Wednesday 1
April 1981 - Madurodam
We woke later than expected since it
was a case of "lights out" at 21.15 last night. It was very misty and
quite cool. We made the most of a good Dutch breakfast of boiled egg, coffee,
ham, cheese and bread (one of each, except the white bread - two of those!) and
then caught a tram in Rembrandt square to Centraal and from there caught a
train to The Hague. From there another tram took us to Madurodam – the
miniature village which included prominent Amsterdam buildings.
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| Rab and Matt in Madurodam |
The train trip was, once again, very
smooth indeed and although the mist was fairly thick, we got a good view of the
scenery on either side of the track - the polders, the sheep and the flowers. Matt
was thrilled with Madurodam and we spent about 3 hours there. I must say, it is
a fabulous place and it was very difficult to decide which of the items one
liked best. Hope all the pictures came out. Had to laugh after the event at a
bit of a difference of opinion we had about the souvenir photos they took there
at fl 4 each (R1.30) or fl 10 the lot. I said buy all three, but Rab was
adamant that one was enough because of the expense! Then we went and spent
another fl 100 on dress material! (This had an echo eight years later in
Queensland when the party decided not to go into a wild butterfly enclosure in
the Atherton Tablelands because it was too expensive at $4.00 a head, or $16.00
for the 4 of us. The hotel we were staying at - Mirage - charged about $16.00
for a drink, let alone a round!)
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| The expensive picture |
We went on, again by tram, to
Scheveningen, but after a brief walk along the front, feeling very chilly, we
had a snack lunch of Haring and frites ( plus mayonais) before catching a tram
back to the station. It was the first really cold day we have had, at least
cold enough to wear our gloves, that is. Of course, we had left them at the
hotel! We caught the Metro to Waterloo Plein after an uneventful trip from The Hague back to Amsterdam
because there is a flea market there. We arrived only fifteen minutes before
closing time so did not have a chance to see much, but what we did see was
fascinating. We were going to catch a tram, but walked instead, to Muntiplein,
where there was a big department store where Rab bought her material while Matt
and I went to the Boon toyshop and bought a Russian police car and another Star Wars figure.
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| A last look at Amsterdam |
Since it was coming up to 18.00, we
went to a coffee shop near the hotel where we had soup, chili con carne,
uitsmeijeiring and pancakes, all for R13.00 including beers and coffee. And so
to bed
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