Last weekend in Holland

What do you do during your last weekend in Holland? Exactly, you make sure it is as Dutch as possible.

Together with Celso, I started my last weekend here by driving to the South. After a long trip in ‘de tjappiebak’ – a very old car that starts to shake like crazy when you drive faster than 120 km/hr – we arrived in Zierikzee. A cute little city with some nice, and old, Dutch style buildings. We walked around and suddenly I heard a very familiar song. Sinterklaas was in town!

After a while, when the sun decided it was almost time to disappear again, we left Zierikzee and drove to Neeltje Jans. A huge Deltawork that protects Holland from big storms etc. As I kid I found it very impressive but now that I saw it again, it was not that exciting anymore. But at least, it was again very Dutch.

When we drove back North and left the islands, we decided to have dinner in Rotterdam. Unfortunately on our way there, we noticed we were not the only ones thinking of going here. Cues, a lot of cars, and traffic everywhere. We had no idea what was going on until we drove near the football stadium De Kuip. Orange people all around. Apparently Holland was playing during my Dutch weekend against Luxemburg, and of course the time we arrived in Rotterdam was also the time all the supporters arrived.

But we managed to get away from the chaos and we ended this Dutch Day in a very Dutch Way – having dinner in Hotel New York. Not only is this the name of one of the albums of Anouk, a Dutch world known singer, but the place is also representing some Dutch History. The hotel is located on the place where the big boats of the Holland-America line were leaving in 1870. All Dutchies who wanted to try their luck in New Amsterdam (New York), started their big sea voyage over here.

After a nice dinner, we enjoyed the skyline of Rotterdam for as long as we could - it was damn cold - and then we returned back to good old Leiden.

My Sunday was as lazy as a Sunday should be, and at night I said goodbye to both Celso and my brother. It is strange to say goodbye again to persons, and to do things (like volley training) for the last time of the year. Strange, but in a way also nice.

Only two 3 more nights...

Current weather in Stockholm:
Max temp during day: 2
Min temp during night: -3
And when I arrive on Friday, there is a chance of some snow!