Stop 5: Village visits in Holland

During my time in holland, I've been really fortunate to have the opportunity to visit various villages in the country. Seriously, some villages consist of 1 street! They can be SO tiny- so not even all dutch people have heard of them. I've visited: Tel Aar, Leiden, Delft, Sparkenburg, Den Haag and Ahmelo. Of course those aren't ALL villages- some are also cities (like Delft, Leiden and Den Haag are bigger cities). All of the villages/cities are really quaint and cute- many of the villages are by the ocean so a lot of the people there are fishermen.

There is a lot of history in Den haag (also known as The Hague). The queen lives here and a lot of the big parliament buildings are also here. It's a really pretty city- full of historic buildings..even houses are from "back in the day". I went to the Beach...called Scheveningen (which of course I can't pronounce!)- it is really nice- just like beaches in NC.

And of course when I got tired of all the history & sightseeing ....I went shopping! :) There aren't any "malls" like in America here. There are just shopping centers, but it is very nice- the streets are closed off so cars can't go through - it's just throngs of people walking on the street going in and out of stores like crazy. They have all the big store brands here: H&M (but more expensive than the US even though its a european brand), Zara, Esprit, Mango, Perry Ellis, United Colors of Benetton, etc etc. There is a really nice department store called the "Bijenkorf"- it is like nordstrom...but way pricier.

The stores here are only open from about 9AM - 6 PM everyday..and closed on Sundays. There are "special" opening hours every Friday- the stores are open until 9 PM!!! Every 1st Sunday of the month the shopping center is open..and WOW people go CRAZY- there are SOOO many people on Sundays that it is almost impossible to move anywhere!!! There is also an "open market" every saturday- basically the farmers market where you can get really fresh produce and vegetables at really good prices. Of course it's a better deal for families because everything is sold in bulk (ie 20 carrots for 2 euros, or 1 kilo of apples for 3 euros, etc etc). They also sell clothes, electronics, flowers, and various other non-food items. It reminds me of the night market in Taiwan/Asia.

Below are some of my pictures from the various villages/cities that I've visited so you can get an idea of what Holland looks like . Enjoy!

Eindhoven (the city I'm living in): this is the shopping mall... :)

One of various churches in the city:

Sparkenburg Holland: a real fisherman's village:

Den Haag: this is in front of the parliament
The Queen's house:What to do after looking at buildings? shopping: