so today i'm gonna share to you all my 8days 5nights of experience of my family trip to Amsterdam, Belgium and Paris. We went by tour with my father's close friend's family. We thought it would be best to go Europian country by tour first since we do not know how to talk their language.
Day 1/2
Our flight to Amsterdam was at 12am and it was a 13hour long flight. ( yes it's so long i slept, woke up, tv, slept and not to mention an ache back urgh.. ) We reached Amsterdam at 6am ( 7 hours late from Malaysia time which is 1pm at Malaysia ) and the moment i step out of the plane it was FREAKING COLD. Not like air-conditioned cold but like genting cold! We were just inside the walking panel into the airport and you can already feel the cold weather outside. It was still dark when we reach there and the first thing we got so excited about when we went outside was that we can see smoke when we talked. Haha i mean it's sounds a bit crazy to you but we were so happy and excited when we start breathing smoke out of our mouths and nose whenever we talked.
cute one fascinated by the smoke haha
The moment we went on the bus our tour guide, Sam briefs us about some must-follow law that we must do while in our journey here and i have to say Amsterdam is really strict. For example we have to wear our safety belts inside the bus at all times if not fine 200 euros (if i not mistaken) and the driver can only drive max 12 hours a day which is recorded in a tiny machine infront so basiclly we don't really go much places a day because we have to be sent back on time to the hotel if not the driver gets fine if caught.
Amsterdam was amazingly beautiful and really really really clean. You don't see much dry leaves on the streets and no rubbish at all. Many of the people there cycles and a number of them walk to work too. Amsterdam very much supports eco-friendly that's why there's very little cars there and the goverment even made bicycle lanes which are in red on all roads for those who cycle. It was still early but there were already alot of people cycling and walking to work. We don't get to walk around much but i manage to snap some photos inside the bus.
Our first stop is The Cube Houses. I was amazed by the houses which are actually in a cube shape and people do live inside it! The cube houses look really big from the outside and its built on top of other shops but Sam says its actually quite small inside.
a tramp!
the amazing view behind the cube houses
Then, we were headed to Volendam, a small town in Amsterdam and had lunch there too! The land at Volendam is actually lower than the sea, we had to climb up stairs to reach the deck to look at the sea. Sam also had said when it snows the whole sea will be frozen and the people there will come out and have ice skating on the sea. And at Volendam, they're well known for stoop waffles and fish. The waffles are like biscuits but with honey syrup inside them and they are just delicious!
the place we had lunch
they are famous for their fish! it was fully packed with people
nothing beats a bowl of hot soup on a freezing day
they're famous appetizer! *it taste exactly like maggie soup lol
and *drum rolls....
the famous fish dish!!
i can tell you guys this is the best fish i have ever eaten in my life!
look at all those cheese!!
seagulls approaching us while we were eating a seafood platter
After lunch, we headed to the see how Cheese and Clogs are made. Clogs are shoes made out of wood. There were so many of them in different sizes and designs.
in amsterdam they use wind to generate electricity
but this are the old style windmills they used
i bet you don't see this in Malaysia huh :/
doggie poop bags
Then we were headed to town for a 45 minute boat ride around Amsterdam. It was really really cold by then. I couldn't stop shivering when we were waiting for the boat. And now gonna show you guys some really breathtaking scenes of the place.
those are all bicycles. Its like a parking place for bicycles
i think there was a movie scene taken in this place but i don't remember what movie :/
there are people who live in their boats instead of a house
and have permits of getting electricity and gas
the houses in Amsterdam are known as canal houses
can you guys see the green canal house in the middle?
that is the smallest canal house in the whole city
all of the canal houses have this kinds of hooks on top at the roof
this hooks are use to pull unload any furniture into the house because the front door is either too small to fit in a furniture or to save energy from unloading it up to the other floors
The canal houses are just beautiful. After that we had chinese food for dinner. When the sky turns dark the temperature drops down too. It was -8 degrees and yes i was absolutely freezing cold. It was so so cold that all of us barely wanted to move at all. At last we went to see the royal palace and its a wrap of the day. And it was so darn cold that everyone don't even wanted to take pictures. I just got a quick snap of the palace and hurry toward the bus.
It was winter so it gets dark very fast there. The sun rises at 8.30am and sets at 5pm. So by 6pm the place is like 10pm dark. We stayed at the Novotel hotel for just that night and it was only 8.30pm. LOL
Amsterdam is amazingly beautiful,calm and so clean. I loved the place except for the extremely cold weather.
Stay tuned for more! :D
Nights
Nichole
