If you are ever in need of some corny songs, typical dutch blondes, or the colour orange, this is the show for you. A quiz show that has a lovely array of mini games and quizzes, all related this great country.
But in all seriousness, I didn't need a (sorry) silly TV show to tell me that I love Holland, it's something that has slowly been developing over the past couple of months. I think the real reflection came this weekend. I went to go a visit my cousin (or mother's cousin rather) Andy, and his wonderful family. They were my first point of contact when I first came to the Netherlands, so visiting them this weekend sort of made me realize how different I am (or how much I've learnt about and experienced of this country). So for my post today I will name some fantastic things I like about it here.
1) Bike Paths and Bike Network
Pretty much the entire country is successfully connected by a bike network. It is FABULOUS, I have just used the ones in Limburg, and I've only gotten (minorly) lost a handful of times -which is good considering I rarely actually take a map with me. Basically there are intersections throughout the country. Then there is a route marked out from intersection to intersection, so you follow the signs to the next intersection, where you will find a network map, so you can decide the next intersection to go to, and then follow the sign there. Some of routes bring you on bike-only paths, and some on roads, but there are always good bike lanes, and only once was I unimpressed by the sub-par maintenance of a particular dirt path. Another handy thing is that the Netherlands is awesomely flat.
2) Train Network.
I know that the Netherlands probably is far from ranking high in the list of overall rail networks in the world. But coming from Ottawa, where our city train system consists of a 15 minute ride and 5 stops, and the city rail station is out of town, and has the choice of Toronto or Montreal, the Netherland's system looks pretty great. Also, one really fun thing, the OV-chipkaart is a bus fare card that works throughout the whole country, even across different transit systems, so yes, that means that in Canada your Opus card (MTL) would work on the new Ottawa Chip-card system. oh, and it would work for the Train from MTL to Ottawa as well!
3) Pancakes. Salami, Onion and Cheese. Nuff Said
4) OLD STUFF. Another thing about Canada, we are pretty new. Castles dating back to 1200, forget it. Around here there are tons of Medieval Buildings (and a few Roman ones too!) I think that the old buildings and towns are enchanting. I think the age of the towns around Europe also make for a much more natural layout of the cities, you don't get the same Urban Sprawl found in North American Cities.
5) And last but not least. The Dutch people here are pretty awesome :P They are so friendly, and never make you feel bad about switching to English :)
No comments:
Post a Comment