Easter weekend trip to Amsterdam and Day trip to Dutch country side

Place: Amsterdam - Marken - Volendam - Zaanse Schans
Date(s) of Travel: March 29 - April 1, 2013

My Experience:

My friend Dinesh who lives in Amsterdam decided to go for higher studies in USA and in 2 weeks time he leaves for good. I had visited him 'N' times in Amsterdam and I love the place. I decided to visit him one last time and spend the easter weekend with him. I took the Eurostar from London to Amsterdam with a changeover at Brussels. After 4 hour journey I reached Amsterdam and it was bit cold. This time of year it should be warmer but spring was late this year over whole Europe. The whole day we were just listening to music in his Bose speakers and relaxing. In the evening we went for a small party and met some Dinesh friends and colleagues.

Even though I have been to Amsterdam for few times, I never been to nearby country side which is a popular day tour. Finally, we booked the tour and went the next day. Before entering the tour coach, the tour guide(an old lady) asked us where are we from?. We replied, India and she said, she had been to India and lost her shoes near Ganges river. Ha ha, it was funny. The first stop of the tour is a wooden shoe factory in Marken which is a small country side village. In the factory, they demonstrate making shoes and also one can buy wooden shoes in the souvenir shop. Then we walked along the small streets full of wooden houses to reach the river side where a tour boat was waiting for us. The boat took us to a fishing village called Volendam. In Volendam, we went to a cheese factory where they explain how they make cheese and also you can buy different types of cheese. Fish food is very famous in the restaurants but as usual I ate chicken for the lunch.

Then after lunch, we went to a settlement museum which exhibits the traditional people culture and early days of Volendam. Then the tour coach picked up after an hour long wait to Zaanse Schans which is a collection of well-preserved historic windmills and houses. Some of the windmills are still in operation and they have been used for land drainage as some of the places in Netherlands including Amsterdam are below sea level. The place was really beautiful during the evening. Finally we reached Amsterdam and we walked through Dam Square to reach Dinesh's house. There was a little carnival went on at Dam Square and there were some fun rides. I always wanted to do the Booster Maxx ride for a long time and decided to go ahead, but Dinesh wasn't interested or rather scared. The ride was about five minutes and it was so much fun. I could feel my blood pumping through my head when it reaches the top.


Next day on the way to catch my train to London, I smoked some funny ones in the famous Bull dog shop. It transported me mentally to different part of the world and I am still not sure how I reached Amsterdam train station and how I got back to London. Lol.


Thought of Day: A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles. - Tim Cahill