March 23, 24, 25, 2013 - Saturday-Monday
Utrecht > Amsterdam > Utrecht > Amsterdam > Prague > Brno
Day 2 - March 23
It was a cold grey day, but fair enough to take a stroll around town.
My day started good enough. I woke up at around 8 - I think - and had some Dutch breakfast with Tita Laline and Tito Anne, (yummy cheese and poffertjes!), while Noah and Isabel hid from me. Haha!
They're really cute! I was scared that they might be hiding from me forever, but no. With a little origami lesson (I taught Isabel how to fold a paper crane) and some sweets, we got along pretty well, and that made me really glad. I just love playing with kids!
Then just before lunch, we headed to the train station to go visit Utrecht's Old Town. God, I easily fell in love with the place! The structures that stood, the shops, and just about everything! Old Town's simply beautiful.
While taking a (freezingly-cold) walk around, I got to see a coffee shop (coffee shops in the Netherlands have a different meaning, OK? They may serve coffee, but the specialty of the house really is marijuana), and I was also able to sample some really good Dutch cheese. Oh, gosh! This place is a cheese wonderland for me! They were unlike anything I've ever tasted! I could say that they're the best kinds of cheese I've tasted so far.
After Tito Anne and Noah headed home, Tita Laline and I had some kroketten for lunch, while Isabel had some waffles in one of those church-turned-restaurants in Utrecht. It was a really busy day, so it took us a while to get a seat, but the kroketten sure was worth the wait! It was crunchy and yummy and well, really yummy :)
Longing to finally see that music box museum my pa visited during his first trip in the Netherlands, our next itinerary was Museum Speelklok - where the biggest and most out-of-this-world clocks and music boxes are. As Isabel found the place too loud, I took the tour alone while she and Tita Laline waited outside.
The music boxes are simply bad-ass. From classical to modern tunes (like Michael Jackson's Thriller), no music box is too old to play some good tunes. I also bought music boxes. One for Isabel (it's a pink one with a ballerina that spins to the music when opened), one that plays "Memory" from the musical "Cats" for EK, another that plays the Swan Lake for me, and a fourth one that plays the Beatles' "Let It Be", which I later gave to Justine.
At the end of the day, we drove off to see an old fairy tale-ish castle around town and have some pancakes for dinner. But as the pancake house was very busy at the moment, we decided to eat at home instead, and Tito Anne's salmon was lovely.
Day 2 ended really nicely for me.
Day 3 - March 24
I woke up really early for my 7:40 am flight to Prague, only to have it cancelled after we've already boarded!
Well, the plane had been having big time technical difficulties, and they eventually had to cancel the flight for the safety of the passengers. A lot were pissed, and I wouldn't lie - I was one of them. After that 15-hour delay in Manila, I was just so messed up! And I missed my bus in Prague too, so it was a really bad start for the day.
I got to re-book my flight, one that would make me reach Prague at 10 pm, which means I'll be staying at Prague's Vaclav Havel airport overnight. After learning about my new flight plan, Tita Laline told Papa that staying in Schiphol and Vaclav Havel Airport that long isn't a good idea.
Soon enough, Tita Laline, Tito Anne, and the kids fetched me, and we re-booked my flight for the second time. I'll fly out of the Netherlands the next day at 9:25 with Czech Airlines, which is a breath of fresh air after the many mishaps with KLM.
And so, I was back in Utrecht for the night, which was really nice, cos I got to play with the kids again, and I got to read Isabel two bedtime stories - something I haven't done before.
Day 4 - March 25
I took the train to Schiphol Airport, which was a bit exciting, because it's my first time to hop on a train in a foreign country alone.
Anyway, I was really happy that I finally reached Prague, and I was quite surprised to see a lot of Asians around! I really didn't expect that. The temperature was also a bit unexpectedly colder - even way colder than the Netherlands', and I was literally freezing whenever I had to check the bus stops to check if my bus has already arrived.
I really had a hard time looking for my bus, but thank God for Justine who gave me nice directions, and the nice old lady who served as an interpreter for me. Haha!
I was able to hop on my bus just in time, and I arrived in Brno at around 5:40. I was fetched by Justine, Aor, and Paja, and then I got myself a transport card, and we got some take-out at KFC for dinner :)
♥Andz
No comments:
Post a Comment