Visit Holland: Share Your Thoughts!

[Monique]

Comments please :)

 

[Kerrie]

never visited, but did a lot of reports and read many books as a high school student...even dressed up as a dutch native with the hat and wooden shoes! i never learned much of the language, as it seemed somewhat difficult...everyone always talks about how liberal amsterdam is, but i just want to see the dutch country side!

 

[N_Quire]

I have not only visited Holland, I have walked through it from north to south (not a difficult task, I know, because the country is so small). I loved Amsterdam, the polders, the Zuider Zee.

I quite liked the beer, Heineken and Grolsch mostly, though I think British, Belgian, Czech and German beer is much better (am I allowed to talk about alcohol here?).

I loved the political system and the liberalism and tolerance. I loved the racial and cultural diversity of Amsterdam.

I didn't like Edam and Gouda.

The men and women were very attractive.

 

[Bubonic Plague]

No. But i heard a crazy story about it.

I think it goes that there are "Drug Parks" in Holland, where drug addicts can just go there to take drugs, without being arrested. They are even provided with drugs there.

 

[Siv]

Originally posted by Monique
Ever visited Holland?

Nope, Monique. The only foreign countries I've visited are Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

- S.

 

[Loren Booda]

When I was 13, in 1972. I remember "Damm" potato chips, beautiful gardens, flat land, a dike museum, and a report on Dutch TV about a building that collapsed 5 miles from my home in Virginia, about the time of the massacre in Munich, where I had just visited.

When is one appropriate to use "Holland" over "Netherlands"? "Holland" invokes for me traditional images, such as tulips and wooden shoes.

 

[eNtRopY]

Yes, I've visited both North and South Holland. My ancestors are from Nord Brabant; so, I spent some time there as well... and I visited Utrecht too.

I promised my sweetie that when I finish my schooling, I will take her to Amsterdam on vacation and buy her a diamond.

eNtRopY

 

[Monique]

Originally posted by Bubonic Plague
No. But i heard a crazy story about it.

I think it goes that there are "Drug Parks" in Holland, where drug addicts can just go there to take drugs, without being arrested. They are even provided with drugs there.

Well, I think you are talking about a church in Amsterdam which is providing a place for addicts to shoot up. Better to do it in a controlled environment where the needles go into biohazard containers than out in the open air.

And thanks for the responses guys!

To clarify the difference between Holland and the Netherlands: Holland are two out of the 13 provinces that make up the Netherlands, these two provinces have played major roles in the history since they are on the North Sea. The Hague (seat of the government) Amsterdam (port, capital) Rotterdam (sea port) are all in Holland (either north or south).

Besides that, Holland is the part of the country that was mostly reclaimed from the sea, going all the way back to the 14th century. Very fertile grounds, perfect for agriculture and flower industry, cows and sheep, fishing villages :)

Kerrie, why did you have to dress up as a dutch native?? And

 

[Zero]

I would love to visit Holland, to see the...ummmm...wooden shoes and windmills?

 

[Njorl]

I like to say "Grolsch".

Njorl

 

[russ_watters]

3 Weeks in Den Helder in port on a US Navy ship. Beutiful place. Mmmmmm, topless beaches... Amsterdam is pretty wild too - and actually a pretty rich city culturally.

 

[Bubonic Plague]

Well, I think you are talking about a church in Amsterdam which is providing a place for addicts to shoot up. Better to do it in a controlled environment where the needles go into biohazard containers than out in the open air.

Lol! So the legends are true indeed. I'd better put Holland as my next travel destination. If i can persuade my dad to bring me there first though...

 

[kyleb]

the Netherlands are wonderful, i have not been there sense i was twelve but i do recall it being a great place. my family had some friends that lived up near Amsterdam why we were living in Germany so we took the opportunity to visit quite often. it is a lush land with flowers everywhere, wonderful people most of whom speak many languages, carnival is a party the likes of which i have yet to see matched, and even the little things like thatched roofs that are an amazing thing to see close up and first hand. sure the red-light district and the drug parks can be rather shocking as well, especially at the age of twelve, but it is all part of life. the wonderful thing there is the way they do not promote intolerance and instead they work to help others understand and resolve such problems in constructive ways. take your children to the heroin park to see the junkers shoot up and you can feel considerably more certian that the childern will not follow that same path, even though they know they are free to do so.

 

[rutwig]

Originally posted by Monique
Comments please :)

Sure. Every year there is a conference about Lie theory at the Twente University, near Enschede. Nice place. Also Amsterdam, Groningen, etc.

 

[heman]

Enjoyed reading it..

 

[PerennialII]

Quite often come to Amsterdam in buziness ... definitely in my top 3 cities list ... love the place, and the spirit ... :!) ... in this respect, IMHO, the rest of the world could learn a lot from the Dutch !

 

[marlon]

Comments please :)

yes many times,

worst food ever

I hate 'Albert Hein'

marlon, from Belgium, where the food is magnificent

 

[Zantra]

I would love to visit Holland, to see the...ummmm...wooden shoes and windmills?

Darn. I just want to smoke the weed.

Kidding. Actually I'd love to vist there, See the pissing boy and the capital.

 

[FredGarvin]

I have been there a couple of times. I liked it very much. The weather seemed to instantly get better once you crossed over from Germany (where I was living at the time).

 

[Monique]

I hate 'Albert Hein'

Why would you hate a grocery store?
I had the worst food in Paris, you just need to know where to go

 

[Zantra]

Since you brought it up monique, you should offer a PF amsterdam tour

 

[Ivan Seeking]

We loved Amsterdam: Chocolate, fine dining, more chocolate, more fine dining... awesome! But I also hated the grocery stores. Someone should tell the dumb Americans that they have to bring their own grocery bags.

 

[Monique]

Since you brought it up monique, you should offer a PF amsterdam tour

This thread is two years old: you missed the tour!

haha, I always felt awkward in the US to have someone else pack my bags.

 

[Moonbear]

This thread is two years old: you missed the tour!

haha, I always felt awkward in the US to have someone else pack my bags.

Well, you'd love it now that we have self-serve check-out lines. Though, they don't give us any discount for doing their work for them.

I really hate having the baggers bag my groceries for me, because they always get these teenagers who must have never gone grocery shopping on their own in their entire life who seem to think the bread should go in the bag underneath the canned food. And they are always so much slower than I am doing it myself. If I bag my own, by the time the check-out person is done ringing up the order, most of it is already packed, and by the time they're done printing the credit card slip, it's completely packed. If someone else bags, I'm always standing around waiting for them to get done. I don't know how they can move so slowly. I just don't seem to have that slow speed setting on my dial I guess.

Okay, enough ranting about grocery store baggers. Probably time to get out of the office, I'm hungry.

 

[brewnog]

Only been to Amsterdam. It was lovely, I particularly like the way half the buildings lean to the left, and the other half to the right (and no, this was not an effect of coffee shop use). I also liked the way that the canals were not curved, but kind of polygonal such that when you walk around, you don't notice that you've changed direction until you end up where you started.

Went to a park on the south side of the city, and we thought we could hear a really loud church organ playing Toccata & Fugue. It sounded amazing, and then we realized that it was a quartet of accordions playing under an archway. Best buskers I'd ever seen, until later on in that day when I saw a string quartet playing Metallica songs. Score!

 

[Bladibla]

I've been to both rotterdam and amsterdam. Amsterdam has a pretty nice river, with loads of boat rides. There was one tourist guide thingy on the boat which guided us around. Oh, and i bought a stone pumkin from there! (it was halloween)

The same cannot be said for rotterdam.. well, i can't remember much except loads of factories with smoke coming out..

 

[kaos]

Dutch football (soccer) rox.

All hail Van Nistelrooy.

 

[plus]

The Netherlands is a truly disgusting place.
The liberalism is just allowing people to do prostitution (with all of the problems that entails such as AIDS), and allowing the nigerian drugs cartel to sell cocaine and ectasy openly to children and others on the streets.
The socialist model is a ridiculous way to run a country. Taking from the talented and hard working and giving to the criminal, ignorant and lazy.
The multiculturalism has led to a seething bed of islamic fundamentalism to which the indiginous population now object. There are more children of muslim immigrants (moroccans etc.) in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Hague than there are indiginous dutch children. The gay racist Pim Fontuyn almost became the ruler of this land.

 

[Monique]

Prostitution, drugs and multiculturalism can be found anywhere. Prostitution is regulated, drugs are regulated (ie stict screening for illegal trafficing on problem flights), allochtonous populations are in the process of being dispersed over cities and villages instead of having concentrated areas in suburbs.

I agree the socialist model is taken too far, which is being handled too: rescreening of people supposedly unfit to work, alleviating taxes on the succesful, etc.

 

[Galileo]

The Netherlands is a truly disgusting place.
The liberalism is just allowing people to do prostitution (with all of the problems that entails such as AIDS), and allowing the nigerian drugs cartel to sell cocaine and ectasy openly to children and others on the streets.
The socialist model is a ridiculous way to run a country. Taking from the talented and hard working and giving to the criminal, ignorant and lazy.
The multiculturalism has led to a seething bed of islamic fundamentalism to which the indiginous population now object. There are more children of muslim immigrants (moroccans etc.) in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Hague than there are indiginous dutch children. The gay racist Pim Fontuyn almost became the ruler of this land.

Contrary to popular stereotypical beliefs. The Netherlands is not a country where everyone smokes and shoots drugs on the streets as they please.
Nor is the trading of drugs legal.

 

[plus]

Prostitution, drugs and multiculturalism can be found anywhere.

Prostitution and drugs occur much more in Amsterdam than anywhere in the UK. This is because there is no social stigma against it, and no police agtion taken against it. The illegal drugs are sold ON THE STREETS to anyone who bothers to walk along the red light district. The dutch seem to have stronger opinions against the muslims than most other nations.

Prostitution is regulated, drugs are regulated (ie stict screening for illegal trafficing on problem flights), allochtonous populations are in the process of being dispersed over cities and villages instead of having concentrated areas in suburbs.

No. They are taking over the villages and small towns as well as the cities which they have already done.

I agree the socialist model is taken too far, which is being handled too: rescreening of people supposedly unfit to work, alleviating taxes on the succesful, etc.

Well done.

 

[plover]

I was in Amsterdam for a week about 12 or so years back. The day I spent riding a bike along the dikes north of the city is one of my favorite memories of Europe. It was fall and all the migratory ducks and such were coming through. There also was this moment riding along when I realized that the ocean on one side of me was higher than the land on the other, which was weird, but which is also, of course, why there's a dike there. (Doh!)

Amsterdam is the only city I've been to that had this feeling like three or four different centuries are crammed on top of one another pretty much everywhere you look. (Except the palace, which had an odd out-of-place look to it, as if it had dropped at random out of the sky.) The art museums were wonderful. I'd love to go back.

Anyway, I'm curious, what is the public agitiation with regards to the Islamic population in die Nederlands based on? Is it mostly fear? Is it a sense that Dutch tolerance and hospitality have been abused? Or is it more complex? (I know the main trigger was the murder of a film-maker there, I'm wondering what the sentiment behind the visible reactions is.)

The gay racist Pim Fontuyn...

Is his being gay supposed to make him worse than other racists or something?

 

[Andre]

That gay racist was elected the http://www.degrootstenederlander.nl/start.php



That's problably why I immegrated, with so much stupidity this country is lost

 

[Monique]

Anyway, I'm curious, what is the public agitiation with regards to the Islamic population in die Nederlands based on? Is it mostly fear? Is it a sense that Dutch tolerance and hospitality have been abused? Or is it more complex? (I know the main trigger was the murder of a film-maker there, I'm wondering what the sentiment behind the visible reactions is.)

There have been many problems with integration and conflicts with fundamentalism. I live in an area dominated by turkish, moroccan and indian immigrants and I never experienced any problems and love the multicultural environment. The problems are with a subgroup of people that are not motivated to behave, I believe due to the negative attitude towards them.

In my neighbourhood there is a group of 15 moroccan men and 10 turkish men, all fathers, that rotate through the streets and talk to young groups of people hanging on the streets, this communication and attention will keep them on the right track. I think this is a wonderful initiative.

I read something shocking in the newspaper yesterday: the guy who killed Theo v. Gogh is regarded as a hero by kids at a certain primary school. The kids have an aggresive attitude towards Ayaan Hirshi Ali (she is making a statement against fundamentalism) and the school leaders don't dare to visit the Anne Frank house, since students are making statements that the Jews had it coming and that more should have been killed. Same with the WTC towers, where the reaction was that is should have been done much earlier. The problems are taking place at two schools, they are researching now where the negative influence is coming from.