Amsterdam and Keukenhof

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Hey everyone,

I'm back in the states and I have almost defeated my jet lag, though if you count falling asleep at 9:30pm and waking up at 7:30am is conquering it, than I'm almost there. 😊 I'm also extremely grateful that I returned before the Iceland volcano disrupted my flight to go home... phew!!

Before I get into the details of my last days in Europe, make sure you check out the Paris blog again because I finally uploaded some pictures. Okay, so here we go -

When I came back from Paris, I took a day and did absolutely nothing when I returned to Den Haag It was quite nice to be a bum and I fixed Lisa's wireless, did some laundry and watched some tv. It was extremely relaxing. But come Saturday, I started up again and met up with my cousin, Flora and her husband Robert. Flora and Robert run an import/export business of flowers and that day we went to Keukenhof, which is a beautiful garden of flowers and this time around the tulips were open in full splendor. It was great because both Flora and Robert gave me the low down of all the flowers that we saw. Needless to say, they know their flowers. 😊 I'm not sure if some of you have seen photos of Holland whenever the flowers are out, but there are fields of flowers that display some of the most vivid and stunning colors. It's amazing to see and to think that there are so many that can be in full bloom on one plot of land. I was excited not only because it was a beautiful day to see the flowers, but because I was able to test out my new macro lens (thanks eBay). I've uploaded just a few but that day I took about 200 photos of just flowers! I was extremely happy with the results.

After smelling the tulips (didn't actually see any roses), we went to the beach called Scheveningen (say that 10x fast). It was pretty cold yet I still got convinced by my cousin to have ice cream. It's basically the Santa Monica Pier of Holland. There were rows of restaurants with many occupied by the Dutch despite the cold but it was because there was sunshine that they came out to enjoy the sun. They are rebuilding the boardwalk and turns out that they buried a WWII bunker and the tunnels. I'm not sure if they are planning to keep it but from the sound of it, they're probably just going to be rid of it and start from square one.

After dinner with Lisa, I ended up staying at my cousin's. Flora and Robert live just outside of Utrecht in a town called Woudenberg. Not surprising when I entered their home, it was full of flowers in fact some beautiful orchids and roses. The next day, I rode with them ALL OVER HOLLAND. I kid you not. They have another business which is a cargo business mainly for the Filipinos living in Holland that want to ship stuff back to their families in the Philippines. So I tagged along with them to go pick up the boxes that will be shipped out. It was a lot of sitting in the car, but the sites were unbelievable. I never saw so much green concentrated in one country and we basically went to the the closest towns near the German border to Friesland, which is basically the northern most part of Holland down thru the dikes that split the North Sea from the South Sea. That in itself is an amazing feat of engineering. It basically controls the level of the water and making sure that the Netherlands doesn't get flooded. What's amazing is that driving down this road, you can clearly see that one side has a higher water level than the other. Kind of freaky, but the Dutch figured it out and despite a majority of the land technically being underwater, this is one thing that helps make the Netherlands unique and "above" water.

I soon landed back in Den Haag after driving the upper half of Holland and man there are a lot of Filipinos in Holland... haha! I know, we're everywhere. 😊

Monday I set off to Amsterdam and took the train up and met up with an old co-worker, Mario who now lives and works there. He works basically in the middle of the city and I had the opportunity to check out Guerilla Games. For the game dudes reading this, they make Fallout. Their building is pretty cool and one thing is for sure about Amsterdam is that the architecture is amazing. All the buildings are literally mushed together in a way and what's crazy is that there are a lot that are simply crooked. I would have loved to gone into one of the homes that were clearly not straight. But there are many that look pretty skinny, one picture shows the skinniest home. It actually opens up in the back but it would be cool to check that house out.

After lunch with Mario, I took the tram down to the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum. I was bummed because part of the Van Gogh museum was under renovation, particularly his Dutch period. Why?!! Nonetheless, it was still great to see his work. I saw some of his work that has made it over for exhibitions at LACMA, but there was something about seeing his pieces in his homeland that made it all the more special. My favorite in particular is his iris and the almond blossom paintings. I could stare at those for a long time.

From there I headed over to the Rijksmuseum (pronounced Rikes) which holds most Dutch art but one artist in particular, Rembrandt. I found it fascinating the success he had as a painter and there's no questioning why when you see his work. If and when you go to Amsterdam, take the audio tour that's done by a local artist. It's definitely much more entertaining than the standard reads that you get. Despite the fact that this museum is also under heavy renovation, all the major players are in there and it wasn't a disappointment. From there I headed back towards the center of the city into Dam Square and I was determined to find the Red Light District.

I read my guide book and eventually figured it all out with my map as to the direction I needed to go. I really just had to follow the numerous amounts of men that were heading there to check things out. Kind of creepy, but thankfully I followed behind some other tourists too... ha! Well, it's certainly not hard to miss because you know you're there once you see the number of erotic/sex shops in the area. What I found so bizarre is that it's situated amongst this amazing architecture and beautiful canals. But you know it's odd when you see cafe, brothel, coffee shop (really a pot shop), and then cafe and then brothel. There's no kidding that there are women in their little "closets" with the glass windows staring out for a customer. I tried to take pictures of what those look like, but they were either too dark or I got views that no one would want to see. You see, I had to hide the fact that I had the camera firing off, you can't take photos or you could be potentially beaten up by the woman or the pimp. I simply did not want to work things out should I have gotten caught. 😊 Anyway, it was pretty bizarre and creepy too because when you first see a woman, she kind of looked like a mannequin in a store window, as she stares out bleakly and then she moves and you're like, "Okay that is just weird." In my walk down the main part of the district, there was a group of guys ahead of me, and across the canal a woman in her chamber starts knocking on her window and signaling them to come on over. What was funny was that the guys were more freaked out than intrigued. It was pretty funny and they had seen me behind them and I jokingly said, "You're not gonna go over?" They laughed and said, "That's just creepy." I don't blame them. I headed back to Lisa's to clean myself of that seedy area. 😊

But I seem to not have gotten enough, as the next day I headed back early to Amsterdam and went to the Amsterdam History Museum and then back to the top of the Red Light District, where there is a church hidden in an attic of a townhouse. I know... weird right?! It's the Amstelkring Museum and in the 17th century, a wealthy Dutchman built a church in his home. This was during the time that Catholicism was illegal in Amsterdam and so Our Lord in the Attic was born. I'm not kidding really. It's pretty fascinating and yet again another museum was under renovation, but you still were able to see the church but not in it's full splendor. They hope to have it done by the end of the year, but I hope to return to see it in it's original state. I then headed over to the more posh side of the city, rather the cleaner side in terms of no sex shops.

I had a reservation to go to Anne Frank's house. It was an experience in Amsterdam that you simply cannot forget once you go there. Plus I definitely say that's it's a must see if you go to Amsterdam. We all know the story of how Anne and her family along with 4 others hid in a house during WWII. You have the opportunity to see this and to get a first hand view of where they had to hide for 2 years before they were caught. I found kind of eerie to walk through the house and rooms but it's something that you need to see because it not only shows the bravery of the family but also the heartbreak knowing that she died just a few weeks before the camp was liberated but also to know that the father, Otto, was the only one to survive. There is a room dedicated to him towards the end and there is a powerful picture of him after the war, returning to the house. What also made an impact were the videos that they had of Otto's secretary, who assisted them, along with a friend of Anne's that had seen her weeks before she died, along with Otto after the war. Out of all the museum's in Amsterdam, this one certainly had the greatest impact.

My day was coming to an end so I headed over to the canal tour, which was cool but I think it would've been better at night. There's was definitely lots to see but if and when I return I think the city would show it's colors at night. I unfortunately didn't spend a night in Amsterdam and will have to do that the next time. I then headed over to the flower market and found a tulip with my mom's name, Shirley! It was in a package that I hoped to be able to fly back but I asked and was out of luck... boo!! After shopping for a few more souvenirs, primarily cheese. I headed back to Den Haag.

It was the end of my grand adventure and no doubt was it an adventure. I would do this again in a heartbeat, but I was certainly ready after 7 weeks to come home. Believe me, I was pretty excited to see my pup, Koa but more importantly to slow down again and relax.

Thanks all for following me on my travels and I hope you enjoyed them. Next up aside for looking for a new job, is Stagecoach!! YEEHAW!! Take care everyone and until next time.... ALOOOOOHA!!

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Photos

Keukenhof #1
Bed of flowers

Keukenhof #2
That's really real

Keukenhof #3
That's real too.

In the middle of the North and south Sea
This is the road of the dikes... no not that kind. :)

Amsterdam architecture
No I wasn't crooked

Erotic musuem
Red Light District

Comments

[Eric]

I really enjoyed your Amsterdam post. I've been there but I don't remember much??? My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric