A trip to Netherlands...

Utrecht, Netherlands

Welcome guys. This post is about a spontaneous trip that I did to Netherlands. It was all last minute. I found a very cheap direct one way plane ticket and I flew like 7 hours later. It was a two hours and half plane trip. I booked my hotel from booking.com and it was at a very good discounted price. I would definitely suggest you to book from this site. The funny fact is that when I extended my stay from the hotel reception, it was at full price, while at booking.com the hotel still had the discounted price. So definitely check this site out. I stayed at Hotel Theatre Figi in Zeist, Utrecht and it was a very good choice.

Hotel Theatre Figi, Zeist, Utrecht

Here is the view from the front door of the hotel. Actually the street was full of little shops and restaurants.  In this pic it is shown the Hermitage Restaurant. There I had the chef's special 2 course menu, which was great in design and very creative. Overall it was a very good atmosphere and service.

Actually each restaurant in the street had its own beer. I noticed people would spent hours in a restaurant with a beer talking with each other, same as we do with a coffee. The day was really long, too. It wouldn't get dark before 11 PM, so the hours were well spent. Another thing that surprised me was that the shops would close before 6 PM everywhere. 

If you happen to visit Utrecht, definitely book a bike. You could do a nice ride down the woods. 

Zeist woods, Utrecht, Netherlands

The second day I took the bus to the Utrecht University. Well, this trip wasn't for nothing... Just saying ;)  I can't really remember its number, but the buses were really punctual there. The bus station was next to the hotel too, so great location Figi... Here there is a pic from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Utrecht University. Do you notice anything strange?

Well, these sheep are not like any other. They are just out of the university and have graduated 'Magma Cum Laude'... Hahaha. Just kidding ;).

After I left, I took the train to the Amsterdam Centraal. I had to visit Amsterdam, being so near it. If you are in Amsterdam and you don't know where to start your endeavors from, definitely try a canal cruise and boat tour. It will show and tell you, all you need to hear, even in three languages, Dutch, German and French. Don't forget to tip the Captain, when you leave...

Pirates ship in Amsterdam

Clover Sign on the door 

Centraal Station Amsterdam

After the boat trip I really wanted an ice-cream. Kind of random, isn't it? While I was searching for an ice-cream shop down the street, I could see a crowd of people, some with cameras, coming and going... I do not know if in the neighborhood I was in, that was a rare thing, but a little smoke was coming from one window and everybody was like panicking a bit and trying to register this moment with their cameras. I took example from everybody else and I photographed it too. 

I really like the curtains and yellow flowers in these windows. Aren't they lovely? 

Finally I found the ice-cream shop and I sat at the park near a canal to eat it. Immediately some pigeons came near me to eat the crombs from the ice cream cone. I was feeding them, when this proud seagull, flew down from a high roof, with the severity of an Army General. 

He frightened all the pigeons and after that did three marches up and down, as to take my permission to eat the ice cream cone, I previously gave to the pigeons. 

When he saw that the 'human' didn't do anything to stop or banish him, he proudly took the ice cream cone as a trophy and flew, where he came from. 

I looked up and saw that most of the roofs in Amsterdam were filled with seagulls. So know this as a fact. In Amsterdam "the Seagulls are watching you!!!" Hahahaha...

Before leaving I went to the Cultuurpark Westergasfabriek. I really enjoyed my time there. 

It was a nice day in Amsterdam. This is the car I bought back there... Do you like it? 

Just kidding, again... ;) As I mentioned in the first sentences of this blog I had found an one way plane ticket to Amsterdam. It was a difficult task to find the returning ticket, so I had to do a 2 transit stop plane trip to get home, after about a 20 hour journey. Other than that, it a was a very nice experience. 

That was it, for this post, too. Best wishes!