Blogs from North Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 9

August 20, 2019 Tourist Oh – we just LOVE this hotel! So clever how they managed to unite these “homes” into one grand and glorious hotel. The many different ways to navigate this place are truly intriguing. A hallway here a staircase there. A step up and voila, a new floor. We spent a good amount of time just “exploring”! So much fun. They have thought of everything. After our hearty breakfast (included with the room) we plan our day. First up….The Rijksmuseum. We chose to walk to the museum. Great Choice – so much more fun, and an easy way to explore Amsterdam. So many different ways to approach this city – why not see as many as possible? The museum is PACKEDwith people. One of the hazards of Summer Tourism. NEVER. AGAIN! We can ... read more

The main aim of these few days was to visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum , so more art and booking on line makes it easy. In fact the Van Gogh Museum has timed entry and is very restricted so we didn’t have much choice about when we could go and we saw many people being turned away at the door who had just rolled up !! So if any of you are planning on going there , book ahead. At the Rijksmuseum we were there before it opened which enabled us to enjoy an early morning stroll in the gardens before we entered. It is so spacious with very wide hallways that even though there are lots of people there we could enjoy getting close to most of the paintings. The famous Night Watch ... read more

We got up bright and early to catch our train to Amsterdam. Being the Canadian car travellers we are, our hosts had to convince us to take the train, especially since there was a special rail pass for train, tram and museum entry fee for only €33! They were right. We got to Amsterdam with a transfer in Utrecht in a little over an hour. The tram was right outside the Amstel train station and 10 stops later we were at the museum. Last time we were inside the Rijksmuseum was back in 1988. It has undergone some big renovations since then, I think it may have been closed for some time, but we couldn’t say what it was. The temptation was to rush into the Rembrandt chamber and the Great Hall where the Nightwatch hangs, ... read more

Yesterday we had our final breakfast at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge overlooking the watering hole from a slightly different angle than before (we were upstairs). Fanuel picked us up and, on the way to the airport, drove us through a neighborhood in Victoria Falls that was off the beaten path. We wish we could have seen more of "real" Africa as opposed to just the tourist sites, so we enjoyed this look into daily life. On the way to the airport, we were surprised that Fanuel was open with us about the state of politics in post-colonial Zimbabwe. We then made our way from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg on a flight that was delayed about an hour. Fortunately, our layover time of 6+ hours in Johannesburg allowed us not to fret. While in Johanesburg airport ... read more

Today we had planned to visit Keukenhof, which is a massive garden an hour or so by public transport south west of Amsterdam. It is otherwise known as the Garden of Europe and is one of the largest flower gardens in the world. We had carefully plotted out our route there which involved the Metro, the train and then the final leg on a bus. Issy was very excited about this visit and had been drooling at the prospect of seeing endless fields of tulips and other flowers in a spectacular landscape setting. Unfortunately her drool all dried up quite suddenly a few days ago when she Googled Keukenhof and found that it’s only open for two months of the year, and July isn’t one of them. At least one of us is on the ball, ... read more