The Netherlands, Part I

Last week we went on a trip to the Netherlands. It was my first time there! Luka does quite a bit of traveling now for his business and sometimes Olivia and I have the opportunity to join him. He goes and does his work things and Olivia and I play around the cities. It’s so much better than being home and feeling like we’re just waiting for Luka to come home. However, traveling with a toddler is one tough job. It’s physically, emotionally, and mentally demanding. It’s even more so than just being home because you’re constantly on the go and on demand from morning to night. Plus, you don’t have all your familiar things, which are very important to children. Nap time is all out of whack as well as many other things. All this is to say that it’s not easy. Many people say, “Oh, lucky you!” and yes, I am fortunate, but I don’t want you to think it’s all rainbows and butterflies and a magical European holiday. That said, is it worth it? Totally. At least, I think it is. This was my dream when I was young: travel the world, especially Europe. I never planned for that to change even after having children.

The Flight

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Flying with a toddler can be challenging. Our flight from Slovenia was only 1.5 hrs to Belgium where we rented a car and drove another 2 hours to the Netherlands. The best way to cope is to be prepared. Fortunately, Olivia is now at the age where she loves the iPad and iPhone and computer and movies. This makes it SO much easier. I don’t like her to watch movies often, but for situations like this I’m so grateful to have them. Her current hero is Mary Poppins, the perfect role model! We also had her blankie and snacks to keep her happy.

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During take off and landing I gave her water and snacks to get her chewing and to help with the pressure changes. It must have helped because she didn’t complain much. During the flight, as soon as the seatbelt light went off, she was walking around all over the plane. Our flight was pretty empty so this made it especially easy and fun. She greeted the stewardesses and other passengers, she tried out the empty seats, She spent some time with Luka and some time with me. This really helped the time pass.

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Amsterdam

The next day we had a free day and with it we went to Amsterdam. It was a 2.5 hour drive from where we were staying, but it was worth it. I’ve learned that when traveling with small children, it’s best to not try to keep a strict schedule. Be open to just go with the flow. We had planned to be on the road around 8am, but didn’t actually make our way there until 10:30am.

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City gates with coat of arms by which Napoleon entered the city

We were only there half the day, but we saw a lot! We didn’t have good weather either. It poured rain, then it was sunny, then strong, icy winds on and off all day! No one carried an umbrella and originally I thought it was because the Dutch are just so hard core, but later I saw one person struggling with an umbrella against the wind and decided he must be a tourist. During one such spell we found a little cafe and had a warm coffee.

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Koffie Verkeerd

I chose the “koffie verkeerd” which I understood to be a special Dutch coffee. It’s much like a café au lait and the foam on top was thick and yummy. Once we were warmed up and the rain had cleared, we walked across the bridge to a brewery. Now, this is what I had been looking forward to! I really enjoy tasting some good, quality beers. Brouwerij’t IJ was part of an old windmill too. So cool!

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Brouwerij’t IJ

When we got inside it was packed. There was no where to sit and especially not if you had a baby with you. Although it’s not frowned upon to bring your children into a brewery/bar here, it still feels odd and definitely inconvenient. I want to sit down, stay for an hour or two, try an ale or two, and then have conversations with other travelers. That was not about to happen. Since there were no seats, we stood at the bar and ordered a sampler of 5 beers from their brewery.

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After thoroughly enjoying it there, we left and went to walk around the city. We also went to find a famous old sandwich shop or “croquette” shop called Van Dobben. I had a roast beef, as well as a deep fried piece of heaven, and also tried the raw beef! Everything was delicious, inexpensive, and, best of all, served quickly!

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We had had plans to do a tour and see a few things, but we arrived too late since everything wrapped up either at 5pm or 7pm. Nonetheless, I felt like in the short amount of time we did have we were able to see a lot of this city.

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Amsterdam, and the rest of the Netherlands, seems to be entirely made of brick. Beautiful, glorious, perfectly constructed brick buildings. It’s breathtaking.

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The tulip museum was so beautiful. We didn’t go through the museum in the back, but the store front was filled with such beautiful flowers! I wanted to take it all home and plant the most glorious garden.

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If you go to Amsterdam in your life then you must go to the cheese museum. There are tiny samples of almost every cheese they had there. So many cheeses that I couldn’t try them all… and I LOVE cheese. Goat cheese, herb cheese, truffle cheese, of course their famous gouda cheese, and every other kind of cheese imaginable. It’s like cheese heaven. Downstairs there is a little piece of cheese-making history where you can see how it used to be made with the old tools. It was very cool. If I had an extra $1,000 to spend on food you know where I’d be. It’s not that it’s so expensive, I just want it all!

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Our last stop was another great little beer place. I was really looking forward to it. However, once we got inside, it was the size of a hobbit hole and crammed full of people. There was no place for us. The beer menu is immense. Hopefully one day I can go back.