Beautiful Disaster...

I have determined that anywhere in Europe I am going to travel is going to require a very early morning to start the trip! Holland was no different, starting with a drive to base in the dark. Luckily the road construction was complete and I didn’t have to call Tyler for other directions this time! Since this was an organized trip done by the base we did not take the quickest means of travel, but the most economical. Our journey included an hour and a half van ride, a two hour wait at the ferry terminal, a six hour ferry ride and another hour and a half drive to the hotel, once we arrived in Holland. If there is any type of transportation to take for a six hour trip, a ferry isn’t a bad option. I was able to walk around, lie on a bench for a nap and go outside for some fresh air. It was also a good opportunity to get to know the other people we were traveling with. There were twelve people total on the trip and eight of the people are good friends that travel together quite frequently. Once we arrived at Hook of Holland we made the hour and a half drive to our hotel in the city of Leiden. Our hotel was perfectly located across the street from the train station and just minutes walk into town for restaurants. We weren’t really sure what to look for in ‘traditional’ food for this area, but it became quite obvious that if we wanted a traditional meal we would be eating at a pannekoekenhuis (pancake house)! Imagine a crepe pizza and that was the plethora of options on the menu. Anywhere from an apple pancake to a seafood pancake they had it all. It was a good experience, but not one I was so crazy about that we needed to go back on this trip. After dinner we all met back at the hotel for wine and chocolate cake to celebrate one of the travelers birthday. The best part about the wine and cake was that the gentleman that brought them is quite knowledgeable in wine and pairing it with foods. With the cake we had a very nice bottle of port and I quickly realized port was not your typical wine! I haven’t tried a port before and didn’t enjoy it as much until I started eating the cake in between sips. It wasn’t until we were finishing up that Dave (the wine guy) gave everyone the history of the wine that he mentioned that each bottled was $90! I don’t think I have ever had a glass of such expensive wine and this was the least expensive bottle he brought.

My Crepe Like Pizza Dinner

Our first full day started with one of the best European hotel breakfasts I have ever eaten. The hotel makes all of their own breads and has a good selection of hot and cold food. My favorite part was the small packets of chocolate sauce that I put on my croissant.  The sauce was similar in texture to Nutella, but was much tastier. We had a short drive to Holland’s famous Keukenhof gardens where we would spend the next few hours exploring the gardens and admiring all the different types of flowers. One thing I really enjoyed was looking at the names of some of the varieties. Never knew there was a Washington flower! At the end of our time at Keukenhof I found out the Amaryllis bulbs were for sale. Walking through the gardens I could not believe how large those flowers were and was really drawn to their beauty. Now I have two of my own that are slowly growing. They seem to be growing a little differently and I am not sure which one is correct. Hope to find out soon! The bike riding on this trip was much less than I anticipated. I was really looking forward to doing something active and it was much more of a leisurely stop and go ride. There was no biking through tulip fields either. We were across the street from the fields, but never got very close to a large blooming field. Since the biking didn’t last very long most of the group decided to take the train in to Amsterdam for the evening. Nicole (friend that I went to Germany with) and I were planning to spend the next day in Amsterdam and decided to stay behind and enjoy another evening in Leiden. Very glad we did! We had a great dinner at an Argentian steak house, another popular style of restaurant in the area. It was nice to have a relaxing evening away from the big group and finally caught up on sleep!

After another good morning breakfast we started to see more of how unorganized this organized trip was. Nicole and I had already decided we were going to spend the day in Amsterdam while the rest of the group was going to go biking again along the same trails we were on the day before. The woman that was leading the trip brought up the option, just as everyone was finishing breakfast, that we could also do a bike tour in Amsterdam. Once she provided that option she had no other information on time, location or price. Luckily the money we paid up front included all of the biking activities and we did not need to pay any more for her mistake. Biking through Amsterdam was the complete opposite experience than the day before. As you can see from the photos there are a lot of bikes in Amsterdam! Luckily we had a guide that helped us navigate to some of the biggest tourist parts of the city and taught us some of the biking etiquette! The tour was a little over an hour and we saw quite a few things; Anne Frank House, Van Gough Museum, Red Light District, High end Fashion shopping district and the smallest house in Amsterdam. There are quite a few canals in Amsterdam, similar to Venice, which made the biking trip a little difficult for some with the constant stopping and starting on an incline. At least we got baskets with our bikes today, I felt more like a local besides the bright yellow color of the rental bike. Once we were on our own the important thing Nicole and I wanted to see was the Anne Frank house. The house did not have any furniture inside to replicate how it would have been set up when it was occupied. Otto Frank asked that the house remain as it was left and instead helped oversee the making of diagrams to show how the home was furnished. We were so glad to see the site of such a famous part of history. Right outside of the Anne Frank house was a canal and a little shop that rented paddle boats. There were two other girls with us and we thought that between the four of us that we could manage an hour ride down the canals. Little did we know that the steering was incredibly difficult and we would be dodging the motorized boats. This experience definitely made up for the lack of biking the trip offered and left us ready to find something for dinner. One of the girls brought her travel books with her and we decided on a restaurant that Rick Steve’s recommended based on the promise of a good salad bar. A good hearty salad has been hard to find and this salad bar was phenomenal. There wasn’t just lettuce and various chopped veggies, we had grilled peppers and carrots, variety of pasta salads and the best crotons I have ever eaten!

A Monday evening in Amsterdam is not as lively as one of the weekend days, but I didn’t think a trip to Amsterdam would be complete without seeing what the Red Light District was all about. The little parts of the area we saw were quite interesting to say the least. When Tyler and I go back to Amsterdam together I don’t think that is a stop that we will need to make! Once was good for me. At 10 o’clock the group was meeting back at the hotel for one last night of wine and snacks. Tonight’s pairings were Pinot Noir and chocolate and an Australian Shiraz and cheese. Yum! These wines were more expensive than the port ranging from $90-$100 per bottle and much more the type that I enjoy to drink. Not sure that I will be spending that kind of money on a bottle of wine any time soon!

On our last day we had just enough time for some quick sightseeing before we had to be at the ferry. We stopped at Kinderdijk to view one of the most famous spots of working windmills. Not much to do other than get a few photos and then we were off to Delft pottery. That was a great stop! We were able to see the artists mold the pottery, draw the outline of the design on a couple pieces and see other pieces painted in the traditional Delft Blue. There were quite a few impressive pieces that I wanted to take home and decided on this tulip vase. This is a small version of this vase that was used as a status symbol years ago. I was excited to bring this vase home for a couple a reasons; one – it is really cute J and two – it is the first piece of our collection of items we have collected from our travels around Europe.

Sorry it has taken so long to get this posted. I was quite lazy on getting it finished! Now that this is up there should be quite a few more coming pretty soon as Tyler is much better at writing these quickly. We have our first long term visitor here this week. She and I went to Scotland last weekend and are off to Paris in the morning. Looking forward to the crepes!

Nicole and I at the Keukenhof Gardens

A Bike Parking Lot Downtown Amsterdam