Netherlands – part 2 (Maastricht, Eindhoven)

Definitely the longest time I have put my blog on hold as I have finally returned to reality; back to GMT +8. Now finally, a break from meeting family and friends, time for some self indulgent me-time.

I know I know, a Church in Europe, no big deal. But hey, guess what’s actually inside?

Wait a minute, doesn’t that look kind of like a bookstore? Well because it IS a bookstore! For once, 9gag posts aren’t myths! Of course there is big Miffy at child section 🙂

On a side note, highly recommend this funny and enlightening book from Sweden “The hundred- year -old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared.” It made me laughed a few times on my flight back.

Haven’t had any good waffles after my visit to Belgium in late Feb…until I met this pink store! They actually put chocolate sticks INTO hot waffles so by the time you bite till the middle, it melts in your mouth. hmm delicious.

I have seen many tourist trains, but solar paneled ones? Definitely the first time!

Somehow everyday was bright sun white cloud blue sky in Netherlands. Chilling by the river under the swaying shadows of slender trees; resting alongside people smoking weed, ahem, I mean enjoying themselves under the sun; watching mean black ducks chasing kinder ones on the water surface… I can picture myself doing this for another few months.

Perks of being young: seemingly infinite time we’ve got. Seconds, minutes, hours that make up lives. Yet, the last 5 months flew by so quickly and before I can fully process it, I am into my last year in college. Time is so precious, do what you want to do and meet who you want to meet. Tomorrow might sound like a big promise but it really is no guarantee.

I was told the Treaty that created a common currency – Euro was signed right here at Maastricht 😉 To be honest, politicians should be more creative than naming their treaties after where they signed it…

Young adults playing saxophone next to the river, and I assume that’s what they do every weekend!

Then a nice long reading break with…unknown drink, well we ordered lemonade but as long as it’s cold I am happy.

Roads are paved completely in old tiles making it extremely difficult to ride a bike.

It felt like Spring, everything blooming and you never know what to expect around the next corner 🙂 So many things are just waiting to happen.

Banks in Eindhoven somehow looked like big mansions…

And that’s a store inside an egg. Why is every building so unexpected?

Lastly, the first time I live in a room all by myself. The door number was not the luckiest but it was such a lovely single room. I actually had to buy an old school clock as my phone was lost thank god I did not miss my flight. NOT even once. 😉

Rotterdam, where every police I met was a woman~

First off, why on earth have I met 4 police woman in the politie station? Well, just a few weeks before going back to Hong Kong, I have accidentally (?) dropped my phone 😦 in somewhere that I wasn’t 100% sure. But well that matter had been settled, what was REALLY strange was every police I encountered was a middle aged woman :O. Completely opposite to the stereotypical masculine police figure. Anyway they have been so nice to me and based on my “rather” limited encounter with police, I think they are all really kind people who tend to swear a lot.

Now back to Rotterdam, it seemed like a decent city, but there really was just one touristic place: Kinderdijk. There are 19 windmills that have been there forever; long enough to be listed a UNESCO. Most importantly, it was completely free!

We rented a bike (haha, another funny story) for a few euros and got to enjoy the postcard views along the rivers of those tall old windmills.

That above is obviously too big to be my bike. I am not good at cycling at all given that this is merely my third time riding one, but turned out I was not the worst! I managed the entire journey back and worth without falling.

P1120241

Indeed there were some occasional sudden breaks, brushing against pedestrians, screaming and shouting. But but but, I still managed. Once when I stopped suddenly, a man walked by and said to me “I am Dutch, do you need me to teach you some lessons?” hahaha embarrassing.

Of course biking is no big deal, but for me it is. I figured out that it wasn’t the balancing that really frightens me. It was the being out of control. Instead of trusting my legs, I have to rely on 2 wheels that don’t even attach directly on me!

But I was still able to enjoy the view flying by me on both sides (yes, flying because I know the faster I go, the more steady it would be) of the bike despite my constant murmur to myself that I will not fall.

What made it even harder was the pedestrians who always move out of my way too slow, and the rather “narrow” road surrounded by water, another fear of mine. At the end I bruised my little right finger perhaps from brushing against the pedestrians too often 😛

I stopped occasionally when there were more things to see. I ran into 2 duckling families running some errands together. It was definitely one of the CUTEST scenes I have EVER seen in my exchange so far!

A big and a small family 🙂 With mommy and daddy protecting them from back and front!

Couples with the same pace in life.

Then of course we should never forget about the tea part!

And yet another day of TEAAaaaa. Now I am starting to have a rough idea where my extra weight might have came from 😉

There was then these strangely tilted dices they made into a HOUSE. It was cheap to go in, but it made us all very dizzy. I guess we human are too used to the normal straight line boxes.

AND of course the pancake boat. It wasn’t that special really, what was SUPER surprising…was the playroom they have under the boat!

One last special thing, THE largest “vending machine” I HAVE EVER SEEN in my life 🙂

I-Amsterdam (A phrase I never quite understood)

Apr 30th. Trip to Amsterdam on “drumrollll” QUEEN’s DAY! And it wasn’t even a deliberate decision. That’s why things are sometimes best when they are unintentional 🙂 Those days at Netherlands had some of the best weather I have ever seen in Europe. Everyday infinite blue sky and huge white clouds no matter where you look. 🙂

Queen’s day is the biggest thing for the Dutch every year and we had the luck to witness the parties, the wastes on the floor, the orange, and the horrifying smell of piss -_- (because they love Beer, Heineken, and after beer -> they go to the “public toilets” which are practically just mailbox size pissing stands with no doors -_-)

We had these tiny pancakes which were just super cute. Also based on inductive logic we thought this stall must have the best ones 😉

The weather was so great along with the Queen’s day vibe. A couple even moved their sofa OUT on their foyer for a sunbath!

Spring finally came along and flowers were blooming everywhere. Although it was really dirty during Queen’s day, the next morning the roads were swept clean again like nothing has happened!

This is Anne Frank’s house. I never thought I would be able to get behind the ACTUAL bookshelf secret chamber. This exchange to Europe has fulfilled way beyond my dreams, and I’m not even 20 yet! 🙂

We also went to this slick library in Amsterdam which really made the Central Library in Hong Kong a midget. The Netherlands is so homo friendly that there are dedicated bookshelves of books related to homosexual topics 🙂 and they are in pink.

There were too many fluffy sofas and comfy chairs everywhere.

And this, the adorable child section. Everyone shrunk back to a kid in this zone.

Imagine studying in this library, I would never want to leave.

Who can miss the beautiful Tulips when visiting Holland! Keukenhof was the flower “Theme park.”

Name any color and you probably can see it there.

I never knew Miffy was from the Netherlands. Within Keukenhof, there was a cutie miffy playground and there was this little girl stuck, yelling “MOM I can’t get out of here” in English, probably a tourist. I was going to help her but I was afraid she might scream” Mom someone’s kidnapping me”.

After the flowers, the red light district come into mind! And oh my, of course the red light district is huge. Out of respect, and also fear of being spilled pee, I dare not take any photos of the workers. It was kind of eye-opening for me because I actually saw people asking for prices and going in. 50 euros for 15 mins. Imagine that.

Wonderful mornings mean magical evenings. This was a super decadent trip. But the food in Netherlands was not particularly remarkable. The coffee was better in Italy, apple strudel better in Vienna, and well the waffles was just as good as Belgian ones.

But I would still think it is the best Europe country for me to live in if I ever have to pick one. It’s food is decent, living standard normal (better than Swiss and UK) but people can speak English so well! (better than Spain,France,Italy) and the weather seemed great. (If it was just trying to fool me, it succeeded)

WE did climb up the statue! Risking our lives, no exaggeration. But the only photo with the whole word was without us

That on the left is an anti-pee device. Apparently it will splash right back at you when you pee at that corner xD (obviously I didn’t/couldn’t try) They said back in the days it was hooked to electricity :O.

Another outstanding observation: the houses in Amsterdam looked awfully tilted and when I thought I was either hallucinating (not that I did any weed 😉 or the architects were drunk; it’s neither of those reasons! You see pulleys at the top of the buildings and buildings are usually tilted outwards so when things gets moved up back in the days (no elevators, and stairs too narrow), it won’t bang into the window!

As an ending to Amsterdam, we visited this hmm, I’m not sure what these are called. Let’s say it’s a dormitory for single woman over 30. Seems like a legit place to stay really, safe and sound.

Miss Tofu

My journey in life

Tag: Netherlands

Netherlands – part 2 (Maastricht, Eindhoven)

Rotterdam, where every police I met was a woman~

I-Amsterdam (A phrase I never quite understood)