Month: March 2025

There are two places we have been meaning to visit in the Netherlands but have not gotten to yet, one is the Van Gogh Museum, and the other is Keukenhof. When we first arrived we decided to go to Keukenhof. It is less expensive if you buy the parking and tickets in advance so we went on line, while there were tickets available on the weekend, the website said the place would be crowded. Since this is the second most visited site in the Netherlands we took that to mean very crowded. Today was not marked crowded and it was supposed to be sunny so we bought the tickets.

Keukenhof is a garden that displays all of the different flowers grown commercially in the Netherlands. The main reason most people come is to look at the Tulips, but there are many other types of flowers on display.

We set the alarm for 8 am because we have both been sleeping in, a combination of cold nights and jet lag. We packed François up and had him ready to go at 9:30, but when I turned the key the battery was dead. I headed up to the office to have them call for a jump start, but they volunteered to send one of their maintenance workers over to give us a jump, and we were on our way just before 10am.

We were in the park at 10:45 and the place was already jumping with people. We both looked at each other and wondered what it was like on a busy day. The place is beautiful, and the various gardens and indoor displays are very beautiful.

The only issue was that it was about a week to 10 days too early for Tulips. There were a few Tulips in bloom, but we mostly had to make due with other types of flowers that were also beautiful. The primary season for Tulips is April and May so we were just a bit too early.

The other issue was that while the day was beautiful the temperatures where in the low 50’s with a steady wind that made it feel much colder. Everyone was bundled up and the souvenir stores were doing brisk business selling stocking hats, and scarves.

We had bought a 45 minute canal tour, we enjoyed it but most of the fields were not in bloom. There were a lot of birds in the fields and some daffodils blooming so all was not lost.

We spent about 5 hours at Keukenhof and enjoyed ourselves despite the cold temperatures. Even without the Tulips in full bloom the grounds are beautiful and worth a visit as they plant other seasonal flowers during non-Tulip months.

Our last stop for the day was a mechanics shop near the campground. I had emailed them to see if I could get some things taken care of. Francois is approaching his 10th birthday and there are a few minor things that need maintenance, and one more major thing that needs taking care of. I had reached out to a place with a good reputation and they had asked us to swing thru to take a look at our issues. They closed at 5 and it looked like we were going to arrive at 4, when just 1.5 kilometers from our exit the freeway came to a complete halt, and the 1.5 kilometers took 45 minutes to negotiate. We arrived at 4:45 but they were kind enough to take a look at our problems. One they offered to work on when we return to the Netherlands, but unfortunately our bigger problem is going to require a trip to a Fiat dealer. So we have to work that into this trip.

We choose to have a lazy day today. The spring and fall time changes do not line up between the US and Europe so we ended up sleeping an hour later this morning as today was the day for Europeans to spring forward. It didn’t make a lot of difference for us as we had very little planned intentionally.

It was a very blue day, but very windy. François had been rocking all night in the wind and when we finally decided to head into town it was still blowing quite hard. We bundled up and joined the crowds in downtown Delft.

Our agenda was very simple, go have a couple of beers at interesting bars. Delft has been a major producer of beer in the Netherlands since the middle ages so we wanted to get a feel for the beer history of the region. Ton had picked out a couple of places that specialized in Dutch and Belgian beers. Our first stop was at a small pub near the church. They had over 30 beers on tap, and after consulting with the owner I choose a Dutch Blond, and Ton choose a “Belgian” dubbel.

The Belgian is in quotes because the bartender explained that the brewer of the beer was a Dutch guy who lived near the Belgian border. He initially brewed his beer in his hometown, but he learned that while Belgian beer was in vogue nobody was interested in Dutch beer. So after a couple of years he bought a place a couple of kilometers away on the Belgian side of the border and sales soared for his “Belgian” beers.

Ton had picked out another place that had a large selection of Belgian beers, but when we got there all of the inside seating was taken and the substantial outside beer garden was also full. We may return later if the wind is not blowing.

Our final stop was a small brewery which is the newest in Delft. While the building was being converted to a brewery a stray swing of a sledge hammer uncovered a forgotten cellar under the main floor. This happens quite frequently so the local town archaeologist was brought in and after some investigation he determined that the cellar had been used in the past as a brewery so the building has returned to its original roots.

We sat in the cellar that was the old brewery for our beers. The newest brewery in town has good beers that hopefully make the ghosts of the old brewers proud. We were debating whether to have one more beer when I spotted a place on the man square offering Affogato which is ice cream topped with espresso. Ton loves Affogato so we skipped the beer in favor of dessert. It was a good choice.

Last night Ton proposed a trip to Rotterdam to get us into the swing of things. So we forced ourselves up a little earlier. Ton prepared a nice hearty breakfast. It was our first big meal of the trip. We then set off for the train station for the 15 minute train ride to Rotterdam. In what was going to be a trend for the day, we showed up at the platform just as the doors closed on the train and it began rolling. Fortunately, the next train was in 15 minutes.

Rotterdam’s city center is very different than any other we have visited in Europe. In May of 1940 as the Germans were invading the Netherlands they sent one of the first mass air raids to Rotterdam, in 45 minutes the downtown core of the city was leveled with hundreds of deaths.

After the war most cities tried to reconstruct the buildings that were lost to bombings or battle, but in Rotterdam they decided to start form scratch rather than rebuild the old buildings. The result is a city of very modern and vibrant architecture. It has the feel of an American city, but with European walk ability. We really enjoyed it.

Our first stop was the Market Hall. It is supposed to be the largest covered market in Europe but I think it depends on how you define big, it certainly is the tallest. It is a giant food court with foods from all over the Netherlands and the world represented in different small restaurants. The interior is a gain arch covered in murals of food, plants, and animals. In addition to all of the restaurants the building also incorporates over 200 apartments. One of these apartments would be perfect for someone who didn’t like to cook!

Our next stop was the flamboyant yellow cube houses. These were built in the 1990’s as a civil development project. The architect promised something unique and he certainly delivered.

There were originally going to be 70 of these built, but in the end only 38 were completed. While people were interested in looking at them, they are not the most practical places to live so demand was not that high.

After the food hall, the yellow cubes and the longish walk to get to them our next stop was food. In the Netherlands we have been trying a lot of Surinamese food. It is an interesting blend of Chinese, Indian, and Caribbean food. We were excited to find what was touted as the best Surinamese restaurant in Rotterdam and it looked promising. It was full and informal which is always a good sign that it is the food not the ambiance that is driving business. I liked the food, but Ton was a little disappointed.

We had been reading about what the Lonely Planet called the best bar in the world so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately it was not open when we went by so Ton’s culinary experience in Rotterdam was disappointing.

Luckily we saw a nice bar on our way to the train station so Ton was able to enjoy a nice Dutch beer while I settled on a Czech Pilsner. We arrived on the platform for what was to be a quick ride back to Delft only to see our train pulling out. Luckily there was another in about 20 minutes so we moved over. When we arrived in Delft we found that we had missed our bus to the campground by 3 minutes, the next one was in 27 minutes but it did not turn up. We finally got a bus 57 minutes after arriving. So while the trains and busses run frequently we did not have very good luck with them today.

We had another late start to the day as a combination of jet lag, and iffy weather kept us in bed until late. We lounged around all of the morning until about 1pm when Ton suggested a walk to town.

We had visited Delft last year and spent a couple of nights. We spent one day checking out the town, and used it as a base to explore the Hague for another couple of days. Ton wanted to go back to a couple of the sites and check them out again.

After a short 25 minute walk we were in the main square of the town. As we expected it had not changed. The square is nice, and Delft is on the tourism trail as it is famous for its blue pottery, and as the home of the girl with the pearl earring. Scarlett Johansen starred in this movie a few years ago and it still drives visitors to Delft.

As we were walking thru the square a wedding party emerged from the town hall. The friends and family formed two lines and the newly weds walked thru it, while everyone blue bubbles. We guessed the bubbles replaced the throwing of rice, but maybe the Dutch never threw rice, and always blew bubbles at newly weds.

We had a nice walk thru town, but we had a deadline as it was supposed to rain about 4pm. Ton wanted to make one more run thru the supermarket before heading back to François. After 45 minutes we emerged from the Jumbo supermarket with a pack full of miscellaneous food and hustled back to François just before the rain started.

We settled in for the night, but after the rain it was a bit damp and chilly so I wimped out and turned on the heater to warm François up before we went to bed. We are planning to head out tomorrow for a proper day of exploring in South Holland.

We both slept in. I was up around 10 am and Ton took a little longer to get going. It was chilly overnight, and while I thought about turning on the heat we managed to make it through the night

To allow Ton a chance to sleep in peace I decided to head into town to see if I could find a charger for my Fitbit to replace the one which is probably sitting on the table next to where I packed my carry on bag at home. After walking to a couple of stores I was told it was unlikely I would find one and would have to order it on line. I wasn’t sure if that would work here, but telling Ton of my dilemma she said she thought we could order it from Amazon. After adding the campgrounds address to my account I was able to order one for delivery (hopefully) tomorrow.

We had our first and last meal of the day around 4 pm as jet lag is also messing with our meal schedule. To prevent us from falling to sleep too early we had a nice evening stroll taking in the children park next store, and heading to one of the main shopping areas in town.

Delft is a very prosperous looking town, almost stereo typically Dutch. It is full of solid looking well maintained Brick buildings, tall and good looking people, and of course canals. It is the kind of town I could envision living a good life in. The evening crowd was very young as Delft is a famous university town.

We finished the day off with a little recreational shopping in two grocery stores. After about 45 minutes of wandering aisles looking at various foods we walked out with a single bottle of salad dressing, and made our way back to François for the day.