Monday, April 28, 2003

Amsterdam Day 3 - Daytrip to Utrecht

Took the early train to Utrecht to meet with Tzeo-Inn. This whole trip is draining me out massively. Utrecht feels like Waterloo, just a small town in the middle of no where. :) Apparently it's a really big city, but I suppose all European cities look like this when they are not the big metropolitans like London or Paris. Tzeo-Inn and I went to have Chinese dim-sum for lunch. (funny how I eat so much Chinese food while in the Netherlands, I guess they really don't have a national food). The food was excellent! Haven't had such good food since leaving London.

Speaking of food, they have these vending machines here that sells hot food. Burgers, fries, this fried-pastry-type-thing they eat. Hot food and vending machine just doesn't go. I think the store is called Fabu or something like that. Ugh.

After lunch Tzeo-Inn took me around town to see where she works, and nearby her work there was a windmill! A real one! I quickly took the opportunity and snapped some pictures with it. I was so excited to see one. To this day, I don't think any of you have any clue why I am so excited to see windmills. Ahh.. long story. Maybe I'll elaborate when I have a little more time.

Tzeo-Inn actually lives in a town about an hour away from Utrecht (yes, she commutes an hour everyday to go to work). Her parents invited me for dinner and I gladly accepted, seeing I haven't had a nice home-cooked meal in four months (possibly more). Her town is REALLY small - we biked around the town centre, visited the local windmills (YAY!), and even stopped by the town hall and the castle that *was* the town a few hundred years ago. It is exactly how I envisioned Europe to be, small roads, everybody knows each other, it was SO cool. There was even a water pump that supplies the locals with drinking water! :) Tzeo-Inn's father drove me around, showing me different houses and how people live in the country. One thing about the Neterlands is - FLAT. I could see miles and miles and beyond. It's so crazy! We also took this boat for cars.. sorta like the ones in HK, where you park your car on a boat that carries you across the river. Dinner was tres fab. :)

After returning to Amsterdam, I prompted went to bed.. as tomorrow will be a full day of travelling.. LITERALLY.

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