Trip to Amsterdam via Paris from Rome, started early with catching the flight to Paris.. Interesting concept of paying the cabbie before he actually makes you reach the destination…. The flight was about 30 mins late to Paris but thanks to the good foresight we had booked the train ticket for Amsterdam with enough gap.. Met a French couple at the train station waiting for their daughter who has married an Indian guy… They were very happy to talk to us partner and advised us about some of the locals tips for our trip later in Paris.
The train to Amsterdam is very comfortable and the journey just went by.. Cute young college couple next to us seemed to be on an adventure trip & kept playing cards and enjoying their trip… Had a nice conversation with the cafe bar lady on the train… She was complementing on the fast rising indian economy and it’s success in the new world..
After reaching Amsterdam, checked in the hotel… Climbing 4 floors of a dingy stairwell with luggage was not fun … Well..
The walk around the Damrak Centraal and the Red light District was definitely worth the stay nearby… Visited the museum to understand the history of the area and it’s involvement in prostitution and was amazingly surprised at how it all came through… Ended the day after a hearty hot meal…
The next day started with a drizzle making the weather cool and the city more beautiful. We had taken a programmed tour of the Dutch country side which started early morning and headed to show us the Windmills, Volendam and Marken. Seeing the 400 year old windmills is a different experience but the effort their government is putting in conserving the heritage was worth an applause. We also met a miller named zuke who gave us a demo of the machinery of the windmill. The place is so scenic that one can fall in love over and over again. Next stop was volendam where we saw cheese factory, a very professional demonstration of cheese making and cheese tasting. Also a group of birds asking for food and efficiently making sure to have it their way.
Then there was boat ride through a huge artificial lake and we reached to Marken. This used to be a fishing village but fishing has been prohibited now and they all earn through tourism. We also visited a Clog factory and saw the whole processes of a wooden shoe being made. The guy who gave the presentation was very jovial. Finally we came back to the city while taking lots of country site pictures of cow, sheep, horses and ducks. After taking some rest we went out again on the Centraal station road. It was full of life and colours. Took a walk of around three hours, bought few souvenirs, paid a visit to the famous sex museum, had dinner and came back to hotel.
It’s time to say bye for now to Netherlands but we were thinking that if life gives us an option of living somewhere else than my home country, Amsterdam is going to be the place.
Over here are some of the older pictures of Holland from my earlier visits.
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