Travelogue

What do you do when you are owning a nice Convertible Car and the sun is shining ?! You sit in the car and makes a shortly determined Convertible Tour.

Well - on to Amsterdam and in addition as well visit our dear friends Karlo and Irene from Hilversum, whom we met during our holiday in South Africa.

The journey took place via our motorway network up to the Dutch border. Then convertible top on and comfortably on well-developed roads over Nijmegen,

Arnhem and Hilversum first to our accommodation, a beautiful farm with apartment in Weesp, this is a small town between Amsterdam and Hilversum with good transport links.

Then we continued to Hilversum. Karlo and Irene had prepared a small program for us. First we drove to Laren. There was the international "Elephant Art Exhibition", a street exhibition with brightly painted elephant sculptures. In addition a small snack with a very popular Dutch specialty - Bitterballen. It is breaded, with a ragout of beef or veal stuffed and deep-fried meat croquettes. This is usually given mustard. Really tasty!

Back in Hilversum, Karlo surprised us with a delicious selection of finger food. Cooking and spoiling guests is Karlo's passion and hobby. The two live really idyllic just outside Hilversum. Time was passing too fast, so we made our way back to our accommodation.

The next morning starts with a good breakfast. The owner of the apartment was especially looking for food for us - bread, eggs and cold cuts more than enough. Then we made our way to Amsterdam. Ideal starting point, the railway station of Weesp, where we could easily park our car. With the train we reached the Centraal Station in Amsterdam in just 15 minutes comfortably and quickly. No difficult parking search, the sightseeing could start directly.

The huge amount of bicycles in front of the entrance of the Centraal station is just noticed. That must be thousands of bikes! And there is also a bicycle parking garage with 2500 parking spaces on 3 decks! The inhabitants of the city already know how to get from A to B quickly.

Of course we started with a ride on one of the typical excursion boats through the narrow canals of the city. Then a small snack in the Loetje Centraal directly opposite the main station at the canal. We continued on foot through the Chinatown area with many Asian restaurants. There you will also find the Buddhist Fo Guang Shan Temple. A look inside is very interesting.

On our tour of the city, we also passed the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum. It is well known that soft drugs such as marijuana or cannabis are offered and sold in the so-called "coffee shops". The Paleis op de Dam (the royal palace) on the square de Dam (there is to find Madame Tussauds waxwork museum as well), the Johnny Jordaan Plein near the Prinzengracht and de Waag, the former weigh house of the city are other attractions where we passed by.

Before returning to our accommodation, we had a very good evening at the Harbor House on the marina of Almere / Markermeer. The trip home after a good breakfast next morning in nice weather was without incident.

Conclusion - Amsterdam is always worth a visit. Take a look to the photos.

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