Day 98-100: Weekend with Bali's Dutch Family friends

Friday, April 23, 2010: Utrecht

 This weekend, I decided to keep it local and stay in the Netherlands. Bali and I both had the weekend free from studies and other bothers, so we had planned on heading up north to Keukenhof, Kinderdijk and Utrecht for a short escapade of some of Holland's highlights. We had been invited to stay with her Dutch family friends that live in the small town of Culemborg while we traveled a bit up north so that we would not have to spend each morning taking the train a different route.

So late Friday afternoon, we moseyed down to Tilburg West and caught the train bound for Utrecht. It was a familiar ride for Bali, who had been several times before to stay with her Dutch family. We chatted and enjoyed the sunny view from the windows of the train as we anxiously awaited our arrival at Utrecht Centraal, where we had planned to alight the train and head into Utrecht to explore for the afternoon, and meet up with her Dutch family in the town for dinner that evening. However, the Dutch railways had other plans for our day.

The train pulled into the Geldermalsen station and a few people around us got off. We waited patiently for the train to up again and go. Bali explained to me that it always seemed to her that the train stopped at this particular station for longer than the others, so we did not find it at all odd that we sat there for a bit. After what seemed like quite a wait, we heard a woman speaking in Dutch saying something that appeared to be important. She looked at us and said (in English) that everyone needed to get off the train at this station. Confused, we got off and searched for someone with more information. We headed inside the small station and spoke to a worker who told us that the power was out on the lines between here and Utrecht, so there were currently no trains running in that direction. A little irritated, we called up Bali's Dutch Auntie and asked her if it would be too big a hassle to come and pick us up from the station, as it was only one down from the Culemborg station. She was a doll and kindly told us that she was on her way to get us.

We waited outside looking for her car and saw her arrive shortly. Her daughter was with her as well, so we were all introduced and were on our way. Bali and I decided that due to the unforeseen circumstances, we would just skip Utrecht this time and hang out with Auntie for the afternoon. We rode into the small town of  Culemborg, heading to Auntie's daughter's house. Along the way, we stopped for an afternoon snack. Auntie picked up an order of kibling which we brought with us to the house. We arrived at the house and went in for a bit. We relaxed and enjoyed the kibling, which is (by the way) a Dutch specialty. Its essentially fried fish (not sure what kind) made into bite size pieces. I guess you can liken it to fish sticks, but its really good!

After our short stop, we got back in the car and headed over to the elementary school to pick up Auntie's grandchildren. On the way, we passed a field where I noted the Dutch scarecrows that were incredibly funny. We arrived at the first school and picked up Auntie's grandson. I had a pack of mini stroopwafels on me, so I offered one to him. He did not take it, although he hesitated, probably because he had been told not to take food from strangers. We headed next to pick up Auntie's granddaughter from school. She was also adorable and I offered her a stroopwafel in Dutch: "Wil je een stroopwafel?". She noddingly accepted as her face erupted into a big smile like a kid given candy....guess this is the Dutch version!

The kids came with us to the house and we all went in. I was introduced to Uncle and Bali showed me to the room in which we would stay. We put down our things and headed into the loft room next door where we laid down and watched from above in the loft and chatted. As it was still mid-late afternoon, we decided to take a short walk around Culemborg before heading over to Utrecht as planned for dinner with the Dutch family friends. We walked through quaint Culmeborg and saw how tiny it was. Bali pointed some of the shops out to me in the City Centre. We also walked by a small river running beside the Dutch family's house. There was a nice bridge from which we admired the view as well as a short dog fight between two growling hounds. We headed back to the house shortly to freshen up and drive to Utrecht for dinner.

Just a short ride later, we reached Utrecht and parked in the big parking garage. It was rather full, so we parked several levels up, giving us a great view of the city! We admired it for a minute, before heading down below into town. I was in awe of the cuteness of Utrecht and commented on its similarities to Amsterdam. I photographed the canals and several other tidbits of the city, as we walked towards the yummy place that Auntie and Uncle had decided to take us for supper. We rounded a canal onto the main shopping street in Utrecht and took the stairs down so that we were right on the canal. Here, we went inside a delicious Indian restaurant and sat down for an amazing meal! We feasted on roti and about eight different Indian dips/toppings. I sampled some of each and really enjoyed them all! It was such a nice meal!

Utterly full, we left the restaurant and headed down the street for a post-meal cup of coffee. It wasn't too cold, so we sat outside and sipped cappuccino while we enjoyed the picturesque view of Utrecht. After we had finished our drinks, we headed back to the garage and got in the car to drive home.

We arrived back at the house and relaxed a bit before heading to bed. I played with Tino, the family's cat. He was a sweetheart, except for when I turned my head momentarily only to look down and see a fresh claw mark dug into the skin on my hand. Tino had clawed me! I said goodnight to Tino and opted to sit on the couch for a bit with Bali and Auntie and watch a Dutch Soap Opera (to improve my Dutch...!?!). It was  interesting experience and a good end to the night.


Saturday, April 24, 2010: Keukenhof

Saturday was the big day of the weekend. We had planned to head out early to Keukenhof, the largest tulip farm and garden in Holland. As it was the annual flower parade, the Dutch family decided to come with us as well. We had a nice drive past Schipol towards Keukenhof (and were excited to see some real Dutch cows along the way!), but as we neared the park, things began to slow. Traffic essentially halted and we were stuck in a jam for over an hour! It was crazy traffic, as everyone had decided to take advantage of the good weather and spend the day at this renowned Dutch attraction.

We finally made it into the park grounds and met up with our friends, Mateja and Christophe, who had taken the train/bus from Tilburg to meet us there. They had arrived about half an hour earlier, since we were stuck in the jam so long. We headed left inside the park and began to explore. There was really a lot to see inside the park and we explored for several hours. We ascended a windmill, hopped across human-sized lily pads and bought postcards to mail. We stopped for a refreshing snack midday: strawberries met slagroom!

There was so much beauty within the confines of the Keukenhof grounds that I am incapable of capturing with mere words. This is why I have decided to include several pictures below that will hopefully help to give you a better picture of what I witnessed at Keukenhof than I can describe in words.

At three, we headed to the back of the park for the day's big event: the Annual Flower Parade. I had read online about this some point earlier in the semester and thought it sounded like a good thing to see while I was in the Netherlands. Hard to believe it was finally here! We gathered behind the large crowds that were queued up and down both sides of the parade route. It was a great day for it, kind of warm even! We waited anxiously for the floats to begin arriving and were stunned when they finally did! They were massive and contained so many flowers creating incredible shapes. Each float had a different theme, each according to an European country. There was Italy, with the bike tour and tower of Pisa, Holland, with cows, kissing Dutch people and Tulips, and many more! We watched the majority of the parade, but snuckout a few minutes early to beat the traffic home. On the way out, we stopped for an icecream cone, which we licked all the way to the car.

Back on the highway, we took a short detour on the way back to Culemborg. We stopped breifly in Leiden, a rather large Dutch city near Amsterdam, where we picked up the Dutch family's son, Rudy, from his dorm. He is a couple of years younger than Bali and I, and attends school in Leiden. We all chatted on the ride home and were happy to arrive shortly thereafter in Culemborg.

Auntie fixed a yummy meal for supper, followed by fruit, coffee and pastries for dessert. We ate and relaxed a bit after a long day of walking and sightseeing before we called it a night and headed to bed.

Sunday, April 25, 2010: Culemborg

Bali and I decided to sleep in a bit this morning, as we were worn out from all our studying, traveling and the long day beforehand. We woke up super late and had a nice breakfast with Auntie, consisting of typical Dutch breakfast staples: bread, meat, kaas (cheese), fruit and coffee. We were to have a lazy day bumming around the house before heading back to Tilburg in the afternoon. Bali braided my hair and taught Auntie how a french braid is done. We enjoyed a nice late lunch of toastis, fruit, soup, cheese and spreads before Bali and I said goodbye and headed home to Tilburg. We arrived late afternoon/early evening and got back to work on campus. It was a really nice weekend, and I was really glad that I got to meet and spend time with Bali's Dutch family friends. They are really nice people!

Here are a few more pictures from this trip, since Keukenhof had so much beauty to capture:

I am writing this blog entry as I am in Scotland on my last big trip of the semester visiting friends and exploring the U.K. Its hard to believe that in less than a week I will be home in the states. Its hard to think beyond this life I have established and been living here for the past five months to the new lifestyle that I will be having this summer. I know that it will be a difficult goodbye next week, and I am still trying to mentally prepare myself to leave the places and people that I have grown to love here. While I am not looking forward to it, I know it is coming and is inevitable to stop. I hope to have all of my trips from this semester fully blogged before I leave for the states, but we will see! Its been so difficult to keep up with the blogging this semester, despite my vigilant attempts!

Anyways, I am enjoying my current trip and look forward to blogging it (hopefully soon!). Stay tuned for more!