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Vacation 2010 - Part 1: The Netherlands
So you had to wait a while to get into all the updates around my vacation with my girlfriend but here is part 1 out of 2 of the two week vacation. This blog will cover a summary on our experiences in the Netherlands. On the 5th of August my vacation break finally started after weeks of hard work and with some goals in mind we tried to add some extra value to it.
Goal #1 Visit 4 countries in 14 days.
Goal #2 Introduce my girlfriend to my family face-to-face.
Goal #3 Have a good time with my friends during the Sneekweek
Goal #4 Meet up with friends from Krista's Brussels time as an au pair.
Goal #5 Have some nice quality time together in France and Luxembourg.
Thursday 5th of August 2010. Time: 14:20
Official start of our vacation. Departure of our KLM flight that would bring us from the Finnish to the Dutch capital in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Around 4 o'clock we safely landed and picked up our backpacks at Schiphol Amsterdam airport. My parents picked us up from the airport, therefore I could immediately introduce to Krista to my parents. We drove to the north via the 'afsluitdijk' where we had a little touristic stop at the monument and enjoyed the view and some tea. Once arrived I had my first driving experiences again since February, because we had to pick up some delicious Oriental take-away, to fill our hungry bellies. The driving didn't go too bad, maybe I was only once over-enthusiastic driving up the parking space. But good enough overall. In the evening we had a nice little walk through the country side around the village I grew up in, visiting some land with horses (Krista loves them).
Friday 6th of August 2010
The day of the official start of the Sneekweek. We did some shopping in the morning with the whole family and in the afternoon it was time to leave the village again with parts of our backpacks for a two days of Sneek. 'Brother' Raul (and his mom) allowed us to stay at his place for two nights and it was once again magnificent and ultra hospitable, thanks so much! We were a bit late and went into the town center to see the opening not long after we arrived. But we couldn't have left Raul's place without checking out the new music video of his little brother Ricardo. A nice poppy song which brings the summer back in your head. Check it out here.
In the town center we met up with my other 'brother' to check out the opening festivities of the annual festival, called Sneekweek. We went from square to square to find some nice place to stand and listen to some good music, but it was a bit hard to find. There were a lot of people and the sing-alongs were played in overdose by he local 'dweilorkest'. For a Finn that must be hard to understand and needless to say it wasn't Krista's favorite. We missed the 'gigantic' (as we have been told) fireworks completely even though we tried to see it but a quick stop at the snackbar to satisfy my craving need for 'proper' Dutch fast food (because they don't sell that stuff here in Finland) made up for it for me. Because the next night would be THE night we called it a night early and went back to Raul's place for a night of sleep.
Saturday 7th of August 2010
We had some good sleep and ate our breakfast in the town when showing Krista around the sights and shop in Sneek. I managed to buy a cool shirt, and we had some delicious ice cream at 'Min 12'. Around 6 o'clock we were expected to be back at Raul's place because of the planned barbecue party and we made it in time. The barbecue party reunited for one evening many friends, classmates and acquaintances from my early days under the pleasant smell of grilled meat. A lot of meat! There was so much food that we couldn't even finish it if we would have invited all the neighbors. But it was all delicious. After the BBQ and drinks it was time to move ourselves into the town center again where a Bob Marley tribute band was playing some adequate covers of his music. After the band stopped playing we went from square to square again to find some nice place to stay and have some drinks. It was even more crowded as the night before and when everything outside shutdown at 1am in the morning everyone tried to get in to the small bars and clubs in Sneek. We also gave it a little shot but when the pushing and mashing to get in was getting too much Krista and I called it a night.
Sunday 8th of August 2010
After a super breakfast and another good night of sleep we got my brother Arnold his car to test drive before we took the Volvo from 1995 with roof window for a long road trip around north-west Europe. We drove back to my parents place where the birthday party of my sister (August 10) and my mom (August 13) was celebrated with the family. A real proper and extended introduction of Krista to the family. Goal #2 had been achieved! A busy day after two nights of party and limited booze, but it was nice to see some of the relatives again which I haven't seen in months or even years.
Monday 9th of August 2010
Tour of the Netherlands. A one day road trip to the most famous (internationally that is) cheese cities, the beach and old-holland. With our borrowed car we drove first to Gouda. Gouda is a town most famous because of its name for Cheese products all over the world and therefore Krista wanted to visit the place. We had some nice free tasting of exotic cheese variants in a cheese shop. Bought some great tasting syrup waffles from a bakery. Had a good lunch at the square and did some walking around. Unfortunately, because it was Monday, all museums were closed. But that gave us more time to see some other places during the day.
Like the north sea beach at Noordwijk. Well that sentence tells it all. A beach, the north sea and a little village behind the dunes called Noordwijk. Nothing special but if you are used to the Baltic sea (which is almost more like a huge lake than a sea) the sound of the roaring waves and the smell of sea salt does more with the human than imagined. We took off our shoes and had a nice little walk on the beach with our feet in the sea. After the walk an Italian scoop of ice and on the way to our next destination. Did I mention it was a road trip?
Next destination: Zaanse Schans. After many unsuccessful attempts of finding the place. This year I finally managed to show a person the 'Zaanse Schans'. Of course this year it was my sweet girlfriend. The 'Zaanse schans' is a picturesque old preserved place near Amsterdam where the former industry glory of the area is translated in well maintained traditional windmills, farms, workshops and the first Ahold/Albert Heijn supermarket (build in 1820 in the area). It was still a Monday and the evening was already present when we arrived so we missed out the hundreds of Asian tourists because the museums etc... were all closed. But the area is freely accessible and we had a nice walk there to see all the monumental buildings and mills.
On our way back to my parents place we visited one more place. The village of cheese itself, Edam. Also an internationally known place because of it's cheese products. The village itself is actually, once you find a parking place, a great village. The old village heart is worth a visit if you want to see some Dutch history and architecture from the past. The huge church totally looks over sized for the village and it is not even the only church in the place. We had a walk around this place at sunset and grabbed a bite to eat in one of the local bars/restaurants.
A great introduction to the Netherlands through cheese and history. All in one day. Needless to say we were reasonably exhausted after this day and all the impressions it has left on us. Well mostly on Krista and I was more tired about driving the whole time, which I did with pleasure by the way.
Tuesday 10th of August 2010
We had a relaxing morning and went to visit the Scherjon clog museum and factory in the neighborhood because Krista wanted to buy a pair of clogs. The 'Scherjon clog' is the most worn and famous clog in the Frisian province I believe. Krista bought some nice unpainted clogs for herself. On the way back we had a little tour guided by my dad through the area he grew up and we visited the family farm, unfortunately no one was home. We also tried to see some Frisian horses at the big stables in the neighborhood but unfortunately that one was also closed mostly due to vacation of the owners. But a nice trip all in all.
In the evening we went to Sneek again for the last night of partying in the Sneekweek with my two 'brothers'. We had a relaxing night of drinking and watching some stupid but entertaining Dutch TV show on the side. When the evening was coming to an end, we went into the town village again for some more party. I wasn't terribly drunk but I don't remember too much of it anymore. I think we had a good time outside. I remember I thought it was the best night of the Sneekweek for the both of us.
Maybe it's just that I'm getting too old for the Sneekweek or that living in Finland changed my perspective on partying a bit, but I slightly live with the feeling that the Sneekweek is getting less and less fun and boring. The atmosphere outside is OK, , even though it's worse than I remember it every time. The bands playing there are not even B-side material, cover bands, dance DJs or 'dweilorkesten', which is not that bad if you are into that kind of stuff. But the whole shutting all outside activities down at 1am already and the whole mashing of people to get into an overcrowded bar thing is just not fun. I'm sorry I said it, it's not fun!I really consider to just skip it next year and spend on some other time some quality time with my 'brothers'.
But all in all I believe I still achieved goal #3. Having a good time with my friends during the Sneekweek.
Wednesday 11th of August 2010
We had an amazingly good breakfast once again at Raul's place and we left during the course of the morning back to my parents place. We had a relaxing day and visited a nearby village and had a little bicycle trip through the fields surrounding the village I grew up in.
Thursday 12th of August 2010
Another slow day to gather strength for the second week of our vacation a.k.a. the international road trip part. We went on a bike ride tour through the area. We had a nice drink on a terrace along the 'Ee' canal in Wyns. We saved a sheep that was stuck with his head in a fence, by notifying the farmer, near Bartlehiem. We went to a local farm to buy some unique cheeses and had fun with the calves and cows. The very sad thing, maybe even the gigantic hangover on this vacation, was that all the cheese we bought was molded when we flew back one week later. They sell there cheese which is only produced on that farm and nowhere else in the world. We didn't even try it ourselves. Very sad that the cheese didn't last long enough to be flown back to Helsinki. But the time with the one to three week old calves was nice and Krista enjoyed about it a lot. She is kind of into farm animals... luckily we live small and on the 4th floor.
Goals 1, 4 and 5 are still to be reached but this is where I will stop for now. The second week of my vacation will be blogged about soon in Part 2, maybe tomorrow, maybe later. I guess this is enough stories to plow through in any case. I will upload some of the photos we shot as well so keep a close eye on the 'trips and vacations' section of the photo gallery.
Feel free to comment, stay safe, stay healthy and peace to all.
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