Friends and Frites In Holland

In front of the Rijksmuseum
see all photos »

We flew into Amsterdam late Wednesday, arriving at our hotel after 11 pm.  It has been 8 years since Erin was last here, and about 7 years for Michael, so we wanted to briefly revisit the city together.  Our hotel was located directly on the Amstel River, and was full of typical Dutch charm.  The stairs were so steep you practically had to climb them like a ladder, and of course we were on the third floor.  Also the whole building was tilted from subsiding, you can see it compared to the surrounding buildings. Not only was the building tilted on the outside, the entire inside was slanted, including our bedroom floor.

Canal in Amsterdam with typical Dutch guy adjusting his IPOD while riding his bike
see all photos »

With only 2 days in Amsterdam we chose our sights carefully, and decided upon the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, both very enjoyable.  The remainder of our time was spent walking around the many canals and streets, eating frites met mayo and pickled herring, yum.

Friday afternoon we hopped on a train to Den Haag to visit Arthur, an old friend of Erin's from Delft and Schlumberger.  We spent the evening catching up since we last saw each other in 2002, sharing our war stories and job experiences since.  Arthur gave us a little walking tour on our way to dinner, through the historic center of Den Haag.  We had to quickly say our goodbyes in order to catch the tram to our hotel, before the lines shut down.  Unfortunately we were unable to find a place in the center and had to settle for a business hotel in the suburbs.

Our crooked room
see all photos »

The next day we hopped the Number 1 tram that runs all the way to Delft.  We made plans to meet up with Erik, one of Erin's flat mates when she studied there in 1998.  We walked around town enjoying the beautiful weather, stopping at Erin's favorite cafe, the Kobus Kuch, for a lunch of tomato soup, ham and cheese sandwiches, and an apple pie and coffee to finish it off.  We met up with Erik and his sister Lotje, who drove over from Breda, and visited another nice cafe on the main square.  Delft has really changed since Erin was there last, with several new shopping centers and building all over the place.

Our hotel is the one about to fall over in the middle
see all photos »

We drove back to Breda with Erik and Lotje, stopping to check out his brand new office in a renovated fire house, very cool!  Erik also introduced us to the world of Second Life, an online virtual world that is growing in popularity around the world. We went into the center of Breda that evening for a stroll and dinner.  It is a very nice city that seems like a very nice place to live.

On Sunday, Erik picked us up and brought us to his parent's home for breakfast.  They live in a new planned community in Breda, with lovely modern style homes.  After breakfast we met Thijs and his girlfriend for a drink in the city center, as we had missed them the day before in Delft.  We walked around paying a visit to the begijnhof, an courtyard community of elderly women, Beguines, that were associated with the Roman Catholic Church. There are several of these communities around, though few are still inhabited by the Beguines.  Of course we had to enjoy a delicious ice cream in the main square before saying goodbye to Thijs and his girlfriend. I'm still not sure how he squeezed into that clasic Fiat, standing at 6' 3".  That evening we met Erik's girlfriend Wendy, finally after all these years. We enjoyed a relaxed dinner of Chinese take away at Erik's parent's house and relished the time together.

Another sinking house in Amsterdam
see all photos »

The next morning we got a lift to the bus station, and from there hopped a Eurolines bus down to Paris.  The visit to Holland was a short one, but it was sweet.