Netherlands in a Nutshell

 I will recap our past few days since we are currently heading to Belgium. 

If ever you want to see the locals at play show up on a countrywide holiday.  April 27th is the  Kings birthday and it is celebrated in all the cities in Holland. When we were in Amsterdam it was discussed on the boat tour and when we left this morning for Delft the first thing we noticed was a lack of bicycles and autos. 

The early morning from about 9am to 12 noon there is a city wide garage sale deal market with lots of vendors selling all kinds of things from handmade clothing to garage sale antiques.  First lesson learned is the Dutch will not barter.  The price is the price.  

From about noon on the party begins. Live music and lots of beer drinking.  The residents arrive carrying there own 6 packs. Heineken the beer of choice.  Everyone wears orange in celebration even all the kids have on orange or are face painted.  One the we were surprised by was the music   All songs we recognized and for some reason The Macarena was a favorite. We heard it in Amsterdam , Delft, and Leiden.

We had decided to do day trips from Leiden since many of the towns were just 20 to 30 minutes away.   We went into our first church. They to the Vermeer museum that highlighted his paintings and explained the symbolism. 

Our last stop was the Royal Delft factory.  The city is a lot like Leiden on the smaller side with lots of old buildings and character. 

We returned to Leiden for an early dinner and the party was also going strong here. In Leiden it wasn’t just an open square part but they had the area walled off not sure if they were charging.  The little restaurant we went into was amazing because you could hear no noise or music unless a patron opened the door.  The windows and doors kept out the noise

The following day we headed for Rotterdam and as the locals say a big city without character. Rotterdam was totally destroyed by Hitler in the early days of WWII.  The city actually needed to be rebuilt and it has become an architectural wonder.  Wide streets with medians and tall buildings. The tallest in Amsterdam was 4 stories. I will post the photo of the Marriott near central station so you have an idea.  

Today we were supposed to go to The Hague and travel got the best of us.  We decided we could miss the world court and Queens palace opted to sleep in and got a late start.  Today has its own stress as we travel to Belgium 

Turns out to take the fast or Thalys train we need a reservation. Went to the counter and no reservations available. Turns out it is Friday (who knew) and a time for “holidays”.  We are to take a regular train. Dan is worried that it might be standing room only and we have 2 bags etc.  The light travelers that we are.  This worked out to our advantage able to get a seat in first class car with our Eurail pass and plenty of room for bags.

Since we are on the way to Belgium not comes my personal take on Netherlands. First is the bicycles. Here bicycles have no rules and cars and even buses will wait for them.  They do not stop for anyone or anything. If an accident occurs the bicycle is always right.   Bike lanes are often wider than car lanes.  The autos will stop for pedestrians not so the cyclists.  The people are friendly and willing to help, not that we ever needed help trying to figure out which train to get on. Most everyone speaks English and signs are readable.  Public transportation is quick and efficient   We will most likely return again since it was an easy county to navigate.