Hello again!
Well, lets see... Last time I wrote on my blog I was staying in Groningen for the night. It turned out to be a bustling little town and in hindsight, it would have been nice to have spent another night there. It is home to the second oldest university in The Netherlands, and as such, is full of young people. I had dinner that night at a trendy little bar just near my hotel in the Grote Markt. It had red wall paper and lots of pictures on the wall and there was a piano on a platform above everyone in the corner of the room, which was accesible only by a ladder. The meal was pretty good too- I ordered steak with champignonsaus, as the menu was in Dutch, and it was about the only thing that sounded familiar (Steak with Mushrooms).
The next morning when I woke up it was raining. Again. I took a train to Arnhem and decided to find my hostel first and dump my bag before heading to De Hoge Veluwe National Park. I decided to follow the signs to the tourist office (there are a lot of signposts here in The Netherlands- one for cyclists, one for pedestrians and one for motorists). From that little exercise, I worked out that in some cases it is just better to find your own way to your destination on a map than to follow the signs, especially when you are lugging around all your worldly possessions on your back. The signs took me on the scenic route to the tourist office, through the centre of the town, past lots of shops, down some nice little streets, and eventually to the tourist office (which of course, I walked straight past). If I had just consulted the street map in the first place, then I would have walked directly down the street about 200 metres to the tourist office.
The nice lady at the tourist office showed me on a map where my hostel was, then told me which bus to catch to get there, and where to catch it from. So, I caught the bus, got off at the stop that I was told to get off at, then followed the sign down the hill to the Stayokay (there is a chain of hostels here in The Netherlands called Stayokay). It wasn't until I had walked about 500 metres in the pouring rain, and consulted the map on the side of the road, that I decided that I was in fact heading AWAY from the hostel. You are probably all wondering by now how I manage to tie my shoes of a morning, and why I don't wear a badge with my name on it, just so I don't forget who I am, but HONESTLY I'm really not that bad at following directions- the sign to the stayokay was pointing in the WRONG direction! When I finally got to my hostel, I was absolutely drenched, and it was still pouring with rain, so I decided against catching the bus back in to town in order to catch another bus to the park, and just stayed at the hostel instead.
The next morning looked to be a lovely day, the sun was shining and there was no rain. By the time I got to town, it had started spitting. I took my bag to the luggage lockers at the train station (fantastic invention, those luggage lockers) and caught the bus to De Hoge Veluwe National Park. By this stage, it was no longer spitting, but raining gently. I entered the park and hopped on one of the 1200 free white bicycles that the park provides and started cycling to the Museum which was in the centre of the park. The park was a lot bigger than I expected. It is actually around 20 kilometres from one end to the other and there are more than 40 kilometers of cycling and walking paths. Halfway to the museum (which was a 12km ride from my entrance), it started to pour with rain, so I was pretty wet by the time I got to the museum. The museum was ok, but a little disappointing after the museums in Amsterdam. It is really just an art gallery and it is amazing what some people class as art- there was some pretty weird stuff in there! Unfortunately, as I wanted to catch the train to Den Haag that afternoon, I didn't have time to cycle to the hunting lodge which was on the other side of the park. It didn't really matter though, by the time I left the park, there was torrential rain, so I wasn't really in the mood to add an extra 10kms to my bike ride. By the time I got back to the entrance to the park, I was soaked to the skin. I didn't get to see much wildlife in the park, just the one deer which leapt across the park in front of a couple who passed me on their bikes, and was gone in a flash. I'm pretty sure it was a deer, I asked the couple at the entrance if that was what it was and they claimed that they hadn't seen it.
I caught the bus back to Arnhem, collected my luggage and caught the train to Den Haag. Saturday was National Mill Day here, when all the working mills open their door to visitors. On the train ride I saw 4 windmills all in a group and they were all going. It was a pretty awesome sight.
Den Haag is the home of Rolf, one of the Dutch guys that I met on my 4WD tour of Kakadu, so he kindly showed me around the town for a few hours, pointing out the important sights such as the Knight's House and The Peace Palace, and several of the Royal Residence's. He had to go to a wedding later in the evening, so I had dinner on my own at an Indonesian restaurant. Indonesian restaurants are very good over here, as Indonesia was one of the Dutch collonies. After dinner, I headed back to the hostel, and had a reasonably early night.
Yesterday, I visited the Mauritshuis in Den Haag- The museum which has the painting of The Girl With The Pearl Earing by Vermeer- and Escher in The Palace (an old royal palace has been converted to an artgallery showcasing works by Escher, the famous Dutch graphic artist). 
In the late afternoon, I caught the train to Rotterdam. The lonely planet said that "it's pretty hard to get lost in Rotterdam, due to there being so many landmarks" and for once, I had no trouble finding my hostel (I confess, I did have a bit of trouble in Den Haag).
I found a great Tapas restaurant called Marias, not far from my hostel, and had a lovely meal, before heading back to my hostel to do some laundry. This morning I have been to the top of the Euromast to see the view of Rotterdam from 189metres high, and had a nice walk through Het Park.
There was a golden retriever at the park called "Pastrami" and she was about as obedient as what Eric is! She was having such a lovely time swimming in the pond, chasing the ducks, that she was not going to come out no matter how much her owner called her!
Now, although I don't have much room in my bag (well, no room really), I think I am going to go shopping, as I am in need of a little retail therapy after last night (see next blog)! Then I'm going to check out the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.
By the way, if anyone would like to come and see me in Paris, I'm planning on staying 7 nights there from 18th June- 25th June, and would love to share a hotel room with any of you (I'm a bit put off hostels at the moment)!
Love,
Lis x.
ps. more pictures to come when I find another computer that lets me put them on.
Well, lets see... Last time I wrote on my blog I was staying in Groningen for the night. It turned out to be a bustling little town and in hindsight, it would have been nice to have spent another night there. It is home to the second oldest university in The Netherlands, and as such, is full of young people. I had dinner that night at a trendy little bar just near my hotel in the Grote Markt. It had red wall paper and lots of pictures on the wall and there was a piano on a platform above everyone in the corner of the room, which was accesible only by a ladder. The meal was pretty good too- I ordered steak with champignonsaus, as the menu was in Dutch, and it was about the only thing that sounded familiar (Steak with Mushrooms).
The next morning when I woke up it was raining. Again. I took a train to Arnhem and decided to find my hostel first and dump my bag before heading to De Hoge Veluwe National Park. I decided to follow the signs to the tourist office (there are a lot of signposts here in The Netherlands- one for cyclists, one for pedestrians and one for motorists). From that little exercise, I worked out that in some cases it is just better to find your own way to your destination on a map than to follow the signs, especially when you are lugging around all your worldly possessions on your back. The signs took me on the scenic route to the tourist office, through the centre of the town, past lots of shops, down some nice little streets, and eventually to the tourist office (which of course, I walked straight past). If I had just consulted the street map in the first place, then I would have walked directly down the street about 200 metres to the tourist office.
The nice lady at the tourist office showed me on a map where my hostel was, then told me which bus to catch to get there, and where to catch it from. So, I caught the bus, got off at the stop that I was told to get off at, then followed the sign down the hill to the Stayokay (there is a chain of hostels here in The Netherlands called Stayokay). It wasn't until I had walked about 500 metres in the pouring rain, and consulted the map on the side of the road, that I decided that I was in fact heading AWAY from the hostel. You are probably all wondering by now how I manage to tie my shoes of a morning, and why I don't wear a badge with my name on it, just so I don't forget who I am, but HONESTLY I'm really not that bad at following directions- the sign to the stayokay was pointing in the WRONG direction! When I finally got to my hostel, I was absolutely drenched, and it was still pouring with rain, so I decided against catching the bus back in to town in order to catch another bus to the park, and just stayed at the hostel instead.
The next morning looked to be a lovely day, the sun was shining and there was no rain. By the time I got to town, it had started spitting. I took my bag to the luggage lockers at the train station (fantastic invention, those luggage lockers) and caught the bus to De Hoge Veluwe National Park. By this stage, it was no longer spitting, but raining gently. I entered the park and hopped on one of the 1200 free white bicycles that the park provides and started cycling to the Museum which was in the centre of the park. The park was a lot bigger than I expected. It is actually around 20 kilometres from one end to the other and there are more than 40 kilometers of cycling and walking paths. Halfway to the museum (which was a 12km ride from my entrance), it started to pour with rain, so I was pretty wet by the time I got to the museum. The museum was ok, but a little disappointing after the museums in Amsterdam. It is really just an art gallery and it is amazing what some people class as art- there was some pretty weird stuff in there! Unfortunately, as I wanted to catch the train to Den Haag that afternoon, I didn't have time to cycle to the hunting lodge which was on the other side of the park. It didn't really matter though, by the time I left the park, there was torrential rain, so I wasn't really in the mood to add an extra 10kms to my bike ride. By the time I got back to the entrance to the park, I was soaked to the skin. I didn't get to see much wildlife in the park, just the one deer which leapt across the park in front of a couple who passed me on their bikes, and was gone in a flash. I'm pretty sure it was a deer, I asked the couple at the entrance if that was what it was and they claimed that they hadn't seen it.I caught the bus back to Arnhem, collected my luggage and caught the train to Den Haag. Saturday was National Mill Day here, when all the working mills open their door to visitors. On the train ride I saw 4 windmills all in a group and they were all going. It was a pretty awesome sight.
Den Haag is the home of Rolf, one of the Dutch guys that I met on my 4WD tour of Kakadu, so he kindly showed me around the town for a few hours, pointing out the important sights such as the Knight's House and The Peace Palace, and several of the Royal Residence's. He had to go to a wedding later in the evening, so I had dinner on my own at an Indonesian restaurant. Indonesian restaurants are very good over here, as Indonesia was one of the Dutch collonies. After dinner, I headed back to the hostel, and had a reasonably early night.
Yesterday, I visited the Mauritshuis in Den Haag- The museum which has the painting of The Girl With The Pearl Earing by Vermeer- and Escher in The Palace (an old royal palace has been converted to an artgallery showcasing works by Escher, the famous Dutch graphic artist). In the late afternoon, I caught the train to Rotterdam. The lonely planet said that "it's pretty hard to get lost in Rotterdam, due to there being so many landmarks" and for once, I had no trouble finding my hostel (I confess, I did have a bit of trouble in Den Haag).I found a great Tapas restaurant called Marias, not far from my hostel, and had a lovely meal, before heading back to my hostel to do some laundry. This morning I have been to the top of the Euromast to see the view of Rotterdam from 189metres high, and had a nice walk through Het Park.
There was a golden retriever at the park called "Pastrami" and she was about as obedient as what Eric is! She was having such a lovely time swimming in the pond, chasing the ducks, that she was not going to come out no matter how much her owner called her!
Now, although I don't have much room in my bag (well, no room really), I think I am going to go shopping, as I am in need of a little retail therapy after last night (see next blog)! Then I'm going to check out the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.
By the way, if anyone would like to come and see me in Paris, I'm planning on staying 7 nights there from 18th June- 25th June, and would love to share a hotel room with any of you (I'm a bit put off hostels at the moment)!
Love,
Lis x.
ps. more pictures to come when I find another computer that lets me put them on.
No comments:
Post a Comment