13th until 15th - Trip to Nederlands (Holland), including Amsterdam with Straube family and Livia (...photos)
We left at 7am on Sunday and it took about 4-5 hours to get to Holland. You dont notice the difference between the 2 countries at the start...but after a while of driving you notice the little things like the houses, etc. Most of what we saw was country and farmland. On the first day we went to a Marine Park and then drove to a town called Hoorne to stay the night.
The next morning we drove to Amsterdam...we parked the car in a parkhouse, and then set off on our day of walking and seeing the sights. WELL, we must have signed up for the ``INTENSIVE�� tour without realising!!!! Sex, Drugs, CRIME (and Bicycles...) all in one day!!!! Holland is known for being a country where Marijuana and some other drugs are legalised...so it was a shock to walk into a Souvenier shop to find postcards, hats, drugs...etc (you get the point)...in Amsterdam, they are really quite open and proud with there sex industry and red light district!!! And I thought St.Kilda was funny... ...I'll get to the crime experience later (it is not so good...so I'll give you the enjoyable part of the day first!)
Things that I noticed about Amsterdam...BICYCLES!!!...there is more chance of being run over by them than cars!!!...if the pedestrian light is green, they go...if the street light is green, they go!!! Everywhere you look there are special parknig places just for bikes!!!! ...they have more McDonalds there than in Melbourne...and I thought that wouldn't be possible!!! Although it is a capital city, there aren't many (or maybe any...) skyscrapers...it is mainly just older looking buildings. It is also similar to Venice in the fact that there are heaps of Canals throughout the whole city. We went on a tour of them on a cruise...there is over 1000 bridges and 100 different canals in Amsterdam! We also went to the Museum (Art Gallery), where the most famous of Rembrant's paintings, the ``Nightwatch�� is kept. We had a great day, doing touristy things as a family!!! Another great thing about Holland, is that just about everyone spoke ENGLISH....more so than Deutsch...it was good English, and they were a lot more willing and happy to speak it than what people are in Germany!!! So it was funny to hear our parents speaking English to waiters, etc!!! They also have lovely soft white bread and rolls...just like home (J�rg, Sabine, and Carl hated it!!)
Now to the crime...when we went back to the parkhouse to go and drive to a hotel...we had to pay 20� for parking one day...only to find that the car had been broken into!!! We were absolutly devastated!!! The lock and been completely pulled out, all the windows down, and the alarm hadnt gone off. We checked the boot, to find that the Straube's bag had been gone through...and Livia's and mine had been stolen...along with my walkman!!! j�rg went to the parkhouse people...they didnt care and just told him to drive to the police station...we did and filled out forms and waited, etc...but they said that there is nothing they can do, and they dont like the chances of anything coming back!!! Everyone was upset. As we could not lock the car properly, they had decided to drive home. But J�rg and Sabine were great and said not to worry that everything would be replaced and J�rg called Karsten Koppelin (another rotarian from the Rotary Club of Baunatal, and Livia's counsellor), to let him know what had happened and to try and organise a collection from the club at there meeting that night, to replace our belongings. When we were about 30mins out of Amsterdam we got a call from Karsten, and he said he had had a phone call from Livia's mum in Perth, to say that the Ramport Police Station in Amsterdam (a different station to the original report), had called her and said they have Livia's bag!!!! (Talk about Global Communication!!) It was lucky that they had found Livia's business card in the bag! We called the police station to check (Livia had to talk as they didnt speak Deutsch!!) They said to come back!! So we did...when we got to the station, everyone there was SOOO NICE!!! My bag was there too!! including my Discman!! (where's the logic in that...they steal bags with clothes and a cd player...they dump them all...and keep my toiletries bag (which was extra full due to my collection of goodies from the hotel)...it is weird and a distressing situation). We were so happy!!! It was a motorcycle policeman who found the bags near the central station, with our clothes party unpacked. Everything was filthy, but we had it back. The policeman behind the desk called in the policeman who found them, and he came in...OUR HERO!!! This made our day!! He was the nicest person!! So we got to gove him a thankyou hug and we even got photos taken with him and the bike!!! All of the police officers there got amusemenet out of it!!! He even gave us an address where we can send a copy of the photos!! :)
Everyone was a bit more relaxed and relieved now!!! A visit we wont forget!!
As it was so late, we decided to find a hotel in a town on the beach of the north sea...this would be safer for the car. So we drove and drove...and found a nice beachside town...no hotel...the next one we drove to had 15 or more hotels!! theings were looking up...but then...where there was a hotel...there was a whole heap of tourist buses!! Every hotel was full!!! So at around 10.00-10.30pm we gave up and decided to drive back to Baunatal!!!
Everyone fell asleep in the car except for J�rg (driving), and me. At about 11.30pm Sabine woke up and said we should find somewhere to eat (as we hadnt eaten since lunch!)...we pulled into the first place we saw...a Mecure hotel, restraunt...but the restraunt was closed...so J�rg said, you wouldnt happen to have 2 rooms would you...and how much?? Thankfully yes!!! ansd they were a reasoneable price!!!! YAY!!!! we booked into a hotel at 11.45pm!!! And we ate, toasted sandwiches from the bar!!! We got a really good night sleep. And as we had stayed an extra night in Holland, they had decided not to waste the next day, and we doubled back to go and visit the famous Windmills and Flower (Tulip) Gardens!! It was great!! Then we drove home in the afternoon and got home at about 7ish!!!
Well, it was certainly an experience I wont forget!!!