Friday December 11th, 2009
We leave in the afternoon from Orio al Serio airport and go to Netherlands, we land in Eindhoven around 5pm. From here we head straight to Utrecht where we stop for the night. Reached the hotel, we leave our car and take, as suggested, a taxi to go to downtown.
We walk a bit in the streets and canals and we stop for dinner at a greek restaurant. After dinner, we walk a little, there are many people around and then we go back to the hotel.
Saturday December 12th, 2009
We wake up early and go immediately to Amsterdam. We leave the luggage at the hotel and start exploring the city heading towards the Dam, but before we stop in one street to have breakfast.
The Dam square is unfortunately full of scaffolding, but still we manage to admire the buildings that surround it. We walk a bit in the middle of streets with the channels, the Oude Kerk and the University. There is a lot of people around, it’s Saturday morning. After a bit we pass from Munttoren and then reach the Van Gogh Museum and then we visit it.
After leaving the museum, we go back to the center and have lunch. In the afternoon we continue our tour along the canals, we pass the station (where there are lots of bicycles), and arrive at Wester. Back to reach the Spui, a place where there are many libraries (enter in a few). Unfortunately, it is already dark, and the air is rather cold. We reach the Waag, the old weight.
The air gets colder, then we take refuge in a restaurant and have dinner. After dinner we would like to walk in the city with lights, but the wind chill immediately and remove our ideas and then we go back to the hotel.
Sunday December 13th, 2009
Today we get up early, leave Amsterdam and head to The Hague, not far away. Again, there are very few people around. We are looking for a place to have breakfast, but all the bars are still closed.
We are stopped by two girls, they too are looking for a bar to warm up. Then we see the Grote Kerk, Oude Stadhuis and the Binnenhof. We go around and we also see the other side of the small artificial lake. After the visit, we go to Delft, for a short stop. The Nieuwe Kerk, Stadhuis in the Markt and the Oude Kerk. The next step is Rotterdam, the city is quite modern, full of shops but no major monuments. We have lunch and then we go by car to the port.
We need to get to the airport of Charleroi, but we are in advance. So we stop in Antwerp and then we buy chocolate. We walk to the Grote Markt, where there is a skating ring and the cathedral. We return to the car, we reach the airport on time and in the evening we are home again.
