Shey reisverslag deel 2

Finally!

Not to make any excuses but ever since we got back from Holland, I got a job as a writer and trust me after working all day, last thing I want to do is to sit down and write some more hahaha. Good news is that I got a break, so here is the rest of our NL adventure... 3 months later LOL!

So after our first week and weekend, there was much to be done as far as visiting friends, taking care of business (for Danny) and enjoying the rest of our vacation. But after a rough week we needed a day to relax and on Monday we did just that. We went to Castricum beach for some drinks and aside from the fact that my toes were frozen, we enjoyed the fresh ocean breeze and, lucky for us, the sunshine.

After a relaxed evening, Inge and Danny took me to Volendam, which I thought was adorable! Inge made her best efforts to convince Danny and I to take pictures with the typical Dutch folk outfit but if anyone have ever tried to convince Danny to do something he doesn't want to do, then you'll know that it's like banging your head against a brick wall. So no, no pictures for us because I was not going to do it alone :P After walking around and having a couple of drinks and ice cream in this cute little place, Inge dropped us off in Haarlem where Danny and I spent the rest of the day.

I'm just going to get it out of the way now by saying that I loved every place we went to throughout my entire stay in NL and Haarlem was no exception. After a little walk around the shops, Danny of course, needed a beer so we planted our butts in one of the terraces at the Grote Markt just before sunset and started on with the Heineken marathon of the evening while being serenaded by little people (aka. midgets). We even ran into one of Nick's ex-girlfriends haha! Later on we met up with Syllie, Bobbie, Elesemiek, Coen and Amber and had such a good time that we ended up missing the last train and had to take a taxi all the way back to Castricum... yep, silly us :(

And then it was Game Day! On Wednesday we made it out to the Holland vs. Macedonia game accompanied by Step and Hans. To me, this was no small thing; I had never been to a national soccer game. Well to be honest, I had only been to one or two live soccer games in my life and they were at tiny little school stadiums and not in the Amsterdam Arena!!! Never mind that but when Hans Baauw started pulling out orange shirts, orange whistles, glowing orange rings, Heineken hats (with orange accents) and orange scarfs, I thought we were going overboard... until we got there. I don't think I'll ever forget the sea of orange people with goofy orange costumes and painted orange faces. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the Holland team uses Macedonia's ass to sweep the entire field in an action packed 4-0 win... hahaha LOVED IT!

We had already been in Holland for a whole week and we still hadn't stepped foot in Amsterdam proper. Yes, we were having a blast everywhere else but I put my foot down and dragged Danny down for a well deserved tour of Amsterdam! We didn't have any specific plans other than to shop ;) and sight see, so we walked around many places I can't pronounce the name of and stopped at just about every pub and terrace for a beer. The only thing in our agenda was to go to Cafe Loetje which is around Museumplein and have one of the best steaks I’ve had in my life. I also wanted to go to the Van Gogh museum but we had a crash with a case of Heineken so Danny promised we would do it at another time.

By Friday I was once again exhausted and was not so sad that my drinking buddy and awesome boyfriend was going on his "Boy's Weekend" because I needed an alcohol/party break. But still there were more things to do and places to see and people to meet which started out with Step taking me on a breathtaking tour of the Hondsbossche Zeewering. After a good walk, a driving tour of the adjacent villages and a few history lessons about Holland we headed home. When we got there, Inge took me to Karin's birthday party, whom I had only heard about from the guys especially regarding Amber and Esmee (all good stuff girls hahaha). Got a chance to meet Amber but had already missed Esmee by a few minutes. I also met Jess which was awesome given the fact that we had a chance to hang out with her while she visited manila just a few weeks ago. After a few glasses of wine, we went back home and I went on a 12 hour sleeping marathon LOL!

While Danny was out, Inge and Carla had plans to take me to Amsterdam for a girl’s night out. We took a tour of the canals which I had never done before and absolutely loved. Afterwards we went to De Klos for the biggest and tastiest plate of ribs I had ever had. Some more wine and we ended up at the casino where I actually won a few euros… woohoo. The ladies stayed there and I went to meet up with Amber and Esmee for even more drinks. By the time Inge and Carla picked me up I was, to put it lightly... OUT! The only bad part about this particular day... We forgot to bring the camera :( But I still hold all the memories in my mind and my heart. Thanks again Inge, Carla, Amber and Esmee.

Sunday was the day we had planned our whole trip around and that was Oma's 70th birthday. After my baby came back, a little battered but still in one piece, I got to meet Oma’s sister tante Tien and her hubby Ome Joop. We had a nice family and friend’s afternoon and I was blessed to be there to celebrate this day. We took it a little easy the rest of the week because we were pooped and needed to save our energy for one more weekend. That didn't stop us from visiting Marcel and Linda while taking a tour of Alkmaar from their rooftop. We also made it to Amsterdam again and this time I made sure we went to the Van Gogh by purchasing the tickets online before we left the house. Danny also took me to the Albert Kuyp market because I just had to buy Indian spices which are quite hard to come by here in Manila, I made out with more spices than I could ever dream of. Seems a small thing but that was one of the highlights of the trip for me since I love to cook hehe.

Finally, the pinnacle of our journey... AWAKENINGS! There are hardly words to describe how I felt walking into Gashouder. Danny had showed me videos and told me stories but all that went out the window when I got there. The energy, the people, the music, the lasers and having Danny there with me made it into one of those experiences that I will always call on when I need to put a smile on my face. I am sure some of you have seen the video Danny and I put together. And if you haven't, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iorN_xuLtR0

Hugs love and kisses from the Phillies! Shey Shey!