Last weekend, CIEE organized a little day for us all. So we packed into what they call a "touring car", basically a charter bus, at 8am and headed up north. We drove for about an hour and stopped in a little fishing village called Urk, had some coffee and cake and got a great tour by a witty old guy. Urk, about 70 years ago, used to be an island. But in the 40s, they brought in the dikes, pumped out all the water, and now it's connected to the mainland. It's a really small village up on the highest point where all the streets are narrow and houses are inches apart. Ten bucks says they could touch their neighbors house from their kitchen. Our tour guide was awesome. Probably 70 or so, witty as hell, wrote a couple books and really enjoys his life in Urk. After we wrapped up our tour, we got back on the bus and keep trucking up north.
Our real destination was Groningen, which is the most northern city of Holland. It's also the hometown of Renee, one of our program directors, so she was excited to show everyone where she grew up. It's a big student city and actually kind of reminded me of a smaller, more friendly Amsterdam. We spent a few hours seeing the city on a canal cruise, strolling through a cool modern art museum, and rooming the markets. We got some Belgian french fries (which are hands down the best in the world) and a fresh stroopwafel (a traditional Dutch cookie which has two big wafers with carmel in the middle). We had a great dinner at one of Renee's favorite restaurants. I had some delicious pork sate and apple pie. They always give us so much food it's unreal. So we all got back on the bus at about 7:30pm, stuffed and happy, and headed the 2hrs back to Amsterdam.
And the best part about the day: it was all paid for by CIEE… love 'free' trips.
Urk
Best tour guide ever
a front yard, if you can call it that, in Urk
Street market in Groningen
Belgie frites
Martini Tower in Groningen
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