I was thinking we'd be up with the sun because of the time change, but Alisa and I both slept in until 8:30 or so. The nearby restaurants had not impressed us, so we decided to eat somewhere in the city and recommended.
I had looked up parking garages, picked a close one, and navigated towards it. The road looked like there used to be a canal between the two directions, but a construction project was underway that had drained it. We had to loop back around to get into the entrance, which was blaring alarms.
No one seemed too concerned, so we drove in and parked anyway. Just up and out from the garage was the first of the central canals in Delft, and Kleyweg's Stads Koffyhuis was right on the water. The sun was shining and we had a layer on, so we ate outside! We were really trying to make it spring, regardless of the temperature.
We had crepes, with cheese, mine with savory options and Alisa's with honey. We started the part of Rick Steves' walking tour that was nearby, and we strolled up to the new church. Granted, the new church was still a couple hundred years old, but it replaced the old church deeper in the city. A statue of a pregnant saint was outside on the mossy cobblestones around the church, representing a young woman whose life mimicking that of the Virgin Mary's - a pregnancy, but then the stigmata and an early death.
Continuing up and through, we found a giant market square with a stage being constructed in the middle. The old church was holding down one side, and older government buildings were along the other.
Back across the canal that we had breakfasted on was a convert. William of Orange, as he was staging his coup and had a price on his head, hid in the convert to try to thwart his enemies. An assassin took him down anyway.
We got back to the car to head to Efteling. Somehow, in the list of all the places to go in The Netherlands, we found a fairytale theme park. Walking in, the towering wooden structure was one giant peaked roof with the ticket-takers underneath. We walked in and started heading toward a magic carpet ride - which was closed. Not a great start.
We found the lake where they do a water show at night and walked around it. We came across a restaurant with mostly affordable (5€) paninis. We watched some duck and some kids, then took a back path toward the more adventurous side of the park.
First was the wooden coaster. The line wound through some streams with a pair of ducks going up and down the small waterfalls. The coaster was super fun - some great turns and a plunge into a tunnel.
Next was a steel coaster with a candy stand at the beginning, so we of course Had some peanut butter and candy treats while we were in the not-too-bad line. Then we did another steel coaster - shivering a bit in line, but enjoying the videos of other riders (potentially from the 90s?) that were playing overhead.
We were in the heart of the thrill side of the park, and I saw these steel tracks twisting into the water of a lake. I jumped into the line next to them, asking the attendant about the haunted house for later. Only after we were in line did Alisa point out that we could also see what looked like a very wide car hitting the water with a spray. Were we accidentally in the line for the log flume? If so, it was not the right temperature - maybe another twenty degrees and I might have thought about it.
The line seemed really long for a water ride with the overcast and chilly day, so we stuck with it. As we got through the pirate-themed house containing the line, we started analyzing the people coming off the ride - they weren't wet, just their shoes a bit. That was comforting, but in the back of my head, I was thinking that we needed to find the line for that awesome-looking steel coaster afterwards.
After over half an hour, we got into the car and put the bar over our laps. The car moved up onto the chain that pulled it up the starting hill - and then took off! Turns out, the two coasters that I thought were separate were the same thing! We twisted down, skimming the water, then soared back up. The giant bulky cars were pretty nimble! We did end at the splash hill, but it didn't hit us. So I was happily surprised that we were done with the coasters.
We headed to the trippy section of the park. Or maybe the "themed" section is more what they were going for. We started at the haunted house. A very dark hallway led up a ramp where we waited for the doors to open. I was thinking it would be one of those rides that had a room or two before they put you on a car, but instead it was just a animatronics show with some glow-in-the-dark effects. The park has been open about as long as Disney, but they have not progressed in the technology that they use. This one was one of the original "rides" (just a show, really) and not a lot had changed either. Some creepy bells and monks wandered through, some skeletons rattled out of coffins, and then the ghosts were dancing in the cellar.
We went to the indoor coaster, which was mostly dark, so I just kept my eyes closed to prevent the wind from hitting them. Turns out, I missed some lasers and some neon lights. Still a fun ride!
We were right next to the fairyland ride, so we entered through the hallway with awesome glass light fixtures into a queue with greenery everywhere. The cars were suspended on a cable from above, and they fit the two of us. We soared over stories of stories - elves, fairies, trolls all in jungle, forest, water, and sky environments. It was beautiful! A little creepy with the animatronics again, but the scenes were well-composed.
Last on the list of rides was the madhouse. This was what I was expecting for the haunted house - the group of us was let into a room where voices and lights and puppets moving told some story in Dutch that we couldn't understand. We were let into a room with two long benches on either side, one pair facing the other pair. The room had wallpaper, mantles with candlesticks, and portraits behind the benches.
We sat down, and almost immediately a ten-year-old asked to get off. Apparently the intro story was freaky enough to turn her off to the ride.
The ride started, and it was a rocking of the benches and the walls, but you never knew which way was up because the entire room was spinning all around you. Alisa thought we had gone upside-down! I just thought we had gone nearly horizontal, but neither of us knew for sure.
It was definitely time for dessert after that - you know, to settle my rocking stomach. We sat on the picnic table on the edge of the themed section and ate, then I proceeded to lead us completely in a circle as we tried to get to the Fairytale Forest.
Alisa found the path into what was at least a fifth of the land of the park - a path wandered through different scenes from different fairytales. There were many I recognized, from a great moving story of the Emperor's New Clothes, to the witch climbing Rapunzel's hair, to the castle of Sleeping Beauty. Quite a few obscure ones popped up - the red dancing shoes that forced their wearer to dance all night instead of taking care of her grandmother; the seven lambs that got eaten by a wolf; the little match girl. The little match girl was terribly pathetic and so sad - they did a full production of the story, dreaming her dead and with her dead grandmother. It didn't get much cheerier. The one I didn't recognize was a fairytale about a nightingale warning a Japanese royal that her bedroom was about to be looted by Chinese thieves. I didn't really understand what the moral to that one was, or even if they successfully stole from her.
It was sprinkling on and off as we were finishing up the forest. It was just as well, since we had a bit of a drive to Rotterdam. Alisa, the valiant driver, grabbed some caffeine and we hit the road.
It was good we left early, except that we hit the only rush hour traffic we'd experienced in the Netherlands. We waited to get through roundabouts and traffic lights while slim Dutch people (and not-so-slim) overtook us on bicycle.
Alisa pulled over a block from our hotel as I jumped out to check in. They pointed to the parking garage a block away, and I got back in the car to direct Alisa there and grab our luggage.
The hotel had a different country theme on each floor. Our floor, up the old-school elevator with two manual doors, and then up another half flight of stairs, was South American themed! Given that I've been back and forth from Colombia a few times, it was amusing.
Frida Kahlo was all over our room. Good thing none of the portraits glowed in the dark, because just the thought of having her stare at us at night was creepy enough. We checked out our little balcony, relaxed for twenty minutes, then headed out to look for food or something.
The hotel attendant had mentioned that it was much rainier and colder than they were expecting, and that with King's Day coming up, that could dampen (literally) the celebrations. I say this because we found what looked like a cute bar halfway to the Market Hall, and it started pouring after our appetizer and glass of wine. That was all we were going to stop for, but we sat back down to watch the deluge and keep eating and drinking. The rain lighted up after half an hour or so, so we finished at a relaxed pace.
I had read that the thing to try in Rotterdam was the apple pie from Dudok. The shiny, wet, slightly lit street we followed, ducking under awnings to check the phone for directions as the sprinkles continued. We thought maybe we could also get more food from there, but our late dinner just got later and the kitchen was mostly closed. We had been seated by the bar in the upscale-looking establishment, so I felt slightly uncomfortable in our "walking in the rain" look of wet jeans and sneakers. We were still given that apple pie (though not warm - the oven had been turned off) and some bread to tide us over until our breakfast in the morning. When we went to pay, it felt very cheap. Only after we were on our way back to the pretty street with the hotel on it did I realize we might not have been charged for the pie. Thanks, Rotterdam!
The walk back to the hotel was pretty lively, once we got to the happening street it was on, but nothing really called out to us. There was a statue that the guidebook called out because it was an "only in the Netherlands" display of, um, masculinity. We stopped by there, giggled at the brashness, snapped a few pictures, and got back to the hotel for our night, watched by Frida.
No comments:
Post a Comment