Netherlands: the country of tulips and puffy cakes

posted on October 30, 2009 at 4:40 pm

This week, I took advantage of the long weekend and the nice weather and I went to the lovely Amsterdam. This time I also went through Rotterdam, to visit Andi and Simona, which I haven’t seen for more than one year.

The highlights of my short trip:

if at my first visit in Amsterdam I felt in love with the stropwafels, this time I discovered the Bossche Bolen, a marvelous puffy cake covered in chocolate. I don’t deny that’s so sweet that it suddenly gets you somewhere between conscience and diabetes. But I believe this is one of the best cakes I ever tasted so far ;
Rotterdam it seems as a little bit more airy and less crowded comparing it with Amsterdam. The Erasmus Bridge it’s just gorgeous and a relaxed walk through the tiny boats anchored at shore can really give you the time for meditation and self motivation;
Seeing the sunrise from the airplane is just magical. And the magic gets even better if you also have a warm coffee to enjoy;
I really liked the chain of coffee houses called Bagels & Beans. The retro interior and the cosy atmosphere reminds me about my favorite coffee place in Iasi, called Sage, where I would go with Bianca every week;
I think I talk also for Simona when I say I hate typical Dutch stairs. With this kind of tiny and curly stairs you have more than 50% chances to fall on the stairs and break something. If we take into account that my shoes’ size is 44, then I think my chances even double;
As pedestrian on the streets of Amsterdam, you have bigger odds to be hit by a bike than by a car;
Ajax Amsterdam Stadium is just magnificent. This is somehow logical, this being my second stadium I visit after the tiny little one of the local football team, from my birth city. Ajax is more than just a football team, it’s a reason of being proud, it’s a brand, a force, a legend. The chairs from the official lounge are super comfortable (these can be rented for 30 years, with only a small investment of 50,000 Euro).