After working 12 hours the night before, we went straight to the airport, boarded our flight to Philly, en route to Schipol Airport. Hoping for at least a short nap in the plane was too tall an order for my adrenaline has already taken my mind and my heart to Amsterdam way ahead of our flight.
Springtime in Holland - only one thing to do - see the tulips! Knowing that they are my favorite flowers in the whole world, we made sure that we scheduled our arrival in Amsterdam during the time that Keukenhof was still open. While we were kinda concerned that we were arriving late in the season, Keukenhof was a sight to behold. Words could never do justice as to how beautiful this garden is. I love tulips - what more can I say? Ranie's downside? Eating the raw herring (which is one of the staples in the Netherlands). He kinda had a short Andrew Zimmern moment but recovered quickly enough to continue our search to see a real windmill.
After spending a little over half of our first day in Keukenhof, it was time to explore the rest of Amsterdam. We took the train from Schipol to Amsterdam Centraal where we took a canal cruise to enjoy the sights and neighborhoods of this liberal city. I loved taking pictures of bicycles parked by the bridges that bypassed the countless canals we went through. For me - that was the epitome of Amsterdam; the Amsterdam I used to see in pictures! As for Ranie, he had two things in mind - an authentic Dutch meal and the Red Light District!
Lucky for us, one of my closest friends in college lives in Netherlands and she was able to show us around, describing Amsterdam from a local's point of view. Of course, it didn't hurt that she spoke fluent Dutch so there goes that language barrier - although Dutch people are very fluent in English, maybe because UK is close by?
The next day was spent with another family friend, this time the destination was Noord Holland - in desperate search for whatever was left of the tulip fields - all for moi! While we found what we were looking for, I found another thing I loved about Holland - Goat's cheese salad with baby spinach, walnuts and honey dressing! Hmmm, just thinking about it makes me drool!
As if it were not enough, we were treated to another surprise - Kastel de Haar in Utrecht. Too bad, it was already closed but nevertheless, the lady was kind enough to let us in the grounds to appreciate a real Medieval castle from the outside.
Surely, two days was not enough to enjoy everything about Amsterdam and the Netherlands (haven't even started on Van Goghs, Rembrandts and Anne Frank!) but as what Ranie said: "then, there's a reason for us to go back." Amen!
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