The "See Holland" tours are a range of 8 different tours for passengers transferring at Schiphol airport - perfect for people like us who have to wait for eight hours for transit! We joined the two and half hour tour around Amsterdam. For 39 Euro per person, it was a very expensive tour. But it is better than lazing around in the airport and we are already in Holland, gotta step out there and breathe the air right? It is a guided bus ride with a few quick stops. The highlights of the short tour included the canals, the "Skinny Bridge", the Anne Frank House, a private windmill, the Ratterman Wooden Shoe Factory and the Red Light District.
I'll try to go thru' as much as possible based on what I can remember of what the guide said. :op The tour started off at Schiphol airport. So we begin with a lil' story of Schiphol, "ship hell" in Dutch. The airport is actually sitting on reclaimed land. It was originally a lake. One day, they decided to pump out the water and build the airport.
As we left the airport, we drove past many canals in the countryside. The roads were built on the dykes. As almost half of Holland is below sea level, the canals are used for pumping water up from lower ground to higher ground. In the past, windmills were used to do this job.
Our first stop was the Ratterman Wooden Shoe Factory where the guide explained about the sand dunes and changes in Holland's landscape. There was a demonstration on making of wooden shoes using the traditional machineries.
The wooden shoes come in all colours and sizes!
Shoes on the ceiling to dry.
Me with a very big pair of wooden shoes.
And me in a even bigger pair of wooden shoes!
As we continued in the countryside, we went past many houses which were few hundred years old and this statue of Rembrandt.
Along the way there was this privately owned windmill. The guide said the owner is not a nice person. In Holland, the windmills will spin every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, this owner never let it spin as he said he was always busy. That was his car beside the windmill (he was home!), so we did not go near to take pictures.
Into the old town of Amsterdam, we saw River Amstel with boat houses. Remember seeing them in some Jackie Chan movie or Deuce Bigalow?
In the old Dutch houses, there are these hooks. There are used to hang furnitures up the houses, through the windows. The facade of these houses are also slightly leading forward. This is to avoid the furnitures from clashing against the walls.
This is the Skinny Bridge. It looks like any other bridges along the River Amstel. However there is a story. They were two skinny ladies staying across the bridge and they rowed their boat for tea in the canal everyday. When a bridge was to be built, it was decided to name after them.
See these houses with red shades? That's the Red Light district. As our bus past by, we can see women in undergarment standing at the windows... oooo. The ladies don't like pictures to be taken and its not very polite to do so.
We had our first taste of cold Dutch wind at the Museum Square. There you can find the National Museum, the Opera House, the Concert Hall, the Van Gogh Museum, etc. At the Museum Square there was also a green slope. Beneath green slope is actually a supermarket.
Along the river there was the Anne Frank house and one owned by Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones(not sure which is it as the guide just said, "One of the houses belongs to..."). There was a super long queue outside the Anne Frank Museum. Anyway, opposite the museum was this church tower (not sure of the name). It played nice chimes!
In the old city of Amsterdam, there were these brown poles along the road. And on the poles there were three crosses. These crosses are the Amsterdam Code of Arms. The guide said that they represents "No fire, no flood, no illness". Apparently Amsterdam was plagued by these three hazards back then.
Finally the bus went into the new city of Amsterdam. Near the train station, there was this bicycle park. Eh have you ever seen anything like this before? It seems like the Dutch cycles alot. They will cycle to bus or tram stations, switch to the public transport, reach their destination station, switch to another bicycle, and continue to ride to their final destination.
That's the "multi-storey" bicycle park!
We also went past the city central which is supposed to be really happening during weekend evenings. There were cinemas, bars, clubs, etc. And there was a city square with lotsa pigeons (doves? or sea gulls?) flying up into the sky.
Well you can't see any of them in this picture cuz they already flew away. =P We made the rest of our journey back through the old city, the country side and to Schiphol Airport. And that, concluded our 2 1/2 hour tour of Amsterdam!
I'll try to go thru' as much as possible based on what I can remember of what the guide said. :op The tour started off at Schiphol airport. So we begin with a lil' story of Schiphol, "ship hell" in Dutch. The airport is actually sitting on reclaimed land. It was originally a lake. One day, they decided to pump out the water and build the airport.
As we left the airport, we drove past many canals in the countryside. The roads were built on the dykes. As almost half of Holland is below sea level, the canals are used for pumping water up from lower ground to higher ground. In the past, windmills were used to do this job.
In the old Dutch houses, there are these hooks. There are used to hang furnitures up the houses, through the windows. The facade of these houses are also slightly leading forward. This is to avoid the furnitures from clashing against the walls.
That's the "multi-storey" bicycle park!
Comments