Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Holland/Scotland Trip, December 2012 - Part 2

Things that caught my eye...

                                                             A strange-looking bird


Some sites around Delft, Amsterdam and the Hague.
 



 



Notice those white spots splattered all over the ground in this picture below?  Make a mental note of it...want to try and guess what they are?




The Het Loo Palace, a historical monument (love the red of the windows)

Picture 1

Picture 2




Picture 3 -The gardens




A signboard we found interesting, outside the Het Loo Palace -  we decided to interprete it as "hold hands when you get to this spot"...




So hold hands we did :)

(It actually means 'meeting place' - like if you get lost somewhere in the palace, come back to this point - not sure if this is true but they can tell us anything, right?  Haha!)




Some of the things you can see inside....would love this little caravan as a craft workroom!














Smaller vintage carriages in all shapes and sizes..when I asked what animal drew these since they were so small, a visitor said goats.  Really?  They can tell us dwarfs and we'd still not know better, would we?



There wasn't any snow when we were there.  This was an outdoor, artificial ice-skating rink.  We found it interesting that chairs were used for the younger kids to sit on.


Night scenes
 





 


A lovely Christmas tree - "oooo....maybe I could make one of these" (see post on my DIY tree)


The famous story of the boy at the dyke - "oh no, have I ever told my three homeschooled kids this story when they were young?"





Large windows at apartments and houses and no grill! -  "would never work in non-safe Kuala Lumpur".



"For Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear?"



This van made me happy - "need to remember to eat vegetables while we're here."  Wish I could paint our car something like this.

 See those white spots again, splattered all over the ground?

 For some reason, I found these four terribly cute!


This lady in costume, in a cheese shop - "she looks like that Dutch Lady picture on our milk tins back in the day".  She was cute, when we took photos with her, she told us to "SAY CHEEEEEEEEESE!"  Hahahaha!


Tulips (the flowers Holland is famous for) were not in season, but surprisingly flowers were about the same price as in Malaysia.
 



Wow,some kids will so love these.  Actually, I can think of some adults, too.



How we moved around.

Trains








Trams




On foot (SEE those white spots on the ground??)



Bicycle!  We rented these for one day to cycle around, like regular Dutch people!

Tourists and amateur riders get the red-coloured bikes, hahaa, so people could get out of our way I guess!
(see? see those white spots?  everywhere!)

Know what those white spots are?
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get ready for this..
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hold your heart..
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Dried-up, flattened chewing gum.








p/s  Thanks Matthias, for some of these photos!










12 comments:

  1. I enjoyed viewing the beautiful yet antiquated city of Amsterdam through your 'eyes' - the Clock Towers of the Central Railway station & churches, the gardens, Het Loo Palace, the cobbled streets, trams ... and the stately houses beside the placid canal. Brought back my own fond memories of Europe! The bit on the white spots (Flattened Chewing Gum) ... Hahaha ... an aftermath of consuming raw (or pickled) herring and onions, perhaps? Hehehe!

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    1. Thelma, interesting isn't it, what captures each of us? Each country is so different and so fascinating. Love it!

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  2. The moment you mention white spot on the ground...I knew it is chewing gum...they are very difficult to remove and some people are so inconsiderate ...left it on the cinema seat... besides it is very common is USA and Europe....they love to chew on it , blow with it.

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    1. Well, when foreigners come over to our country they probably get shocked with our unhygienic manners also...we found it quite interesting! hahahah!

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  3. Gorgeous photos, Val!! Looks like such a fun trip. I've traveled all over Europe for the last 10 years (for our antiques business), but not to Holland. Or Scotland. Both are definitely on my list. Dried up gum? Seriously??? I was going to guess bird poop, hahaha.
    xoxo
    Loi

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    1. Yes, that's what we thought too, at first! Never mind where you've travelled and for what reason, you are coming to Malaysia for a holiday! :)

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    2. When we do visit Malaysia, I want you to join us for dinner at your favorite restaurant :)
      And you should visit DC!!

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    3. Loi...you have no idea what eating habits of Malaysians are like, hahaha! Visit DC.....something to think about.

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  4. For some reason, I didn't realise that you had shared these 2 recent entries on your travel, until now. I just read them. Lovely! Makes me wish I was there too!

    Is Part 3 coming up on Scotland?

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    1. Oh Carol...I am just too busy to blog on Scotland. I may, I may not. We were there for a shorter period.

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  5. Please feel free to paint MY car into something more happy. It's looking pretty sad. hahahah

    Criteria 1: Must show me design first
    Criteria 2: Must guarantee it won't look like a kid's project =D

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    Replies
    1. Joni Lynne - would love to!

      Criteria 1: you get the permit to have painted car from JPJ first.
      Criteria 2: you teach me how to get the permit then
      Criteria 3: I will do ours first.

      heh heh heh...

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