The beauty of Europe as I’ve often stated on this blog is in the green and blue that you see as the plane descends on this part of the world. Given that I’ve now spent 6 years in Desert land the craving to see the greenery, the rains, the clear waters just increases as years pass by.

Thanks to our friends who are based in Voorschoten in Netherlands, we decided to make the trip and I can’t thank them enough for being the wonderful hosts they were to us. This was in the true sense a leisure holiday – I hardly did any research ( that I always tend to do when I travel), relying solely on our hosts’ local knowledge. 9 days in Netherlands – well spent I must say.

We were based in Voorschoten during our entire stay and I fell in love with this place. It is a village close to the cities Leiden and The Hague. The Dutch invest in their villages not the cities, so the locality that our friends stayed in was one of the high-end places you will see in Netherlands. The moment we stepped into Netherlands, the canals parading as streets struck us the most. Every second lane there was a canal – buildings or houses all had a canal enclosing one side. The houses also had their boats tied to each private dock and my friends told me that people tend to travel through the canals in their boats right upto Denmark.

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The one thing that you notice first is that the Dutch houses have huge glass windows and the curtains are rarely drawn esp. in the living room. They love to exhibit their decor and once you see the decor of their homes, you do realise why they don’t draw the curtains. We used to take a walk of 10 minutes to get to the nearest bus-stop and all I did was look at the houses in awe. Every house was done up differently, the arrangement of lights, the beautiful artefacts and showpieces adorning the walls, windows and doors – the colour combinations and the furniture – it was so exquisite, I won’t be surprised if they have built it all by themselves. They are known to do up their own houses – flooring, painting , cementing. etc. And if any of the housemates were present, they’d greet you or wave out to you with a broad smile.

On day 1 we stepped out in the evening for a walk  around the village and when you see these snaps you will realise why I envy my friends so much 🙂

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If day 1 was in this picturesque village which was going to be our base, I got home wondering what other wonders did this land have in store for us.