Holland

Early in the planning of this trip we did some internet research on accommodation in Amsterdam. We found many options of interest, foremost among them a houseboat in the Jordaan district which offered use of a dingy for canal exploration. We held off booking anything; however, because we figured that with a little more research, we may be able to do better on price.

Unfortunately, we never got around to doing this research. While at our timeshare in Hungary we decided to head down to the internet café to take care of our Amsterdam accommodation needs once and for all. We soon found out that we would have to pay for our procrastination. There was virtually no availability. We guessed that this was because of the tulip bloom. Instead of spending an arm and a leg to stay in a five star hotel in Amsterdam (even 40 bed hostel rooms were booked) we opted to spend an arm for a place in Gouda, which is about an hour away from Amsterdam by train.

We really didn’t have any idea how to get to our hotel when we arrived in Gouda. We did not have the option of taking a taxi, as they were very expensive. The train station was all but dead when we arrived well after dark. After a few failed attempts to phone the hotel, Larissa found a helpful girl at the snack stand who provided just the right instructions: “Take bus number 178 toward Bodegraven, after about ten minutes you will see McDonalds, next to which is your hotel.”

As it turns out, our hotel, while technically in Gouda, is actually closer (much closer) to the Bodegraven city center. The hotel was quite nice, though a bit out of the way of things. Here is the beautiful view from our room. As you can see, the hotel was indeed very close to McDonalds.

When we woke up Saturday morning we thought we’d head out to find some tulip fields. We asked the lady at the front desk where we might find some. She informed us that we had arrived on the busiest tourism weekend of the year for the Netherlands. She told us that people come every year, from all over, to se the famous flower parade. Within about 5 minutes she had helped us plan our whole day. We would take a train to the town of Leiden, from where we would take a bus to Lisse, where the world famous Keukenhof Gardens are located. Lisse is also on the flower parade route. The lady told us that the bloom had started a couple of weeks late due to cold weather, but that both the tulips and daffodils were now in bloom.

We walked to the Bodegraven train station, disappointed with the cold dreary weather. Before taking a train to Leiden, we took some time to tour the streets of Bodegraven. The compact streets lined with bakeries, pastry and cheese shops, and fruit stands charmed both of us. We bought and avacado and a disc-shaped loaf of bread and then made our way along a canal en route to the train station.

When we got to Leiden it became immediately apparent that pretty much everyone was going to the same place we were. There was a huge line for the ticket stand where combination Bus/Park Entrance tickets were sold. After exploring other potential ways to get to the flowers, we got in line with the rest of the tourists.
All of the Buses doing the Leiden to Keukenhof route were jam packed with people, and ours was no exception. We enjoyed the 20 minute ride nonetheless, as we were treated to flashes of color as we passed by various flower fields.

When we arrived at Keukenhof Flower Gardens, a 32-hectare park which exports more tulips around the world than anyone, we noticed that we were just about the youngest tourists around. We questioned whether it was natural for us, each of us at only 23 years old, to be so interested in fields of flowers. We didn’t come to any conclusions, but decided not to let our self-awareness hinder our excitement.

We enjoyed a small portion of the gardens for an hour or so before following hoards of people back into town so that we could take up our positions for the parade. We arrived far earlier than we needed to. We got bored waiting, and became complacent. Unfortunately, as we lost focus, we also lost our prime street side positions.
The floats were impressive. Everything from elephants, to grand pianos, to space shuttles, to china sets had been crafted out of flowers.

We enjoyed what we figured was most of the parade before leaving a bit early to beat the crowds back to Keukenhof. We agreed that we would have stayed longer had they been throwing anything edible into the crowds.
Shortly after returning to the gardens, Larissa informed me that her new favorite flower was the hyacinth. She told me that she would plant them in our own garden soon. I told her that we probably wont have our own garden anytime soon.
There is a nice windmill on the property, from which there was a nice view. Within the gated part of the park were mostly manicured gardens. We had our fun there, but wanted to dance a bit in the vast flower fields. We exited the park gates and took a short walk to a daffodil field, and then to a tulip field.

We came home that night satisfied with ourselves. Though we had dome some very touristy things, at least we had done the most touristy things in Holland. With this satisfaction, and budgetary concerns in mind, we made the decision to hang around Gouda on Sunday rather than making the trip into Amsterdam.
Unfortunately, Sundays in the smaller towns of the Netherlands mean that almost everything is closed. We had hoped to eat bread and cheese all day, so that we could save a buck or two, but all of the bread and cheese places were closed. Fortunately McDonalds and Subway were open. For breakfast we had two large fries and two ice cream cones. For lunch we split a veggie delight sandwich and each had another ice cream cone. Feeling sufficiently satiated, we committed to skip dinner that night.

Gouda is a nice little town with canal-lined streets and interesting architecture. It also has a few classic-looking windmills. We spent the morning and early afternoon touring the city center and some peripheral areas. Much of the place looked like a ghost town in the morning, but things livened up a bit later on, when church let out.

I guess Gouda is the birthplace of Gouda cheese, though due to the fact that everything was closed, we weren’t able to get much history on this. A guy at subway told us that Gouda is no longer made in Gouda. We had read somewhere that there is a cheese museum and tastery somewhere around, but we didn’t find it. We were sure to have Gouda on our sandwich at least.
When we got back to the hotel, mid-afternoon, hunger was already setting in. We were able to distract ourselves with a movie, but eventually we went downstairs to get a snack. We saw that Twix bars were offered at the best price per kilogram, so that is what we got. Add that to our earlier meals, and you’re not looking at a very healthy day. Funny how when most places are closed, your most inexpensive food options are also the most unhealthy.
This morning we walked back to Bodegraven to catch a train to the airport, which cost around $10 each. As expected, Amsterdam proved to be our most expensive stop yet. Europe as a whole was not kind to us financially. We are now well over budget, but still optimistic that this trip won’t put us into debt.

When we checked in for our flight to Bonaire we were told that the flight was over-booked and that we did not have seat assignments. This was particularly stressful because as far as we knew, there was only one flight per week from Amsterdam to Bonaire. The only other way to get to Bonaire using the SkyTeam alliance is to fly on Continental from Houston, also a weekly flight. So, we spent a stressful hour and a half trouble-shooting and going on over our options. Fortunately, some people didn’t show up for the flight, so we were able to get on. We were also fortunate that the person who was supposed to sit in Larissa’s seat had ordered a vegetarian meal. They found another one for me. For lunch we had couscous with some sort of eggplant curry. We were also served fresh warm rolls and a warm chocolate dessert. For a mid-flight snack we were served chocolate chunk ice cream. For dinner we had chocolate mousse, Italian salad, a calzone, and a roasted pepper sandwich. Anyway, we were very impressed with the food.