Rotterdam, and Den Haag Rotterdam, Netherlands

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Today was a chance to get out and see a bit more of the countryside – a while ago we’d both seen pictures of the new Markthal (Market Hall) in Rotterdam, it definitely looked like a cool place to visit.

Breakfast at a little place near the hotel was “niet zo goed” … yup, not so good. Not awful, but there was one guy trying run the whole place and he was struggling a bit. Actually, just about every bar /restaurant we walk past has a sign out the front saying they are looking for staff. So if you need a job, and you enjoy working in the food industry, come to Amsterdam!

We topped up some extra money on our ‘OV-chipkaarts’, and helped our other intrepid travellers buy theirs. Train travel in Sydney might be less-than-reliable, a bit dirty, a bit noisy, a bit… crap. But, it is cheap! It does cost a bit more to get around by train in Holland. For example the trip to Rotterdam today was about 15 euro each way, so currently around $AUD 22, for a 50-minute train ride. Not whinging, just noting the differences. The trains in Holland are fast and clean and (mostly) on time.

Arriving at Rotterdam, we pretty quickly got a good idea if why this city is renowned for its modern architecture. The station building itself is pretty spectacular.

We took a walk around, heading toward the Markthal, and walking through a shopping street we found another tourist essential: Poffertjes. Tick! I looked at the menu such as it was, and thought yep I can do this – finally took a chance to use my (extremely limited) Dutch. I don’t think it was too convincing, this is how the conversation went:

Me: “Hallo – een groote poffertjes alstublieft” – (a big serve of Poffertjes please)
Poffertjes seller: “Sure, that’ll be 5 Euro thanks. Where are you visiting from?”

Oh well. At least I tried.

But man, the poffertjes were awesome! Freshly cooked, and smothered in butter (which quickly melted over the poffertjes) and generously dusted (drowned) in icing sugar. Awesome! Definitely the snack we needed to keep us going on our long journey toward to Martkhal… which was about 5 minutes away.

The Markthal building itself is pretty amazing – a giant horseshoe about 12 stories high – with apartments all along the outside, and dozen of food stalls and restaurant on the inside. I guess it’s a handy place to live if your a foodie who like having fancy produce just a moment away. There was an amazing array of foods, much of which looked delicious. Except for the herring. Sorry, I may be half Dutch but I definitely didn’t get the half that thinks pickled herring can be considered a food. And no, I wimped out, I didn’t try it. Perry did, and his first impression was basically “cat food”.. he’s no fan of it either. Sorry, but we’ll stick to the poffertjes.
Lunch was at the straightforwardly-named “Burgers and Wine”. You can probably guess what we had for lunch.

After that it was time to again farewell the rest of our intrepid travellers, as they headed back to Amsterdam, while we had another mission. Yesterday we found the old houses that my Dad used to live in – and since I wasn’t well organised enough to do this yesterday, today we headed off to Den Haag to find the house where Perry’s Mum lived for a few years.
It’s pretty easy to navigate the Dutch train system – the website is helpful, comprehensive, and has the all-important (to me at least) ‘English’ button. Also the information boards are easy to follow, and usually I can kind-of get the idea of some of the announcements. So off we trotted to Den Haag, eventually. The delays hit us again – but apparently it was due to a fatality on the track, so can’t blame the train networks for that.

Arriving in Den Haag, it was a lot less Rotterdam, and a lot more Amsterdam. As the train approached we started to see canals, narrow houses, it was all looking quite familiar. We found the tram that would take us out to were we needed to go, and it was there that the similarities with Amsterdam quickly faded. It’s a quite different city to both Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It was certainly a more multicultural city, and with a lot of relatively-new buildings, not really having the architectural flair of Rotterdam.

As we approached Perry’s Mum’s street though, it was in a lovely tree-lined part of town, and before long we found the house – the place next door was for sale, so hey if ever you wanted to get back into the neighbourhood, now is the time 🙂
We grabbed a few photos (in the beautiful warm sun) before heading back on the tram to Den Haag Centraal.

The tram stops near Centraal all had really nice wooden floorboards for the platforms, made a nice change! And that was it for Den Haag – back on another train and headed back to Amsterdam..arriving right on time, pretty much to the second.

When we got out of the train and into Amsterdam … it was suddenly as if the population had doubled or even tripled. Today marks the start of “Sail” – a massive Sailing festival that happens once every five years, with tall ships from around the world converging on the town, and goodness knows how many other ships boats dinghies barges and whatever else. And people. Lots and lots of people. Apparently it brings about a million visitors to the town … so it’s no wonder the streets we just crazy-packed this afternoon. It also explains exactly why we had so much difficulty booking accommodation for our originally planned dates (next week).

Dinner this evening was at “Humphrey’s”, a small-looking restaurant right next door to the hotel. As they say, appearances can be deceiving – when we went inside I think the restaurant somehow took up two of the adjoining properties as well, it was massive! Happily, the food was absolutely brilliant, 26 euro for 3 courses – and was incredible value. I had a carpaccio, veal steak, and sorbet for dessert, and all of it was top notch, delicious, high quality … definitely felt like it was a lot more expensive than it was. So that was a big win for dinner. Anyone heading to Amsterdam, I can recommend Humphrey’s very highly. Our other intrepid travellers that dined with us also left feeling very impressed.

With full bellies and feeling very lethargic, we still managed to make to one more bar for a drink, before calling it a night. We pretty much felt obliged to visit a gay bar since we hadn’t yet, so we headed off to the closest one, the delightfully named “Prik”. I don’t know if it was too late in the evening, or maybe too early – but it was pretty dead. Still, we did what we set out to do – turn up, having a drink, and leave again. Mission accomplished.

And that brought us to the end of another big eventful day – lots still to do, and only one full day left to do it in…but I’m sure we’ll make the most of it.

A visit to Eindhoven – part 2 Eindhoven, Netherlands

Eindhoven, Netherlands

After the brief walk around the streets of Eindhoven, Uco picked us up in his car and we drove out to Eersel, another town that Dad lived in as a child. I didn’t realise quite how far our of town it was, so thanks to Uco for deriving us that far. It was surprising when he let us know that if we kept on this road for another 20 minutes, we’d be in Belgium. What was even more surprising was that in another two hours you could drive through Belgium and be in France! Considering when at home it would take us about 9 or 10 hours just to drive to a different state, it still kind of boggles the mind to think you could easily drive through a number of different countries in just a few hours.

For as long as I can remember, we’ve had a photo of the house in Eersel up on the wall in the hallway, and also a watercolour painting that Uncle Jaap (Uco’s father) brought over on one his visits. So it was pretty amazing after a good drive, and a walk down a few tree-lined paths, to see that actual house. Still standing, but no longer with a thatched roof – still, the moss growing over the tiled roof still gives it a nice hat. It might sound strange but it was a little bit like the ‘Empire State Building’ moment we had back in You know, something you’ve known about your whole life which you’ve only ever heard about and seen in pictures… so to be there at the actual place, yeah it was pretty cool. Anyway, before the owners came out and started asking us why we were loitering, we got back in the car.

By this stage the sun was starting to break through the clouds a bit, which was so nice to see. We stopped in at the Wings of Liberation museum – we were a little late to get in to the museum itself, but out the front there’s a great bistro/bar so we enjoyed a drink and another chance to chat. Gezellig, as the Dutch say 🙂

After that Uco was kind enough to take us back to his home in Son, where we had the pleasure of meeting his wife Cita – it’s so great to finally meet these people you only normally hear about from Facebook (or even letters in the post, in the olden days!).

Unfortunately time was marching on, and we already had plans to catch up the rest of gang for dinner – so sadly it was time to leave Eindhoven. Again, Uco was kind enough to drive us to the train station, and then it was time to say our goodbyes. I can’t thank Uco & Gerda enough for their generosity and hospitality on this day – we really enjoyed it. And it was a fantastic opportunity to get out of town, away from the ‘touristy’ places, and a chance to see the city where Dad grew up. I doubt he’d recognise Eindhoven itself, much of it looks to be quite modern, especially around the university and the High Tech Campus – though the Philips factory is still very much there, which I believe has been a constant in the city for a good many years.

For the return journey, the trains were all working like clockwork – we departed exactly on time, and arrive back at Amsterdam Centraal the exact minute the timetable said we would. When that happens in Sydney it’s usually a pretty big surprise 🙂

Catching up with our intrepid travellers, we headed out for dinner at The Alley – the place we had breakfast the day before. To describe their dinner … well it wasn’t bad, but let’s just say they do a fantastic breakfast and leave it at that. After dinner we took a bit of a wander around the streets and canals, but before too long, our good and almost-constant companion, the rain, was back again. So we cut the night a bit short – but to be honest I can’t complain about that, it was such a big day so I was pretty much ready to sleep anyway… which I guess I proved by cutting short the write-up of the day – ah well hope I don’t lose too many marks for turning in my homework a day late 🙂

A visit to Eindhoven – part 1 Eindhoven, Netherlands

Eindhoven, Netherlands

I started today with a bit of a screw-up. The plan was to get up nice and early, go visit the house where Perry’s mother lived in Den Haag, then head down to Eindhoven. That’s all well and good but only if you actually know the address in Den Haag that you need to visit. I was quite sure I’d written it down, bookmarked in my Maps app, but no … couldn’t find it anywhere. I briefly considered just heading into Den Haag and asking random strangers if they could remember where she lived, but I guess that wasn’t going to be too successful. It didn’t help that by the time I got organised enough to head out, we would never have made it to Den Haag and then on to Eindhoven in time. (Not that we did get to Eindhoven on time anyway, but more on that later). Happily there’s still time to visit Den Haag, it’s a definite on tomorrow’s agenda.

So having checked the timetables we headed off to Amsterdam Centraal, bought our ‘OV-Chipkaart’ from the machine, and in we went, ready to catch the 9:38 to Eindhoven. That would get us there at 10:57, perfect timing to meet up with Gerda and Uco at 11AM.  However, before long it started to feel like we were back in Sydney. Sure, I couldn’t understand the full announcement, but as it happens the words ‘defective train’ sound pretty much identical in Dutch and English. The train eventually turned up, about 15 minutes late, and we were soon on our way.

Once we were moving, the similarities with CityRail pretty much ended. The train was clean, quiet, and sure knew how to get a move on – up to about 150km/h in parts, through an amazing amount of beautiful green scenery.

At about quarter past eleven, we finally arrived – and quickly saw Gerda. We must have walked straight past Uco (sorry Uco!) as he was waiting up on the platform. But soon enough we were all together, and off we went to Gerda’s place, just a few minutes walk from the station. Coffee, cake, conversation, all in plentiful supply as we each learnt a bit more about our families on the other side of the world. After a few technical difficulties, I was able to contact Mum and Dad on FaceTime (Mum gets bonus points for getting the video working at her end), so we all had a brief chat across the world. Apparently even having been out of the country for 50-something years, Dad still retains his Brabant Dutch accent – nice one! I was thrilled to get a taste of the famous (well, famous to me at least) van Luyt wine – happy to say that it was very good!

After the FaceTime call, Gerda laid out a delicious lunch of cold meats, cheese, bread rolls, all sorts of delicious stuff. Oh and who could forget the Eindhoven sausage roll – at least that what I’ll call it. Kind of like a sausage roll, but in a delicious bread-y casing rather than flaky pastry. Yum!
We then headed out for a brief walk to one of the houses Dad used to live in as a kid. What a nice neighbourhood! I didn’t really recognise the house – but I’m sure once I get home and check some of the old photos, it’ll look familiar.

Y’know … it’s late, and I’m tired – rather than rush though this story now, I’ll continue it tomorrow when I’m a bit more awake. Good night 🙂

Regen regen ga weg! (Rain rain go away!) Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

A lie-flat bed on a plane is nice, but man there’s no substitute for a proper bed in a proper building. Slept like a log, no dramas with jet lag, let’s go see what Amsterdam has to offer us today…

The first thing was rain. Then some rain, followed by even more rain. It’s been our constant companion today, not stopping for a second.
Brekky was at “The Alley”, where they do a wicked Iced Coffee, all the other food was also nice, did a good job of setting us up for the day. Next stop was the closest possible shop to stock up on umbrellas – €5 won’t get you a luxury umbrella, but it will get you something to keep (most of) the rain off, so that’s a win!

Next up, and I’m still not sure if this was the best choice after breakfast, was a visit to the ‘sexmuseum’. It had its funny parts, informative parts, and of course a lot of private parts… all in all it was a bit odd, but nice at least to think we’re in a country where you’re able to be so matter-of-fact about such things.

Soon we were back out in the rain – and it must be said that even in the rain it’s still a beautiful city. Spotted a few nice things, like on-street recharging for electric cars, ducks in the canals, mini traffic lights for bicyclists, and even an ING branch (I used to work for ING). After some drinks at The 5 Bells (including Perry’s “spiked” milkshake with Cointreau in it) – it was time to take a nice long walk, followed by the chance to quite literally chill out…

The Ice Bar – where it’s 10 degrees below zero and the drinks are served in glasses made of ice. We were given nice heavy warm coats to wear and some gloves, to keep the cold at bay. I really felt sorry for the lady who was in there with open-toed shoes though. The glasses made of ice which is all well and good, except when Perry’s ice-glass managed to develop a hole, just what you need when it’s 10 degrees below zero and you suddenly have vodka-and-orange leaking out of your ice-hole (sorry). Before any icicles started to form we got out of there back into the (comparative) warmth of Amsterdam. And yep back into the rain.

When it’s raining and miserable, whats usually the best course of action? That’s right – staying indoors with nice hot cup of coffee and a blanket and something good on TV. But when on holiday, the rules go out the window – every minute counts, so we kept on walking, getting a bit away from the centre of town. Not exactly into suburbia, but a good few canals away from Central Amsterdam, to visit the Heineken Experience. But first a belated lunch-stop at ‘Cafe Kale’ – not as vegetarian or hippy as it name may suggest – but a nice place to sit and watch the world go buy and have some tasty food. Proper Dutch croquettes – check! And it was very fancy how vodka and orange was served as a glass with the vodka and ice, and a separate little flask of orange juice – exactly the right amount to fill the glass. I guess this doubles the amount of washing up they had to do, but still, it looked cool 🙂

After some more walking and another chance to get well acquainted with our umbrellas, we arrived at the Heineken Experience. Formerly a large brewery, it stopped brewing in the 80s and became a museum a few years after. Or maybe less museum, more giant Heineken advert… but still it was interesting and entertaining, plus free beer – so that generally adds up to a win! Since we were nearly 2.5kms away from the hotel, we figured catching a tram back would be a good idea. Once we found a tram stop, we soon realised everyone else in town had exactly the same idea, there was no way we were going to fit. Maybe next time.

This has already gone on way too long – so to summarise: tapas for dinner (with a visiting cat, which was nice, but keep an eye on your calamari), followed by a walk past some of the houses of the red-light district (which seems so much more sensible, and safe, compared to standing on a freezing street corner), nutella ice cream for dessert (I’ll be back!), and finally back to the hotel to tap away at the computer for a bit, hit the ‘publish’ button, and collapse into bed.

Big day tomorrow which I am really looking forward too – heading to Den Haag to see where Perry’s Mum used to live, then on to Eindhoven to catch up with Gerda and Uco, two relatives I haven’t met yet in person. It could be seen as a downside that they’re basically on the opposite end of the country. But on the upside, that’s only about 90 minutes away on the train. Living in a smaller country really has its benefits!

Hello, Amsterdam! Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

About 25 hours after we left home (probably more, I’ve already lost track), we finally touched down in Amsterdam. As nice as the flights were, it was even nicer to know that we have a few days to actually ‘be’ somewhere instead of just getting somewhere.

Flying in, it became clear how Holland is known for many things, but mountain ranges isn’t one of them. It was flat as a pancake as far as the eye could see. When we were descending just before Schiphol airport, I was happy to tick one tourist item off the list: Saw my first real life proper honest to goodness Dutch windmill.

It was surprisingly quick getting through passport control and Customs. Then again, since it was 8:30 Sunday morning, the whole place seemed nearly deserted until everyone from our flight started pouring in. We arrived at our hotel at about 9:30 AM, too early to check in, but fortunately they were able to store our bags in the meantime.

So – time to get down to business and start exploring this beautiful city. And beautiful is pretty accurate – it’s a charming collection of narrow houses, many of which are 300 or 400 years old. Since the original land of Amsterdam was pretty swampy many of these houses are built on piles sunk in to the group, and over the years some of these house have developed a pretty alarming lean… but as far as I know none of the have fallen over, at least not yet.

First stop on our wandering around was Kobalt Cafe, and having recently opened for the morning it still had a distinctive but wonderful smell, of a beautiful old wooden framed house.. not sure how old, only info I could find was “one of the oldest in the heart of Amsterdam”. We sat outside (no, nothing to do with the smell of old wooden building!) and watched the cars trucks bikes and pedestrians all somehow traverse a six-way intersection without all hitting each other. It was like scary poetry in motion … I don’t know how they did it, but sometimes it looked like there were vehicles and people going in all directions – I guess they all knew what they were doing, but at times it sure didn’t look like it.

After we left Kobalt Cafe we did a bit more wandering around until lunchtime at that great Dutch institution…. McDonalds. At least they serve their fries with mayonnaise, well, Fritessaus, near enough.

Final stop before being able to check in to the hotel was the Five Bells Bar, just next door to the hotel itself. It was such a relief to get into our room, to have the chance to shower and feel a bit more human. By this stage the battle was on to stay awake – so off for another wander round, canalside drinks, arvo cocktails in a place near the hotel, and onto an Argentinian restaurant (Santa Maria) for a tasty dinner.

After that, back to the hotel to write up the day’s events and finally get my tired self to sleep (which is why today’s entry isn’t really brimming with detail).

Almost in Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jakarta to Singapore
Just a quick flight, a little under two hours, so not too much to write home about. The accommodation is a real step up from the previous flight, you can tell this plane (a Boeing 777-300ER) is a lot newer. It’s almost like having a little booth, very comfy. This is the same plane we’re taking for the long haul from Singapore to Amsterdam, so I’ll go on (and on) about it more then. With 14 hours to get through, I’ll have plenty of time (though hopefully good deal of that will be spent sleeping).

Changi Airport

Arriving at Changi airport I was really impressed – it’s enormous, clean, quiet, very modern – and if you’re going to be stuck in an airport for a while this would be one of the ones to get stuck in. We only had about half an hour to wander around, and couldn’t get from one end to the other in that time. Then it was right back on the same plane we just left, for the final leg of the journey to Amsterdam.

“Welcome back!” was the bright greeting from the cabin crew – the same ones that looked after us from Jakarta to Singapore. Before long we were settled in and ready to go. By this point I think it was about 2AM Sydney time, so it had been a long enough day. I think I fell asleep a few seconds after putting my seatbelt on, only to wake up when we took off.

After that, it was definitely time to try and get some proper sleep. What can I say, lie-flat beds are my new favourite thing. Push a button the seat cushions perform some clever gymnastics and before you know it, they’ve re arranged themselves into a perfectly flat and surprisingly comfortable bed. I’ve never been a great one for sleeping on planes, ’til now. With only a few moments to admire the ‘twinkling stars’ lighting throughout the cabin (and sorry I didn’t get a picture, but I’m sure Google has load of them), I was out like a light, and other than the occasional break for the bathroom or to take some panadol, I slept like a log. It was a pretty calm flight, only the occasional bit of minor turbulence but nothing to worry about.

Next thing I know was the sounds of breakfast being prepared, followed by an announcement that there were 3 hours remaining on the flight. One of cabin crew was taking breakfast orders – they were all out of omelettes (yep, freshly cooked apparently!), so I opted for some delicious muesli and a tasty pudding. Despite sleeping for most of the last 11 hours I can’t say I’m feeling all bright eyed and bushy-tailed, somehow all this sitting around doing nothing still does take it out of you. Still, considering there are about 6 weeks of amazing holiday ahead, I really shouldn’t grumble.

There’s a bit under two hours to go – judging by the map we’re flying over Bucharest at the moment. I’ve gotta say I’ve been seriously impressed with Garuda. When Perry first mentioned it I was a solid “Nope, no way, not going, forget it!” but after I did my homework and saw how much they’d changed I was willing to give it a go. And so glad I did – the flights have all been good – very comfortable, smooth landings, fantastic service from excellent cabin crew, really can’t complain at all. Nice one, Garuda!

First flight done – Hello Jakarta! Kota Tangerang, Indonesia

Kota Tangerang, Indonesia

First flight done First leg – Garuda Indonesia flight 713, Sydney to Jakarta. (On an A330-200 if anyone’s keeping track!) I have say I’m really glad we sprung for business class – seats are wide enough and even if I stretch out I can’t touch the wall in front of me – Perry was the same, that’s how you know there was plenty of space!

We were welcomed with a fancy L’Occitane amenity pack with slippers and the usual lotions, potions, and an eye mask. Next minute someone was along to take our order for “post-takeoff drinks”. Very nice. After a while taxiing (am I the only one that always falls asleep as soon as taxiing begins?) we were up up and away. If ever someone was to ask me what “billecart salmon” was, my first thought would be some fish delivered by rudimentary wheeled transport, probably running down a hill and steered by a rope. But no, apparently it’s a brand of champagne, delivered (in actual glass) just after takeoff. Served with a tiny pastry case of olive and sundried tomato. Being served a glass is one thing, but one a cloth napkin? I’m more used to the good old Qantas economy cardboard box of food and a tiny can of soft drink, so this level of service is really impressive. Less impressive is the wi-fi on board, $10 for 10MB, which would be enough for uploading one or two photos to Facebook and then it’d all be over. So I will wait until we’re back on solid ground before uploading this entry. Things I’ve learned so far: “Would you be continuing the service?” actually means “more champagne?” The flight was an uneventful (which is good!) 7 hours 50 mins , food was delicious, even the bonus tofu satay which I’m still not sure was delivered by plan or by accident. Then a few short hours later it was time for more food, but even I couldn’t fit it in. Now we’re all here safe and sound in Jakarta, resting in the Garuda Lounge – our temporary home for the next five hours til the next flights. (2 hours to Singapore, then the killer 14 hours to Amsterdam). Hopefully my ears will ‘pop’ back to normality before then!

"It won't be long" Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia

The countdown is well and truly on. Only a few days til we jet off for about six weeks of adventure. As I’ve been saying for at least the last twelve months if not longer, “I can’t wait!”

Everything is sorted – planes, trains, automobiles, ferries – but so far no helicopters, hovercraft, segways, skateboards or bicycles (Though with Amsterdam on the list of cities to visit, you just never know.)

We’ll start from Sydney as a team of six intrepid (?) travellers, beginning our adventure in Amsterdam. Next up is a quick stop in Athens, where we pick up a straggler and become a group of 7. After a day in Athens dodging any financial drama or Drachma, we’re off to stay a few days in Santorini, followed by a few more days in Mykonos.

London is next, after which we break up the band, losing our fellow travellers as they go off on their own adventures through Paris and Berlin. We’ll be staying on in London a bit longer.

Next we’ll shift gears (quite literally) and pick up a car to drive to Brighton, followed by stays in Bristol, then Cardiff, before leaving the car and jetting off to Stockholm. Then after that it’s the part we don’t want to talk about… the end of the trip!

All this, and we only have to wait ’til Saturday. It won’t be long!