Blogs from Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 8

As we sit at Schiphol airport waiting to board, here are some final reflections on this trip. Not a top twenty, only 18 I think. Marion and I corroborated in these. So here they are, Netherlands best, not in order: Family, friends, people. We saw a lot of family and friends, some I saw in 2015, and some before that on other trips. All were just as welcoming as they ever were. It did not seem like I moved from here some 53 years ago. People we met along the way. Strangers. Staff in museums. Store workers. All very helpful, with a smile, and most often speaking in English. Highways. So many highways, so many interchanges. Speed limits at 130 km/hr in many cases. Fast-moving traffic, lane changes at high speed, and drivers signal lane changes ... read more

we waren ruim op tijd op Schiphok, koffer hadden we al kunnen inchecken op de parkeerplaats dus de start was goed. Op Schiphol konden wij vanwege de drukte nog niet in de lounge dus hebben we even rondgelopen. Om 11 uur mochten we daar wel naar binnen. Rond 12 uur zijn we naar onze gate gelopen en konden we meteen in de rij gaan staan, echter we gingen niet boarden. Buiten konden wij ons vliegtuig zien en bij 1 motor waren mensen aan het werken. Na ong een half uur riepen ze om dat de vlucht voorlopig vertraagd zou zijn maar 15 uur, dus behoorlijk balen. We zijn maar teruggegaan naar de lounge en toen we daar zaten zag Joyce opeens op het scherm dat de vlucht nu al zou worden uitgesteld naar 18.15 uur! Dat ... read more

It’s been feeling a bit warm here in our cosy little apartment over the past couple of days. We didn’t think this was our imagination, which was confirmed when our host Paul came knocking on the door late yesterday afternoon armed with an evaporative cooler. He told us that we’ve landed here in the middle of a serious heatwave and that some experts are predicting that the day after tomorrow, when it’s currently forecast to be 36C, could break the record for Amsterdam’s hottest ever day. He looked a bit frazzled. We head off towards this morning’s destination which is the Van Gogh Museum. It does seem fairly warm even by our Aussie standards, and a few Amsterdamers we pass look like they might be at serious risk of melting into the footpath. I had to ... read more

We wake up to the sound of heavy rain. Issy decides on a morning of domestics so I head out into the downpour alone. Indoor destinations are looking attractive so I make my way towards a couple of interesting looking churches, safe in the knowledge that these wouldn’t have been on any of Issy’s itineraries. I stumble across Rembrandtplein Square which is dominated by a very large cast iron statue of the great master. I read that it was first unveiled here in 1852 which makes it the oldest statue that’s still standing anywhere in Amsterdam. Twenty two bronze statues that represent the characters from Rembrandt’s masterpiece “The Night Watch” stand at the foot of the main statue and have only been added in the last decade or so. I stop to take some happy snaps ... read more

Issy and I realise that neither of us know a single word of Dutch, so we consult the Google oracle to try to learn at least a few rudimentary phrases. We start with “hello”. The oracle tells us that the Dutch word for this is “hallo”. We are very encouraged; we think that we’ve probably got some chance of remembering this. We hope that perhaps all Dutch words will be similar to their English equivalents. Now that we can successfully greet people we need to move on to working out what to say if we want something. The oracle tells us that the Dutch word for “please” is ”alsjeblieft”. This is slightly less encouraging. After further research we decide that the best we can hope for is that if we say “hallo” often enough the locals ... read more