Amsterdam and beyond - Beautiful Breukelen

As any other unplanned travel, my trip to Amsterdam was also not planned. I did a quick booking at carpooling.co.uk and through Couch surfing found a host who informed me he stays in outskirts of Amsterdam and will pick me. A typical weekend trip to Amsterdam and around it was, and there are many people who come here to spend a weekend from nearby places.
Until a few years back, Amsterdam was always a name for me. A global city famous for sex tourism, architecture and the best thing nature could offer to mankind - Legalised cannabis.
After saying goodbye to the carpool driver, who was funny and weird and late I stepped in Amsterdam. First thing to notice there was boat taxi, and then a series of sex toy shops. As I walked around the red light district and few famous squares and monuments, I can't even remember names now, my craze for visiting Amsterdam started to fade. 'Aaah, this is what it is, nothing really special' and then the kick I got in a coffee shop made me happy again. I stopped thinking much and met my CS host - Klaas-Meyer from Breukelen.

The traditional ride

The famous and the most talked about thing about Amsterdam

That's a show window, I took a half hearted pic here

As we took a train and reached his place in night, welcomed by 2 friendly cats and tasty dinner, a round of conversations and beers followed that night and then I slept. Until now everything was behind the veil of darkness, and the next morning we planned to bike around to Breukelen and around. As I moved out on bike, we were immediately in middle of nature. Very beautiful farms, windmills, canals, tea houses with boat parking, folding bridges. I was not expecting all this, but I find it much more exciting than Amsterdam.
As we pedalled around, I saw an unmanned small fruit shop where people would pick stuff and drop money in a chained box. I remember in my university, there used to be a box full of chocolates, chips and a money box next to it and the collections were put on the board daily. A university with future lawyers, MBAs and Engineers, the board always displayed an average of 1 person who paid and 19 who don't paid and picked stuff. To make this average better, sometimes me and my group used to put in extra money in box without picking an item. Aah - and here I am.


God/Allah is watching you so better pay the money :)

And then I got a chance to understand that 70% of Dutch population is living below sea level. There must be a lot of floods every year and large scale devastation, no? Well no, thanks to the architecture and connecting canals which also serve as transportation medium. Also Netherlands is equipped fairly well to deal with natural disasters and floods, so good that US had to contact the Dutch after hurricane Katrina and Rita. I checked the pumps, the control units that can divert water flow and was really awed by the way this place was designed and developed.

Netherlands fairs really well, in top 10 in terms of GDP with a highly open economy, dependent on foreign trade and investement.


The next pick for me was Windmills, I got to know that these old windmills were used to crush wheat. It was a perfect set up standing next to a canal with eyen on a beautiful tea house set in the lawns of a sprawling house with a man rowing his kayak and an old wind mill in the background.

Tea houses were made by rich and influenced people to hold tea parties where people from far could come on their boats. It was interesting to hear the stories about the place

That's the floating house

Crossing river Rhine



A house, tea house and gate where boat is parked




 

The leisure morning ride was concluded by a nicely cooked meal at Klaus's home. And then I left Breukelen with a promise to be here again :)

Cheers and Have fun.

Few more pics:

Yes, I have been there :)

Breukelen bridge

Anyone in for a lunch

Perfect road to jog

One of the 2 pets of Klaus

Bavaria - Any hint?

Yes, the same girl's house who was killed under German invasion