Zuid Haarlem

... br>overseas probably 10 times in that time period. Solo travel is nice,<br>but it is also nice to share the travel experience with someone and<br>believe it or not we got along well for 15 days with no major spats!!<br><br>Traveling by car was also a major<br>change for me in my travels to Europe. After more than 60 trips to<br>the continent, this was the first time I had rented a car for a<br>length of time and I was apprehensive as to how it would turn ...

... out of asphalt. The Frans Hals Museum was an excellent experience. I got there at the opening and looped through it in about an hour or a little more. I like boutique museums much more than the bland white-walled galleries and this one didn't disappoint. It's period rooms and impressive collection make it a must-see.

... the finals of all the different age groups. After watching some we had dinner and then we got to go around and talk to different people until we had to go. After we left we went back to the hotel and went to bed since the next day we had to wake up early to catch our flights.

... can see scale-replicas of the 74 gun man-o-wars that used to protect their fat piggy fleets loaded with the greatest assortment of spices, oils, fabrics, porcelains, and sweet woods that the 17th century western world had ever seen. There were plenty of Rembrandts and Vermeers to oooh and aaah over, especially the wall sized "Nightwatch" that is considered Rembrandt's finest. The things that make Dutch paintings of this period so brain-numbing ...

... As he pulled out his cash drawer that was not used for cash in the least but rather different compartments of herbal medicines, baggies here and there I scanned the menu - They actually have brownies called space cakes - I believe that was referenced in Cheech &amp; Chong's visit to Amsterdam? I moseyed on back to my table where the Heineken awaits - I barrowed a lighter from the barista and began blogging - I was about one half a paragraph in before I found myself ...

... another one of etchings (including some Rembrandts), and an excellent collection of coins, including a gold aureus with a portrait of Nero (circa 65-66 C.E.). My favourites are uneven squares of tin and lead and silver "coins", minted in various Dutch cities during the Eighty Years War as emergency measures. Back to Audubon But the birds.... The details and the colours are stunning. There are 435 illustrations in The Birds of America. They were first engraved on ...

... was named Batavia in those days and was the cradle of spices so coveted in Europe, particularly clove and nutmeg.  Considering I lived in Indonesia for 4 years, seeing so much Indonesian culture around me in this European city made it all the more homely.     In 2002, Maxima Zorreguieta, an Argentine investment banker, married Prince Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, heir to the Dutch ...

... because we wanted to remember our last day and night on tour together. Plus we were getting all the free alcohol you can drink for free later on in the evening. We went back to the Red light district and wandered through a few of the sex shops. it's amazing how open they are about sex and drugs here. Then we walked down to Anne franks house and went through there. It was another one of those moments of appreciation for those that went into hiding and went to prison camps in ...

... story, Black Pete is depicted as male or female, of normal stature or as a black dwarf. Zwarte Piet always wear colourful and jovial costumes. They are adorned with gold earrings and hats with feathers and are generally considered simple and full of beans characters. Their role is to assist Sinter Claas by performing various holiday tasks, like delivering presents down chimneys and recording names of naughty and nice children ...

... including the Dutch countryside. The coffee shops allowed us to step off the ride, in a sense, though I don't think I was ever ready to get off. I wasn't ready to quit learning and exploring. I wasn't ready to share my wife with everyone else again. And as I expected and many predicted would happen, I really had no desire to come back to the States. She Said: Having previously taken an overnight train and an overnight ferry, we took a chance, and the cheaper option, and booked an ...