TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

It looks like 2014 winter is going to be record-breaking SNOW-FREE winter in the Netherlands. (Edit: It snowed a wee bit in the eastern part of the country during our wintersport holiday in Valloire, French Alps last month but then I refuse to count this event since majority of the population in the country elsewhere did not get to see a fleck of snow). In my more than a decade of living in this country, we always have snow during winter, be it little and for just a few days, we always have snow. So far, not an inch of snow in the horizon. We probably should not give up easily because the month of February has just started and we still have March as well which always happens to shed some snow. We shall see! Windmills of Kinderdijk Website: Kinderdijk Nevertheless, I would like to feel winterish tonight, so I am posting these pictures I took in Kinderdijk located in the South Holland province precisely 2 years ago (February 2012) that I never had the opportunity to publish ...

Took this picture on my way back. The shuttle boat service is open until 12 midnight. Veerdienst means Shuttle Boat Service. In most countries they are known as ferry boats that transports passengers and cars from point A to point B. The distance between point A and point B is usually considered significant and critical thus the ferry boat service comes into the picture. In the Netherlands though most veerdiensten or shuttle boat services are used to connect towns and villages. They are used to crossover. The distance between point A and point B can be just a few hundred metres and these boats travel many times in an hour, back and forth. A one-way trip could take only a few minutes. Last month I went to Kinderdijk and my GPS sent me via Krimpen a/d Lek, which is a short cut route to Kinderdijk that requires taking the shuttle boat service between the towns on the Lek River. I thought it was cool to get on the boat for a quick crossover. It is interesting to note that the hist...

I went to Kinderdijk last Sunday (about 1 hour from Utrecht and 1.5 hours from Amsterdam). It was snowing but the die hard Dutch skaters were enjoying this typically Dutch winter sport. Hah, no one can stop them =) This video was taken at the last hour of the day, around 17:30. Many people have left already for the day while a few were still going strong. I just finished having tea in the little cafeteria--after a loooong and cold (it was snowing) stroll on the frozen canal, I needed the hot tea so bad. Yes, that is a frozen canal on the video! Cool huh. I also took lots of pictures by the way. When I am done with them uploading I will post another entry about Kinderdijk. For those that do not know, Kinderdijk is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is the only place in the Netherlands and in the whole wide world that has a large concentration of (old and traditional) windmills. Kinderdijk has 19 of them and they are all in good working condition. Visit Period: February 2012 De...