Haarlem

 
Haarlem
17 April 2016

We visited Haarlem as part of our trip to Hillegom. From Hillegom, it took only 10 minutes by train. As we did not had our lunch at Hillegom, and it was almost 4 pm when we reached Haarlem, first thing we did was had late lunch. Lucky for us, we found Surinaams Indonesisch Resto, Sinar Cinta, not far from the station (only 5 minutes walk) and double lucky that the resto was opened at 4 pm. So we are their first customer :)

  

Hillegom, Flower Field in Netherlands

Hillegom
17 April 2016

When we think about Netherlands, we must think about tulip. And when we think about tulip, we must think about Keukenhof. Same with us. We always thinking to see the flower strip field in Keukenhof, until... we did our research in the web and found out that if we want to see the flower strip field, Keukenhof is not the place! We should go to town flower area. One of the town is Hillegom.

Amstelveen Cheery Blossom Festival

Amstelveen Cheery Blossom Festival
10 April 2016


Every year in Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest), 400 Japanese cherry trees blossom. And every year, Japanese expats from Amsterdam area celebrate the coming of spring in this area. The celebration was on 09 April 2016. But since we only wanted to enjoy the scenery, we decided to come on the next day.

From Den Haag, we took train to Schiphol, then from there, we took bus no 300 and stop at the second stop. Then we changed to bus 149 and stopped just in front of the forest entrance. From there, we just need to walk 10 minutes to the cherry blossom spot. Amsterdam Bos is a very large forest, there were some entrances, so we made sure we took the short way to the cherry blossom area.

Giethoorn - Venice of Holland

Giethoorn

9 April 2016

Giethoorn is one of our bucket list since we arrived in Netherlands. And yes, when spring finally come, we’re so excited to go there. We looked at weather prediction and lucky us, this Saturday was a sunny day. Giethoorn is a small village in Netherlands. What make Giethoorn unique is in Giethoorn, houses are separated from each other by canals. That’s why it is known as Venice of Holland. They use canals for their transportation. There are no roads, only small path for walking or cycling. 

Czech Republic: Prague, Karlstejn Castle, Bohemian Saxon Zwitserland and Kutna Hora

Czech Republic: Prague, Karlstejn Castle, Bohemian Saxon Zwitserland and Kutna Hora
26 – 29 March 2016

Our sleeping train from Cologne arrived at Prague Central Station (Hlavni nadrazi) at around 11.20. First, we put our luggage at the hotel. We stayed at EA Tosca Hotel, though it took about 25 minutes walk from central station, but it is very close-only 1 minute walk-to metro stop (Náměstí Miru) and also had a good price EUR 60/night.

 

Cologne, Germany

Cologne, Germany
25 March 2016

As part of our trip to Prague, we need to change our train at Cologne, Germany. So, we just took the opportunity to explore the town. The trip from Den Haag to Cologne itself took around 3 hours including short transfer at Utrecht. We arrived at Cologne Train Station at around 1 pm. We put our luggage in the station luggage storage. It cost EUR 7 for 24 hours.

Main attraction in Cologne is the Cologne Cathedral and it’s located just in front of the train station. Across the Cathedral, we can find tourist information, a good place to get some idea about places we can visit. But for map, we should pay EUR1.

Zandaam and Zaanse Schans

 Zaandam

19 March 2016
Zaandam is not like the other cities in Netherlands. Here we can not easily spot old buildings or windmills. When we stepped outside the train station, we were welcomed by unique shape with the dominant color green buildings. For this trip, we brought our bikes. We can put our bikes in the parking area besides the train station.