I was in Netherlands last weekend! We wanted to visit the world’s famous tulip garden Keukenhof as well as Amsterdam. Since we both also have gotten to be in Amsterdam before, we decided to shorten our stay there and have a look in The Hague. So after 4 hrs of early train ride we arrived Amsterdam Zuid, which is not the central station but the train which connects Germany (“Duitsland”) to Oranjeland ;-) As we were in a little hurry, I didn’t take many pics here but then just rushed to the Keukenhof festival :) We got our tickets beforehand at the Keukenhof website (www.keukenhof.nl) Being around Schiphol (say ‘Schriphol’) Airport, just grab the line 58 for which a lot of dudes were standing in line. Luckily we only waited 30 mins in the queue to be served by a bus. Well, we arrived after a 45min bus ride near the Keukenhof grounds, but as there was the flower parade it was super crowded! See here: Haha.Yes people were climbing on signs to get a better look … Though we could see some groups running in the lane doing their marches, it was really annoying me to stand around, so we just got into Keukenhof. So we just got to the main entrance. And guess what. It was - of course - also full inside. The fields were pretty nice, with a lot of flowers… just have a look here. We didn’t go out into th fields, but you could spot them here easily. If the weather would haven’t been so cloudy, I guess it must have been wonderful! The days after the Keukenhof visit were way better. I think my parents would have loved it, each year we the “Bundesgartenschau” is held in Germany for a similar cause. The outside parks were made with a lot of effort. Did that lady just wanted to show off with her new iPad 2? ;) You can’t see this on the picture but she was running around with that massive thing to actualy makes photos! Oh and don’t feel bored when you depart. The band played for about 2-3 hrs…. ;)
So we started our next day with a nice Korean breakfast in our minbak. I didn’t know so many minbaks existend outside of Korea, but it seems you only know them when you are Korean. I never heard of this kind of stay for e.g. Vietnamese people. But good idea and cheaper than Hotel our hostel. Plus you get Korean breakfast, hehehe.
If you decide to stay in a minbak, you probably share the living space with your houselord. We were located in a row house, therefore there’s no separated facility such as in a hotel or hostel. This explains the sign: It roughly reads you should use the toilet downstairs. The bathroom was used powdering, only good for brushing teeth and showering as the family lives with you in a Minbak. That Minbak also had dorm rooms. This was more like a hostel then. For a small price premium we decided to get our private room which was not only convenient in sleeping comfort but also because other people didn’t wake you up in the morning. Time to complain about NS Rail System. RFID tags are nice and convenient, but when you have to check in and out to pass through the gate and do it WRONG, you can’t enter! I therefore prefer the paper tickets. Idiot safe. It was already full in Amsterdam! Did a boat tour later. For about 14 EUR you can get a one hour trip in the famous Grachten that showed us roughly 50 buildings explained in several languages. Guess for what Netherlands is famous for. More cheese on a market. And vegetables. Yes, flowers too. Hehe, you can take a ferris wheel ride at the city hall. Amsterdam is full of Grachten (canals), but easy to get around French fries and mayo and onions…yummy.
We went to the sex museum, but this might not be fun for everybody. Bonnie didn’t like some exhibits, too vulgar. Hello sailor! Some Castle in the background My Heineken! Heineken is probably the most famous export beer, remember when my school friends used to drink that a lot. Bigger ferry boats. Couples don’t want to get disturbed ;) Got a coffee and bread before rushing to the train station. We almost missed our return train because we were waiting so long in the queue to get food, BUT had to get back to our lockers AND take a train to Amsterdam Zuid to get back to Germany…I’ll never plan so tight again!