As often happens during a study abroad year, one meets people from every corner of the world, which is fabulous for a plethora of reasons, not least among them, getting the inside scoop on all the fun local events. This past weekend a dear friend from the first semester and native of Holland invited a few of us up north to enjoy the flower festival near Amsterdam.
After an 8 hour bus ride Friday afternoon, we stumbled off in Amsterdam and into Anouk's waiting car for a short ride to nearby Haarlem where we spent the evening catching up. The next day dawned bright and clear, and after an amazing breakfast (PB and banana on dutch bread = heaven), we were off to enjoy the North Seashore. Needless to say, it was a bit chilly, but I stuck my toes in the water and we immediately warmed up after with coffee at a seaside café. Anouk then brought us to the flower fields. It was breathtaking to see row after row of various brightly colored tulips in full bloom, and we carefully romped through the flowers for the early afternon. Then it was off through green forests, past waterways and farm fields to our lovely hostess' parents' home where we enjoyed the sun in her garden and snacked on local sweets, and all declared we wouldn't be leaving the Netherlands while pondering how hard it might be to learn Dutch.
our lovely hostess, Anouk, and Vero, and then Olga and I modeling in the flowers
Next it was time for a little 'sport', one that is quite common in the Pays-Bas, biking. Anouk rented us a few sets of wheels and we were off to explore Haarlem. We biked for a bit, getting used to being on two wheels again, marveling at the number of people biking and even moreso the number of bikes, they're so plentiful that there is almost always a bike path and they distinguish between bike crossings and pedestrian crossing (pic below). After dodging through traffic and some traditional Croquets and gauffres (ok, the waffles were Belgian, but still yummy), we set up 'camp' on the roadside to watch the flower parade (think Rose parade) but with crazy things like bands on bicycles, I was horribly impressed by them (dark, blurry photo below). Then another round of traditional foods (meats and fries) before wheeling our bikes back to the train station and heading to bed.
Pressing the biker's button; enjoying the canals by bike
talented Dutch
exhausting first day
Day 2 dawned not quite so bright and sunny, but more cloudy/rainy, but no matter, we would be trekking through with our umbrellas in Amsterdam and besides it was nice to get a feel for the 'true' weather of the Netherlands. Anouk and her bf drove us into town, where they have more canals then Venice, to see the sights, including but not limited to the rather shocking red light district (where the streetlights are actually red), an informative canal cruise, the memorable and moving Anne Frank House where the secret annexe was located, the flower market (we bought some tulips, that I hope to not kill) and eating some more local fare like herring and pannekouken. It was then time to say farewell to the lovely Holland region and our amazing hostess before boarding the night bus back to Paris and school.
canal boaters, despite the rain, and the canals in the afternoon (the sun finally did make an appearance)
Flower market had ALL kinds of plants
pannekoeken with apples, nuts and whipped cream, hmmmm
Many, many thanks to Anouk for being the most fabulous of hostesses as well as my fellow travel buddies for being simply amazing to be around 24/7 We'll have to come back for Queen's day next year :)
xxoo
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