Dalam rangka liburan musim semi, kemaren kita berdua long wiken ke Hamburg, Jerman. Dulu nih dulu banget….tahun 2000-2001 aku pernah tinggal disana. Jadi kan penasaran juga kayak gimana sih skr ini.

Perjalanan kesana 485km dari Gouda. Kata GPSnya seh bisa ditempuh 5jam kalo nonstop. Tapi capek kan kalo nonstop, pastinya adalah berhenti2 buat pipis ato makan n minum. Jam 10.15 berangkat dari Gouda, berhenti 2 kali buat pipis n stretching otot2 yang kaku…ciieh. Ada macet2 dikit d daerah Osnabruk karena ada perbaikan jalan tol. Sampe tempat camping jam 5.30. Ini sebenernya bukan tempat camping tujuan pertama. udah nyampe sih d tempat yang pertama tapi apa daya…huehehe bahasanya…tempatnya ga asyik, kaplingannya kecil bgt, mana tanahnya bukan rumput tapi batu2 kecil kan ga enak buat bangun tenda. Udah gitu ternyata emang ga ada tempat kosong lagi, cuma ada buat satu malam padahal kan kita perlu 3 malam. Ya udah diputusin ke tempat laen ajah. N akhirnya setelah konsultasi ama GPS (bukan konsultasi ama dukun lo) kita dapet yg tempat laen yg ga gitu jauh dari situ. Tempatnya asyik, kaplingnya gede, bawahnya rumput jadi enak buat tendanya, orangnya yg punya ramah, toilet n showernya nya bersih bgt….walopun harganya rada2 mahal tapi sepadan lah ama fasilitasnya.

Selese buat tenda kok laper yah…bikin indomie dunk…ih jauh2 d Eropa kok tetep aja seleranya indomie….hihihi boleh dunk 😀
Udah kenyang, ganti2 baju, jalan2 kita ke city centre naek public transport. Soal public transport ini juga ada ceritanya. Jadi kalo kita turis d Hamburg beli aja Hamburg card yg harganya bervariasi mulai 7.80euro perhari. Kita kemaren beli yang untuk satu hari 11.80euro berlaku dari jam 6 sore jumat sampe jam 6 pagi minggu. Ini termasuk murah banget karena ini satu kartu berlaku sampai 5 orang n bisa dipake u naik bis, S-bahn n U-bahn (underground metro), ama ferry d pelabuhan.

Malam itu ga jauh2 sih cuma ke City centre liat Rathaus (Townhall) ama Jungfernstieg. Karena udah malem pastinya mampir dunk ke Reeperbahn, Red light districtnya Hamburg. Pemandangan yang diliat biasalah tipikal red light, prostitusi, sex shop, diskotik n bar. Kita sempet juga mampir makan curryworst di salah satu imbiss (warung).

Besok sabtunya setelah sarapan telor orak arik ama indomie (ya ampuuun indomie lagi…eh pembaca ga boleh protes ye) kita cabut. Cuaca sih emang rada2 ngga bersahabat. Mendung n hujan, 11derajat C pula. Jauh bgt dari perkiraan kita karena minggu lalunya cuaca bagus bgt 23-27derajat C. Rencananya mau liat flohmarkt (fleamarket) d Sternchanze yang emang ada setiap Sabtu. Tapi apa daya mobil baru jalan 2km bannya kok kempes…iih ada2 aja d. Setelah ganti ban serep tetep harus beli ban baru dunk u amannya. Konsultasi ke GPS toko ban terdekat dimana…kita jalan d pelan2 cari toko ban mobil. Ketemu satu lah kok ada tulisan udah pindah. Masih sabar nih… Cari lagi lah kok yang ini malah bener2 kosong melompong ga ada isinya tuh toko… Cari lagi yang laen…eh ga punya barangya mereka. Ditunjukin ke toko laen…eh jalannya ditutup karena ada pertandingan bola. Bener2 perjuangan d. Sedangkan GPS selalu berusaha ngarahin kita ke jalan itu walopun kita udah usaha ngarahin GPS ke jalan laen. Ketemu toko laen…kok mereka juga ga punya. Akhirnya disaranin ke cabang mereka yang lebih besar. Udah hampir putus asa…akhirnya setelah d cabang yang lebih besar untungnya mereka punya n ga makan waktu lama u pasang. Liat2 jam ya elaaah udah 4jam berkutat ama masalah ban dari jam 12-4 sore. Syukur aja ketemu toko yang punya itu ban, kalo ga itu hari Sabtu, rata2 jam 4 sore udah tutup semua toko2. Besoknya Minggu lebih parah lagi tutup semua d.

Sebenernya jam 4 sore janjian ketemu temen lama aku Hanna d city centre tapi berhub masih berkutat ama masalah ban akhirnya diputusin ke tempat Hanna aja karena dy juga udah masak spaghetti u kita2. Lunch yang terlambat ceritanya. Aduuh makasih bgt Han, udah dimasakin. Abis makan kita jalan2 ke Landungsbrucken. Ini pelabuhan gitu. Sempet juga naek ferrynya, n berhubung udah termasuk d tiket Hamburg Card ya dijabanin aja sekalian liat2 pemandangan sepanjang pelabuhan. Habis dari sana kita cabut ke Sternchanze, ini tempat buat nongkrong2 anak2 muda gitu. So banyak kafe, resto, butik2. Sempet juga mampir ke tempat aku kursus bahasa Jerman dulu d Volkhochschule. Ihh masih sama aja kayak dulu. Jalan2 dikit kok laper ya…akhrnya kita makan d Asia Imbiss Bok. Ini semacam warung Asia..makanannya Cina, Thai ama Korea. Dulu aku juga sering makan disini jadi pengen tau aja. Makanannya masih murah dgn porsi gede bgt. Kita pesen 2 nasi goreng; nasi goreng sapi n nasi goreng kari ayam ala Thai dibagi bertiga udah kenyang banget. Udah malem kita pulang d eh salah balik ke tempat camping.

Besoknya cuaca masih aja ga terlalu bersahabat walopun agak mendingan dari kemaren karena ngga ujan. Jam 11.30 kita cabut u ketemu Halimah n juga Hanna buat makan siang d Altona. Halimah ini juga temen lama d Hamburg. Sampe sana telat 15menit karena kita ribet di jalan cari tempat parkir n ga tau medan…hehe untung mereka maklum. Ada juga Yuni adik sepupu Halimah yang lagi study d Hamburg. Akhirnya kita putusin makan d Resto China. Kita pesen mittagsmenu (menu makan siang). Pesen 4 macam makanan dibagi berlima. Ada bebek saus hoisin, sapi saus apa gitu lupa, ayam saus curry, ama tahu saus apa juga lupa. Plus ada juga sup peking gratis. Makan2 kenyang enak…kita jalan2 lagi sempet beli es krim juga. Jam 3.45 aku cabut mau ke rumah host family aku yang dulu. Wah anak2nya udah gede2…yang dulu msih bayi…skr udah 8.5thn. How time goes by so fast ya.

Habis dari sono mampir ke rumah Halimah karena udah diundang liat rumah dy juga. Ketemu ama suaminya juga. Habis itu jam 8.45 cabuts lagi ama Hanna juga ke city centre lagi…hehehe…poto2 lagi dunk…secara ada yang ngambilin poto skr. Sempet duduk2 juga d Cafe Alex d depan Alster. Jam 11 jalan ke Dammtor S-Bahn n pulang d.

Besoknya jam 1 siang cabut pulang ke negare Kumpeni…sempet mampir ke supermarket dulu cari kinder pingui (ini ga ada d Belanda). Eh liat2 kok banyak ada barang2 lucu d bagian bahan2 kue. Macem gula bentuk mawar, wortel, ada juga coklat daun udah jadi, sprinkels warna warni yang ga ada d Belanda. Borong d…ntar buat bikin lagi ama Hesti..bukan begitu Hes. Dijalan berhenti dua kali buat makan siang ama isi bensin. Maunya isi bensin d Jerman sebelum masuk perbatasan karena harga bensin d Jerman lebih murah tapi apa daya kok ga ada pompa bensin padahal perbatasan udah deket. Ya sud pasrah d ama nasib..akhirnya beli Bensin d Belanda. Sampe rumah hm 6.30 wuaaahhh capeknya tapi seneng bgt udah jalan2 ke Jerman 😀

For my farewell, my host family took me to dinner at Hotel New York Rotterdam. It is located nearby the Maas riverAs the history says, this place was the place where all the Dutch got off the ship to emigrate to New York, USA. Now it’s a hip hotel and a restaurant. The interior design of the restaurant was a modern industrial look, high ceiling, mix and match tables and chairs and the most interesting part was there was actually a ship inside this restaurant.

For appetizer I had fried squid with tartar sauce. I thought the portion would be just an appetizer portion but no it was enormous but as much as I love eating it i couldn’t finish it. I had to stop or otherwise I couldn’t eat the main course anymore. The squid was soft and not rubbery. The tartar sauce was also good.

Then after waiting for an eternity…ok this is a bit exxagerated, but it was true that we had to wait at least an hour for the main course. It seems that this place is so popular and crowded, service tend to be a bit slow. Finally my main course arrived. I had fried mackerel with provencale vegetables and rice. The taste was okay though not as much as I would expected, maybe because I was already half full from the fried squid. 😉

Overall it’s a nice place to be seen and see people.

My endless love of old buildings yet needs to be satisfied, so today I went to a Kasteel de Haar (Castle de Haar). It’s located near Utrecht. The castle was built in the 14th century but the castle that we see today is actually a quite new building because it was rebuilt in the 1892-1912. The look of this castle is quite astonishing with bridge that resembles fortress entrance, huge gardens including rose gardens, canal-like pond and many statues. The furnitures and rooms inside the castles are still pretty much the same as they used to be in early days.
The family who owns this castle still use this place as a holiday home for 3-4 weeks every year, in which the castle would be closed for that period when they are there.

One thing that was a bit of a disappointments about this place is that we can’t take any photograph inside the building and we can only visit the inside of the building through a guided tour. For more information click on to www.kasteeldehaar.nl

One hour drive from Gouda, there’s a so-called former old Dutch fishing village named Volendam. Today this place is crammed with souvenirs shop, photos studios where you can get your pictures
taken wearing traditional Dutch clothes. But nevertheless it is a nice place with harbour and many boats. If you feel like it you can also take a boat trip to a small island of Marken, it’s a museum-piece village where you can see how it is an old Dutch village were like in olden day. Besides those we can also find nice seafood here such as the famous Dutch Hering which is eaten raw with chopped onion, smoked eel and cod, calamari, fried fish and many more.

I found something interesting though can be counted as unimportant matter. 🙂 When we were browsing through the display windows of the photo studios we found many pictures of famous Indonesian artists such as Marissa Haque and Ikang Fawzi, Ruth Sahanaya, Joshua and his brother, Melly Manuhutu and even Kris Biantoro. We of course didn’t get any pictures taken as it was expensive (17 euro for 2 persons then 5 euro for every additional person) and a little bit “katrok” to our standard. 😛 Halah bilang aja gak punya duit. 😛

Stomach full of patat (Dutch french fries), poffertjes, smoked eel, ice cream. Cameras full of pictures, Hands full of bags of souvenirs (iya kan Dit??) Eyes refreshed with nice view. It’s time to go home.

Woa got back last nite from Paris. Was tired but very happy!!!! It was quite tiring as it was only four days full of activities, pretty much like a crash tour of Paris. But I have to say Paris was more than what I expected. I thought Paris was just Eiffel Tower and some old buildings but not, Paris was awesome. I’m afraid I was so overwhelmed by the ccharm of Paris I can’t really describe it here.

For four days I saw many faces of Paris, visited the famous Eiffel Tower of course then Montparnasse Building where we can see panoramic view of Paris from 56th floor terrace, Notre Dame Cathedral; I am sure all of you know this from that famous Disney movie, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart); this is a a beautiful church up in the hill in fact this hill is the highest point in Paris, Centre Pompidou; we can find Museum of Modern Art and library here, St. Louis Church, Arch de Triomphe; A monument built to honours those who fought for France , Champs – Elysees; a famous street full of trendy and expensive boutiques, Anne Frank’s Park; not a very impressive park I must say, Jardin du Palais (Palace Royal Garden), St. Louis Church. Besides those I went to see a little cabaret show, done a boat trip around Seine river, strolling around Montmartre where they have cheap souvenirs shop (not cheap sidewalk cafe though I must warn you) and interesting street artist. We even went to Maincy to visit the Chateau Vaux le Vicomte, it’s a Chateau built in the 17th Century by a nobleman Fouquet.

In four days of course there are still many places that I missed though I am glad the bus passed it and we got the chance to see them and take pictures. Those are places like Les Invalides; the place where Napoleon was buried, The Louvre Museum; Monalisa is placed here, The Opera House, Orsay Museum and many more other places.

I highly recommended Paris as a holiday destination, have to see it at least once in a lifetime. But I am pretty sure I will come back someday as the legend believe, if you touch your feet at the point zero outside the Notre Dame Cathedral then you will definetely come back to Paris again. 🙂 😀

To see more pictures go to my flickr page www.flickr.com/photos/whittycute

I don’t know why but I love windmills, not the modern one though because I think it’s boring. I love the old-fashioned Dutch windmills. Though i do n’t really know and understand the use of windmills I just love them because of their shape and because they are old (I love all old-buildings). So to satisfy my needs to see windmills me and my boyfriend went to Kinderdijk. It’s a place in South Holland to see more than 15 windmills in one area. I know that they are build there for a reason but as I said before I don’t really understand those technical stuff so let’s just enjoy the beauty of those windmills. 😀

And tomorrow I’m going to Paris for 4 days. Can’t update my blog so I’ll see you guys in 4 days then. 🙂

What comes to your mind with the title? Cheese? Well you’re not wrong. But there’s something else other than cheese from that name. It’s the name of a little town in South Holland. Anyway no more chit chat, let’sgo to the main story. Today, Dita, Hesti and me decided to walk around the city. The first reason was to see the famous cheese market that is held every Thursday from June-August. And the rest we would see what we could do.

What is actually a cheese market? Peopl e buying and selling cheese? That’s right, but nowadays as I quote from Lonely Planet “the event was an excuse to set up a huge market to sell everything but cheese.” I think so too, as apart from a square full of cheeses and some boys and girls dressing up with traditional Dutch clothes, the rest was just a normal market. But nevertheless it was fun to watch. We also went to De Kaaswaag, this building used to be a place where people weigh cheeses, but now you can pay 2Euro to have yourself weigh there and you even got a certificate. 😛

After some snapshots of the market and the town hall we continued our journey. Now heading to St. Janskerk, the longest church in Holland as I read from it’s brochure. But what is special from this church that they have beautiful stained glass window. Most stories in the pictures are taken from the bible and Dutch National history. While we were there, we visited the Museum het Catharina Gasthuis which was located next to the church. A museum consisting of stuff about Gouda and it’s history.


Tired of walking around, time to feed our hungry tummy. 😛 We decided (no it was me who decided, as my friends said they would eat whatever I make) to just make some simple noodle soup like what I made the last time. And for dessert we had tiramisu that I made yesterday. 🙂 It was a nice sightseeing day wasn’t it girls?? 😀