Sunday in Amsterdam

Finally I decided to go to Amsterdam. There are trains from Haarlem every 10 minutes or so and it takes about 20 minutes. This is the central station in Amsterdam. In front of the station, there are several boats for tour on the canals (no picture, sorry).

I took a tram to the museum as it was rainy (it should be about 20 or 30 minutes walk). There were many people still waking the city for sightseeing with/without umbrella. BTW, you might be able to see "I Amsterdam" sign way back.

I guess I did not mention which museum I went. Of course Van Gogh, what else, right? There were about 30 people waiting at the entrance, which was not too bad. In side, there were a lot of people.

There are three floors and the 2nd floor was a special exhibition area - how Japanese culture and paints (Ukiyoe) influenced European arts and specially him. You might know at least a few prints he copied Japanese paints.

After spending a couple of hours appreciating his art, I went downstairs to have lunch at the cafeteria. For some reason I think I saw the TV show featuring their cafeteria, and it was not too bad (at least not too expensive). Egg salad sandwich (egg is a big thing here as my hotel carries boiled egg every day), and their apple cake (like apple pie).

On the way back, I sneaked at the flower market located in between the museum and the station. I can imagine that it would be very nice during the summer, or at least if it was a sunny day.
Overall, I am so glad I got out the hotel and Haarlem today. It was more exciting and I needed some sort of change on how I spend the weekend here in the Netherlands. But again I am not sure I will come back here before my stay in the Netherlands ends in a couple of months (yes, I will be here for a WHILE).

Deer

To burn SOME of the calories, I went for a jog. I have not gone to another section of the park in front of the hotel, but this time I ran further, and there were several wild deer. Who knew.

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Food, Food and Food

Finally it is Saturday after another long working week.
I started the day with a hotel breakfast, which has a variety of breads, cold cuts, cheeses, fruits, and today's choice was these. I try not to eat that much meat but smoked salmon which is good for the body.

After reading the paper at the room (it sounds cool, right?), I decided to take a walk to the center of Haarlem (I thought I would finally go to Amsterdam, but it is not super sunny day, so decided not to). First stop was local pastry store, where I bought this banana cream puff. It is like banana cream pie in the puff form. Very nice whipped heavy cream, which I really wanted. I even did not ask them to wrap it and I ate it with my fingers (with a lot of licking).

Next stop (this case I did not eat anything) was this pop up deep fried sweets store, selling interesting shaped donuts.  I am sure I will try it before it disappears but today was not the day.

Fish is very popular here, and at the market held on Saturdays in the city center, there are a few shops selling fresh seafood and fried ones you can eat right there. I had one of fried fish just came out of the hot oil. Mild white fish and it couldn't go wrong.

There was a very familiar shop at the market selling several types of cream cheese based spreads and bread with whole. I asked the person selling them and he said it is originally from Greek. I was telling him that I am from NYC and we have very similar thing, bagel, which I am not sure he knew or not. I have not tasted it yet (maybe my dinner or mid-night snack), but I am guessing it is like bagel without chewiness.

I heard from coworker the other day that there is a famous baked good in Haarlem (or Amsterdam). It is like ice cream waffle with caramel sauce in between. It was still warm and moist  as they were cooking in the shop and tasty. I wish I could had it with a nice cup of coffee though.

There were a few interesting shops at another market on the way back - fish store and the store only selling root vegetables (potatoes and carrots mainly). I have never seen a store specializing only these without selling other vegetables.

It was a very nice day even though there were showers every 30 minutes but sun came out after the shower every time. Very interesting weather patter here as well.

Traditional Outfit

A shot at one of the surveyor stores. Girls were wearing very animation like outfit. Kind of cute though.

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Lazy Sunday in the Park

Debated if I should go Amsterdam or just stick with Haarlem. Obviously I did not go to Amsterdam. Usually shops are closed on Sundays but for some reason,they are open today. Many people are enjoying the day like this outside.

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Good Start

It is always like this in Haarlem. Very foggy in the morning even it's a sunny day. It's like San Francisco. A view from the hotel room which has a small terrace. A park is in front of the building so it is actually very nice. I should go for a jog.

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Windmills

Finally it is Saturday after a long week of work (and a flight from NYC last Sunday night).
For some reason, I woke up early as usual, while I was hoping I could sleep till mid-day.
As we are sharing a car among three people, I got a car today this weekend, so why not go for a drive as it is a very nice weather (warm and sunny)

I wanted to see famous windmills while the weather is still warm (before the winter comes), so I decided to drive to the town, which is just 15 miles away. Did you know it has canvas on each wing? I don't think it is in use anymore, but it is really cool to see the real thing in person so close.
It is one of the most visited places in Amsterdam, so there are a lot of tourists - no Japanese but a lot of Koreans and Chinese, of course.

They area many sheep and they do make cheese (I am not sure they do make THERE) and they displayed the facility in the building where you can buy them too.

Of course there are famous wooden shoes. There was a museum of the history and a store next to it. Look at a variety of shoes. It looks there are traditional ones through modern looking ones, even though the shape is all same.

Who can forget about the food. As the Netherlands is surrounded by the ocean (if it is not ocean, at least by water), there are a lot of seafood places selling fresh seafood and cooked (mainly fried) fish. Flounder seems very nice, and I will try it sometime, but not yet.