Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Going Dutch - the fourth day

The rural idyll

When we were planning our trip to the Netherlands, I asked my wife if there was anywhere in particular that she would like to visit. Shu-E did some research on the Internet, and decided on a small village in the Northern Overijssel region called Giethoorn. I'd never heard of the place, but the photos she showed me on a Mandarin-language website looked nice. However, when I looked up Giethoorn in my Lonely Planet guidebook, the words "the site has become a must-visit for Asian tour groups" leapt off the screen of the iPad. I had nightmarish visions of a once-lovely village collapsing under the weight of all the tour buses disgorging hordes of Chinese tourists. Our lunch after getting off the bus stop in Giethoorn (and before reaching the canal area) was, in fact, interrupted by a large group of noisy middle-aged Mandarin-speaking women, and things didn't look much more promising when we passed a Chinese noodle restaurant as we walked toward the bed-and-breakfast where we were going to stay that Wednesday night. But the tourists never materialized (the lunch group apparently got back on their bus and went elsewhere), and Giethoorn turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, one of the most idyllic locations I've ever visited. Chalk it up to traveling out of season.

A last look at our hotel room in Amsterdam before checking out:


Getting to Giethoorn from Amsterdam involved taking a train from Amsterdam Centraal station to Steenwijk, then riding Bus 70 to the village. The view while waiting for the bus outside Steenwijk railway station:


Lunching on a pancake:


The B&B De Galeriet Giethoorn, where we spent the night in reasonably-priced (though cash-only) comfort:



After checking-in and dropping off our bags, we spent the rest of the day wandering along the canals, admiring the scenery and letting the village work its charm. The area can be explored by bike and boat, but we were content to let our feet guide the way:







A stork's nest. We didn't see any of the birds in Giethoorn; we haven't encountered any in Lithuania, either, though we've been told they're quite common:


A gaggle of geese rest in a field. The Netherlands is a densely-populated country, but open spaces dominate the Dutch countryside:



Amber makes a friend:


A couple takes a boat through the canals:


It doesn't get more much more pastoral than having sheep graze on the lawn:


Dining that evening at the Ristorante Fratelli:



Even in the chilly night air, the village retains its charm:



Back at the B&B, reading the entry left in the guest book by a Taiwanese visitor. My daughter added her impressions:



On a cold day in late November, my wife and I fell in love with a small Dutch village. Giethoorn is one of those places where I could see us purchasing a small house as I approach retirement, and settling down to enjoy its mystical charm...

...until I remember the tourists that show up in droves during the peak season (between 150-200,000 Asian visitors a year, according to numbers found online by a friend of mine), and then the dream turns into a nightmare of having to put up signs in Mandarin, Korean and Thai (as we saw in Giethoorn), asking people not to trespass in our garden and press their noses up against our living-room window glass to have a peek inside.

Then again we could always live there during the chillier, darker months, when things become quiet and quaint. And we could always fund our retirement by opening up a Taiwanese tea stand...

Dutch treat:






Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Going Dutch - the third day

What did you expect to see in the Netherlands?

I liked Amsterdam. My wife didn't share my enthusiasm for the Netherlands' largest city - she had come to see the Dutch countryside. It was her suggestion that we make a day trip to see the windmills in the village of Zaanse Schans. And so on our third day, following breakfast at our hotel...:


...the three of us walked to Amsterdam Centraal station, where we boarded a train for the short ride to Koog Zaandijk...:


...from which we walked 1.5 kilometers, crossing the Zaan River...:


...to reach the village. Zaanse Schans is basically an open-air windmill gallery, with historic windmills and houses being brought from other parts of the country to re-create a 17th century village. It's a successful concept, with charming views at virtually every turn:



Amber tries on another Dutch icon:


With no equivalent to Thanksgiving to stand in the way (though many stores in Amsterdam and Maastricht have latched on to "Black Friday"), the Christmas decorations were already going up in the Netherlands during our brief stay, many featuring the controversial figure of Black Pete:


The clog factory was an interesting museum/souvenir shop combination:


Admiring the scenery from a lookout point. Unsurprisingly for a country where roughly half the land sits no more than a meter above sea-level, the Netherlands is flat, and makes for a cyclist's paradise:



Windmills? Check. Wooden clogs? Check. Cheese?...Check:


According to Wikipedia, the windmills below are (from left to right) Het Jonge Schaap ("The Young Sheep"), De Zoeker ("The Seeker"), De Kat ("The Cat") and De Gekroonde Poelenburg ("The Crowned Poelenburg"):


Lunch time at the Restaurant De Hoop Op d'Swarte Walvis. One of the few disappointments of being in the Netherlands was the prevalence of Heineken Beer, aka 歐洲的台灣啤酒. This restaurant, however, had local brews on offer, of which I partook (I'm also holding the block of Baby Goat I picked up at the cheesemaker's:


Lunch consisted of local favorites, starting off with Zaanse mustard soup, digging into Beemster beef steak for the main course and culminating with a slice of apple pie for dessert (not pictured as my daughter quickly tucked into it):



After lunch, it was back to taking in the scenery:


One of the most interesting windmills was the one that produces paint pigments for sale, the same materials the Dutch masters used in producing their Golden Age masterpieces:





Amber enjoys some hot chocolate on a chilly but sunny afternoon:


The Zaanse Schans Windmills:



All good day trips must come to an end, so we returned by train to Amsterdam Centraal:


My daughter is fascinated by a self-serve food dispenser:


Amber and I took Shu-E to see the evening lights in the Dam, in the heart of the medieval center where the city was founded way back in 1270:


The National Monument, an obelisk erected in 1956 to commemorate the dead of World War II:


The square is dominated by the Royal Palace (Koninklijk Paleis) and Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) and...:


...and Madame Tussauds Amsterdam!:


As the sun went down it was time to have dinner:




A night stroll on the streets near the Dam:



A shop selling smoking supplies. The presence of cannabis was very noticeable at times on the streets of Amsterdam during our stay, suggesting I was at a rock concert rather than in one of the world's most famous cities. Considering my present station in life, I wasn't going to visit any of Amsterdam's famed coffeehouses. Shu-E wanted very much to take a walk through the Red Light district; with a ten year-old in tow, however, the best we could do was skirt the edges and then retire to our hotel. Being parents can really bite at times:


Dutch treat: