German Trip Day 3: 25 April 2010

We woke up early (are you noticing a trend), and left for the Netherlands! J had the GPS set for "optimal", though I think K disagreed with the accuracy of that term. Due to the GPS's routing we got to see a lot of surrounding countryside.

Much of the road infrastructure in the Netherlands seems to be currently under construction, which didn't help. They do have some unique architecture; all of the businesses have crazy looking buildings, and even the higway sound barriers are clear, yellow glass, or else futuristic metallic.

It was disconcerting having the road signs suddenly making no sense at all. Dutch is similar to English and German, but not enough to be useful.

As you probably know, parts of the Netherlands are below sea level due to land they've reclaimed from the sea. Here's the GPS showing us at 13 feet below sea level:


We were driving to see the Tulip farms. This was the peak weekend, so much of Northern Europe was also joining us for the drive.

Here are some pictures of flowers (mostly tulips and hyacinths) growing in the fields:









We went to Keukenhof which is famous for its flower displays.

Here is a sampling of some of the flowers we saw:


Here is my favorite view from the gardens:


They were selling Belgian waffles, and I got one, even though it seemed silly with Belgium so close by. Nearby was a mechanical organ, the "Draaiorgel Adriaen", playing music from punch cards. I actually bought a CD of it playing music (it includes a great rendition of "Final Countdown"):


Next we took off cross country looking for some windmills. The back roads are scary here; there's only one lane of travel, with bike lanes on either side. If another car comes you have to hope no bikers are present and move into the bike lane. J did a great job driving:


The GPS, in a surprise move, took us unexpectedly to a ferry crossing. It had a little self-serve toll booth, which we assumed was for a bridge, and we turned the corner and suddenly we were on a boat. Here we are on board, about to cross a canal, with a huge ship passing by:


We stopped at Zaanse Schans as it was the only place our Amsterdam-only guidebook would guarantee there would be windmills. There were people in traditional Dutch outfits selling traditional Dutch cheese. Plus, windmills:


We then went to Amsterdam. I don't have many pictures from there, as we saw a lot from the car (again with J braving the scary driving). We did walk around, but the main square was filled with a carnival and much of the rest was under construction. Here's a typical canal view:


Here's a partial GPS track of some of our driving that day:


On the way back to our Hotel in Köln we stopped for Eis (ice cream!). A new flavor tried was Waldmeister which is a plant that grows in German forests.
On to Day 4
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