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Published: July 10th 2010
Hello everyone, good morning!
Sorry about the delay in our first post...experiencing technical difficulties with the wifi on my iPod 😞
However!! We arrived to Amsterdam just before 7am local time (1am for us) on the 8th with less than an hour sleep on the plane for the night. From the airport we were overwhelmed by the number of locals who were eager and friendly in helping us in the right direction. We jumped a train, and found ourselves wandering the streets of Amsterdam while we waited for the locals to get out of bed and get us some bikes!! We found a small local bike rental (we'll have to send Rick Steves a message about his current recommended rental spot!) and we were on our way to explore the city. Maps on hand, we were promptly lost! What better way to explore a new area??? We found EVERYTHING!
We stopped at an incredible artistic chocolate shop...they made all their chocolate right in their kitchen on site...and they used the chocolate to build
incrediblely cute things (flowers, tools, cars, anything you can think of!). We also hit up a gelato shop....DELICIOUS!
Next, the Heineken headquarters...does that ever make cycling easier!! We had a full tour of the history of the beer, we were turned into virtual beers to go through the brewing process, we were guided through the proper tasting of beer, then we drank!!
And most of 5 hours later, we found where we were to return our bikes to! Consequently, the man who rented us the bikes said he didn't have a tour that went as far as we did...good thing this city is so flat!
We headed to Haarlem to check in and drop our bags...we sat down for a minute and woke up almost two hours later!! We only had a little of the night remaining, but we grabbed a beer in the market and people watched for awhile before bed.
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Yesterday morning we were up at 8am to a slow start. We missed our train and by the time we caught the next, we had missed the steam train to tour the watertowns of Holland. The cranky ladies at the ticket booth couldn't shake our determination though, so we caught a local bus to intersect the steam train transfer to the steam boat. We were there with time enough to explore the town the boat left from and grab some snacks for the ride! We took the boat along the coast to see the different towns. The wind mills are incredible!! We were dropped in a reconstructed old fishing town that was run as it would have been hundred of years ago. We explored the local town outside the old village, and caught a train back to the hotel.
With a little time left to explore Haarlem and experience some more local beer, we relaxed in a different market square.
* * * * *
As for this morning, after some technical difficulties with this very computer, we're heading off on a self guided walking tour and then cycling the "area" (I have no idea where Mom will have us!!). Tomorrow morning we leave for Brugges...although we have been hassled about not being here for the big soccer game (as the Netherlands is playing in the finals...for those of you who aren't following) so we're going to settle into our B&B, train back over the border into the Netherlands, watch the game, and train back to Brugges! We're set to go with a ridiculous horn/hat, orange boas, and orange flags!! We'll yell and cheer with the best of them!!! (and continue to experience new local beers!! 😉
Love to all!
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Terril
non-member comment
Woohoo!
You, go girls! I can't imagine that you were late for something! :) But problem solvers you are!