Castle de Haar

17 June 2017,

It was very easy now to go to Castle de Haar by public transport. From Den Haag, we took direct train to Vleuten. Next to Vleuten train station, there was a bus terminal where we can take bus no. 111 to Castle de Haar. The bus stopped in front of the castle.

Since we got off the bus, the castle was already impressed us. The wall, the moat and the bridge were beautiful. We went to the ticket office to get the tickets. Since we had Museumkaart, we can get inside for free. If not, we should buy the tickets and they had a separate ticket for garden only or with the castle.

Muiderslot

11 June 2017,

Muiderslot is one of the most beautiful castles in Netherlands. Located in Muiden, only 50 minutes drive from Den Haag. Since parking lot near the castle was limited, we parked our car on the street, not far from the castle.

This medieval castle was built by Count Floris around 1285. He had many enemies, and one of them was Willem van Mechelen from Utrecht. His enemies kidnapped him and held prisoner in his own castle. Later, they took him away from castle and killed him. After his death, the castle was taken over by the Willem van Mechelen.

Christmas Market in Netherlands

Christmas Market in  Netherlands  


Maastricht, 31 December 2016

 With theme Magical Maastricht, Christmas Market in Maastricht was one of the Christmas Markets that open until end of December.

Besides all the stalls, they had some areas for children. The main attraction was the Ferris Wheel, which we can get a nice city view from top. They also had ice skate ring complete with the skate rental.
 

Den Bosch

04 december 2016

Though it was 5^o C but because it was a sunny day, we decided to go outside Den Haag. There are some towns that not far from Den Haag that we want to visit, such as Breda, Dordrecht and Den Bosch. But because we plan to visit Dordrecht when it has Christmas Market (which is 2 more weeks) and Breda is smaller than Den Bosch (maybe we can combine Breda with another town), so we decided to visit Den Bosch.

The Holland Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openlucht Museum) Arnhem

13 August 2016, The Holland Open Air Museum (Nederlands Openlucht Museum) Arnhem
We took train from Den Haag Central Station to Arnhem Central Station. From there we continued by Breng (name of the bus in Arnhem) no 3 direction Burger’s Zoo and we stopped at Burger’s Zoo bus stop. From there, we walked to the museum.

Ticket to enter this museum was EUR 15 for adults and EUR 11 for child 4-12 years old. As we have Museumkaart, we got free entry. First, we entered the entrance which also a museum shop. It’s a small shop that sells some things especially for children. Also we can buy some snacks and drinks here. The Museum opens from 10.00 am to 17.00 pm.

Nijmegen

13 August 2016, Nijmegen

We arrived at Nijmegen train station, it took only 15 minutes from Arnhem central train station. Nijmegen is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Like the other cities in Holland, the old town was close from the train station. We just followed the clear sign to centruum. The first place we see was the Grote Markt. In this square, we saw the Waaggebouw (weighing house), the beautiful old renaissance building from 1600 and now it serves as a restaurant, the bronze statue of Mariken Nieumeghen, a chief character from 15^th century and the entrance to the St. Stevenskerk, a Romanesque Gothic church. The church was already closed when we arrived, so we just can admire its beautiful façade.

Hoorn, Netherlands

25 June 2016, Hoorn

Hoorn, a city in  the North Netherlands. It was one of the centers of VOC, the Dutch Indies Company which had Batavia (Jakarta) as one of its important trading posts. It was easy to reach Hoorn since it has its train station. From Den Haag to Hoorn took about 1 hour 30 minutes, including transfer in Amsterdam Sloterdijk.







 

Gouda

 
09 June 2016


Gouda is a small town famous for its cheese. It was very easy to reach there, only 20 minutes from Den Haag by train. The town can be explore by foot from the central station. There were some beautiful old buildings that we can visit. Sint-Janskerk is a church with its beautiful stained glass windows is one of them. St Janskerk was originally Roman Catholic Church, but now is a Protestant Church. Just across the church, we can also visit Gouda Museum, where we can see many collections from 16^th century, such as ceramics and paintings.

Keukenhof Garden and Flower Field at Lisse

24 April 2016

There were so many ways to reach Keukenhof. We chose to go there via Leiden. From Leiden train station, there was a special bus that go directly to Keukenhof. The trip was about 25 minutes.

The bus stopped at the main entrance of the Keukenhof Garden. But we decided to explore the surrounding area first to visit some of the flower fields (Because in the garden, we can not find the flower field). 

Hillegom Flower Parade

Hillegom Flower Parade

23 April 2016

Actually we didn’t plan to watch the Flower Parade. We planned to visit flower field at Lisse. We took bus to Lisse, but since we didn’t realize that the monitor that showing bus stop name was not working, we passed Lisse and end up at Hillegom. Luckily, we just in time for the flower parade (at around 05 pm).

This annual flower parade consists of many floats decorated with flowers. Days before, they prepared the floats, and 3 days before, with a small fee (EUR 5) publics can participate decorate the floats. Then, on April 23, they will have the parade which was start from Noordwijk at 9.30 am to Haarlem. The parade will also pass by Keukenhof. The parade will arrive at Harleem around 21.30. 

Haarlem

 
Haarlem
17 April 2016

We visited Haarlem as part of our trip to Hillegom. From Hillegom, it took only 10 minutes by train. As we did not had our lunch at Hillegom, and it was almost 4 pm when we reached Haarlem, first thing we did was had late lunch. Lucky for us, we found Surinaams Indonesisch Resto, Sinar Cinta, not far from the station (only 5 minutes walk) and double lucky that the resto was opened at 4 pm. So we are their first customer :)

  

Hillegom, Flower Field in Netherlands

Hillegom
17 April 2016

When we think about Netherlands, we must think about tulip. And when we think about tulip, we must think about Keukenhof. Same with us. We always thinking to see the flower strip field in Keukenhof, until... we did our research in the web and found out that if we want to see the flower strip field, Keukenhof is not the place! We should go to town flower area. One of the town is Hillegom.

Amstelveen Cheery Blossom Festival

Amstelveen Cheery Blossom Festival
10 April 2016


Every year in Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest), 400 Japanese cherry trees blossom. And every year, Japanese expats from Amsterdam area celebrate the coming of spring in this area. The celebration was on 09 April 2016. But since we only wanted to enjoy the scenery, we decided to come on the next day.

From Den Haag, we took train to Schiphol, then from there, we took bus no 300 and stop at the second stop. Then we changed to bus 149 and stopped just in front of the forest entrance. From there, we just need to walk 10 minutes to the cherry blossom spot. Amsterdam Bos is a very large forest, there were some entrances, so we made sure we took the short way to the cherry blossom area.

Giethoorn - Venice of Holland

Giethoorn

9 April 2016

Giethoorn is one of our bucket list since we arrived in Netherlands. And yes, when spring finally come, we’re so excited to go there. We looked at weather prediction and lucky us, this Saturday was a sunny day. Giethoorn is a small village in Netherlands. What make Giethoorn unique is in Giethoorn, houses are separated from each other by canals. That’s why it is known as Venice of Holland. They use canals for their transportation. There are no roads, only small path for walking or cycling. 

Zaandam and Zaanse Schans

 Zaandam

19 March 2016
Zaandam is not like the other cities in Netherlands. Here we can not easily spot old buildings or windmills. When we stepped outside the train station, we were welcomed by unique shape with the dominant color green buildings. For this trip, we brought our bikes. We can put our bikes in the parking area besides the train station.

Leiden

Leiden, 13 March 2016

Only 15 minutes by train from Den Haag, then we arrive at Leiden. A small city but has so many reasons to be visited. It has the oldest university in Netherlands, it’s the birthplace of Rembrandt, it is pretty and all the attractions are within walking distance from Leiden Centraal Station.

Amsterdam : Nemo Museum

Nemo museum is truly a fun place to visit. An interactive museum where we can learn about many things. It is not only interesting for kids, but also for adults. It is open from tuesday to sunday from10.00 - 17.30.

It is located only 10 minutes walking from Amsterdam Centraal Station. From the centraal station, just turn left and we can directly spot the building, the unique shape green building, that looks like a ship.

Rotterdam, first day in 2016

First new day in 2016, we visited new place that can be reached from Den Haag at 30 minutes. Rotterdam. The largest port in Netherlands and also the second largest port in the world.

We arrived at Rotterdam Central Station. Very modern building. With its unique design, the building of Centraal Station can become one of the icons in Rotterdam. And it becomes our starting point to explore the city.

Delft

 06 December, 2015
 Delft, the pretty small town not far from The Hague, only 15 minutes by train and we are there. The main attraction in Delft is the Markt (main square). It can be reached on foot from Delft Train Station. We will pass some beautiful canals along the way to the Markt. And since it was near Christmas, we can see Delft was beautifully decorated with so  many lights.

Volendam and Edam

18 July 2015, Volendam and Edam 
Today, we visited some town near Amsterdam. From Amsterdam Central Station we took bus from bus terminal that located behind train station. We bought bus pass that allowed us to stop at some town. First, we stopped at Volendam.

Volendam is a fishing village, just around 20 kilometres from Amsterdam. It is a very touristic spot with a great view and lots of shops. Besides the the souvenir shops, there were also shops that provided costume for tourists to wear and take photo. Just walked around the area, we can see small canal with houses along the canal.