This year's early summer trip was 10 days in the Netherlands. We had never been there and honestly it had never been super high on my list of potential destinations, but I got asked to present a paper at a university in Rotterdam and spend a day or two talking to their faculty and PhD students, so we decided to make a go of it. Now that we've been, I can definitely say that it's a worthwhile trip. Rather than giving a potentially (likely) tedious rundown of things, though, I've decided to just make a summary judgment and give a few brief recommendations to go along with a decent number of pics.
Summary Judgment
Rotterdam is fine, Haarlem is great, Delft and Leiden are amazing, and Amsterdam is as though the entire population of Houston has been forced to live in a town the size of Lawrence, Kansas and there is a mandate that at any point in time 90% of people have to be riding bicycles with no regard for what typically would pass for traffic laws while the other 10% are randomly spreading trash on the streets.
Brief Recommendations
Haarlem is like a mini-Amsterdam with a lot more character. If you start your Dutch festivities there (it's maybe 15 miles west of the airport), you'll also have an opportunity to practice not being killed by a cyclist before tackling Amsterdam proper. Haarlem was the home of Corrie Ten Boom of The Hiding Place fame (if you grew up Protestant, you probably know who she is), and the family home is now a museum. Haarlem also has a couple of cool churches and our favorite restaurant from the entire trip -- De Lachende Lavaan, an Indonesian place with a traditional rice table format that was fabulous.
Delft definitely is one of the most charming European towns I've visited. The population supposedly is around 100,000, but it feels a lot smaller. There are at least three cathedrals within probably 1/4 mile of each other, lots of cool small streets and back alleys to go along with the obligatory canals, and the feel is just terrific. My two recommendations for Delft are that you spend as much time as possible just randomly walking around (to be fair, that is always my main recommendation) and that you steadfastly avoid Angkor Restaurant (no matter what the reviews say). Where accommodations are concerned, I don't think you can do better than Leo and Yvonne's place. It's in a perfect location, is roomy, and has a washer and dryer that actually do what they're supposed to do -- a true oddity in Europe.
Leiden is about the same size as Delft and is similarly engaging, but in a totally different way. I mean, yes it has water and lots of labyrinthine streets and alleys, but it also manages to feel very bright and modern. I can't quite put my finger on why, but we really loved it. We had lunch with a friend of mine from a university in Amsterdam who has lived in Leiden for years, and I fully understand why she made that decision. My main recommendation for Leiden is simply that you make time to GO there (about 30 minutes from Amsterdam by train). And while you're there, you definitely should visit the botanical gardens on the campus of Leiden University.
My summary judgment notwithstanding, Amsterdam does have a few redeeming qualities. The Royal Palace was a hit, but it isn't always (or even often) open to visitors. Food can be good, with Maenaam Thai and Baibua Thai knocking it out of the park, and the tiny and bustling Soup en Zo providing a terrific carryout lunch option close to the Rijksmuseum. Shopping close to the Rijksmuseum is also solid, with a number of places with antique jewelry, vintage watches and clocks, and other old stuff. I'll also recommend the Ambassade Hotel for its location, history, service, and the fact that its bar area has 5,000+ first edition books signed by authors who have stayed there. Very cool concept.
So ... overall, I give the Netherlands a solid B+. Where it feels substantially different from most of the rest of western Europe is in the area of interesting / noteworthy history. While I'm sure the Dutch check a lot of boxes in that area, they don't really sell it. That being said, the people are nice, there is some lovely scenery, and it's an easy trip to make from the US.
As for future travel, we'll go to Texas at least once this summer (feels like we've been about 17 times in the last three months), and I have two domestic work-related trips in August. Plus I'm presenting a paper at a conference in Greece in September and am supposed to give a couple talks at another one in Saudi Arabia in December. Although work trips don't usually afford much time for blogworthy adventures and commentary, we'll see how that goes.
Cheers,
Mike
