable English. We introduced ourselves and joined the tour. Check out their website here https://freedamtours.com/. We went around the city for almost 2.5-3 hrs and she gave us details about the history, culture, and cuisine of the country. She took us to see the university and a few other important places. We came to a place called Dam square which was a huge square right in front of a palace, which didn't really look like one. It was crowded too. We spent some time there, hanging around and then T got bored and wanted to go home. We walked a lot that day. We went to a Cheese museum and tasted different types of cheese there. A also bought a type of cheese and a pineapple spread. We again caught the train and came back to where we had parked the car. Drove back home at around 6 pm. There are many places in Amsterdam, especially museums, which I couldn't visit this time like e.g. The Anne Frank Haus, The Van Gogh museum, Vondelpark, etc. Maybe next time with only my girlfriends ;)
Day 3:
My sister Shreya is a traveler. She picks up these nice little places and goes there. She had suggested Giethoorn, a place around 120 km from Amsterdam which is called the Venice of the Netherlands. It has canals and people there travel in these canals with the help of boats. We walked a bit along the side of the canal and then had a pizza at a Pizzeria. After lunch, we had ice cream and walked back to the tour operator, who had guided canal tours. I paid the money and waited for the next boat at about 3 pm. Surprisingly all the people who took the ride at that time were Asians. Indians, Bangladeshis, and Vietnamese. We had coffee on board and the weather was quite pleasant. Clouds and sun took turns and it was not too hot. The guide spoke English and explained to us in a very funny way about the village Giethoorn. The spring was in full bloom and the houses were neat and picturesque. We saw a lot of Chinese tourists there. There were also Germans and Americans. People were clicking photos almost in every nook and corner. The beauty of such things could be only etched in the mind and memory forever. No camera in this world can replicate what the eyes see. T and A even steered our boat for some time and took us into a big lake, which was equally beautiful and desolate and had no visitors. The boat ride took about an hour and after that, we immediately headed back home with nice memories of the place. Thanks, Shreya for recommending this place!
Day 4:
We reserved this bright and sunny day for the ultimate attraction of the Netherlands, the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens. Check out the website here https://keukenhof.nl/en/. One can also book tickets online and avoid the long queues. Being a holiday season, it was flooded as expected. Once we entered into it, we were mesmerized and captivated by the sheer beauty of the different types of Tulips there. The color palette was visible in abundance there and we were not sure how many photos to take and of which colors of flowers. In the first half an hour, we tried to capture maximum photos but realized later that it is futile. The best way is to absorb the beauty with these pair of eyes and enjoy it when we are in the park. How many photos could one possibly take? 1 GB, 6 GB, 14 GB space would not have been enough to capture the beauty of every single species of flowers there. There were tourists from all over the world but not a single flower was plucked or wasted or stolen. It was quite remarkable how the place was maintained with such an inflow of people within the two months when the garden is open to the public. The song from Silsila came back to me and my wish of seeing this garden was duly fulfilled and I was thankful to A for bringing me here. We left at about 4 pm and were back home at about 5 pm. We rested a bit and then went to a couple friend from Bangalore who is now in a town called Amstelveen, near Amsterdam. We chatted, had dinner and came back at 9 pm. Next day was the ride back home.
Day 5:
We started at about 10:15 pm and reached home at about 5:30 pm. It was a very long and tiring journey. Almost all the highways were full and there was traffic jam almost everywhere. It was quite sunny and hot and we almost got a sunburn. It felt good to be back to Germany, in a familiar surrounding and home is after all sweet, no matter what. We had a quiet dinner and slept off early as everyone was tired.
The week was spent well. We covered three destinations with a child of 7 years and a senior citizen. We walked a lot, tried nice and soft bread there. We also tried the famous yogurt there which comes in tetra packs like milk. Gouda cheese is also famous there, which we tried too! Overall, a nice and memorable trip with a lot of good things and good memories etched forever.
The Netherlands - Check
Next Destination - Keep guessing!
Check out the song here.
देखा एक ख्वाब तो ये सिलसिले हुए
Day 1:
We started on Monday, the 15th of April at about 8:30 am by our car and reached the rented cottage (through Air B&B) by about 3 pm. It was a small village with nice houses and smiling and greeting people. The landlady was there to receive us. She showed us around the house and left in some time. We had the whole house to ourselves along with a kitchen and a separate bedroom for 2 members. We went to Aldi which was in another town and bought stuff for daily use like bread, butter, cheese, etc. We ate dinner, cooked at home and retired at about 9 pm.
Day 2:
We planned to do Amsterdam that day and as the city is very crowded, we decided to park the car in a parking garage and then take a Metro to the central station. There is a very good system of P+R there where we could also buy the tickets to Metro at a very cheap rate. We parked at the Europaplein station and reached Central station at about 12 pm by taking a train. The train was clean and fast and the best way to know the city is to travel by public transport, I think. I was overwhelmed to see the crowd when we got down at the Central station. It was a holiday season and people from all around the world like us had obviously come here to see the city and the surrounding areas. We gathered info at the Info desk and headed towards the old church from where we were going to take the walking tour. But before that, T wanted to have some food. So we went to a Chinese restaurant and had lunch there. The walking tour started at 1:15 pm. The guide, Marcella was a young student and she spoke impeccable English. We introduced ourselves and joined the tour. Check out their website here https://freedamtours.com/. We went around the city for almost 2.5-3 hrs and she gave us details about the history, culture, and cuisine of the country. She took us to see the university and a few other important places. We came to a place called Dam square which was a huge square right in front of a palace, which didn't really look like one. It was crowded too. We spent some time there, hanging around and then T got bored and wanted to go home. We walked a lot that day. We went to a Cheese museum and tasted different types of cheese there. A also bought a type of cheese and a pineapple spread. We again caught the train and came back to where we had parked the car. Drove back home at around 6 pm. There are many places in Amsterdam, especially museums, which I couldn't visit this time like e.g. The Anne Frank Haus, The Van Gogh museum, Vondelpark, etc. Maybe next time with only my girlfriends ;)
Day 3:
My sister Shreya is a traveler. She picks up these nice little places and goes there. She had suggested Giethoorn, a place around 120 km from Amsterdam which is called the Venice of the Netherlands. It has canals and people there travel in these canals with the help of boats. We walked a bit along the side of the canal and then had a pizza at a Pizzeria. After lunch, we had ice cream and walked back to the tour operator, who had guided canal tours. I paid the money and waited for the next boat at about 3 pm. Surprisingly all the people who took the ride at that time were Asians. Indians, Bangladeshis, and Vietnamese. We had coffee on board and the weather was quite pleasant. Clouds and sun took turns and it was not too hot. The guide spoke English and explained to us in a very funny way about the village Giethoorn. The spring was in full bloom and the houses were neat and picturesque. We saw a lot of Chinese tourists there. There were also Germans and Americans. People were clicking photos almost in every nook and corner. The beauty of such things could be only etched in the mind and memory forever. No camera in this world can replicate what the eyes see. T and A even steered our boat for some time and took us into a big lake, which was equally beautiful and desolate and had no visitors. The boat ride took about an hour and after that, we immediately headed back home with nice memories of the place. Thanks, Shreya for recommending this place!
Day 4:
We reserved this bright and sunny day for the ultimate attraction of the Netherlands, the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens. Check out the website here https://keukenhof.nl/en/. One can also book tickets online and avoid the long queues. Being a holiday season, it was flooded as expected. Once we entered into it, we were mesmerized and captivated by the sheer beauty of the different types of Tulips there. The color palette was visible in abundance there and we were not sure how many photos to take and of which colors of flowers. In the first half an hour, we tried to capture maximum photos but realized later that it is futile. The best way is to absorb the beauty with these pair of eyes and enjoy it when we are in the park. How many photos could one possibly take? 1 GB, 6 GB, 14 GB space would not have been enough to capture the beauty of every single species of flowers there. There were tourists from all over the world but not a single flower was plucked or wasted or stolen. It was quite remarkable how the place was maintained with such an inflow of people within the two months when the garden is open to the public. The song from Silsila came back to me and my wish of seeing this garden was duly fulfilled and I was thankful to A for bringing me here. We left at about 4 pm and were back home at about 5 pm. We rested a bit and then went to a couple friend from Bangalore who is now in a town called Amstelveen, near Amsterdam. We chatted, had dinner and came back at 9 pm. Next day was the ride back home.
Day 5:
We started at about 10:15 pm and reached home at about 5:30 pm. It was a very long and tiring journey. Almost all the highways were full and there was traffic jam almost everywhere. It was quite sunny and hot and we almost got a sunburn. It felt good to be back to Germany, in a familiar surrounding and home is after all sweet, no matter what. We had a quiet dinner and slept off early as everyone was tired.
The week was spent well. We covered three destinations with a child of 7 years and a senior citizen. We walked a lot, tried nice and soft bread there. We also tried the famous yogurt there which comes in tetra packs like milk. Gouda cheese is also famous there, which we tried too! Overall, a nice and memorable trip with a lot of good things and good memories etched forever.
The Netherlands - Check
Next Destination - Keep guessing!
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