Tag Archives: The Netherlands

anecdotes, BeNeLux

Our trip to The Netherlands via Luxembourg… part 6

Yesterday, I was determined to see something.  Paleis Het Loo is literally right next to our hotel.  A bonus is that there are restaurants there.  I could have lunch and not walk my ass all the way to the Centrum.  And I could see a palace dating back 300 years that, since 1984, has been open to the public.  Paleis Het Loo (The Woods Palace) served as home to the royal family of The Netherlands, princes and monarchs of the House of Orange Nassau.

To be totally honest, I don’t usually find palaces to be that interesting, especially in places where I have to work to understand the language.  Paleis Het Loo does offer information in English and Dutch in the house and there are headsets that can be rented.  Some of the exhibits are only in Dutch, though.

I didn’t care too much.  I wanted to kill some time and see something different.  And I’d be an asshole if I didn’t venture next door to the hotel and see this historic residence for myself.  I could have purchased tickets online and saved a couple of euros, but I didn’t have the means of printing them.  I decided to walk to the main entrance, which required a short stroll.  For future reference, if you stay at the Bilderberg hotel in Apeldoorn, you can buy your tickets at the reception or you can walk to the main gate from the entrance closest to the palace.  Since I didn’t know what was going on, I walked to the main entrance, where the parking lot is.  I’m glad I did it that way, since I got to see the pretty wooded drive into the palace.

A couple of shots of the dog park, which I passed on my way to the palace.  I probably would have had as much fun hanging out there.

 

This cool looking building was across from the Palace entrance.

 

Welcome, y’all.

As I approached the cashier, a Dutch guy stopped me and asked something in the local language.  I think he was a tour guide and maybe thought I was meeting his group.  I responded in English that I didn’t understand.  He apologized and I went on my way…  I have to admit, I get a thrill when Europeans don’t immediately take me as an American.

I paid 14,50 euros for my ticket.  I could have paid another 3 euros to see Sisi, a temporary exhibit they have going on right now.  I actually wanted to see Sisi, but the cashier either didn’t hear me or didn’t understand when I asked.  And then I realized I probably didn’t care enough to see it anyway.

I walked into the palace grounds and was immediately confronted by one of three wandering peacocks.  A large restaurant was to my right, while the stables were to my left.  I went into the barn, which was chained off.  I could peer inside and see two draft horses being kept company by a barn swallow.  I breathed in the seductive scent of the equines and remembered how much horses helped me get through childhood.  Someday, I hope to have them in my life again.  Maybe when I’m not traveling so much.

Horses…  I wish they’d said hello.

You can actually visit the stables and the coach area without a ticket.  I saw a lot of folks on bikes who appeared to be doing just that.  If you want to see the palace and the grounds, you have to walk along a pretty tree lined lane to the fenced off interior.  As I approached it, I was suddenly reminded of Colonial Williamsburg.  Everything from the country landscaping to the architecture of the buildings reminded me of my adopted hometown in Virginia.

Don’t walk on the grass.

I pretty much did things backwards.  The first thing I did was visit a restaurant just inside the entrance.  I had to pass through the Sisi exhibit to get to it.  If you want to buy a ticket for it, you can use a vending machine.  I might have tried that but noticed a couple of Dutch visitors struggling with it.  I decided I didn’t mind not seeing everything.

Lunch consisted of a Heineken draft beer and a chicken salad with yogurt dressing.  The chicken was very spicy and coupled with green apples, tomatoes, cabbage, and cilantro.  I was kind of proud of myself, since I’m usually not a salad fan.  The restaurant also offered high tea, which was 22,95 a person.  I would have probably gone for that had Bill been with me.

Lovely dining room.  WiFi is free and easily accessible!  Look at the back of the menu for the password.

 

Haven’t had one of these in a long time.

 

Spicy chicken salad!

 

High tea, anyone?

After I ate, I walked around the grounds.  Honestly, I think just walking through the gardens would have been enough for me.  They are very beautifully kept, serene, and tranquil and you can just sit there, gaze at the lake, watch the waterfowl, and dream.  But I felt compelled to check out the house, too; so I wandered back to the palace and found the gift shop.  I left the gift shop thoroughly confused about how to enter the palace until I finally found the route… which I proceeded to do backwards.

I ran into a palace “goon”, a super tall, thin, Dutch lady who spoke Dutch to me at first.  When I looked at her blankly, she asked if I spoke English.  I said I did and she told me I had already seen the rooms I was about to enter.  Actually, I hadn’t seen them because I went through the house backwards.  But I went back the way I came, then found the correct route, which I enjoyed until I ran into her again.  She asked if I needed help leaving the palace.  By that point, I figured I had seen enough… I was getting tired and cranky trying to get around people with no situational awareness and I didn’t feel like explaining to the woman that I had initially come through the house backwards.  I docilely let her lead me to the elevator and offer an easy way out of the palace.  Then, feeling somewhat crabby and palaced out, I skipped the East wing and walked back to the hotel, where I proceeded to chill out with some wine.

I waited there until Bill showed up, somewhat early.  I sense his conference is winding down and with any luck, it will end today instead of tomorrow.  Then we can go see some monkeys before we head toward Haarlem/Amsterdam.

Stay tuned for my post on last night’s dinner…  a surprise menu consisting of things I usually hate eating.

This REALLY reminds me of Williamsburg, minus the Dutch flag.

Peacocks!

 

The “shell cave”, a grotto made of seashells.  I thought this was really cool… literally.

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BeNeLux

Our trip to The Netherlands via Luxembourg… part 5

On Tuesday, I was truly lazy.  I woke up sore and cranky and just wanted to rest.  So I was determined not to do anything at all and I mostly succeeded.  I started out by going to the pool, where I read more about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology.  I dozed off a couple of times and was a genuine pool rat until a couple of hours had passed and two women showed up to swim.  By that time, the room was made up again, so I went back down there and took a nice hour long nap.  That did a lot to help restore me.

After my nap, I went down to the lobby/bar and had the same lunch I had on Sunday…  asparagus and ham soup and a grilled tuna salad and cheese sandwich.  The tuna salad was made with olives and tomatoes and it tasted like they used Gouda cheese.  I washed it down with beer.  Then, at about 3:30, I went back to the room and started watching TLC.  I found myself watching Say Yes To The Dress and some other show about weddings.  Bill came back and we decided to go out to eat.

He drove us back to the Centrum.  We parked in a large garage and picked up some cash at an ATM.  I get the sense that the Dutch are not as cash oriented as Germans are.  Seems like credit cards are more easily used here, though we’re now in the habit of using cash.  While we were getting cash, a woman belched loudly and unabashedly.  It made me laugh.  We also witnessed a bunch of street workers (as opposed to street walkers) howl at a woman trying to climb over barriers they set up near their construction site.

We ended up having dinner at a Greek restaurant.  I think it was called Parthenon.  The guy who greeted us wanted to know where we were from.  Bill said we are Americans, but we live in Germany.  Then he said, “Maybe I should tell people we’re Canadians.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because people don’t seem to be as angry at Canadians as they are Americans.” Bill replied.

“Or you could act in a way that doesn’t embarrass anyone and be a good example of an American citizen…” I suggested.

“Yeah…” Bill agreed.

We were approached by a tall woman who appeared to be Greek, but was super tall like so many of the Dutch folks we’ve seen here.  Her English was passable.  She didn’t seem to understand when we said we wanted a bottle of water and a bottle of wine.  She brought us a pitcher of ice water (which I think was from the tap) and two glasses of Nemea red wine.  No harm, no foul.  She also brought out a couple of amuses that were made of eggplant.  I made the mistake of saying the eggplant reminded me a little of snot.  That immediately grossed me out.

Ice water in a pitcher!

Snotty eggplant…

A salad… this was confusing to us, because it looks like it’s for one person, yet it had serving utensils.  But we had no plates to share it on, so we had to wait until our main courses came out.

I had the Thalia platter, which was gyros, souvlaki, and a very small sirloin steak.  Bill had the Nemea platter, which was gyros and souvlaki.  The meals came with rice and potatoes as well as a small salad and t’zatziki.  Gotta say, I think it was some of the best Greek food I’ve ever had.  Afterwards, Bill had raspberry sorbet with whipped cream (slagroom) and raspberry sauce.  I had an Irish coffee.  There was no parting house shot of ouzo, but that was okay.

Thalia platter… yum!

Bill’s Nemea platter…

And our sides…

 

Irish coffee in a Greek restaurant…

 

And raspberry sorbet.

Parking cost five euros.  We passed a beautiful park on the way back that I may explore today.  We went back to the hotel and turned in somewhat early.

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BeNeLux

Our trip to The Netherlands via Luxembourg… part 4

Monday night, Bill and I walked all over creation…  Well, maybe that’s overstating things a bit, but we did take a very long walk.  I was already a little fatigued from the first walk to the Centrum earlier, but I was a bit curious to see if there was a shorter route to the Centrum.  I have concluded that there probably is one, but the walk Bill and I took on Monday night was only successful in that I found a grocery store, which I had been wondering about during my first long walk to town.

As we started in the direction opposite of the one I’d taken earlier in the day, I had a nagging thought that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go exploring.  But the air smelled of horses and the houses in the neighborhood were cute.  We ran into one guy with an energetic spaniel who was playing with its leash.  We started walking and soon ended up in a part of town that looked a bit seedy… or as seedy as a neighborhood can look in The Netherlands.  The truth is, it was still a fairly nice looking living area, it just wasn’t as cute and polished as the other homes we’d seen.  I spotted a grocery store and wondered if maybe there was a restroom in there.  There wasn’t, but we did find a wine tool, which we ended up not needing because I already had one packed in my bag.

The need to pee was overwhelming, so we visited a fast food joint called Charly’s.  Bill ordered a couple of Cokes and a couple of orders of frites with ketchup.  I relieved myself of the beer I had enjoyed while waiting for Bill.  We ate the fries and drank the Cokes and started walking.  As we got deeper and deeper into Apeldoorn’s “projects”, I started to get a little worried.  I usually have a very keen sense of direction and rarely get lost.  Bill doesn’t completely trust me, though, and goes into Army officer mode.  He whips out his iPhone and consults the compass, not at all interested in letting my intuition take over.

We passed a duck pond near a tired looking apartment complex and I wanted to turn right because that was where my intuition was leading me.  But then we saw a bus stop, so we turned left and approached it, only to find out that my intuition had been correct.  We followed the stops for Bus 11, which we knew went to the Centrum.  Our walk led us past what looked like a brewery, a couple of industrial looking businesses, and perhaps a municipal dump…  I stopped to snap the picture below, because it was surreal.

A very large, pink, ten speed bike replica was in this lot full of cut tree branches and other debris…

My hips were starting to hurt and my feet were sore.  Just then, Bill said he thought he heard someone playing tennis.  He glanced to his left, only to see a very tall Dutch guy wearing traditional Dutch wooden shoes.  He was walking his large dog and the clogs made a regular popping sound, as if he was playing tennis.  He was the first guy I’ve seen in wooden shoes, but perhaps not the last.

We eventually ended up near a canal.  I knew we needed to turn right, but was enchanted by the canal and wanted to see more of it, so we went straight, then turned into another apartment complex.  There were what looked like large plastic spoons attached to the side of the canal.  I should have taken pictures because it was a weird sight.  But by the time we reached the canal, my hips were screaming and I knew we still had a long way to walk.

I did take a picture of this sticker because it describes me.

We finally got to the Centrum, though it was a part I didn’t explore earlier.  Bill was still in Army mode, while I was relying on my intuition.  We approached a group of guys who appeared to be drunk or high or both.  Bill wanted to avoid them.  We crossed the street and I spotted the mall where I had stolen a free piss earlier in the day.  We walked through the Centrum and looked for a place to have dinner, but it was getting late and I truly worried that if I sat down somewhere, I’d have real trouble getting up again.

So we headed back toward the hotel, the same way I went when I had walked back from the Centrum earlier in the day…  and on the way there, we ran into a group of Americans leaving an intriguing looking French restaurant.  I would have liked to have tried it had it not already been about 9:00pm and my hips weren’t bellowing in pain.

Bill was very apologetic when we got back to the hotel.  He handed me a bottle of Trappist Ale and a couple of ibuprofen.  It wasn’t too long before I was sound asleep.  I woke up yesterday morning vowing that I would enjoy a lazy day…  I think, all told, I walked over ten miles on Monday.  That may not seem like a big deal to some people, but I am a confirmed fattie who is about to turn 43.  It was pretty strenuous for me.

In the lobby of the hotel…

Me, yesterday…

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BeNeLux

Our trip to The Netherlands via Luxembourg… part 3

All week, we’ve been enjoying breakfast in the hotel.  They have a really nice spread here; 15 euros a person for an all you can eat buffet.  That’s less than a lot of places charge, which is a good thing.  You can have scrambled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, cold cuts, fruit, bread, cereal, yogurt, juices, smoked salmon, and roast beef.  The roast beef is a particular hit as far as I’m concerned.  I have yet to have really good roast beef in Germany, so it’s been a treat to be able to get it here.

After breakfast, Bill went to work and I went back to the room where I started blogging.  I was interrupted by the housekeeper, who wanted to service the room.  I decided to take the opportunity to walk to the Centrum, which is where all the Apeldoorn action is, right?  It’s actually kind of a long walk from the hotel and it’s a bit chilly this week.  Nevertheless, I put on my shoes and started walking, amazed by how pretty and quiet the town is.  I was almost to the Centrum when I heard someone wolf whistle softly.  It was a Dutch guy on a bike.  He actually gave me an appreciative smile as he passed.

I am turning 43 on Saturday, so being noticed was kind of flattering.  On the other hand, it’s possible that he lacked a bell and just wanted to let me know he was behind me.  I have to admit, being whistled at actually made me feel a little paranoid.  I wondered if my pants had split or something.  I did a quick check and found that they hadn’t.

There is a dog park near the hotel and a special area along the street where dogs can be walked.  I dodged a few landmines…  It’s fun to watch the dogs play in the park.

 

Awesome church on the way into town…

 

Walking around the Centrum was interesting.  A lot of stores and restaurants appeared to be closed.  I wandered into a Dutch mall, mainly because I wanted to use the restroom.  I found one and didn’t realize until I had gone that I was supposed to pay 35 cents for the privilege.  There was a plate on a table near the door.  I hope no one thinks poorly of me when I admit that I just said “fuck it” and kept going.  I don’t mind paying to use the bathroom as long as it’s attended.  No one was attending that bathroom, so what was I paying for?  The water?  The toilet paper?  Like I said… “fuck it”.

Open on Sunday!  What’s the world coming to?

 

Market shots… everything smelled good here.

 

I walked around some more, noticing a number of touristy looking bars and a few that appeared to be rather prurient in nature.  I wandered around an outdoor market that smelled of fried fish, spices, and cheese.  I saw a number of Muslim vendors selling garb to wandering women wearing headscarves.  I got bored with the scene and headed back toward the hotel.  Noticing that De Heerlijekheyt, the restaurant next door, was open for lunch, I decided to stop in and try a couple of dishes that had attracted me on Sunday night.  This time, my server was a young lady.

Delicious tomato and chorizo soup…

 

Shrimp stuffed ravioli and scallops with lobster foam.  Two glasses of white wine accompanied this meal.  I paid 30 euros plus tip.

After lunch, I went back to the hotel and changed into my swimsuit… it was a little like stuffing ten pounds into a five pound bag.  The hotel has a really nice pool and fitness area that include a sauna, steam bath, and a “solarium”, which is actually a tanning bed of some sort.  The sauna and pool are free, but you have to get tokens from the front desk for the steam room and tanning bed.  They cost four euros.  I have used the pool, which is unheated and uniformly about 4.5 feet deep.  I am guessing at the depth.  I am about 5’2″ and the water comes up to my shoulders.  I like it…

Awesome pool!

Fitness center…

This is the way to the sauna, steam room, and tanning bed…

You won’t catch me in one of these things.

I spent awhile at the pool, then got dressed and went to the bar area to wait for Bill.  I enjoyed a glass of wine and some beer.  Some of Bill’s fellow conference attendees came over to talk to me, including a general who lives in Italy.  Bill didn’t see me in the bar area as he came in.  I ended up having to send him a Facebook message to tell him where I was.

He got changed and decided he wanted to walk to the Centrum.  I wasn’t all that keen on the idea, having already done it earlier in the day.  But we set off… and went in a different direction, which led us on a very long detour that exhausted me and put me in a mean world.  That experience deserves its own post.

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Our trip to The Netherlands via Luxembourg… part 2

On Sunday morning, we took off for Apeldoorn, Netherlands.  It was a beautiful country drive through a bit of Luxembourg and into Belgium, where a cow welcomed us as we passed by taking a huge, marathon, liquid dump.  Seriously…  it was quite impressive.  I thought we’d never get past that bovine, though Bill and I had a good laugh.  We can’t help it because we enjoy juvenile humor very much.  I got a kick out of all the signs for frites, too.

Bill has a conference all week and I had never been to The Netherlands, except in transit through the airport.  I was excited to see yet another European country.  I have seen a lot of Europe and quite a few countries more exotic than The Netherlands.  Or so I thought before we got here.  The truth is, things are different where the Dutch are.

Our nannyish rental car tells us we are in The Netherlands right after it demands that Bill take a coffee break…

 

We stopped at a Texaco for a potty break and coffee, since the hotel’s coffee wasn’t doing it for Bill.  I was impressed when I found this…

Yes, that is fresh squeezed orange juice.  I bought mine already squeezed, but the Texaco actually had a machine where people could make and bottle their own.  And the mineral water has a slight essence of mint.  How refreshing!  This isn’t your German mama’s mineral water.

Bill figured out the coffee machine, which required him to use coins, got himself a healthy shot of Italian java, and we were soon back on our way.  If we had wanted to, we could have used a tunnel under the autobahn/interstate/whatever the Dutch call it to access a full service restroom on the other side of the road.  It was pretty cool.  As it was, just trying to use the bathroom at the Dutch Texaco was confusing since men were using the “ladies” room.

Our drive was maybe three or four hours.  I was enjoying all the weird sights on the road, including a lady biker with a sidecar occupied by dogs, a couple of guys riding in a classic Triumph with the top down, and what looked like a very muddy military style obstacle course on the side of the highway.  I noticed it; then Bill had to tell me about his days as a young cadet, writhing around in muddy obstacle courses.

When we got to Apeldoorn, I immediately appreciated the very cute Dutch houses with their steep slanted roofs or barn style roofs.  So many houses look like showplaces with perfectly manicured lawns and shrubbery, beautifully painted and accented exteriors, and huge picture windows.  I thought Germans had big windows but they have nothing on the Dutch.  Contrasting the lovely Dutch architecture was a huge sign featuring a picture of a dog and the caption, “No shit!”  The Dutch would like to remind everyone to clean up after their pets, but I saw lots of evidence that many people don’t follow that rule.

Our hotel is the Bilderberg de Keizerskroon, which is an older chain hotel property located on the outskirts of town.  It’s right next to the Palais Het Loo.  I should probably go tour that, but I don’t feel a pressing need to.  What I really want to do is see the monkey zoo, Apenheul.  And I don’t want to go see it alone.  Maybe I’ll manage it before we leave this cute little town.

We checked into the hotel, which has a large free parking lot.  Our room was ready, so we dropped off our bags and had some lunch…

They brought out some nice bread and garlic butter…

We both enjoyed the local brew.  I don’t know why, but beers here are smaller than they are in Germany.  However, they are also a little more interesting.

This asparagus and ham soup was delicious.  It had gotten chilly outside, so this really hit the spot.  I probably could have just had this and been happy, but…

I had a grilled tuna salad and cheese sandwich, too.  It came with a nice sweet chili sauce.  

Bill had an open faced smoked chicken sandwich with Dutch cheese.

And we both enjoyed more beer…

After lunch, we went back to our room.  Bill did schoolwork and I passed out for a two hour nap.  It was very nice.  Later, we had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant right next door to the hotel.  The place is called De Heerlijekheyt.  Don’t ask me what that means…  All I know is that the food is exquisite.

They brought us a smoked salmon and seaweed amuse that tasted like it had a light peanut dressing on it.

And a small loaf of bread.

We were still somewhat full from lunch, so we didn’t have starters.  Bill ordered a South African sauvignon blanc to go with what turned out to be a delightful fish dinner.

I had sea bass with littleneck clams, rosette biscuits, and a delightful cream sauce.  Under the fish I found some very fresh carrots, snow peas, tomatoes, and something that I couldn’t identify.  It looked a little like asparagus, but was much thinner.  

Bill had half a lobster and the “fish of the day”, which we think may have been halibut.  It came with a tomato risotto.

Service was professional and very unhurried, with two handsome waiters taking care of us and the few others in the restaurant.  There’s a large open kitchen and you can watch the chefs work.  It was a far less chaotic scene than what I remember when I worked at a restaurant.  But then, the restaurant wasn’t all that busy on Sunday night.

For dessert, I had a coffee creme brûlée with a side of vanilla ice cream and crushed pecans.  Bill had a small cheese plate that came with an apple syrup and a few small pieces of fruit.

And we capped things off with a double espresso, which came with a small plate of sweets.  There actually was no need to order dessert, but I’m glad we did. 

As we walked back to the hotel, I took a shot of the front…

You can rent a bike here.  Bikes are EVERYWHERE in The Netherlands.  I used to ride a bike all the time as a kid, but I’m not sure I’d remember how to now.  But they do say riding a bike is as easy as riding a bike, right?

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