Windmill Village/Amsterdam - Final Day 4
What's a visit to Holland without seeing the windmills? As I naively thought windmills are everywhere in Amsterdam, I was absolutely wrong. Apparently they are all in the sub-urban areas so we have to take a train to this windmill village. It was absolutely worth the visit! It's damn beautiful, though it's just a man-made structure. And to think I used to get so excited seeing the windmill in Holland V. How foolish I was. Feels so much like in virtual world, cos windmill is something I always dream of seeing in Holland.
It was a pretty nice village which has very typical dutch houses, nice bridges, water, abundance of grass, wide field, numerous different types of windmills, goats, ducks, sheep... Just felt like I was in an old dutch town, away from the bustling city.Yeah we saw this dog and cute little gal so I requested to grab the doggie for a cam-shot.
The picturesque village
Pretty Match~
If only it was my house~
Totally fascinating~
Im on a lonely road, on the boulevard of broken mills~
Obsession~
The goat adores me! Im so goat-friendly, fed tons of grass to them, lol~
A lonesome figure~
Beautiful gardens~
After the village, we hurriedly went to Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam as we were short of time. And I never expect to see the huge crowd waiting to enter to breathe the air in her house. Obviously we had no time to queue so we just took a pic outside the famous house, which really looks ordinary.
The long wait behind us~ 
The river is really nice on pictures~
Headed off for last min shopping, and we still went to buy our last packet of frites with sauce. I really miss it lots! Then on the way back to train station I reckoned we saw a demonstration in Dam Square, though I had no idea what's the issue but I clearly saw cardboards and posters of Mushrooms. New Magic Mushroom policies?! Probably.
Flight in the evening from Amsterdam back to Basal, Switzerland. And I wanna Holland again~
The 2nd largest city of Holland is utterly disappointing although it has the reputation of being Europe's busiest port. The city, though boost many architectural structures, failed to impress me at all. To date, it's the worst city I have visited these few weeks and thankfully, we only allocated 3 hrs to this mundane city.
And probably the only excitement in Rotterdam was seeing Eugene and Li Jian coincidentally outside the main station. It was pure coincidence as they were on their way to Belgium after Rotterdam while we were going to Amsterdam. On the 1 hr train ride to Amsterdam, we had our junk food feast again. We had chips with Joppie sauce, and a famous Belgium snack.
Amsterdam, Holland Finally arrived in Amsterdam on Friday afternoon. So excited to be in one of the world's most liberal city, felt so much freedom there. Nothing seems to be illegal. Our hotel is centrally located in the heart of the city. Amsterdam feels so much different from Rotterdam. The latter is more modern in terms of city structure, yet the former has a more renaissance feel, and certainly a more bustling city which feels much more alived.
Canal of Amsterdam, Famous Dam Square
The buildings are really pretty, old Victorian styled.
Hansel in Dam Square, note the 2 Halloween ghosts behind. 
Along the streets of Amsterdam
We visited the Magic Mushroom Gallery and it was really eye-opening. There are a wide selection of products for guys who are in need of it. Not for me definitely. Haaa. After that, we went for our much-anticipated canal bike cruise. Its very much like a pedal boat, and we were given a map to navigate around the river. It was damn nice navigating ourselves, pedaling along the amidst the numerous canals, passing the casino, hardrock cafe, water houses, ducks...
And while we pedalled happily, we realized we went a long way and had only 25 minutes to return. The map proved to be rather useless and soon, we were just surrounded by water, canals, similar houses and yeah, we were lost! in the river of Amsterdam. Then we started to get panicky, as it was getting darker, and worst still, we were the only canal bike pedaling with many big river cruise boats around. And guess what the tourists on those boats were doing. They were snapping pics of us fumbling and pedaling, probably becos we were a spectacle by being the only bike on the river. Some tourists even toasted to us with their wine! Felt so like an exhibit then. Lol.
Getting desperate, I decided to seek help from one of the water houses. I waved frantically to this family and shouted "excuse moi" numerously and finally the Dad came out to gave us directions. Thankfully, we got back on time. The getting Lost part was really the Highlight of our Holland trip. 
I never knew Amsterdam canals can rival that of Venice.
Pretty Night scene in the city
Everywhere in the city we could find sex shops and 'coffeeshops'. They have very corny items. Haa. I was utterly amused.
Our Dinner - Frites yet again, Waffle and some snack. Its impossible not to get FAT.
Of course we can't miss out on one of the world's most famous red light district. Yea it was really quite red and the highlight was the skimpily clad bikini gals making seductive waves & moves in their private window cubicles. Interested guys will simply walk towards them and open their door to negotiate. But it seems that more people are seeing rather than petronising them. Haa. But I think Patpong in bangkok is far more exciting.
Our final stop for the day - Visiting the Sex Museum, one of the few museums we visit as it's quite unique to Amsterdam. So many interesting facts inside, only for people above 18 to know. And many amusing stuff inside also.
If there is only time for one city in Belgium, it shall be Bruges, not its capital Brussels. A medieval old town, Bruges is often referred to as the Venice of the north. Its buildings and houses are old yet look well-preserved.
We took a boat cruise in the morning along the river and it certainly reminds me a little of Venice, except that it's less touristy(a plus point).
Sights along the scenic River Cruise
I love the buildings! It's has this 18th century feel.
After the cruise, we shopped for chocs and window shopped along the streets and of course not forgetting to grab frites along the way. Yummylicious, the nicest sauce I ever tasted for the 2nd time.
Along the chocolate boutiques, I have to admit that chocolates do indeed come in all shapes and sizes. Damn amusing. LoL. No matter what shape the chocolates are, I will definitely swallow it. Haaaha.
We had to leave Bruges early afternoon to take a train to the last city in Belgium, Antwerp where we will spend a night. And we tried something amazing on the train. We ate the chips we bought and dipped it in the Joppie Sauce that we bought from the supermart. Oishi~
Upon arrival at Antwerp main station, the Halloween mood is in the air when we saw some ghost and vampire scaring hapless passerbys.
Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp, being the 2nd largest city in Belgium, is a busy port in Belgium. It feels too city-like to me, which I dun fancy and we really had very little time there, just a mere 2 hrs and the sky turned dark, where most shops are closed by 7pm.
We saw a castle, which was actually a museum. 
Then we walked to Grote Markt, the famous square, and saw the Brabo statue. Not faraway is the famous Cathedral of our Lady, which has 466 bells. 
And guess what's our dinner? As expected, more frites(supposedly the number 1 frites) plus some pasta we had along the way.
As there was nowhere to go at night, we settled down at this famous Jazz Club Muze to try some famous Belgium Beer. Yes Belgium is a beer producing country, and has over 1000 kinds of beer. It's not ex, considering it's a Jazz pub, about S$4 for a glass of beer. I had a cup of cappucino too, which was great. The music by the band was kinda disappointing though, as I feel the players are not well coordinated. Maybe I just can't appreciate the Belgium style of Jazzy music.
Cheers! I love this pic of mine, the one on the right. Do Heineken/Carlsberg/Tiger beer need a new spokesman? I can do it for free. Haaa. And do Omega/Tag Heuer/Tissot need an Asian for their watches? I can do it for free also. LoL.
Back at our comfy Hotel, I decided I dun mind doing an Ad for Godiva also =)
Hey Ich ist back! Been on a 4 days Belgium/Holland backpack tour and jus back last nite. Too many nice pics to upload, and probably 1000 pics these 4 days. This time our tour group has shrank by half, as the Thai Gals got a midterm test and Eugene went on his London expedition, so its down to me, JH & WQ. We stayed overnight at Geneva airport as our flight was 625am, my 1st time and hopefully the last time sleeping in an airport. Really an experience. Flight via EasyJet was great, only 30% capacity and it's certainly tons better than RyanAir. And for the 4 days, we never saw the sun as the sky was gloomy throughout =(
We took a train from Brussels airport to the city, which is supposed to take no more than 30min. After 1 hrs plus, I was puzzled by the sights I was seeing along the journey. It feels like we are moving towards the countryside, as I could only see wide patches of grass with cows(the black and white cows which we see in Fresh Milk Ads on TV). And then we realized we all overslept on the train, yes all 3 of us, and got to this ulu city Mons and alighted to change a train back. 2 hrs wasted just by falling asleep on the train, all thanks to the bad night we had in the airport.
Brussels - The gourmet haven for chocoholics and frites lovers, feels so much less touristy(which is great) than most cities I been so far. Our 1st thought was to try the Famous Frites(fries). In case anyone of u still tink Fries are from France(just becos its French Fries), it's time to give the credit to Belgium, as they are the ones who invented Fries, not the French. We were excited to c the 1st Frites shop along the way, and hurriedly went to buy a packet of large frites as the stall vendors were waving to us.
From more than 10 sauces to choose from, we chose Samurai(sweet spicy sauce) which tasted heavenly. It's a unique taste we cant find in Spore and the frites are simply perfect on a cold day.
Then we walked through Galeries St Hubert, an old arcade shopping mall which has famous chocolate names like Godiva and Neuhouse, which both cost a bomb. Godiva wasnt exactly much cheaper, sadly =(
The display of aplenty gourmet chocolates, really nice to just see and gawk =)
And then we went to the Grand Place, the most famous square in Brussels, where the famous town hall stood. 
Walking on, we tried and shared our 1st(unknowingly & unfortunately) and last chocolate waffle in the whole trip, as we were overly obsessed with frites. The generous spread of chocolate over the thick and crisp waffle, yummylicious~
A stone's throw was the famous landmark of Belgium(which I dun see why it is so), the Peeing Boy. The story behind this miniature statue in an unnoticed corner of Brussels is rather lame, so I shall not elaborate. It was truly a 'spectacle'.
We had our one and only gourmet lunch, cost us around 25 sing each. Authetic Belgium cuisine. It was a 3 course meal, and I adventurously tried the famous Belgium Mussels, though I, never a big fan of shell-seafood like Oysters and Clams(though I realy love the clams in Vietnam). The mussels was kinda horrible though JH and WQ said it's quite good. Maybe it's my problem, as I cannot stand the overbearing smell, and to think I finished at least 1/3 of the overly huge portion of Mussels. WQ raw Salmon was damn good, though I must confess I never like raw salmon.
As we were behind schedule, we hurriedly took the metro to see the famous Atomium, one of Brussels great structure. The shape of it is an Iron Crystal magnified 165 billion times, a very unique structure indeed.
Our last stop for Brussels was the royal palace, which appeared to be cold and deserted, nothing spectacular.
Bruges, Belgium
We walked for more than 30 minutes and decided to have frites again as it was simply too cold and windy. We tried the Joppie sauce(sweet sauce with onions) this time round and OMG, its the nicest sauce I ever tasted in my life! Why isit only found in Belguium, and not Spore?!! It's really heavenly and I cannot describe how delirous we were at that moment while we were eating, while the taste is still fresh on my mind right now as im typing. 
Shall blog about Bruges soon, watchout~
