Sorry for the delay in writing... my niece Amy is in town and we have been out having fun!
Amy and Speedy (our cat) safely arrived into the Amsterdam airport early last Friday morning. I was a little late meeting them, as I learned that the tram, which takes us from our apartment to Den Haag Central Station where we catch the train to the airport, doesn't begin running until 6:00am. On Friday morning I was the 'happy aunt' that couldn't wait for it to pick me up! I arrived after Amy was able to enjoy a fresh cup of Starbucks coffee to revitalize her after her long journey over the pond.
Our time with our first guest has been extremely busy! Her first night here we not only went out and enjoyed a nice dinner together, but we also took in some of the many local pubs. After all, you can't go to Holland and not experience the pubs!
On Saturday we ventured up to Amsterdam for the day where we walked throughout much of the city. My feet were killing me by the time we had headed home! While in Amsterdam we saw many flower vendors with beautiful fresh flowers and various tulip bulbs. Our visit could not be complete without a trip to one of the many museums. We purchased annual museum passes and enjoyed a great experience at the Van Gogh museum. I must say... it was well worth the time and the money! The Anne Frank House was another place of interest to us, but the line was way too long and so we decided to save this experience for another time.
Have you ever eaten at a Dutch 'pancake house'? We did. We had lunch at 'The Pancake House' and boy was it good! The pancakes were actually more like crepes and you can order them with just about anything that you want on them. We had ordered one with ham and pineapple and one loaded with various fresh vegetables. They were both... yummy!!!
On Sunday we enjoyed a beautiful day over in Leiden. This is a college town and one that we thought Amy would absolutely love... and she did! We walked all throughout the town taking photos and enjoying all there was to see including the Leiden Botanical Garden. There I took several photos and I will soon post some of these for you to enjoy.
Amy had learned, prior to this trip, that there are various poems that can be found painted in public
places throughout the town. Most of these can be found painted on the sides of buildings. While there are hundreds of these, we were able to spot just under a couple dozen. We actually had a contest to see who could spot the most poems and Amy won, hands down!
There is no better way to end a beautiful day than to take a narrated boat ride through the many meandering canals. Our Captain taught us some Dutch history and we tried to absorb as much of it as we could. I might share that we had enjoyed a bottle of Proscecco while we were cruising. Yeah... life is good!
More to come... stay tuned!