[Travel]: Holland (Amsterdam) for the first time!♪
Hullo.
So, earlier this month I had my first real vacation of this year.
Well, vacation might be an exaggeration, I only took 1 day off as it was a long weekend.
Together with my family I spent 2 days in Holland, mainly Amsterdam.
It was my first time there although it's a neighbor country of Germany.
But if you don't live near the border, it's probably not the first destination that comes to your mind. ;)
Thus far I've only been to Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain here in Europe.
No need to mention that the vacation was way too short, but nevertheless quite lovely.
Holland is such a cute and peaceful country.
Even while driving on the highway, there were spacious fields, tiny cute farms and lots and lots of sheep and cows everywhere. :)
Amsterdam is famous for its "Grachten" (canals).
Naturally there are many boats - even houseboats - everywhere.
The architecture of the houses is so interesting. Those huge windows!
And a lot of the houses are leaning forward or are somewhat "crooked". It looks so weird! :)
Amsterdam is clearly a bicycle city!
Most bicycle tracks have two lanes!!! I've never seen this before.
Naturally, you'll see bicycles EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam, lots of them very colorful and cute.
It's also recommended for tourists. We walked through Amsterdam. ;)
Needless to say that Amsterdam is also famous for its coffee shops.
We didn't enter one, but there were a lot of shops selling hemp goods such as hemp tea, hemp haribo and so on.
I already have hemp seeds (for my muesli) and hemp tea at home, so I didn't buy any of these overpriced goodies. ;)
Yeah ... right! XD
Holland is famous for cheese.
While most of the food is rather greasy (deep-fried), I really enjoyed the pancakes there. :)
Yes!!
There's also a small China Town.
They even had quite a bit of Japanese stuff there, including a shop selling anime and manga goodies.
I haven't been to many China Towns, but all I can say is that this one doesn't compare to the ones in Japan (Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki).
But it's no surprise that there's Asian influence in Holland because of the East Indian Trading Company back then. Vice versa the same.
If you haven't been to Dejima in Nagasaki yet, definitely check it out. :)
The Royal Palace (Paleis op de Dam // Koninklijk Paleis) was quite impressive.
I admire architecture that includes old Roman style.
The tour inside was a bit pricey with over 10€, but it was nice to see the interior.
Amsterdam also has some pretty futuristic architecture that - strangely enough - fits in well.
Holland is very LGBT-friendly. :)
Close to the Amsterdam Central train station, you can chill near the ocean, visit this Chinese restaurant or get something at the nearby Starbucks.
I decided to walk up to Nemo (Science Museum) where you could have a cup of coffee while enjoying a great view from the highest floor.
Amsterdam at night, especially around the canal area is lovely.
We also checked out the red light district.
I do have photos, but decided not to post them.
A bit weird were the narrow streets where you had little glass doors on your left and on your right.
Behind those glass doors were prostitutes waiting for you to knock, pay and have some fun while the curtain of the glass door was shut.
Most of these girls looked the same. Huge boobs (plastic surgery!) and black hair (pretty much the same hair style, probably wigs).
Only a few had blonde hair or were a bit chubby or extremely thin.
Most of them seemed to be in their 20s.
Well, was interesting to see nevertheless.
Just about 20 km outside of Amsterdam you can enjoy the lovely countryside - and wind mills!
We visited famous "Zaanse Schans".
This was my first time seeing wind mills in action.
You could even visit the inside and see how everything works. Quite interesting. :)
Well, needless to say that May is the best season to visit Holland because of the tulips .... but then again, it's the main season and insanely busy and expensive. ^^;
Another famous feature of the region are those tiny green houses you'll find at various locations.
As we were travelling by car, we didn't have to join an expensive tour.
We could just go everywhere we wanted by ourselves. :)
That was the better option for sure!
We visited a small fishing village called "Volendam" and then also set off to the peninsula "Marken".
A lot of people come here to spend their summer vacation on their own yacht. Not bad, I'd say. But not my kind of thing. ;)
The weather was changing quite a bit from cloudy, a bit rainy to sunny during those two days, but it was just right I'd say.
On our way back from Marken. On the island (peninsula) you have to park your car at a parking lot at the entrance of the village.
Only islanders are allowed to drive around by car! :)
All in all it was a refreshing short vacation.
I wish I could do stuff like that more often.
As I really liked Holland, I might go back at some point as there are still a lot of things to discover.
P.S.: Dutch is such a cute language. XD Mix German and English, put a lot of sugar cream on top ... and you get Dutch.
Have you been to Holland yet?
Bye~chuu~
So, earlier this month I had my first real vacation of this year.
Well, vacation might be an exaggeration, I only took 1 day off as it was a long weekend.
Together with my family I spent 2 days in Holland, mainly Amsterdam.
It was my first time there although it's a neighbor country of Germany.
But if you don't live near the border, it's probably not the first destination that comes to your mind. ;)
Thus far I've only been to Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain here in Europe.
No need to mention that the vacation was way too short, but nevertheless quite lovely.
Holland is such a cute and peaceful country.
Even while driving on the highway, there were spacious fields, tiny cute farms and lots and lots of sheep and cows everywhere. :)
Amsterdam is famous for its "Grachten" (canals).
Naturally there are many boats - even houseboats - everywhere.
The architecture of the houses is so interesting. Those huge windows!
And a lot of the houses are leaning forward or are somewhat "crooked". It looks so weird! :)
Amsterdam is clearly a bicycle city!
Most bicycle tracks have two lanes!!! I've never seen this before.
Naturally, you'll see bicycles EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam, lots of them very colorful and cute.
It's also recommended for tourists. We walked through Amsterdam. ;)
Needless to say that Amsterdam is also famous for its coffee shops.
We didn't enter one, but there were a lot of shops selling hemp goods such as hemp tea, hemp haribo and so on.
I already have hemp seeds (for my muesli) and hemp tea at home, so I didn't buy any of these overpriced goodies. ;)
Yeah ... right! XD
Holland is famous for cheese.
While most of the food is rather greasy (deep-fried), I really enjoyed the pancakes there. :)
Yes!!
There's also a small China Town.
They even had quite a bit of Japanese stuff there, including a shop selling anime and manga goodies.
I haven't been to many China Towns, but all I can say is that this one doesn't compare to the ones in Japan (Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki).
But it's no surprise that there's Asian influence in Holland because of the East Indian Trading Company back then. Vice versa the same.
If you haven't been to Dejima in Nagasaki yet, definitely check it out. :)
The Royal Palace (Paleis op de Dam // Koninklijk Paleis) was quite impressive.
I admire architecture that includes old Roman style.
The tour inside was a bit pricey with over 10€, but it was nice to see the interior.
Amsterdam also has some pretty futuristic architecture that - strangely enough - fits in well.
Holland is very LGBT-friendly. :)
Close to the Amsterdam Central train station, you can chill near the ocean, visit this Chinese restaurant or get something at the nearby Starbucks.
I decided to walk up to Nemo (Science Museum) where you could have a cup of coffee while enjoying a great view from the highest floor.
Amsterdam at night, especially around the canal area is lovely.
We also checked out the red light district.
I do have photos, but decided not to post them.
A bit weird were the narrow streets where you had little glass doors on your left and on your right.
Behind those glass doors were prostitutes waiting for you to knock, pay and have some fun while the curtain of the glass door was shut.
Most of these girls looked the same. Huge boobs (plastic surgery!) and black hair (pretty much the same hair style, probably wigs).
Only a few had blonde hair or were a bit chubby or extremely thin.
Most of them seemed to be in their 20s.
Well, was interesting to see nevertheless.
Just about 20 km outside of Amsterdam you can enjoy the lovely countryside - and wind mills!
We visited famous "Zaanse Schans".
This was my first time seeing wind mills in action.
You could even visit the inside and see how everything works. Quite interesting. :)
Well, needless to say that May is the best season to visit Holland because of the tulips .... but then again, it's the main season and insanely busy and expensive. ^^;
Another famous feature of the region are those tiny green houses you'll find at various locations.
As we were travelling by car, we didn't have to join an expensive tour.
We could just go everywhere we wanted by ourselves. :)
That was the better option for sure!
We visited a small fishing village called "Volendam" and then also set off to the peninsula "Marken".
A lot of people come here to spend their summer vacation on their own yacht. Not bad, I'd say. But not my kind of thing. ;)
The weather was changing quite a bit from cloudy, a bit rainy to sunny during those two days, but it was just right I'd say.
On our way back from Marken. On the island (peninsula) you have to park your car at a parking lot at the entrance of the village.
Only islanders are allowed to drive around by car! :)
All in all it was a refreshing short vacation.
I wish I could do stuff like that more often.
As I really liked Holland, I might go back at some point as there are still a lot of things to discover.
P.S.: Dutch is such a cute language. XD Mix German and English, put a lot of sugar cream on top ... and you get Dutch.
Have you been to Holland yet?
Bye~chuu~