Our first stop today is still in Belgium, a place where Napoleon was finally defeated. I kinda remember battle of Waterloo but didn't notice that Waterloo is in Belgium. I even thought that it's some where in France at that time! Napoleon statue is standing lonely near the parking lot, the word "Napoleon" is even broken, whereas the mound of earth, the Lion's Hillock, is high up on the plateau. We went inside the visitor center for a while and then leave for our next stop.
On the way to Holland, there are lots of milk cattle farm, the scenery is exactly like the packaging box on the 子母牛奶!
First we passed by some modern windmill (for generating electricity). And after 2 or 3 hours drive, we arrive at a place called zaanse schans. Zaanse schans has a collection of well-preserved historic windmills and houses.
We finally have a taste of authenticated Dutch pancakes! It's like pizza to me! Very greasy though but still yummy!
We had a walk around the village, had a tour of the cheese factory, and of course, a tour of the wooden clog shoe manufacturer. We saw the old machinery and a demo of how the shoes are made. I wish I can stay longer in the gift shop...many wooden shoes to choose from!
Depart from the windmill village, we are going to Amsterdam. First we are having a boat cruise along the canal. The cool breeze makes the tour very relaxing and I can easily fall asleep...We also pass the house where Anne Frank (the author of the Diary of Anne Frank) was hidden during the war time. This book is actually one of the few text books that I am quite interested in within my high school ages. However, I can't recall she's actually hidden in Amsterdam until she's caught. I always thought that she got caught in Austria or Germany.
We arrived at a diamond factory after got off the boat. Once again, the receptionists are all Chinese...mainly Cantonese speaking but also with Mandarin speaking staff. We are presented how the diamond is cut and the machinery. Also, she just put different sizes of diamond on the table and let us know the price...Of course...the main purpose is to sell diamond...But I guess they have wasted their time then, since we are not mainland Chinese tour that bought a lot jewelery.
Chinatown is usually situated in a rather "messy" area and there is no exception here. It's just very close to the "red light district". Finally, I have seen sexy ladies standing as the window display model. The "red light district" is about 2 to 3 blocks and we quickly walked by. But after we walk around the places, we are missing one guy!!! Did he get "attracted" by one of the ladies?? After 5 minutes of the scheduled time...the tour guide also started to get worried and went back to look for him...Finally he's found and he said that he got lost...did he spend too much time looking at the "girls" and then miss us?
Seems like there are quite a lot of Chinese immigrant here. The Chinatown is rather large and there are quite some Chinese restaurants. But I guess our tour doesn't spare too much budget in this place...our dinner is even worse than the one yesterday....
Although I'm not too thrilled about the food here...I just LOVE the hotel (by the airport). It's new, modern, and the most important of all, free wi-fi!!!
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| Europe Trip Day 12 |
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