We start out for what is planned to be a short trip to Amsterdam, but because a day ticket cost 20 cents less than a single return, we decided to go further afield. Firstly we travelled to Amsterdam after changing trains at Den Hag (The Hague). The trip took about an hour, and was quite interesting, travelling through suburban Holland indispersed with farmland.We arrived at Amsterdam station which is a spectacular old building, but currently surrounded by construction work, and hundreds of tourists.
It felt strange to be suddenly surrounded by international travellers jostling along the footpath- it felt like London again. The central area is filled with souvenier shops, eateries and tourist attractions, eg. the Sex Museum, Vodka Museum, another Madam Tusauds, etc. And the main plaza was filled with a travelling fun fair. After grabbing a bite to eat at a small cafe, we headed down the narrow streets past 'coffee shops' with names such as the 'Head Space', and the smell of weed in the air. The city does still have excellent examples of historic Dutch architecture with the narrow streets, canals everywhere and cute narrow buildings.
After spending a short time there we headed back to the station to catch a train to Den Helder in the north east. The trip was quite interesting as we passed many beautiful multi-coloured fields of tulips. They're grown in long rows in what appears to be very sandy soil. An hour or so later we arrived in Den Helder which has a seaside feel about it. It's on the tip of Noord Holland and has been the location for naval bases and fishing for hundreds of years. There is a massive dry and wet dock complex, many historic buildings, and a maritime museum with a huge submarine and a collection of ships.
We climbed up a nearby embankment and caught our first glimpse of the North Sea. We didn't just catch a glimpse, we caught the fierce, cold wind coming off the water as well. It made sense then why all the trees in the town were staked upright - to prevent them from being blown over during storms. From there it was a short walk to the massive passenger/car/truck ferry which took us on the 20 minute trip to the island of Texel. Water temperature, 13.5C. We didn't really know what to expect there, but hoped to see some of the sand dunes that line the north-east coast of Holland. We did see something of them, but it was far to cold & windy to hire bikes & cycle, so caught a bus to the centre of the island. It looked little different from the countryside on the mainland, and almost as flat - not our usual idea of an island.
Iin the main town of Den Burg, we found an interesting house. As I was photographing it we discovered that the owner/architect, Vigor Novus, had designed a house for Lego. Well, we thought it was interesting! You can see the Lego box cover in the window. Texel itself appears to a holiday island for mainly Dutch & some German people in addition to its farming function & history. It doesn’t seem to be geared up for other tourism, and we found fewer people spoke English there, especially compared with further south. By late afternoon, we headed back to the ferry for an approximately 3 hour trip back to Zoetermeer. We were very impressed by the coordination of bus, ferry and rail transport. The intercity trains were fast (112kph) and smooth.
By the time we got back it was quite cold & windy – we weren’t really prepared. Rather than cook again, we went to a Chinese/Indonesian restaurant and had an Indonesian rijsttafel that literally translates to "rice table". It an elaborate meal adapted by the Dutch from the Indonesian feast called nasi padang, and consists of many side dishes served in small portions, accompanied by rice prepared in several different ways. The meal was designed for two, but could have easily fed 4-6 people. The restaurant also offers a Chinese rijsttafel, which must be right up there with Greek yum cha in the cross-cultural culinary stakes! Anyway, we stuffed ourselves, and still took enough home for lunch the next day.