Going home

Ater a great six weeks in Holland, Italy and Scotland, it is also nice to go home again.

Houston, here we come!

 

 

Eating out of the wall

A trip to Holland wouldn't be complete without a visit to FEBO (Dutch fast food). In Holland we call this 'uit de muur eten', the literal translation would be, eating out of the wall.

Let me try to explain to those who have never experienced this. In the wall there are little windows with different kind of foods behind it. You put your money in the slot and then open your preferred window. The machines are filled with typical dutch snacks such as kroket (meat croquettes with different fillings), kaassoufflé or frikandel (a kind of sausage). Needless to say, not the most healthy option but nice anyway.

Cheese farm

As I said before, this summer we are trying to show the girls some typical Dutch sights. Now what could be more Dutch than seeing how cheese is made. So off we went to the 'Clara Maria' cheese farm in Bovenkerk.

Floortje got right in there and helped out the french (!!!) cheese makers.

Well done Floor, these cheeses should keep the farmer going for a while :)

We couldn't skip a visit to cows.

And we had to take the typical tourist picture!

Out on the boat

On probably the nicest day we have had this summer in Holland we were out on the boat. It was such a beautiful evening and we went out on the Westeinder Plassen and the Ringvaart.

Our peaceful trip was somewhat disrupted by the KLM!

After a nice sate and beer we headed back for the harbor, what a great evening!!!

 

 

Amsterdam Arena

Last year opa took the girls on a trip to the circus. He enjoyed that very much so he intends to make this a tradition. This year a trip to the Amsterdam Arena, home of our favorite football club Ajax, was on the agenda. Oma and mum were not allowed to come along!

 

Floortje in the press conference chair of Frank de Boer (Ajax head coach)

Amsterdam Boat Tour

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'

I guess the above does not really apply to us this summer as I am trying to show the girls some typical Dutch things. However these are not the things locals do but the stuff tourists go and see when they come to Holland like Madurodam, Amsterdam, the flower auction and a cheese farm (more about that later).

One sunny Sunday afternoon we decided on a canal tour of Amsterdam. The last part of our journey to the city was done by train. Parking in Amsterdam is ridiculously expensive so this was a great alternative and the girls loved it!

 

Just outside Central Station, we boarded one of the canal boats that took us on a tour of of Amsterdam on the water. Amsterdam has more than 100 km of canals and over 1500 bridges! The main canals are Prinsengracht, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and - my grandma taught me how to remember the order: Piet Koopt Hoge Schoenen :)

Some impressions:

Bikes on every bridge

Don't forget to look up! Beautiful façades on all the houses.

The houses above are called the 'dancing houses'. Notice how they are not very straight anymore.... Most of the houses are small, tall and deep. The reason for this being is that the owner used to be taxed on the width of the house!

Hard to see, but you are actually looking through about six bridges here.

Of course a trip to Amsterdam wouldn't be complete without a visit to one of the many terraces - or as we say in Holland 'even een tarrasje pakken!'

 

 

Floortje, Norah & Pep