The several cities we visited in The Netherlands were Amsterdam (of course), Lemmer and Sneek (located in Friesland - they have their own language), Delft (where Patric is from), The Hague (govt city), Amersfoort (home), and Apeldoorn (where the previous Queen was born and where they held Queens Day in April 2009).
Below are a few pics from each city in order as show above:
Amsterdam:
We also checked out the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam and OH what an experience :) It's 15 euro to learn where Heineken came from and all the history. Get 3 free drinks and learn the art of drinking a beer, among lots of other things to do. IF you get a chance, when you visit Amsterdam go check it out:
Below is a video: It is a room you can sit and relax and watch all types of Heineken commercials/advertising:
Next we went to Lemmer and Sneek(pronounced Snake), they are towns in Friesland. Friesland is a province of The Netherlands.
Lemmer (could so retire here):
Sneek:
Delft is where Patric was born and it is a beautiful city. This is the home of Vermeer the artist and where the royals are buried in the New Church. Will show you pics of William the 1st's tomb, Vermeer's well know painting and his grave, as well as pics of the city:
The Hague is the govt city. We went there and saw the building (looks like a church) where the queen holds her yearly speech which is called "de Ridderzaal" or knights hall and saw the parliament buildings. We saw some art from Norway, sand art, that was very nice. When we went to have some drinks we actually saw The Secretary General of NATO: Jaap de Hoop Scheffer leaving a from an interview for winning an award. It was on t.v. the next day. Saw his security detail, that was cool. Didn't get a pic of him though, but here are other pics:
Amersfoort is my favorite little city. I really love this place. They have a really good Greek restaurant and the town center is beautiful:
Apeldoorn is where Queen Juliana (the recent Queen's Mother) was born. They held the annual Queen's Day in April 2009 there. The royals come out and visit a different city every year, meet the townsfolk and just enjoy the day with them. It's like a festival with a parade.
The day we went we checked out the past Queen's birth place. There's a mansion there and is very beautiful. It did rain very hard and though I was unable to video tape it we did get soaking wet... drenched.. it was alot of fun though. Enjoy the pics and video:
We decided on taking a little drive to Antwerp, Belgium, the main trading center for diamonds. All diamonds are sent here once mined. It's a great place. went to a diamond museum, had some food/drinks, went to the zoo.. :) Antwerp has a strange meaning: According to folklore, and as celebrated by the statue in front of the town hall the city got its name from a legend involving a mythical giant called Antigoon who lived near the river Scheldt. He exacted a toll from those crossing the river, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands and threw it into the river Scheldt. Eventually, the giant was slain by a young hero named Brabo, who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen—akin to Old English hand and wearpan (= to throw), that has changed to today's warp. here are some pics: city hall, city center, shopping.. :)
On our way back from Germany, Elisa and I got stuck in Ramstein for a day, so we went to Kaiserslautern and it is a very beautiful place. You can catch a train from Ramstein or Landstuhl. We stayed in a very nice hotel near Landstuhl. check it out:
Our summer trip to Europe was amazing and I can not wait to go back. If you get a chance go, the people are nice and the history is great...
