After Kuekenhof, we went into Amsterdam for a quick look and dinner. Rachel absolutely adored Amsterdam last time she was there on a contiki tour and Carmel also loves it now :) After dinner we had a walk through the famous red light district which was the first time I had seen it myself and I have been here nearly 2 years. It certainly is worth a good laugh and very unique....lol. That night we didnt get home until 11pm and we were totally exhausted. By the way, Good Friday is not a holiday here. The Sunday and Monday are holidays but then a lot of the tourist places have shops open too. Saturday, we headed West towards the coast. Our first stop was Delft which is where the famous blue and white Dutch pottery comes from. The town itself is gorgeous and has some lovely old buildings but I was a bit disappointed to find that the Delft ware was limited to a heap of shops, although some of them provide hand made products instead of factory made. We also got to watch some being hand made. Afterwards we found a cafe for some scrumptious Dutch pancakes for lunch and then we took a horse and tram ride around the city which is very old and magical.
Our second stop on Saturday was Madurodam. Madurodam is a miniature city where all the sites of Holland that are exhibited are on a 1:25 scale. It is here that you can sample all the most famous impressive Dutch architecture and National symbols, all in the one place. We got to see Amsterdam's most famous buildings, a couple of buildings from local Eindhoven, the parliament buildings of Den Haag, the cheese markets, and so much more in just a few hours :)
After Madurodam, we had a lovely walk along the beachfront at Scheveningen (the Gold Coast of Holland) before driving further. We now headed South towards Zeeland where we crossed the incredible bridges of the Delta's. Unfortunately it was now getting late so we didnt get to see the Delta Expo. We drove through historic Veere looking for somewhere to have dinner but absolutely everything is closed and it is a very religious former fishing village. We ended up having dinner in a cafe on the market place in Middelburg and it was lovely :) Once again, we were home very late.
Sunday wasnt quite such a big day but big enough. After a terrific breakfast of hot cross buns that the girls brought over from England (you cant get them here in Holland), we then did the family thing and visited Hans’ parents. Once there, we were fed up on vlaai, hard boiled eggs, coffee, and other goodies. Then it was time to head down to where the three countries of Holland, Belgium, and Germany meet. This is called the 3 land point. The place was thoroughly packed but it was great. We went up in the tall tower there and got to look out over the south of Holland, part of Germany, and the Ardennes of Belgium.
Following this we went for a drive through Germany, down to the most beautiful village I have ever seen, Monschau. The village is typical German and runs around a river down in a valley. Half way down the mountain you can stop and look out over the village from above and it is so beautiful, but that still didnt prepare you for the magic of the village once you were in it. The pictures I will send will tell the story as there is not much more I can say about it other than I loved it completely. And the hot chocolate there was absolutely the BEST! On the way home, we drove through Valkenburg and saw the castle ruins all lit up.
Monday, our last full day with the girls and this time it was off to see Belgium and Brussels. Our first stop was the Brussels airport to pick up a couple of friends of the girls (Debbie and Michelle) but it turned out that they were arriving at Brussels airport. Instead they arrived at what they call Brussels South airport which is miles and miles from Brussels in the south, near the border of France. At a city in the French part of Belgium called Charleroi so it was off on a 40 minute trip to Charleroi……lol.
When we got to Brussels it was once again a confusing mess of streets with no signs telling us how to get to the centre, maniac drivers, and the very dirty outskirts. But we finally found our way to a car park near the centre and went off in search of the Maneqin Pis (famous statue of the little boy peeing) J We were all shocked to see just how small he really is and he was just there sitting on a street corner with people everywhere taking pictures. It was so good to finally see him though and we took our pics of us all standing in front J He wasnt wearing any costumes though which I thought he might have been dressed up for Easter. We then went over to the Market place and Grand Palace which is the most beautiful part of Brussels. So old and historic. Brussels was absolutely filled with tourists on this day and there were also little markets set up around the place so it took us quite a while to find a nice Belgian cafe with seats available outside so we could have some lunch and a drink but we finally managed it. During our search I just had to stop and buy a toffee apple at one of the markets as I had never ever seen them over here before J I think we also checked out every single chocolate shop in Belgium during our visit before deciding which one to get our Belgian chocolates from ;) Poor Hans, I dont think he will volunteer to take 5 women to Belgium again in a hurry…..lol. But it was a really lovely day and we managed to get home in time for dinner here at home too.
Tuesday it was time to drop all 4 girls off at Eindhoven train station. They were heading up to Amsterdam to spend a couple of days and I was sad to see them go. I had enjoyed their trip so much and hope I get to see them again real soon.
In other news, I had my trial driving exam yesterday (Thursday). I am extremely pleased with how I did. I completely passed the theory that the examiner gave me so now I dont have to do that at all in the real exam. I also completely passed my special manouvres (3 point turn, parallel parking) and also dont have to do them again in the real exam J I am not sure how the driving part went because he thought I was too slow at some intersections and that I dont look to the right enough on side streets that I am supposed to give way to. I will have to work on those in the next few weeks leading up to my exam. I am not sure when the real exam will be but we are trying to make sure it is before my driving instructor goes on holiday in 4 weeks time.
Our second stop on Saturday was Madurodam. Madurodam is a miniature city where all the sites of Holland that are exhibited are on a 1:25 scale. It is here that you can sample all the most famous impressive Dutch architecture and National symbols, all in the one place. We got to see Amsterdam's most famous buildings, a couple of buildings from local Eindhoven, the parliament buildings of Den Haag, the cheese markets, and so much more in just a few hours :)After Madurodam, we had a lovely walk along the beachfront at Scheveningen (the Gold Coast of Holland) before driving further. We now headed South towards Zeeland where we crossed the incredible bridges of the Delta's. Unfortunately it was now getting late so we didnt get to see the Delta Expo. We drove through historic Veere looking for somewhere to have dinner but absolutely everything is closed and it is a very religious former fishing village. We ended up having dinner in a cafe on the market place in Middelburg and it was lovely :) Once again, we were home very late.Sunday wasnt quite such a big day but big enough. After a terrific breakfast of hot cross buns that the girls brought over from England (you cant get them here in Holland), we then did the family thing and visited Hans’ parents. Once there, we were fed up on vlaai, hard boiled eggs, coffee, and other goodies. Then it was time to head down to where the three countries of Holland, Belgium, and Germany meet. This is called the 3 land point. The place was thoroughly packed but it was great. We went up in the tall tower there and got to look out over the south of Holland, part of Germany, and the Ardennes of Belgium.
Following this we went for a drive through Germany, down to the most beautiful village I have ever seen, Monschau. The village is typical German and runs around a river down in a valley. Half way down the mountain you can stop and look out over the village from above and it is so beautiful, but that still didnt prepare you for the magic of the village once you were in it. The pictures I will send will tell the story as there is not much more I can say about it other than I loved it completely. And the hot chocolate there was absolutely the BEST! On the way home, we drove through Valkenburg and saw the castle ruins all lit up.Monday, our last full day with the girls and this time it was off to see Belgium and Brussels. Our first stop was the Brussels airport to pick up a couple of friends of the girls (Debbie and Michelle) but it turned out that they were arriving at Brussels airport. Instead they arrived at what they call Brussels South airport which is miles and miles from Brussels in the south, near the border of France. At a city in the French part of Belgium called Charleroi so it was off on a 40 minute trip to Charleroi……lol.When we got to Brussels it was once again a confusing mess of streets with no signs telling us how to get to the centre, maniac drivers, and the very dirty outskirts. But we finally found our way to a car park near the centre and went off in search of the Maneqin Pis (famous statue of the little boy peeing) J We were all shocked to see just how small he really is and he was just there sitting on a street corner with people everywhere taking pictures. It was so good to finally see him though and we took our pics of us all standing in front J He wasnt wearing any costumes though which I thought he might have been dressed up for Easter. We then went over to the Market place and Grand Palace which is the most beautiful part of Brussels. So old and historic. Brussels was absolutely filled with tourists on this day and there were also little markets set up around the place so it took us quite a while to find a nice Belgian cafe with seats available outside so we could have some lunch and a drink but we finally managed it. During our search I just had to stop and buy a toffee apple at one of the markets as I had never ever seen them over here before J I think we also checked out every single chocolate shop in Belgium during our visit before deciding which one to get our Belgian chocolates from ;) Poor Hans, I dont think he will volunteer to take 5 women to Belgium again in a hurry…..lol. But it was a really lovely day and we managed to get home in time for dinner here at home too.
Tuesday it was time to drop all 4 girls off at Eindhoven train station. They were heading up to Amsterdam to spend a couple of days and I was sad to see them go. I had enjoyed their trip so much and hope I get to see them again real soon.In other news, I had my trial driving exam yesterday (Thursday). I am extremely pleased with how I did. I completely passed the theory that the examiner gave me so now I dont have to do that at all in the real exam. I also completely passed my special manouvres (3 point turn, parallel parking) and also dont have to do them again in the real exam J I am not sure how the driving part went because he thought I was too slow at some intersections and that I dont look to the right enough on side streets that I am supposed to give way to. I will have to work on those in the next few weeks leading up to my exam. I am not sure when the real exam will be but we are trying to make sure it is before my driving instructor goes on holiday in 4 weeks time.
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