Easter - Den Haag to Aachen

Day 3

Our night in the five-star Sofitel was just amazing. Before leaving Den Haag we had a bit of a look around the city that was once the capital of Netherlands.



This is the UN International Courts of Justice. Pity that Saddam is on trial in Iraq, otherwise we could have popped in to see a session.



The Eternal Peace Flame, with rocks representing each of the countries. Australia has a rock here.



The official resisdence of the royal family, right in the middle of the city.



Liam in a thoughtful moment, overlooking Binnenhof - the very beautiful parliamentary buildings of Den Haag.



This is the central courtyard of Binnenhof, once used for executions. The church in the picture is the oldest building in the complex.


The biggest seagull we have ever seen! This photo doesn't do it justice.

Gouda is a gorgeous little town south of Amsterdam. Obviously it originally came to fame for cheese of the same name. These days it is a fabulous town for a day visit, in its own right. The heart of the town is circled by canals, and contains the town square, markets, churches and shops. Life for the locals rotates around the town square, where, on market days, all of the weeks fresh fruit, veges, meats, bread and of course cheese can be purchased.



Town markets in the centre of the town square.



More of the markets at Gouda.



Side street of the market square of Gouda.



Cheese stall in the markets.



Gouda town hall in the middle of the market square. In the markets we bought some lunch of cheese, biscuits and strawberries.

A short drive to the south of Gouda, and just east of Rotterdam, are the lower lying areas of Netherlands. This area is below sea level, so maintaining a dry town is the job of the windmills and some electronic pump stations.



Windmills at Kinderdijk. The area has the largest remaining set of working windmills (19 in total), that pump water away from the low lying areas of the region.



Most of the windmills date back to the 1700's and are still used as private homes today.



Just some people standing in front of windmills!



This windmill was open to the public. There is not a lot of room inside but they would be quite cozy to live in.

After last night's near miss with accommodation, we decided to book ahead before we left the hotel. We were hoping to stay in Mastericht, at the southern tip of Netherlands, but the couple of hotels that we called were booked out. There is another major town in that area just over the German border called Aachen, so we called a basic, but sufficient, hotel there and had accommodation lined up for the night. Our three country Easter trip had just turned into four, by 14 kms!!

Continue to Day 4...

Easter - Amsterdam to Den Haag

Day 1

Our first stop for Easter was Amsterdam. After an early morning flight from Gatwick we landed and took the short train ride to Amsterdam.



The bike parking area outside central station. Amsterdam is just so flat and compact that getting around by bike is so easy, weather permitting.



Kelly and her giant clogs.



Mmmm, beer. The Heineken Museum. The rooms take you through the brewing process and the history of the beer.



Heineken posters throughout time.



Noodles in Amsterdam. Even with the ease of cycling around the city centre, when you are bikeless then the trams and busses offer the best option.



One of the many Amsterdam canals.

Day 2

On our second day we picked up our hire car - our preferred transport for the next 4 days. We had a little hatchback Astra-esque model. The plan for the trip was pretty rough at this stage, but first on the agenda was getting used to left-hand drive and the right side of the road. After departing Amsterdam we headed due west towards Haarlem.



Zandvoort beach, west of Haarlem. At last a beach with sand, dunes and some semblence of waves. It is a beach side resort, with nowhere near the commercialism or bustle of Brighton.



Daffodil fields on the side of the main road between Haarlem and Den Haag.



Keukenhof gardens is a large producer of flowers from March-May. Unfortunately, a lot of the fields had already been harvested, but the ones directly behind the key photo area had been spared.



Kelly was in tulip heaven. Tulips of every single colour were on display in the gardens.



The entrance to the Keukenhof Gardens.



A selection of tulips on display. Don't worry, we have plenty more photos, if these ones aren't enough for you, girls.



Displays of different flower varieties in the green house.

After spending the afternoon in the gardens, the target destination for the night was Den Haag. We were so caught up in exploring for the day we forgot to arrange some accommodation for the night. So after finding our way into Den Haag the first stop was central train station to find internet access and a last minute hotel deal. Unbeknownst to us there is a Sofitel next to the station. Out of curiosity Kelly went in to find a room, which was amazingly cheap for a five-star hotel, so the search was over. The tone for accommodation was set, after a four-star hotel in Amsterdam.



Sunset at Scheveningen. After finding fantastic accommodation we then drove to the nearby beach to have a fabulous dinner on the boardwalk. The beach at Den Haag just served up a spectacular sunset for us.



More sunset on the boardwalk.



More fantastic sunset.



The beach is still a bit of a resort like Brighton. The beach front is a boardwalk with cafes, restaurants, amusement ride and markets. We prefer this beach over Brighton.

Continue to Day 3...

Paris

For our first trip to Europe we spent a weekend in Paris! We began our trip with an early Eurostar train trip under the channel and spent three days exploring the city.


The river Seine.


Our first stop in Paris was Notre Dame.


The church inside is magnificent.


Kelly lights a candle.


Out the back of Notre Dame.


A cheese shop window on the Ile St-Louis.


A bit of nudity. We decided to get some stone carvings done while we were in Paris! What do you think!


It is a long way down the side of the Eiffel Tower.


We made it to the top. Apart from being windy there are great views across all of greater Paris. We found it good to go up the tower last thing in the trip so that we could have a look at all of the places we had been to.


The view up from the second level.


Having fun around the Eiffel Tower!


Us at the top of the Arc de Triomph.


The Eiffel Tower by night. At around 8.30 pm the tower puts on a sparkling light display - it was stunning to watch.


The view of Arc de Triomph from the Eiffel Tower.


The Arc de Triomph, in the centre of Place de Charles de Gaulle. Napoleon built the arches so that his men could go home beneath triumphal arches after battle.


Oh, if only we were cycling along this. The Champs-Elysees (the road leading up to the Arc de Triomph) is a 24 hour busy thoroughfare for traffic and a shopping / dining strip for the rich (a bottle Coke nearly costs as much as a bowl of pasta). Some of the shops include Cartiers, Peugeot and Loiu Voton.


The Arc de Triomph by night.


The Champs-Elysees by night, from atop the Arc de Triomph.


The Louvre is one of the main attractions of Paris - even more so with the ever-touted Da-Vinci Code book and soon to be movie. It is, however, interesting to link the scenes of the opening chapters of the books with the galleries in the museum. On the first Sunday of each month entry is free the national museums in Paris, luckily we were there on one. The queue for the Louvre stretched all the way around the courtyard of the Louvre and for the time that we queued it was raining. The museum is very interesting and even with a lot of people in it, it is easy to get around and see all of the famous items. It is also very easy to get lost inside the maze of corridors and rooms.


"Mmmmm... Gummy de Milo", oh Homer, we understand how irresitible you found her. We found the somewhat hardened version of her with Venus de Milo.


The Place de la Concorde. The large round-about is at the bottom of the Champs-Elysees. This square is very large, covering a total of 8 hectares.


Like the Louvre, the Musee Rodin was free for the first Sunday in the month. The museum has very nice gardens that host many of Rodin's famous sculptures, such as The Thinker aka Liam(pictured), The Gates of Hell, with Adam and Eve.


Jardin du Luxembourg, looking over the Octagonal Lake to Palais du Luxembourg. The park is one of the most popular in Paris.