Netherlands – The First Week

Decided I should write something after being here a week. We have been busy everyday but today we are taking it easy – rain this morning and we’ll be packing this afternoon.  Had lunch at a canal-side restaurant in Hoogmade about 2 miles from our rental.  Excellent lunch in a beautiful setting.  The village is the birthplace of the mother of a colleague from my Escondido days.

We leave in the morning to return the car in Rotterdam – then a taxi to the Cruise Terminal to board Holland America’s Rotterdam.  The cruise is my 70^th birthday celebration a little late! We both have wanted to take the North Atlantic crossing for some time so my birthday was the excuse!  

We arrived at Schiphol Airport on Friday morning July 7 an hour early.  Found the car rental and we were on the road by 11am.  Thanks to our WAZE app we programmed it to a grocery store in a village near our apartment rental.  Thank goodness for pictures on products – our Dutch is non-existent.  We have found that almost everyone speaks English and are very friendly and helpful when we have a question.

View from our rental

With jetlag in full swing, we stayed close to home on Saturday, visiting the large Saturday Market in Leiden.  Amazing!  Huge!  Crowded! Every kind of food imaginable.  We ate on a barge on the main canal – the old Rhine River. The waiter described the menu as Dutch “tapas.”  After a stroll around the market and shopping for dinner and breakfast it was back to the apartment.

On Sunday July 9, we went to church in Leiden on a beautiful day – full sun and blue sky.  It was back to the same restaurant for lunch and then a stroll around the city, ending with a canal boat tour. Leiden is a beautiful city.

Monday July 10 it was off to Delft with stops in the old town for the Old and New Churches, lunch on the main square, and finally a stop out of town at the Royal Delft Porcelain Factory.  Beautiful and quaint Dutch city.

City Hall to left in main square of Delft

Royal Delft Porcelain

Tuesday was a long drive to the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Hoge Veluwe National Park. The Museum has fabulous 19^th and 20^th century art, including the second largest collection of Van Goghs. 

July 12 was a trip to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction near Schiphol Airport.  Being a rainy day, it was a good option for an indoor activity.  We were here about 10 years ago and there are changes.  At that time, there were 6 Auction Rooms, but today there are only 2 due to Internet bidding. Watching the ballet of flower trucks from the walkway above is fascinating. More flowers in one place than you will ever see!  We then drove to Edam, north of Amsterdam for a stroll around the “cheese” city, a look at the church, and lunch in a local restaurant.

Edam

July 13 was a return visit to the Windmills of Kinderdijk.  We were there 40 years ago when Philip was 4 months old after his first visit to see his French grandparents. It was then on to Gouda – another cheese city for lunch and a look around the old town.  As in Edam, we were there in the afternoon of the cheese market.  Earlier in the day, the city would have been crowded with tourists. 

City Hall in Gouda

Today, July 14, was a day of rest. 

Time to pack for the morning trip to Rotterdam and to the ship for the start or the second part of our adventure!