Now to mainland Europe! This was my first visit to the Netherlands after having lived here for 2 years from 2005 till 2007. I was a bit worried of having to face bitter sweet memories at every street corner and was quiet apprehensive. The fear of being unable to appreciate the 3 cities I would visit in this country loomed large!
Luckily my experience in my first city of call - Amsterdam - was quiet contrary and I really enjoyed the city.
As planned we did our round of all the usual touristic stuff - the Van Gogh Museum,
the flower market (above), Dam Square and the of course the famous canal tour. To my surprise I really enjoyed it and I had forgotten how beautiful this city really is!
I also managed to have a pleasant time in the Hague,
where my little cousins just adored the Mini-Holland Park (Madurodam).
My last stop in NL was Rotterdam - now this was never going to be easy! It is here that I went to school and lived. In under 2 years the city had really changed a lot!
Lots of new buildings and infrastructure was being built and parts of the city - that I spend most of my time in - is now a giant building site.
I went to my school (the Berlage Institute - below photo) where I met quiet a few familiar faces (Marja, PV, Trummer, Danny, Suchada and Janki),
walked past my favourite housing project in the city,
went to see my favorite building in the city - the Kunsthal -
designed by OMA (above and below)
walked by the Erasmus bridge in front of which I rode my bike everyday.. here too was a brand new tower disappearing into the sky..
walked past my supermarket
and even dared to walk by where I lived! Ahhhh the good old days..
I bite my lip really hard and I didn't let a tear drop - now I'm left wondering if that was a good idea?
Anyhow I'm happy that I was able to visit this slightly eccentric dutch city once again!
Luckily my experience in my first city of call - Amsterdam - was quiet contrary and I really enjoyed the city.
As planned we did our round of all the usual touristic stuff - the Van Gogh Museum,
the flower market (above), Dam Square and the of course the famous canal tour. To my surprise I really enjoyed it and I had forgotten how beautiful this city really is!I also managed to have a pleasant time in the Hague,
where my little cousins just adored the Mini-Holland Park (Madurodam).
My last stop in NL was Rotterdam - now this was never going to be easy! It is here that I went to school and lived. In under 2 years the city had really changed a lot!
Lots of new buildings and infrastructure was being built and parts of the city - that I spend most of my time in - is now a giant building site.
I went to my school (the Berlage Institute - below photo) where I met quiet a few familiar faces (Marja, PV, Trummer, Danny, Suchada and Janki),
walked past my favourite housing project in the city,
went to see my favorite building in the city - the Kunsthal -
designed by OMA (above and below)
walked by the Erasmus bridge in front of which I rode my bike everyday.. here too was a brand new tower disappearing into the sky..
walked past my supermarket
and even dared to walk by where I lived! Ahhhh the good old days..
I bite my lip really hard and I didn't let a tear drop - now I'm left wondering if that was a good idea?Anyhow I'm happy that I was able to visit this slightly eccentric dutch city once again!
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