Blogs from South Holland, Netherlands, Europe - page 10

Geo: 52.0767, 4.29861After enjoying the traditional European breakfast of meats, cheeses, boiled eggs, dry cereal, yogurt, breads, jellies and spreads along with hot tea and coffee, this morning found us on the bike path from Gouda to Den Haag. It was still windy but the sun was shining. Our early morning start found us in the midst of people going to work and kids going to school, all by bike. It's amazing how young some of the kids appear to be and they are riding bikes to school. No one around here rides slowly either. Bikes are crisscrossing between different paths across streets and around corners mixing in with car traffic and trams and everyone knows where to go and how to maneuver. Another interesting fact about the bike paths here is that motor cycles and ... read more

We didn't know what to expect, but Bowen and I both agree that after 24hours on our first river cruise we love it. The ship is beautiful, cruising on a river is very smooth, the people are great, the hassle factor is almost zero, and we love the way the days are laid out. Viking plans an excursion for each day. Today, it was a trip to the UNESCO windmill site in Kinderdijk in the morning. It was a very interesting tour to an out-of-the-way place that we probably would never have visited except on a cruise like this. Then after lunch, we were cruising on the Upper Rhine. This isn't the "beautiful" part of the river, but it sure was pretty to us. It's mostly flat farm land, but it was green and lush. And ... read more

And so it begins. We left Lise's parents house at 9:15 AM. We drove to Antwerpen, where we got lost and never found what we were looking for. Driving in European cities is not an easy task. After spending about an hour being lost in Antwerpen, we finally found our way out and continued our journey to The Hague, Netherlands. We stopped in Breda, Netherlands for lunch on our way there. Breda is the first city on the border of The Netherlands when coming from the south. This makes it a popular city to visit for people that want to buy things that are only legal in the Netherlands (if you know what I mean). A good analogy would be driving to South Carolina from North Carolina to buy fireworks. We stopped at a service station ... read more

Greetings Everyone, This past week, my parents came to visit. They started off about 2.5 weeks ago by heading to Morocco, then came to the Netherlands this past Tuesday. We were all pretty tired from travelling so much in the past while, so this weekend was pretty relaxed (though my apartment is completely clean for once :D). Saturday we went for a stroll around Spui and Chinatown, followed by visiting a carnival that was set up in Plein (outside Parliament and the American Embassy). Sunday we went to the Louwman Museum - one of the greatest collections of cars in the world. Here's a link to browse through it: http://www.louwmanmuseum.nl/Ontdekken/Ontdek-de-collectie.aspx Many pictures as always. Cheers, Joel Tannas... read more

In this area used to be the old abattoir. The monumental buildings, the cow field with the bull statue, the giant photo, stone cows next to the traffic light and even street names still remind you of that. In this little triangle my home is situated. And I'm vegan. Does that fit? Ofcourse. The abattoir is gone And the art work are all living cows. Like the neighbourhood is saying: No to slaughter, be vegan!!! ;)... read more