This weekend I had the privilege to visit six cities in The Netherlands in a span of two days.  It was definitely two of the busiest days of my life, but it was worth it.  We left at 8am on Saturday and headed off to Utrecht.  In Utrecht, we took a quick tour of the city, which is the religious centre of The Netherlands, and also contains the largest university in the country (Utrecht University).  After that, we climbed all 465 steps of the Dom Tower.  The Dom Tower is the tallest church tower in The Netherlands (a little over 368 feet).

The next stop was The Hague.  The Hague has famous buildings such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.  The House of Parliament and the Queen’s working Palace is also in the Hague, but unfortunately she wasn’t there during our visit.  There are also several embassies here (I saw the United States’ embassy) and the Peace Palace.

Next up was Rotterdam.  We stayed at a really cool hostel — my first hostel experience!  As we drove under the hostel, they pointed it out to us and we realized that it was made up of cubes!  Even after staying there for a night, I still can’t understand how a building made of cubes is possible.

The next morning, we all woke up and made our way to Kinderdijk, which is famous for its windmills!

Next stop: Volendam.  Voldendam was a very tourist-oriented place.  While we were here, we took a picture in stereotypical Dutch clothing (clogs included).  The traditional cheese markets are also located in Volendam, but unfortunately, they take place on Wednesdays, so we weren’t able to see them in action.

Saving the best for last,  you probably guessed by now that the last stop was Amsterdam!  After a tour of the city, we had pannenkoeken (a Dutch pancake comparable to a crepe)–  I had a pineapple pannenkoeken with sugar and syrup on top; it was absolutely delicious!

After a long, fun-filled weekend, it’s back to Maastricht and time to hit the books!  Can’t wait to update y’all about the next part of my adventures living and learning in The Netherlands!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 12th, 2012 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Spring 2012, Whitney in The Netherlands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.