Netherlands

Quite possibly the first trip which I took in mainland Europe in 2011 and man wasn’t it interesting.

I spent close to a week there spending time in the major cities as well as took a break enjoying the peace and quiet of the Netherlands countryside.

Many interesting things and quiet a learning experience for the first time traveler.

Many firsts on this trip

• First time driving on the wrong side of the road( Well I am from India,Call it the remanance of a 150 Year British Rule. )
• Smoked Pot
• Ate 14 varieties of meat in one night
• Learned what to do when your hotel reservation got cancelled without notice at last-minute

After a quiet shaky ride due to turbulence on the flight and a  long  applause from the passengers  to the pilot for delivering us safely , we got down at the Schipol airport to inviting signs everywhere which read I Love Amsterdam.

We were quiet not sure  , but then we went to the hotel were we had booked our room.

Surprisingly, our booking was not even in the roster which the woman of south-eastern origin who was at the reception , revealed to us in  a weird English accent. Shocker!!

At least can’t complain, she let us use the hotel computer for free to check reservation.

Oh , I dint mention when we were traveling. It was during the Easter holidays during the Tulip festival. All hotels were full.  One hotel in the middle of the city were offering two rooms at an insanely high price which we had to book as we couldn’t sleep on the streets.  Took the pubic transport and went to the heart of the city looking for the hotel and on seeing the party of 7 men, the woman at the counter looked at our reservation and asked us,

“Hey, do you mind staying in our dorm in the attic ,its small but has everything in it. I am asking since you are all young the it cost only half . We could give your rooms to some one else . What do you say?”

Why not. We later came to know that in most of the European cities especially with hotels in the old cities, there are rooms ,which are not usually in the websites like Booking.com or Hotels.com, which the hotel keep for last-minute parties like us, who might get their bookings messed up. So , I cannot say that don’t book hotels and go , but if you end up like us , you know which hotels you can look for and what to bargain with , if they have an attic. Of course it depends on how young you are and the number of stairs you can climb.

Well , even though my high doesn’t come from the Cannabis, I really wanted to try it out. Well it was not that enjoyable to say the least. Well I guess may be a puff or two is not enough for me I guess.

After spending a nice day in Amsterdam , we went onto to the interiors to explore Netherlands country side. We selected a nice cottage in the outskirts of  Utrecht . We selected this as the town of Hague was near by  and one of the days we could see this amazing city as well by the sea.

One the most amazing experience we had , was a dinner at a Brazilian restaurant we had in Hague called the Rodizio. An amazing all you can eat  buffet, which included 14 varieties of meat will be something I will remember for a very long time to come. “The Passadors” (waiters) serving you the meat right out of he grill in skewers , Samba dancers  performing while you enjoy this delicious meal   all added up to an amazing evening.

Trip to Netherlands is not complete without seeing the Tulips which bloom in the spring. A rented cycle to go around the Tulip gardens or the farms is what I guess the correct way to enjoy the awesomeness of this whole thing.

There are many other places like a street carnival in Amsterdam, a walk through the infamous red streets of Amsterdam, the Scheveningen and some time spent with few street artists in the streets of Amsterdam. Please find below the photos clicked during my visit.

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