I “coincidentally” arrived in the Netherlands just in time for the country’s biggest celebration of the year, King’s Day. Combine this with the notorious reputation of its famous city, Amsterdam and you’re probably expecting some stories of how I got intoxicated and tried to call my parents to tell them I was dying yet again. Well, you are wrong my friends. Being overseas, I’m actually too cheap to make the long distance call no matter how many drinks I have in me.

For the sake of the blog (#fortheblog), I wanted to show that there was another side to the country other than all the debauchery that you typically associate with Amsterdam. Also, my body was completely wrecked from my time in Portugal and Spain, so I needed to detox badly. I may or may not have indulged in an adult beverage or two on King’s day, but after that, I kept it pretty clean for the rest of my time there.

It’s been about three weeks now and things are beginning to fall apart, literally. I got in a bike accident and my shoe completely tore open. The button on the one pair of jeans that I brought for this trip popped off pre-trip. When I was clearing security before boarding my flight to Amsterdam, I was asked to take off my belt and the moment I passed through the scanner, I lost hold of my jeans and they fell below my bum for all to see. You’re welcome Barcelona. I’ve also misplaced my very handy pocket dairy pill container during my time here. I have no idea how I’m going to survive in the land of gelato when I head to Italy in a week.

So fortunately for me, my cousin Samantha and her boyfriend Jos live in the Netherlands and they graciously let me stay at their place. This is in addition to going out of there way to show me around everywhere and providing nutritious and delicious home cooked meals. I finally got the fruits and vegetables that my body desperately needed so I think I may be able to avoid scurvy for the time being. I learned a ton about life in the Netherlands from staying with the two. Jos grew up in the country, while Sam moved from Canada a few years, so it was great to get each of their perspectives.

We discussed everything from culture to work and I won’t lie to you, I’m a little envious of the Dutch lifestyle. Although their income tax rates are quite high, it seems a lot of the funds are invested back into its people. For example, post secondary education is quite affordable throughout the country. In fact, the fees are set by the government each year and typically only increase at the rate of inflation. On top of that, securing an interest free loan for the entire cost of studies is readily available. As a result of these circumstances, it’s quite common for students to attain a Masters or PhD.

In addition to graduating with low levels of debt, mortgage rates are quite low in the country and you could even secure a loan of 101% of the purchase price of the property. Although the banks will likely charge higher rates at that point, the down payment required without a penalty is quite low compared to North American standards. This pretty much means that people can afford to move out from their parents’ homes in their mid 20’s unlike the situation in Canada!

The work culture in the Netherlands is also something I can definitely get on board with. Dutch people highly value work/life balance. Both employers and employees respect the defined working hours and abide by them. Almost everybody clocks out at 5 pm. Working part time is quite common and is not viewed as less respected versus full time. In fact, during the recruitment process, applicants are often asked how many hours they would like to work in a week.

To further sweeten the deal, the minimum vacation time for a full time employee by law is 20 days! However, it’s common practice for companies to provide 25. This is in addition to personal days and the 8+ public holidays throughout the year. For the cherry on top, you get paid for your vacation! Under legislation, employers must pay at least 8% of your gross salary as holiday pay in May, just in time for the summer holidays.

You may wonder, with so little time in the office, how does anything ever get done? Well on top of being highly educated, Dutch people are very efficient. There’s never any fluff or unnecessary actions. Sam confirmed this as she explained that there’s hardly small talk during office meetings as they go straight to the point.

Other than the popularity of using bicycles to get around, there are many other facets that make Netherlands one of the global leaders in sustainability. First of all, the infrastructure of the cities are primarily made for bikers. There are free garages everywhere to securely park your bicycle and many roads are set up where bikers have priority. I found it pretty hilarious on the single lane roads where you have a child on a bike and a line of cars patiently trailing behind them. There are often more direct bike paths to get to a major destination than roads. If you get tired from biking, the public transportation system is also exceptional, especially in the big cities. You can pretty much get anywhere and they always arrive on time. The only issue I have with the trams and busses are how high the handles are! I’m around six feet and I could barely reach the handles. It turns out that the Dutch are the tallest people in the world.

To further discourage the use of cars, the cost of owning a vehicle is quite high. Not only is gasoline quite pricey, but cars are taxed on their weight! The government is even in the midst of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2025.

Along with being an iconic symbol of the Netherlands, windmills are a major source of energy for the country. You can find them everywhere and they provide energy to homes and even the train systems.

Anyway, I haven’t seen a dollar from the Dutch National Marketing Department yet so I’m going to stop gushing all about their country. Here are some highlights of my week.

King’s Day

I arrived in the Netherlands for the biggest party of the year and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Supposedly the heavy binge drinking is carried out the night before as depicted by all the trash bins overflowing with empty beer bottles. Amidst the sea of people on the streets wearing orange, DJs blasting beats at every town square and heavily intoxicated people dancing on boats along the canals, every street was lined with people selling all sorts of things. It was basically a country-wide yard sale.

King’s Day was originally created to celebrate the ruling King’s or Queen’s birthday. On that day only, the monarchy allowed its people to sell products or services on the street without a license and without being taxed. Therefore, it’s become tradition that the Dutch people find whatever crap is stored in their attics and lay them out on the street for sale. In addition to selling products, people sell services for a profit. For example, there was this one stall where you could pay 2 Euros to throw a raw egg in some guy’s face. I also came across a little girl that set up a station for make-up services.

If you’ve been to Europe, you’ve probably realized that public washrooms pretty much do not exist, or if they do, a fee is charged. Well, the Netherlands solved that, for men anyways. These triangular looking things pop up on the weekends and on events such as King’s Day to encourage men to go number one in them, free of charge, but maybe not shame. For a guy who may or may not have paid a good amount of fines for peeing in public, these things are genius.

As I mentioned earlier, King’s/Queen’s Day falls on the birthday of the current ruling monarch, which is currently April 27th. Funny thing is King Willem-Alexander only became King a few years back. Before that, the Netherlands celebrated Queen’s Day on April 30th for his mom’s birthday. However, as reported in the news, there are still a handful of tourists who arrived on the 30th looking to celebrate. I’ll be honest, that sounds 100% like something that I would do…

The Hague

The following day, Sam and Jos took me to The Hague which is home to the Dutch government, parliament and the Supreme Court. It was a cool mix of modern buildings and traditional Dutch architecture. What’s unique about the buildings in the country was that they’re all quite tall, but narrow. In fact, most homes aren’t even wide enough to transport a dining table or couch up the stairs. To solve this issue, there’s a hook near the top of each house which they use as a pulley system to move furniture to different floors. Some homes are even built a little bit slanted to help support the weight.

The Hague is where I learned that the Dutch take french fries very seriously. In fact, this place called Frites Atelier was opened by a chef who previously owned a three star Michelin restaurant. I can confirm that they do frites right in this country. Although I generally like my fries topped with cheese curds and smothered with gravy, the way they drop the potatoes in the fryer twice make them pretty irresistible as well. Best part is that mayonnaise is the dip of choice for the fries, which I’ve been trying to tell people for ages back in Canada.

Oh, I also had my first celebrity sighting. For those in the soccer (or football) world, I saw former Liverpool and Dutch international star Dirk Kuyt casually walking through the streets. We’re best friends now.

Nationaal Park Zuid Kennermerland

Who knew there would be sand dunes in a country with an infrastructure built on canals? It definitely caught me off guard stepping into the National Park to find sand dunes, a lake and a bunch of hangry seagulls.

If you know me, you know that birds and I don’t get along. In fact, unless they’re deep fried and in a cylindrical bucket, I hate the species. I think they’re just jerks. This hatred all started in grade six. I was standing in line outside with the rest of my class to head back into the school from recess when I felt something wet hit my face. I was thinking, “who had the audacity to spit in MY face!”. However, shortly after, a kid turned around and belted out, “OH MY GOD, A BIRD JUST POOPED ON IAN’S FACE!”. Since every single student was outside, I basically had the entire school turn and laugh at me. Even the teachers couldn’t control their laughter. To this day, whenever I bump into old classmates on the streets, it’s the one thing they always bring up. People often say that it’s good luck to be pooped on by a bird. By that logic, I should be the luckiest person in the world as I’ve been pooped on several times ever since, but I’m pretty sure most of you who know me understand that it’s the complete opposite.

Anyways, back to the sand dunes. So we decided to pack a few sandwiches to eat on the hike. The second we brought them out of our backpacks, a pack of seagulls completely nose dived towards us and tried to take our sandwiches! There were at least 20 of them and they’re not the ones I’m used to seeing in Toronto. These things were massive! I was honestly thinking of punting a few of them, but I was able to control myself. The only method that worked in getting rid of them but also eat was putting it underneath my shirt and sneaking in bites. The others thought I was an idiot, and they’re not wrong.

Once we got through the angry pack of seagulls, we had another wildlife encounter. About an hour into the hike, I saw a creature in the distance and shouted out, “Holy crap, I think that’s a bear!”. Jos replied, “No, I’m pretty sure that’s just a statue”. Then Sam finally chimed in, “It’s a cow you idiots”. Although the creature’s horns looked quite sharp, it seemed pretty chill, so naturally we took a million pictures of it.

As we continued past some beautiful forests and back onto the sandy trail, we were once again interrupted by one of these cows. Seemingly out of nowhere, this beast appeared out of the trees and decided to just chill on the trail, just a metre in front of us. The dude just did not move. After waiting like 10 minutes, we decided to cut our own trail and walk around the mammal. After all these setbacks, we were finally rewarded with a pretty empty beach of the North Sea.

De Hoge Veluwe National Park

The following day, we visited De Hoge Veluwe National Park where you can rent a free bike at the entrance and ride to the other side of the park. Although the terrain was pretty flat, it was extremely windy. Not having biked in a very long time, my legs were already dying from peddling every day since I arrived. Consequently, I may or may not have conveniently chilled in the back of the pack throughout most of the journey.

FOOD

Herring

This raw fish snack is certainly an acquired taste, but I couldn’t get enough of them. I ended up getting them everyday during my time in the Netherlands. It’s served fresh with the tail and head disposed of and topped with chopped raw onions and pickles. It’s the perfect marriage. The fish itself is smooth and not too chewy. The acidity of the onions and pickles did a great job complementing the subtle saltiness of the fish.

Simonis

As we were driving through by the North Sea, we made a stop at a seafood market that also cooked its fish for you. It had some of the freshest fish I ate. We ordered deep fried kibbling and also a deep fried filet which may have been one of the best I had. Instead of being heavily battered as with most fish and chips dishes that I’m used to, this one was lightly battered and fried to a perfect golden brown. The inside was extremely moist and tender. It didn’t take any effort to flake the filet.

Poffertjes

These Dutch donuts are sold in stands everywhere along the streets and they were remarkably addicting. They place pancake batter in waffle irons lined with inch wide sphere molds and heat them up until the outsides are crispy while the insides are still soft and moist. To top it off, they sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the lovely treats.

McDonalds

I’ve been seeing ads everywhere for a McChicken Big Mac and just had to try one. Two of my favourite things combined into one? This is probably McDonald’s best idea yet. Unfortunately, it was quite disappointing. I had to wash it down with another Big Mac and McChicken just to make things right.

“Green Egg” Chicken

For my last meal in the Netherlands, we went to this canal turned brewery in downtown Utrecht. The design of the brewpub was pretty neat and there were even a few tables that had access to their own beer tap! Supposedly, you need at least six people in order to reserve one of those tables, but I was seriously contemplating whether they would let me sit there if I drank the same amount as six people.

In addition to their beer, the restaurant is known for their chicken. They first place their bird in what’s called a “green egg” barbecue pit and then roast it for six hours. The end result was extremely juicy and flavourful meat further illustrated by the barbecued colour in the breast and thighs. The skin was also smoked to crispy perfection with the right amount of salt and spiciness.

Concluding Thoughts

I’ve realized that the hardest part of this whole backpacking adventure hasn’t been the language barriers, sleeping with at times 20 other people in the same hostel room or trying not to throw up on the various methods of transportation. It’s actually saying bye to all the great people I’ve met along the way, which I likely won’t see for years or ever again. Although you only spend a few days with these people, you really get to know and them share some pretty awesome times together.

Anyways, now off to check out Belgium for a few days before flying to Italy. Thanks again to Sam and Jos for being such awesome hosts!