Travelogue from the Netherlands (den Haag, Delft)
I caught the train up to the Netherlands on Wednesday 20th and was met by alphaflyer at the station in Den Haag. So great to meet online friends in person!
alphaflyer had work during the week, but I went into the city with her on Thursday to have a chiro appointment and caught up with another friend from Australia who happened to be in that part of the world! Then we went to see Ghostbusters with her daughter and her daughter's (girl)friend on Thursday night. Spoilers: it was excellent!
One thing I love about Europe is the public transport systems. Sydney is okay, Melbourne isn't bad, London is solid, Hong Kong and Shanghai are pretty bloody amazing given the numbers and how many people they have to transport. I haven't been to Tokyo, New York isn't bad, Boston and Philadelphia aren't terrible but they're not really good either, and anywhere else in the US is laughable. But Europe? Buses everywhere! On regular timetables! That turn up! Trains that run from city to city on an hourly basis! O.o
So I could drive in to work with AlphaFlyer and then bus/tram/walk to where I needed to go. It took a bit of learning curve, but that's okay - it's always good to master a new transport system. Although they a) really need a daily travel card that's available at your standard ticket dispenser. I was told I needed to go to Centraal to get a 'daily travel card', but dropped in on a hotel and bought one there instead. (Novotel, den Haag - so helpful!)
So, there was the shopping district in the Grote Markt part of town:
Aaand "Texas BBQ" (which I didn't try):
De Bijenkorf is, I think, a shopping centre, but the architecture was, again, what interested me.
I wish I'd taken a tour in The Hague. There's plenty of interesting political and social history here - the Netherlands was one of the biggest seafaring and seatrading nations for hundreds of years - New York was once New Amsterdam, until I believe the Dutch had to trade it away to the British for...something? At any rate; plenty of history, plenty of architecture, and I find this kind of stuff quite fascinating when told by someone who has knowledge and a passion for it.
I also caught up with an Australian friend who happened to be visiting Amsterdam - part of my foodie group. So we went for Dutch seafood, which is somewhat unlike Australian seafood in presentation and style. Our fish and chips are very much in the English way. But it was an interesting exercise in working out what to order and just how much we could eat. (About as much as we ordered, as it turned out.)
And then we had poffertjies to top it all off! (And this was the small size!)
To see Ghostbusters, we went out to the cinema at Scheveningen, which is a beachside suburb with a big promenade for walking along. It was a bit windy and a touch chilly (for an Aussie) but it was lovely to walk along and watch the crowds and see the people:
In case you haven’t seen it or have any doubt: Ghostbusters was awesome. Lots of fun, it hit a few of my horror buttons with unerring accuracy - they’re not squicks, per se, just things that really speak to me at a *shudder-oh-hells-to-the-no* level and leave me with lingering afterimages, and an inability to fall back asleep after waking up in a strange room in the dark...
Friday I stayed at home, trying to get my Femmeremix and Remix Me fics in. There was a lot of hair-tearing involved and it was a long day trying to get it finished. As it turned out, Alphaflyer had to do a long day at work, too, so it worked out for both of us!
Next is the weekend - Delft and Rotterdam...
alphaflyer had work during the week, but I went into the city with her on Thursday to have a chiro appointment and caught up with another friend from Australia who happened to be in that part of the world! Then we went to see Ghostbusters with her daughter and her daughter's (girl)friend on Thursday night. Spoilers: it was excellent!
One thing I love about Europe is the public transport systems. Sydney is okay, Melbourne isn't bad, London is solid, Hong Kong and Shanghai are pretty bloody amazing given the numbers and how many people they have to transport. I haven't been to Tokyo, New York isn't bad, Boston and Philadelphia aren't terrible but they're not really good either, and anywhere else in the US is laughable. But Europe? Buses everywhere! On regular timetables! That turn up! Trains that run from city to city on an hourly basis! O.o
So I could drive in to work with AlphaFlyer and then bus/tram/walk to where I needed to go. It took a bit of learning curve, but that's okay - it's always good to master a new transport system. Although they a) really need a daily travel card that's available at your standard ticket dispenser. I was told I needed to go to Centraal to get a 'daily travel card', but dropped in on a hotel and bought one there instead. (Novotel, den Haag - so helpful!)
So, there was the shopping district in the Grote Markt part of town:
Aaand "Texas BBQ" (which I didn't try):
De Bijenkorf is, I think, a shopping centre, but the architecture was, again, what interested me.
I wish I'd taken a tour in The Hague. There's plenty of interesting political and social history here - the Netherlands was one of the biggest seafaring and seatrading nations for hundreds of years - New York was once New Amsterdam, until I believe the Dutch had to trade it away to the British for...something? At any rate; plenty of history, plenty of architecture, and I find this kind of stuff quite fascinating when told by someone who has knowledge and a passion for it.
I also caught up with an Australian friend who happened to be visiting Amsterdam - part of my foodie group. So we went for Dutch seafood, which is somewhat unlike Australian seafood in presentation and style. Our fish and chips are very much in the English way. But it was an interesting exercise in working out what to order and just how much we could eat. (About as much as we ordered, as it turned out.)
And then we had poffertjies to top it all off! (And this was the small size!)
To see Ghostbusters, we went out to the cinema at Scheveningen, which is a beachside suburb with a big promenade for walking along. It was a bit windy and a touch chilly (for an Aussie) but it was lovely to walk along and watch the crowds and see the people:
In case you haven’t seen it or have any doubt: Ghostbusters was awesome. Lots of fun, it hit a few of my horror buttons with unerring accuracy - they’re not squicks, per se, just things that really speak to me at a *shudder-oh-hells-to-the-no* level and leave me with lingering afterimages, and an inability to fall back asleep after waking up in a strange room in the dark...
Friday I stayed at home, trying to get my Femmeremix and Remix Me fics in. There was a lot of hair-tearing involved and it was a long day trying to get it finished. As it turned out, Alphaflyer had to do a long day at work, too, so it worked out for both of us!
Next is the weekend - Delft and Rotterdam...