NOORDWIJK, NETHERLANDS
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
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| Our missing amiga, Sri |
Always great to see a familiar face in Amsterdam! My friend from NYC, Sander Van Den Bergh
picked me up outside the airport in a hot minivan and took me to his family’s
stylish apartment on the shores of Noordwijk, approximately 25 minutes from the
city. I had planned to spend the next 5
days in Holland with Sander and my roommate, Sri. This was to be our European reunion tour
following a fantastic Mardi Gras trip back in February. However, Sri cancelled a week beforehand due
to some pending doom in the American financial markets. Needless to say, we missed her dearly and
took liberty in playfully cursing her name throughout the entire trip.
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| Sun setting on Noordwijk |
Thank God I met Sander when I did. I thought I knew what to expect from Europe
but I really didn’t. Sander grew up in
Indonesia, Venezuela, Germany, England and America. He’s been to over 50 countries so, yeah, he’s
pretty tuned in on how the world works.
Even though his family has always been heading in different directions,
they have maintained their apartment in Noordwijk over the past 11 years and
you could sense this was a place they could all call home. We explored the town center by Holland’s
favorite method of transportation- the bicycle.
The streets were dominated by beach cruisers and their drivers which
varied in all shapes and sizes. There
was a slight breeze coming off the beach so we toured around the neighborhood
before gliding into the Pancake House on the esplanade. We locked our bikes next to the piles of
other bikes but I had no fear of it getting stolen. The Dutch struck me as such happy people!
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| Sander taking on the Pancake House |
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| Have you seen my bike? |
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| Vintage bike in Amsterdam |
The next day was filled with Amsterdam, as well as
rain. We parked near the Olympic field
house and took the metro into town. I
realized that this was the fourth city I had been to this summer that had
hosted the Olympics! The others were
Lake Placid, Calgary and Vancouver.
Cool! We had a fantastic visit to
the Van Gogh museum and a great, albeit morbid, trip to the Anne Frank
House. Sander had been there a million
times so he acted as a very thorough tour guide by making me sample the local
cuisine. We had krokets for lunch, which
was a popular fried snack food filled with a meat/potato combo- delicious. We explored the canals throughout the city
until we found the infamous red light district.
I couldn’t believe how blatant the window service was! And I didn’t know they still used actual red
lights to indicate someone who was available.
Maybe that was naïve of me though.
I would love to interview those women and figure out how they came to
this juncture in their life. Could there
be some noble reasons behind it?
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| I am Amsterdam! |
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| Sander disobediently entering the Red Light District unsupervised |
There were hardly any mornings to follow since Sander and I
slept til noon just about every day.
Blame it on jet lag, blame it on sleeping in crappy airports…we got some
nice rest in and felt no guilt. Besides
some running and biking along the dunes, we were mostly busy taking full
advantage of their newly renovated patio that overlooked the beach. The weather was pretty pleasant so we lounged
out there for hours. We headed to the
nearby town of Scheveningen one night and were thrilled to come across a great
fireworks display. This town was much busier
than Noordwijk and was home to the longest pier in all of Europe (maybe even
the world) as well as the famous Kurhaus Hotel. We had a couple great days on the beach itself
where the distinct colored wind blockers were on display. We got a soccer ball and kicked around on the
beach until our ankles were cut up. Sand
soccer always seems like a good idea but it’s kinda not. I couldn’t believe the number of father/sons
out there playing soccer. And the dads
were so fit!
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| Biking the boardwalk |
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| Sander passing an old man on a motorized card |
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| Colorful beach of Noordwijk |
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| A lovely windmill |
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| Biking the dunes |
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| A distinguished Sander taking in the sunset |
Sander
and I drove down to Belgium to see his grandfather before we parted ways. He was heading to Sweden for a few days and I
was taking a train to Brugge. His 87
year old Opa treated us to a generous dinner (and magnificent dessert)
and I was so impressed with how well he spoke English. I felt some anxiety about leaving them the
next morning. I was getting used to the
comforts of a home and people I could trust.
Now I was heading back to my solo road abroad and desperately wanted
them to come with me! I needed Sander to
order for me in other languages! Who
would I confide with on the horrendous European service? How was I going to order tap water on my
own? Hopefully someone in Bruges knows the answer.
Here's the link to more pics from The Netherlands:
FOODS I TRIED: Kroket,
Mussels, Fristi (pink yogurt drink), Cassis (black currant soda), cranberries,
aged cheese, Stroopwaffels, wheat beers, Taksi (pineapple), chicken sate in
peanut oil, dutch mayo frietsaus, meat crepe, cranberries, and Sander’s special
buttered roll filled with chocolate sprinkles.
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