After Mama and Becca returned to the US, we took it a little easy. After all, we had done enough touring with them to cross off most of our Netherlands to-do list! But there were still a few things we had to see…
First off, while we have been enjoying various Dutch culinary treats:
there was one delicacy left to try. The Dutch have a long, deep love affair in place with raw herring. In every city we’ve been to, we’ve seen fresh fish stands offering broodje haring, which is raw, salted herring topped with chopped raw onion on a fluffy, hot-dog-type bun. In The Hague, Andrew finally worked up the courage to give the snack a try. I recorded the myriad of emotions a mouthful of raw fish stirred in him. You’re welcome.
Here goes…
The first bite is a little unsettling
But after careful consideration…
…he’s back for more!
New favorite treat!
Our best touring day, and one of our favorite days in the Netherlands overall, was our trip to Utrecht. Considering that this is a major Dutch city, it is surprisingly far from the typical tourist path, possibly because it takes a little finagling with train transfers to make it out. Once there, we headed straight for the Dom tower, the tallest church tower in the country. The tour guide told us that we would climb 466 steps to reach the top. Once we did, we were treated to quite a view!
The other thing I was dying to see in Utrecht was the Kasteel de Haar. The castle is not technically in Utrecht proper, but in the principality, so we needed to catch another train and take a 45-minute walk. This suited us fine. We’ve been lucky with weather the whole time we’ve been here, and the scenery gave us plenty of fun moments along the way. We saw lambs cuddling their moms in the pastures.
We also came across a fairy ring of churches, with arrows pointing all directions with the number of kilometers to the next church. One arrow pointed to Rome. It’s funny how the other countries we’ve visited find little ways to pop up again.
The castle itself was outstanding. We bought the cheaper tickets that let us tour the park but not go inside the castle, and that was enough for us to spend a few gorgeous hours walking through gardens and admiring the castle itself.
We fly to Spain tomorrow to spend Holy Week in Seville. It’s sad to leave the Netherlands–even after 3 weeks, we keep finding new things to see. But that’s one of the sweet things about traveling, too. We never feel like we’ve exhausted all that a place has to offer. We’ve loved our 3 weeks of the Dutch life, and we look forward to the day we get another taste of it.
Where in the World Are Andrew and Jessica? 