Country #6: The Netherlands

Good news, everyone! If you speak poor Italian and very poor French, you can figure out 95% of the toppings listed in Dutch at a pizza joint in the Netherlands.

Was I overly pleased with this fact? Yes, yes I was.

Because, otherwise, Dutch is really intimidating.

I spent my entire trip to the Netherlands half afraid of reading anything outloud for fear of sounding like I was making fun of the langauge. Egelantiersgracht. Grachtendordel. Bedrijventerrein Sloterdijk.

I knew my pronunciation would be so bad, I'd insult everyone all the way back to Willian of Oranje, so I mostly just kept my mouth shut. Unless Russ and I were alone in the car. In that case, we took turns trying to sound out road signs and snickering whenever the navigation system chimed in.

On occasion, I'd find myself repeating one of the words over and over again under my breath. Keukenhof. Kooo-ken-hof. Kooooooo-ken-hof.

Keukenhof was the reason we stayed in Lisse (the village with the pizza restaurant). It's the world's 2nd largest flower garden, stretching across 79 acres and sporting a staggering 7 MILLION flower bulbs. Having come to the Netherlands in search of tulips, this was flower Valhallah.

As an added bonus, it was also Dutch Culture weekend, which meant we got to see traditional costumes and dancing. There was a historical fishing boat where the workers were making fishing nets, singing sea shanties, and handing out bits of smoked eel. Smoked eel? Yow-za.

Eels. Not smoked.

Smoked eels (in the box; note the beady eyes) and traditional Dutch costume.

Russ, who had announced DAYS prior that he was definitely going to try the eel, actually seemed to like it--It's all that time spent in Norway, I think. Smoked sea creatures make him feel nostalgic--I, on the other hand, took my two bites with a grimace and was happy to move onto other things... like stroop waffles.

Keukenhof also has a pipe organ, a petting zoo, a cheese-making display, a place to buy wooden shoes, and a playground. Otherwise, the whole place was a cobweb of meandering flower paths.

Voila:

We were actually supposed to go to Keukenhoff our first day in town, but as we'd arrived later than anticipated, we would have missed all the Dutch Culture fun. So instead, we spent that first afternoon driving around taking pictures of gargantuan flower fields. The tulips were not quite in season yet, but the daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths were going to town.

Insider's Tip: If you want to buy flowers, they sell them on the side of the road just outside Lisse. If you go near closing time, they will sell you FIFTY tulips for 7 Euros. Does anyone really need FIFTY tulips, you ask?

Yep.

The last of the afternoon's wanderings took us out to Noordwijk, a beach town on the North Sea. It wasn't exactly beach weather--in fact the wind was howling--but the sky was beautiful, so we went for a walk.

There were ships sailing just off shore--real, honest-to-goodness sea-worthy vessels, some with three masts, all with crescent-shaped sails of pale canvas. It made me wish for a spy glass. And a treasure map.

Meanwhile, the wind was doing incredible things to the sky.

Turns out, it was also doing incredible things to my hair.

Another thing? Bikes.

There are bikes everywhere. Grandmas on bikes. Teenagers on bikes. Tourists on bikes. Wheelbarrow bikes, kid bikes, bright orange rental bikes. On our way out to Lisse, we stayed a night in Kanne, a small village on the Belgium/Netherland border. Our hosts were Mike and Lucienne of the Andaluc Bed and Breakfast. They are fabulous, welcoming people who bent over backwards to make sure our single night stay was everything it possibly could be. Mike got us a reservation at a little restaurant in Maastricht (the next town over, which happened to be in the Netherlands), and while we were waiting, we walked around town a bit. All of the brick row houses had 2 or 3 three bikes parked out front. I thought it was so interesting that I even took a picture.

I had NO idea.

When we got to Amsterdam, there were bikes EVERYWHERE. Every railing, every bridge. Even just sitting on the sidewalk chained together in clumps. Amsterdam has the world's largest bike parking lot, which can hold more than 6,000 bikes. Apparently, that's not even close to enough.

(I didn't take this photo.)

So, note to self, next time, bikes.

Last thing: pancakes.

After working up an appetite strolling the grounds at Keukenhof, we went over to Leiden. Now for those of you who are not history nerds, Leiden is one of the places the Pilgrims gathered before their eventual sail to the New World. Today Leiden is a cute canal town with ships, an open air market, and pancakes. We went to dinner at Oudt Leyden, and perused a menu boasting 20-something pancake options. This is what they looked like when they came out:

Seriously, the size of small pizzas.

And... that's it. If you made it through all of that tangential hoo-ha, then you can come over to my house and I will give you one of my tulips. Happy Easter, everyone! Misschien heb je alle bloemen en pannenkoeken die u wenst!

#star #travel