Things you see everything in Netherlands

Eindhoven

• bikes
• canals
• cafes
• beer
• brown

Things you see everywhere in Netherlands

Rotterdam

• funky buildings
• McDonalds
• architecture
• boats
• docks

Day 2 23/3/08 - Netherlands

Rotterdam

Highlight

• The boat arrived late, and I couldn’t sleep because of the noise as we were really close to the stairs and the lifts, and every time the lifts arrive, it makes a big “ding” sound.
• The coach for Rotterdam only left at 9:40, most of the people went to Amsterdam, it only took 30 minutes to get to the city centre.
• Rotterdam surprised me. It was very pretty, with nice architecture. The sun was not but it was very cold, and certainly not many people out and about on Easter Sunday.
• The tourist info was very good, we picked up a few guides.
• Dropped by ALL the Maccas, there seems to be one on every block, just to get warm.
• Looked at an old church, but it wasn’t opened.
• The highlight was the funky cube house, which reflected the forward thinking nature of their architecture.
• Took a walk along the harbour, really nice and peaceful.
• Couldn’t find any place open for lunch.
• Cheered on riders of some bike race with big foam hands.
• We wanted to go to this restaurant for apple pie and afternoon tea, but it was booked out, so we got chips instead.
• We thought we would find stuff open in Chinatown, but I was disappointed. Only a few places were opened, and they were all doing a roaring trade. Who knew there was such a huge Asian community in Rotterdam? It seemed like every single Asian has come out for yum cha, as we couldn’t get a table at all.
• As it was already 1:40, and I was anxious to get to the museums, we left Shan & Aileen, and headed to the Architecture Institute (NAI).
• It was nearly 2pm when we got there, and Slokky had already made me mad.
• The display though was very interestingly presented. The highlight was definite the Schov house, a 1930s house that was way ahead of its time.
• Back to Chinatown for takeaway noodles before boarding the boat.
• More cards and chocolate before dinner, which tasted very bad and not because we were prejudiced either.
• More cards, cocktails and a good piano player at the lounge before bed.

Food

• cardamom cake
• tomato baguette (£.49)
• chocolate and cream waffle (€2.50)
• McDonalds bitenballen
• chips with tomato and mayo
• Japanese udon fried with seafood (€12.50)
• Fried beef noodles (€10)
• P&O dinner:
  • bread roll
  • Field mushrooms with bacon & Lancashire cheese
  • Char-grilled rib-eye steak, Bearnaise sauce
• Sea Breeze cocktail: vodka, cranberry, grapefruit
• Fruit Paradise cocktail: Malibu, pineapple, orange, Chambord

Day 3 14/4/08 - Netherlands

Arcen -> Weeze -> London

Highlight

• Slokky didn’t ask about check out, so we didn’t know what to do with the keys.
• We almost got locked out as he put the key in the slot and we couldn’t open the front door, which was locked. Luckily I was smart enough to try to unlatch the door, while Slokky panicked and didn’t listen to me.
• The flight was on time for once.

Food

• cherry and strawberry yoghurt
• sandwiches of cheese, salami and ham
• orange

Day 2 13/4/08 - Netherlands

Best -> S’Herb -> Veghel -> Boekel _> Gemert _> Venray -> Arcen -> Well -> Arcen

Highlight

• Tried to look around Best. Besides a semi interesting church, there was nothing around.
• S’Hersh, as usual, dead on a Sunday, but it’s a pretty town, so even window shopping was fun.
• Lovely market square with lots of beer house and café.
• Had to wait for all the museums to open.
• Highlight definitely St John’s church, but we couldn’t go in as there was a service on.
• Walked by the canal for the same funny houses.
• The Citadel was boring.
• Walked to because Slokky didn’t know the opening times.
• Walked back to the museum to learn a brief history.
• SM is a modern design museum, very cool.
• We couldn’t find any herrings or fries place that was open, so we just ate cake for lunch.
• Trip down the brown, flat countryside. There was a nice church and building at Veghel.
• Absolutely nothing at Boekel.
• Gemert was interesting. Very good location castle, even if not elaborately decorated.
• Venray for WWII cemetery. There were 3 Aussies buried there.
• Arcen to check in our hotel. It’s in the roof of the building and quite charming.
• Walked around the small town of Arcen, very popular with the tourists, who were all eating ice-cream!
• Kasteeltunen was more touristy but otherwise looked like the other castle.
• Dinner at the charming riverside restaurant. It was much more classic and much less English. People seem to be locals. A guy came to talk to us about his travels to China.
• The food was again quite slow, but there wasn’t a huge lull like the other place. We got to try two different menus.
• The chef greeted us as we parted, so that was very cool.

Food

• butter cake
• apple
• dinner at Brenin:
  • tuna with tomato and lobster salad
  • asparagus soup with shrimps
  • fish with prawn and asparagus
  • tuna and other fish 3 ways
  • smoked fish with truffle mash and asparagus
  • brioche, white rye, seed, tomato bread
  • duck breast and mash, beans and bok choy
  • lamb chop with pesto, lamb cutlet, sausage, cabbage
  • chocolate 4 ways: brownie, aero, terrain, mousse
  • mango terrain, vanilla ice-cream, cream and dried mango

Day 1 12/4/08 - Netherlands

London - > Eindhoven -> Best

Highlight

• Another very early morning start. Especially since we had to pick up a new camera after the thief took ours.
• Eindhoven airport really only serves Ryanair. It is very small.
• Caught the bus downtown to pick up the car, got an Audi.
• Drove to PSV stadium, took some photos, visited the store, got some nice red socks for Slokky (which can be seen in photos of the Peak District), for €10, then walked to the city.
• Dropped by Media Centre to get a camera case for the camera.
• Walked through department stores and shops on the way to the tourist info. Got a cute light bulb egg holder and Eindhoven t-shirt as souvenirs.
• Walked to the market square, lots of Chinese restaurant looked dodgy.
• Looked at church, which was quite nice.
• Went to Hema and got yummy butter tart.
• Considered going to get chips, but the places were not that appealing.
• Van Abbey museum – modern art, very cool but hard to understand.
• Walked around the park and admire the hanging trees.
• De Bengen – with very cool shops, kinda alternative.
• <> museum, old and not much to see, but situated in a church.
• Back to the shops. Hema for more food, not many other shops were opened, so we were bored.
• Walked around the vast “Phillips” area. Afterall, Eindhoven is the birthplace of the Philips light bulb.
• Waited in the car anxiously for dinner.
• The restaurant is situated at the stadium. It was very cool as you can see into the stadium. As expected for a one Michelin star place, it was very formal. But alas, the style didn’t reflect the quality.
• Dinner was very formal though, but we were disappointed. I had to complain as it took one hour between the starter and the main, but my concern wasn’t even addressed. They just kept saying it was coming very soon.
• The highlight was definitely the starter with the cucumber and the crab. The quail was too dry.
• Because of the long wait, I couldn’t really enjoy myself. We spent from 7 until 11 there
• So, another very tiring day. And we didn’t get to use the NH Best facilities.

Food

• malteasers
• organic apple juice
• butter tart (€1.60)
• Avant Garde dinner:
  • cheese toast, spice cake, bacon sour cream on cracker
  • salmon with beans in tuna broth and wasabi
  • snail foam with wasabi, goose liver mousse with millefeuille
  • brioche, white toast, herb
  • cucumber sorbet on king crab, king crab with cumquat ice, crab with wasabi jelly
  • monkfish with fried sardine and langoustine and blood orange
  • blood orange ice sorbet
  • quail with truffle sauce and sardines and lobster in its own gravy
  • pineapple rollup, curried pineapple soup, crème brulee parcel with caramelized pineapple
  • mint marshmallow

Day 3 5/5/08 - Netherlands

Schipol -> Amsterdam -> Schipol -> London

Highlight

• Another beautiful day, but after the outing of yesterday, we couldn’t get up in time to explore.
• Another breakfast feast, then off to get our bikes from Central station.
• First stop, the Rijksmuseum. This was not really what I expected. Besides having a lot of Rembrand, and the highlight being The Night Watch, the rest was quite boring.
• Checked out the Liberation Day festival at Museumplein. Slokky tried to win a prize by kicking a soccer ball at a target, but of course he missed all 5 goes. Never mind, we got some soccer whistles as a consolation. The rest of the festival seems to be all these human rights or animal rights or other sorts of activists projecting their cause, so it wasn’t very interesting at all.
• Quick stop at Albert to stock up on the waffle
• Rode to Tempo Doeloe to try to get a reservation, and luckily, they have space!!
• Returned our bikes, walked through the Red Light District (and the girls work all hours) to Museum Amstelkring Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic). This is known for having a church built inside a house, in the period where practising cathelics in the open was illegal.
• With some time to spare, we decided to go to Museum Willet-Holthuysen, which was the most on the way place. This was basically a rich person’s house, complete with their period furnishing. The garden was a highlight, otherwise it was quite boring.
• Walked around the funky shops along , including some very cool clothing stores.
• Finally the kitchen was open, so we could eat and still make it back in time for the plane.
• Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to sample the menus, but settled on trying their “very hot” beef rendang (which was, as they said, very hot) and a delicious array for the ricetable. I couldn’t believe it, but this was about 10 times better than the food I had yesterday. Finally, some heat in the food.
• Unfortunately, we were to find out later, we would get indigestion from eating the rendang, but it was worth it!
• Plane delayed for about 30 minutes, otherwise another uneventful trip home.

Food

• Sheraton breakfast:
  • smoked salmon
  • pancake
  • pastries
  • croissant
  • cheese
  • cold cut
  • shrimp
  • pate
  • fruit
  • muesli
  • yoghurt
  • scrambled egg
  • bacon
  • baked beans
  • mushrooms
  • sausages
• Dinner at Tempo Doeloe:
  • Rijsttafel Stimoelan - Small ricetable consisting of:
    • Sawi Toemis (Chinese cabbage with Indonesian herbs)
    • Daging Semoor (beef with tomatoes in a mild soy sauce)
    • Gadon Dari Sapi (beef in creamy sauce with coconut cream and fresh coriander)
    • Ora Arie
    • Oerapan (dry, ground coconut mixed with fresh vegetables)
    • Sambel Goreng Boontjes (string beans in tasty sauce)
    • Sambel Goreng Oedang (tiny shrimp in tasty sauce)
    • Kelia Dari Sapi (beef in medium sauce with cream of coconut, tjabeh, kemirie)
    • Sateh Ajam (skewers with chicken, charcoal broiled, with a tasty peanut sauce)
    • Petjel (various fresh vegetables with a tasty sweet and sour sauce)
    • Emping (crispy chips from belindjonuts)
    • Seroendeng (grated, fried coconut with peanuts)
    • Atjar Tjampoer (sweet and sour Indonesian salad)
    • Kroepoek (crispy shrimp bread)
    • white and yellow rice
  • Daging Rendang - beef cooked in tasty, hot sauce with cream of coconut

Day 2 4/5/08 - Netherlands

Schipol -> Amsterdam -> Schipol

Highlight

• Had so much trouble trying to get a bike. The ones at the hotel were mountain bikes and I couldn’t adjust the seat. Our normal hire shop had nothing my size, in the end, I had to get a kid’s bike.
• By the time we got to Museum Het Rembrandthuis, it was almost 12pm, which meant the whole city of tourist has come out to play. The weather was glorious again, quite hot really, so we had to avoid all the tourist who accidentally step into the bike lanes.
• The house itself was very boring, there aren’t even any famous Rembrandts there!!
• Bumped into Joelle and Wendy on the way to the Van Gogh Museum.
• Just like last time, the VG was excellent. There were lots of people, so I had to push through the crowd to see anything, but I really like the exhibition, especially John Everett Millais, of Ophelia fame.
• There was still sunshine left, so rode to Vondel Park. Yet again, filled with people enjoying the sunshine. Makes me miss BBQs.
• We stopped to have a lie down and to listen to some music.
• Pass the very small Remembrance Day silent march.
• We wanted to go to Tempo Doeloe for dinner, but it was packed, so we went to the offshoot place instead.
• Food was ok, a little sweet, but the rice table with all the different varieties was fun.
• Also observed 2 minutes of silence at 8pm.
• Tried to go to the coffeeshop De Dampkring, where scenes from Oceans 12 were filmed. The place was packed, with tourists and locals alike. They had the scene from the movie on rotation, and I actually remember the scene.
• So yet again, we had to go to an offshoot, Abaxus, which was relatively empty.
• This place was definitely for beginners, with muffins and brownies available, as well as spiced drinks. I decided to start off easy by getting 1 spiked milkshake and having 1/3 of a muffin (they were out of brownies). You have to wait for the stuff to get to your bloodstream, but I felt nothing, so we went back to the hotel instead.
• Tried to use the spa and sauna but it was already closed, so that was a waste.

Food

• Sheraton breakfast:
  • smoked salmon
  • pancake
  • pastries
  • croissant
  • cheese
  • cold cut
  • shrimp
  • pate
  • fruit
  • muesli
  • yoghurt
  • scrambled egg
  • bacon
  • baked beans
  • mushrooms
  • sausages
• apple
• banana
• dinner at Indo:
  • prawn crackers
  • yellow rice meal
  • chicken satay
  • goat fried rie
  • vegetable
• spiced caramel milkshake
• cappuccino
• hash blueberry muffin

Day 1 3/5/08 - Netherlands

London -> Schipol -> Keukenhof -> Amsterdam -> Schipol Amsterdam

Highlight

• The flight was very uneventful, we got there on time, but couldn’t check in yet. Never mind, we had some breakfast before joining th huge line to go to Keukenhof.
• Waited ½ hr for the bus, and had to stand the whole way.
• There were so many people, there were cars blocking the road from trying to get in the target and general traffic everywhere.
• Rented some bikes and went on one of the 5 bike trails you can do around Keukenhof. No 3 goes to the sand dunes, the beach and around the bulbfields, around 25km.
• Highlight of the trail included:
  • watching people doing karate by the river
  • looking at everyone tanning themselves in the not very good looking beach
  • the sand dunes with grass growing over it
  • the flower fields with most of the tulips already harvested except for a few strips of colour
  • parade of classic cars
• Ride over, time to enter the actual flower park. It was, as expected, very beautiful, with all kinds of tulips everywhere. I would’ve liked a bit of variety however, as you can only look at tulips for so long. We had to hang around though for 6pm, as we wanted to ride our bikes through the park, which is only allowed today as part of a special biking festival.
• With time to spare, we pushed through the crowd to walk through the maze, look at the sculptures and took lots and lots of photos.
• Had an afternoon nap by the lake.
• It was such a rip off, you have to pay €.40 to use the toilets, but I sneaked in when the guy wasn’t around.
• 6 o’clock came, and nothing happened. Eventual, the line of eager bikers were lead through the park by a brass band. It wasn’t as cool as we thought, as there were still a lot of people around, and we had to cycle at walking pace. Still, it was an experience.
• Back to hotel, shower, then off to our Michelin Star.
• The food was excellent, classic French fare cooked by a British chef. The sauces were a highlight and the wait staff were delightful.
• Slokky managed to step on dog poo every day of the holiday. This time he

Food

• Sheraton breakfast:
  • smoked salmon
  • pancake
  • pastries
  • croissant
  • cheese
  • cold cut
  • shrimp
  • pate
  • fruit
  • muesli
  • yoghurt
  • scrambled egg
  • bacon
  • baked beans
  • mushrooms
  • sausages
• pate with bread
• apple
• Vermeer dinner -Menu Compagnons (€70):
  • beetroot gazpacho with chopped almond
  • poached cod with olive oil
  • sourdough and brown bread
  • “Robert Blanc” Green Perthuis Asparagus, Onion tart – Jura wine sabayon – Comté cheese – crab sauce
  • Monkfish “meunière”, Spinach – celery – ricotta – mussel sauce
  • Poached Anjou Pigeon, Stuffed cabbage – duck liver – artichoke puree – kohlrabi
  • crème brulee of fennel
  • Chocolate, Sorbet – chiboust – meringue – mint sauce