Europe Holiday - Brussels and Paris

 

Day 3 – After breakfast, we boarded the coach for our trip to Brussels and Paris. The whole journey by road would take 5 to 6 hours (2 hours to Brussels,  then, 3-4 hours to Paris) depending on traffic condition. Along the drive from Amsterdam, Martin made some commentary regarding the history of Belgium in general. Martin also commented that since the formation of Eurozone, travelling between the countries that are members of Eurozone do not require the checking of passports. Our route to Brussels via expressway would pass near Antwerp.  I remember this city in the story titled “The Dog of Flanders”. 

As we entered Brussels, we stopped briefly at the landmark of the city called The Atomium, just enough time to take some pictures. Then, we were taken into the heart of the city, The Grand Place. Our tour leader informed us that we were allowed 2.5 hours to visit the area and have lunch there. Since it was the lunch hour, the many eateries and the parks were filled with the local workforce having their lunch. Since this was early spring, The Grand Place was quite bare except for two or three local artist promoting their work and one or two selling the flowers. In the peak of spring, The Grand Place would be a huge flower market. We took some pictures here and as I walked around, I spotted a Godiva Chocolate outlet housed in one of the many old but sturdy shop buildings. We then walked to an open park and picked a spot at the fountain there to have lunch. Similar to many of the locals, our lunch  was sandwiches made of bread with canned tuna. When the time was up, we boarded our coach for the almost 4 hours ride to Paris.

 

 

Just as we were leaving Brussels I dozed off(which I regretted) and missed the Belgium countryside. When I woke up, we were already on the expressway in France. After over two hours of driving, Martin announced that he would stop for a 45 minutes break at the next R&R area, Aire d’Assevillers-Quest. All of us got off for much needed toilet break. We spent the time browsing the shops here or for tea at the food outlet. As I was walking to the coach, my nephew and I noticed a large poster depicting a World War One Museum located near that area called Peronne. It was another two hours drive until we arrived at Paris. We had to go through a very busy traffic upon entering the city. By the time we reached our hotel (Holiday Villa Paris), it was already 6.30 PM. We checked into our rooms and I took a warm shower. After a dinner of “nasi impit” with beef rendang, I fell asleep.

 Paris Day 2. After breakfast, we had our city-tour of Paris. Our French guide, Catherine, introduced and narrated to us the history of various landmarks and buildings as we passed by them. Most of the pictures that I took were from the moving bus. We were allowed to stop for 30 minutes to get down from the coach to takes pictures near Le Invalides and the Arc de Triomphe. Our ultimate tour of the day was going up the Eiffel Tower (level two). By this time, the temperature was quite warm and I could remove my jacket. The view from Level 2 was spectacular.

 

 

 

The day tour of Paris was completed by 2.30 PM. The afternoon was free and easy. My nephew and I decided to walk to Gallery Lafayette. We arrived at a building that have the sign but we noticed it was quiet. A kind security personnel asked us what were we looking for and we informed that we were looking for the shopping gallery. He replied that this was the business office and the shopping gallery is another 20 minutes-walk from there. We thanked him and continued to walk until we finally located the real Gallery Lafayette. That shopping mall was crowded with tourists. I was only interested to buy some souvenirs and I found them of the 5^th floor. After my purchase, I walked back to the hotel which took me 20 minutes. I decided to have my dinner at the hotel restaurant since the menu was “Halal”. I ordered “Malaysian Fried Rice” and it was good. Later, I found out that the chef is a Malaysian.

After dinner, I spent the evening packing up because we will be leaving Paris for London early after breakfast. Time to bade farewell to Paris.
 

 

(Next – London).

Europe Holiday-Amsterdam 22-23 Apr 2013

I had dreamed and planned to have a holiday in Europe for a very, very long time. It became a reality this year. In January 2013, my elder sister, Eliza, was looking for people to join her tour group and she asked me whether I was interested. I made a quick decision and said “yes”. I paid her the deposit and the tour agency would advise when to pay the rest of the full payment and the itinerary.

 

The trip would be a 10 days, 7 nights trip to cover Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London. I discussed with my boss of my intended holiday and informed him that I planned to take two weeks leave. He agreed but advised me to remind him again two weeks before my planned leave and to also ensure that I briefed and handover my duties to my deputy.

The day of departure came and I was really excited. I followed the weather reports and noted the temperatures would be quite cold this early spring.

The tour group assembled at KLIA by 8.30PM at the International Check-in floor. However, a few of the members arrived a little late but still in time for the group check-in. The group consisted of 19 people(18 participants and the tour leader). Our flight to Amsterdam was 23.55 (11.55PM) and scheduled to arrive at Schiphol Airport 5.15AM (Amsterdam time). I could not sleep very well during the 12 hours flight because of the stiff back rest and was not very comfortable. However, as we exited Schiphol Airport to board the coach, the blast of cold air really awakened me. We were greeted by our guide for the day, Adi and the coach driver, Martin. Martin is from Amsterdam while Adi is from Jakarta but has worked in Amsterdam for 8 years.

First stop of the day was to Zaanse Schans. It is a Show Village where the old Dutch traditional houses and windmills are relocated from various parts of Netherlands and restored. Other attractions at Zaanse Schans for visitors to see were the demonstrations on how cheese and the traditional clogs are made. There are two or three shops selling souvenirs and two or three cafes. After the allotted two and half  hours, we boarded the coach and headed to Volendam, a traditional fishing village.

 

When we arrived at Volendam, it does not resemble like a fishing village at all. The houses there were neat and the view was beautiful. Along the narrow street, many eateries and souvenir shops aligned on the both sides. There were also shops that takes pictures of customers who would dressed-up in traditional Dutch clothes for a fee. We had lunch of fish and potatoes in Volendam at one of the restaurants picked by Adi, our guide. After lunch, we re-boarded the coach and was taken around Amsterdam for a city-tour. As part of the city-tour, we stopped at a diamond polishing factory and also a canal cruise. I enjoyed the canal cruise because it allowed me to view Amsterdam from a different perspective.

 

As the city-tour ended, Adi bade farewell and Martin(the coach driver) drove us to our hotel which was located not far from Schiphol Airport. We finally checked-in to our rooms by 6.30PM. After that long day, I welcomed a shower. My roommate was my nephew, Emil (sister Eliza’s youngest son). We had dinner in our room with some packed foodstuff that we had brought with us from KL.

 

 

Amsterdam Day 2 – after breakfast, we were taken to visit the Flower Market where tourists could see the flowers were traded by the thousands, similar to share market. In the large warehouse, hundreds of large trolleys filled with all kind of flowers could be seen. This visit took us an hour to complete.

 

 

 

Our next visit for the day was the famous Keukenhof Tulip Gardens. The time allotted for us was 4 hours. This tulip garden is so large that even in that allotted time, we could only cover about 70 percent of the whole place. Visitors are only allowed to walk (wheel-chair for the handicapped) and I needed to rest several times to complete the visit within 4 hours. Lunch was the packed food we brought along with us but we purchased hot coffee and mini-pancakes from one of the food outlets there.

When the time was up, we boarded the coach and off into Amsterdam for our own free and easy walk-about around the city. Most would shop for souvenirs, to take pictures and also to look for food to take-away for dinner later. My sister and I bought some food from an Arab snack shop located at a side-street.

 

 

 

 (Next - Day 3- by coach to Brussels and Paris).