Tag: Netherlands

Netherlands Chronicles–Gulliver’s City Madurodam

Tell me honestly, when you saw this song back in the 90s – didn’t you wish like visiting the miniature city in the background ( ofcourse without any plans to dance like monkeys amidst those tiny wonderful creations). I finally got to visit the place called Madurodam during my Europe visit in Apr-May12.

Madurodam – the miniature Holland built on scale of 1:25 hosts some of the most famous landmarks of Netherlands such as Rotterdam Port, Euromast, the Schipol Airport, Rijk Musuem, and the famous Amsterdam canals, the Palaces of the royal families, the narrow city buildings, parks, Dam square, railway stations, cargo trains, high speed trains. All these places are not empty and are filled with little men, women and children; in addition the little residents of Madurodam tell us the tales of the Dutch, their peculiarities, their achievements, their history – making the whole tour an enjoyable experience.

It is no doubt a real delight for kids but MDH & and I found ourselves queuing behind them to try and extinguish the fire on the ship, try and get the plane to float in air for a good one minute, place the cargo on the ships, and try and trace that fast speed Thalys train which kept zipping past me time and again.

If you ever visit the Netherlands and want to feel like Gulliver for a day – Madurodam is the place to visit. Here are a few pictures we managed to click and some videos I shot.

The trademark Amsterdam city houses & the football stadium

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The Spido at Rotterdam Port & The cargo trains at work

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The train arriving at the platform & the busy motorway

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The Royal Palace & The Corpus

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Watch the planes park themselves at the airport

Ships docking at Rotterdam Port

Bus-ride anyone?

Fancy a canal cruise in the city?

Think Schumi will want to race here?

So when are you planning your trip to Gulliver’s city?

Netherlands Chronicles – KeukenHof

Remember Amitabh-Rekha singing “Dekha Ek Khwab Mein Hain Silsile Hue”? That song is the primary reason that has led most Indian tourists to see Keukenhof

The gardens are open for only 2 months in the year to tourists – so always ensure that if you ever visit Netherlands, you plan a trip during March-May and not miss a visit to these gardens.

My parents loved gardening – even in our 2BHK in Mumbai – Papa had made mini gardens in all the rooms by converting some windows to box grills, there were plants within the rooms as well – especially bonsai plants. Roses, hibiscus were housed in those gardens and both took great care of the plants – like they were their children. Even though I’ve not inherited their gardening skills or love, I still enjoy being amongst plants and flowers.  My mumma loves flowers – all types, all colours, she loses herself in them and how I would’ve loved to have her with me among those colourful Tulips I saw at Keukenhof.

Long stretches of tulip blossoms – white, yellow, purple, red, pink – the arrangements in different pavilions in the garden are a sight to see. Some told me the gardens are over-rated but if you love flowers and being amongst them – I think you must plan a visit to this pretty place.

It is well connected to the main stations in Netherlands – Leiden and Schipol with buses every 10 minutes. Owing to spring season it is open till late in the evening – you need atleast 3-4 hours to view the gardens so make sure you get there in time. Also very important to check the weather before planning a trip there. We were lucky we got a bright and sunny day when we visited this April.

Leaving you folks with some snaps to soak in the beauty of  the place

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Netherlands Chronicles – Voorschoten

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.

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