Germany and The Netherlands

Nuremburg, Germany

We left Prague by train in the morning to make our way to Nuremburg. We planned to spend three nights with Meli’s childhood friend Alejandra in a town just outside the city (Fürth). As we got to Nuremburg at about noon, we boarded a regional train to Fürth, only a five-minute ride away. The train was packed, and everyone was drinking beer – literally everyone had a beer in their hand. One guy had a case of bottles with him. I knew Germans liked their beer, but this was next level! It turned out that it was a holiday (Thursday), and everyone was out celebrating.

We arrived in Fürth and were greeted by Alejandra, and we walked a short distance to her apartment. We settled in and then went for a walk in a huge park accessible directly from the back door of the apartment. We happily spent the afternoon chilling in the park while the kids played soccer non-stop (literally for 4 hours). Afterwards we went to a quaint café in the park and had a drink while the kids continued playing. In the evening we enjoyed a raclette dinner (fondue) with copious amounts of delicious wine.

The following morning, we headed out to explore Nuremburg. It is a beautiful city of approximately 500,000 people with many medieval buildings – it felt like it was a bit off the tourist track, which was another bonus. Alejandra was an incredible tour guide and took us to all the best places – the town square, old streets, a hidden lookout over the city, a castle, a walk along the river, etc. We had a very typical German lunch – sausages and beer – yum! - - followed by a visit to a café on the riverside. Nuremburg was extremely picturesque and surprisingly a lot less touristy than other places we have visited. In the evening we enjoyed a huge spread of charcuterie and more wine!

Next morning, we boarded a train to Rothenberg, another medieval town. We walked along the ancient city walls with views out over the city (without the €100 charge we paid in Dubrovnik to do the same thing!). The walls were very cool and led through old towers and fortresses. We explored the streets and then grabbed lunch at a very German restaurant. We had “schäufele”, a traditional dish of pork shoulder – absolutely delicious! We continued walking after lunch through a park and some gardens and then back along the city walls. As we were descending the steps, Alejandra had a bad fall and hurt her arm. We stopped by a restaurant to get some ice and then made our way to the clinic to get it checked out. Fortunately, there was no fracture, but it was put in a sling. In the evening we ordered pizzas and hung out having wine until late in the evening.

Next morning, we took it easy and got all our things organized before we said farewell to Alejandra to make our way to the train station. Thanks again to Alejandra for being such a great hostess!

We arrived late in the afternoon in Munich and stored our bags in lockers at the station. We had booked an overnight train from Munich to Amsterdam, so we had about 6 hours to explore Munich before boarding our night train. Alejandra gave us some good tips, so we checked out the main downtown area – Marienplatz. There were lot of cool old buildings, and the streets were filled with many tourists. We couldn’t leave Germany without visiting one of the large beer gardens, so we headed over to the HofBrau Haus. Set in a beautiful building from 1589, the place was packed with people sitting down and drinking large (1 litre) glasses of beer. A live band would sporadically play typical German music to the delight of everybody, leading to hooting and hollering and people dancing up and down the aisles. After a couple of large beers and some sausages we walked past endless tables and through a large outdoor patio to the exit. On the way we passed a large cage full of locked up beer mugs. These mugs belonged to locals who frequented the beer hall. These Germans are dedicated beer drinkers! There was a small square at the back of the building, and we started to kick the soccer ball around. Within seconds, a large group of Brits (visiting Munich for a stag party), joined in. We had an amazing time passing the ball around and doing all sorts of tricks.

At about 9:00 pm, we made our way to the train station. We arrived an hour early (as suggested) and waited. And waited. And waited. We looked at the signboard and it showed our scheduled train, but with a small number beside it indicating the delay in minutes. 30. 80. 110. At this point I started to get frustrated. It was past midnight, and our kids were falling asleep on the bags. I went to the information desk, and asked if our train was still coming. I was informed it was, but now with a 140-minute delay. I asked why the delay kept growing and was told that it was due to construction (was this new construction? Were people aware of this?). I went back to the platform and then a few minutes later our signboard went blank. Confused, I walked back to the information lady. I asked her where our train went on the board. I was informed that they didn’t have the people available to update the signs, so it just went blank. At this point I was starting to lose it.

Real conversation:

Me: Is our train still coming?

Lady: Yes. But it is now delayed 180 minutes. And it is on a new platform.

Me: A new platform? How would passengers know this since the sign is blank?

Lady: Oh, they just need to come ask me.

Me: So, let me get this straight. Each of the 100 passengers needs to come here and individually line up and ask you if the train platform has been changed.

Lady: Yes. Well, you can tell them if you like.

She then proceeds to print out multiple sheets of paper with some information on it in German thinking that I might walk up and down the platform and let everybody know. At this point I scratched my head and thought, what %$#’n country are we in? This can’t be Germany.

Anyways, we finally boarded our train – which by the way, was totally mediocre at best (on par with trains in Vietnam). I suppose the whole ordeal is “part of the experience”, but I was disappointed since I had the impression that German trains would be far superior (on time, clean, spacious, etc.) to those in third world countries.

We finally arrived in Amsterdam, three hours late, and exhausted. We had planned to spend the day touring around, but since it was later, and we were tired we decided to go straight to our apartment in Zandvoort – a beach town about a 30-minute train ride from Amsterdam. We had looked for accommodation in Amsterdam, but the prices were outrageous. We were very happy with our choice in Zandvoort.

Amsterdam (Zandvoort)

In the morning, we walked to the train station to make our way to Amsterdam for the day. We downloaded the Rick Steeves’ Audio Guide Tour and followed along, being careful not to get runover by bikes and trams. We learned that there were more bikes than people in Amsterdam, and I do not doubt this fact! We did the tour which took about two hours and covered lots of interesting history. We walked down Damrak Street to the Stock Exchange and Dam Square, past the De Papegaai Church and Amsterdam Museum. We stopped at the Begijnhof – a small courtyard with small homes built back in the 1600’s where nuns used to live. We also visited Spui, the Mint Tower, and the Flower Market. The Dutch are nuts about their flowers – there were beautiful flowers, gardens, and green roofs everywhere we went.

Afterwards we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch. Next, we walked along the canals and into the Redlight District. It was daytime, so it was relatively quiet. There were a couple of girls in the windows, which of course was very weird, and made the boys blush. The streets were lined with head shops and pot cafes. It was quintessential Amsterdam. We were blown away by the amount of pot being smoked everywhere we went. It is legal in Canada, but it seems to be way less prevalent there.

In the evening we met up with Javiera (22), our niece who has been living in the Hague for a few years now. We walked down to the beach in Zandvoort and had a fish and chips dinner. It was a beautiful evening, but it was quite windy making it a bit chilly. The area looked like it would be very popular in summertime.

The following day we went back to Amsterdam in the afternoon to do some more exploring. We took a canal cruise for an hour which is a much nicer way to see the city than those awful Hop-on Hop-off buses. There are more than 160 canals with over 1,700 bridges in Amsterdam. It was impressive. Afterwards we went to the museum district to try to see the Rijksmuseum. When we got there, we discovered that all the tickets were sold out. Same went for the Van Gogh Museum. Apparently, one needs to buy tickets at least one week in advance. We are not that organized! Ah well, we ended up hanging out at the park for a couple of hours while the kids made friends with another boy playing soccer before we met up with Javiera and her boyfriend Dalo for dinner at a delicious steak restaurant.

The next day was Javiera’s birthday, so Dalo organized a day of fun at a place called Silverstone. It was this large building with an indoor go kart racing, laser tag, and bowling. Go karting was a blast and the laser tag made me feel like a kid again (I think the last time I played was when I was a kid at CN Tower). We finished it up with a round of 10-pin bowling before making our way back to the Hague for a late dinner at a restaurant on the beach called “Crazy Pianos”. There was a guy playing piano and belting out tunes accompanied by a drummer. Requests could be made by scribbling on a napkin and leaving it on the piano. We left the restaurant at about 10:30 pm in the twilight (the Hague is at 52°N so it doesn’t get dark until late) and made a quick stop by the arcade for some more games.

We went back to Javiera’s place to have birthday cake and then we left the boys to sleep there overnight on the sofa bed while Mel and I stayed at a bed and breakfast nearby.

In the morning we met up for brunch at a local bagel place before we headed out to explore the city (Javiera was working, and Dalo, a musician, was doing a recording session for an upcoming album). The Hague is a very nice and clean city, especially compared to Amsterdam. It has lots of old historical buildings and is very walkable. The Binnenhof Building – built in the 13th century and located next to Hofvijver lake - was especially impressive.

In the evening we bade farewell to Javiera and Dalo who were off to Paris to visit Disneyland as Javiera’s birthday gift. We spent the entire next day at their place doing a hardcore planning session for our last leg of travel in the UK. It is amazing how time-consuming planning can be, however we were very happy to get a substantial part of it done in one go to be able to relax and enjoy our travels.

It was a great week catching up with friends and family – thanks again to Alejandra and Javiera and Dalo for hosting us!!

Next stop – Belgium and Paris!