"The Netherlands" Netherlands by pepemorris11

I had always wanted to visit The Netherlands and my want became reality on October 2008. It was an answer to prayer. I was not willing to pay S$1800 for an airfare from Singapore to Amsterdam and so I prayed for God to show me clearly if He wanted us to holiday there by lowering the price to S$1600 (WHICH HE DID!) KLM had an autumn promotion and the ticket cost us S$1602 so I was so thrilled to land at Schipol on 7 Oct 08 at about 5.15 in the morning. From there, we hung around until the Tourist I opened at 7. Then we bought our train tickets to Den Helder and from there took a connecting bus to the ferry point to board our ferry to Texel.We stayed there for 2 nights and then headed for Roosendaal

Windmill in northern part of Texel

Did the return trip to Den Helder station and changed at Amsterdam Central before boarding another train to Roosendaal. Stayed at Roosendaal for 4 nights. Visited the VVV (something like the tourist I) in Roosendaal . very helpful people. suggested we visit Willemstad. We decided to do Den Bosch on another day and Bergen Op Zoom on the third day.Left very early for a train to Brugge. From Brugge, we moved on to Dinant, and then to Echternach in the grand duchy of Luxembourg.

Windmill in Willemstad

Bussed to Luxembourg City from Echternach and boarded the train for Amsterdam. Stayed in Amsterdam for 3 nights. Still not enough time to cover this elegant city. We spent our time walking...and walking. That's the best way to see the city unless you want to cycle and go a little faster.I hope to make another visit to this beautiful country. From this trip,
I learnt that Holland is part of the Netherlands. I used to think they referred to the same country.

• Pros:Very friendly and helpful people, flat flat land, good public transport and train network, no need to fill up disembarkation cards!!MUSEUMS!MUSEUMS!MUSEUMS!
• Cons:Watch out for silent killers- the trams and the bicycles