Going Dutch

So after our short adventure in London, we are off to the Netherlands. Some of you may know it better as "Holland". Either way, its the country known for ships, canals, dykes and windmills. We made sure that we were going to see all of the above during our trip. We arrived in Amsterdam without too much difficulty except for trying to pronounce where we were headed to the guy at the information desk...Dutch is a very throaty language and some words sound more like you are trying to clear your throat. The address to our hotel was on a street called Prisengracht. Pronounced PRITZEN-GRAAAKKKKTT. (To say it correctly, you must sound angry, and cough loudly at the end). After finally showing the driver where we were headed, we were off to our little hotel on the canal in the Prisengracht area. Being in Amsterdam is like heading back in time. Our hotel wasnt really a new hotel but a collection 17th century buildings that had been fashioned into a hotel. Because of the renovation, no two rooms were the same and the size of the rooms could vary wildly. We lucked up and got a room in the attic. Sounded scary but it wasy light, big and airy and had the original beams from the 1600's still up!!!

Bruce in our attic room

Amsterdam is also known for a huge number of people on bikes. Everyone is pedaling around everywhere. Its facinating to see cars swerve out of the way from a biker going 10 miles faster. Everyone yields to the bikers. They are fast and dangerous and totally ingenious. Have you ever seen a mom drive her three kids to school in the morning? Its not intersting if she's in a Tahoe. Imagine that same mom (probably 50lb lighter because of the biking) pedaling three kids on her bike to school!! No joke. They have bicycyles with carts in the front with two "baby seats" and then a baby seat behind the mom! Facinating!!! There were more people biking than walking and way more of bikers and walkers than drivers.

Bruce walking the city...see all the bicycles?

There are lots of sights to see in Amsterdam. My favorite is the layout of the city. It is amazing to be able to walk around an entire city without needing a car or a bike. Each street is narrow and quaint and lined with building after building of shops and cafes and bars.

One of the famous houseboats on a canal in Amsterdam

Flower bulbs for sale at the famous Flower Market

You won't find a mega-mall or a supermarket in Amsterdam. Everything is very "mom and pop". After walking for a couple of hours we wanted to get some good ol Dutch food. My favorite thing is the pancakes! These aren't just the normal pancakes we have in the US...These are big, huge light cakes, almost like a crepe, usually piled with all sorts of goodies. They have sweet ones with apples or bananas or chocolate on them or they have "savory" with salty goods on them like bacon, sausage or cheese. Now, you know I love food (thank GOD we had to walk several miles to get to the Pancake House) so I was ready to try a big Dutch pancake. I ordered one of the more common ones...Apple and Bacon. Sounds gross? It wasn't!!! Its got the sweet salty thing going!!! Believe me, try it...you'll see.

My apple-bacon pancake...MMM

Most people associate the Netherlands with the canals. It is very similar to New Orleans, a city under water. However, the Dutch built a series of dams, dykes and canals that has preserved the city since the 1300's. Obviously, with time, they have been fixed and reinforced and they are blessed with not having to worry about hurricanes or tropical storms that could breech the dykes. It is still amazing to see how a city is completely "cut up" by a series of canals and waterways. I think most people think of Venice as a water city but Amsterdam is too. We used the "canal bus" which is like public transportation to get around the city via the waterways. It gives you a good opportunity to see the houses along the canals and cut around the vicious bikers

The next day, we left Amsterdam to head out to the northern part of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is acutally a very small country and it is easy to drive from one end to another in 3 hours or less. We wanted to go to some of the smaller, more "authentic" Dutch towns where people still practice and work like they did hundreds of years ago. We started off in the windmill town of Zaanse Schans, which was one of the oldest industrial areas of the world. The first windmills were built in the 1600's and when people figured out what they could be used for, the city grew into a large industrial area, able to process wheat, meal and paper, all using the energy fromt he windmills.  The town only has 100 people still living there but they had a wooden clog maker and a cheese maker in the town still working today!

Yes, I'm cold

Bruce on the "main street" of one of the super cute tiny town of Hakkleaarsbrug

After Zaanse Schans, we headed further north to the "cheese town" of Edam then on to the fishing village of Markham. When I say village, I mean village! I have never seen anything so quaint in my life!!! The buildings are all still original to the 1600's, there are narrow, cobblestone streets and little shops. Its amazing how we felt like we weren't in the 21st century anymore.

A main road in town

My only complaint about visiting the northland was the weather. OMG!!! I'm from Atlanta, born and raised. I think I may have felt cold a couple of moments in my life. Never anything horribly bitter or bone shaking.  I really thought I was going to die from exposure out there. It was hard to sightsee when you are bundled up like an dog sledder in Antartica. I had on 4 layers of clothes INCLUDING long johns and I was still cold!!! Oh, and about the long johns, I have to give Bruce praise on that call too! I remember being in the sporting goods store back home and him picking up  a couple of pairs of long johns and me looking at him, saying "Why do we need those?"...God, I'm glad I listened now!!! So with my long johns, my pants, two pair of socks, a tank top, a sweater, a fleece coat, a windbreaker, hat, scarf and gloves on...i'm still COLD! People from there were wearing jackets without hats or gloves and they were looking at us like we were crazy. It started to get on my nerves but then I realized, its all about what you are conditioned to. I bet if I took one of their frozen asses to Phoenix in July they would shrivel up like a raisin....At first, Bruce tried to tease me about being from the South and not being able to handle the cold, but by the time we got to the coast, he was freezing and all outta jokes:

I'm cold

Yep, He's cold too!

The quaint fishing town of Maarkam

On our way back to the city, we had the opportunity to see the "summer homes" of the rich Dutch people. Back in the 1600's living in the city in the summer was pretty horrible. The canals were filthy, there were lots of flies and it was congested. The rich built summer homes in the Dutch countryside and lived there for several months out of the year. While they weren't at their summer homes, they were actually working farms, and the farmer and his family cared for the house and fields during the winter months. These homes are still standing today and some of them actually have the date they were built over the doors. It was so beautiful out there, I would love to have a farm house mansion like that!!!!

My dream farm/mansion..built in the 1600's

Ok, wonderful time but I do have one complaint about the Netherlands. You can starve to death there!!!! Yes, I know I showed you amazing pictures of spare ribs and pancakes but we were LUCKY!!! The Dutch do not believe in waking up early. In fact, the "breakfast" restauraunt opened for breakfast on a weekday at 8 or 9am!!! Shouldn't you be at work by then? How exactly can one go to breakfast AND go to work? Seems like the Dutch don't have to worry about the latter....why? Cause NOTHING opens until after 10am!!! Oh and the icing on the cake? Everything closes by 4 or 5PM!!! Dinner was the most stressful for us because most restauraunts closed by 9pm....sucks for you if you are not hungry by then. We never were hungry at the "normal" Dutch dinner time. How could you be if you have breakfast at 10am and lunch at 4PM? I don't know much Dutch but one word i know by heart now is Gesloten...That means "CLOSED". In fact, I have no idea what the Dutch word is for OPEN!!! Everything was always Gesloten!!! Random shops and restuarants would be closed, for no apparent reason at random times. We thought it was a holiday or something at first but its actually just a very laissez faire attitude of the Dutch.  I tell you one thing...if you want to have a cake ass work schedule, get up around 9, work from 10-4 and then go home...you should move to the Netherlands.

After freezing my butt off, pigging out on pancakes with bacon and walking from one end of the country to the next, we are off to our next stop, even colder Denmark. I even bought another pair of long johns!

You can check out all of our pics from the Netherlands by clicking here

Bye Holland!