Travelling with Nick: Cities

Like so many other Brits, Amsterdam has a fascination for us. There are many reasons for this. Over the centuries there have been many contacts between the two countries. This has caused a mutual respect and liking for each other to develop.

The Netherlands like the U.K. was a great shipping and trading nation but the Dutch are better linguists than the Brits. It seems that almost everyone can speak English and many instructions for tourists are written in English as well as Dutch. This makes the Netherlands and Amsterdam in particular a very easy place for us to travel in.

There are so many more reasons for us all to travel to Amsterdam than just the ease of getting around and being understood. It is rich in museums, waterways and restaurants and within easy travelling distance is the marvelous Keukenhof Gardens which is the subject of a separate post (see the link below). And it seems that everyone is so pleasant and friendly.

Here are a few photos that I took as we traipsed the highways and byways (lots and lots of those) of Amsterdam

Bike Capital of the World?

The Waterways

Architecture

Westerkerk Tower

Royal Palace - Dam Square

National Monument - Dam square

This canal-side building at Oudezijds Voorburgwal 232
was built in 1626 and commissioned by Pieter Parys.

UvA

Westerkerk tower

Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station

Montelbaanstoren 1516 and 1606

Commemorative plaques to Henry Hudson

Interesting Shops

Ship Museum

Nick

Links -

Keukenhof Gardens Post

http://travelling-with-nick.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-keukenhof-gardens-nl.html

Travel Blog Index

http://travelling-with-nick.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/travelling-with-nick-index-page.html

Healey Museum Nl.

http://twincam-serendipity.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/healey-museum-nl-first-hand.html

Like most people, if they are honest, my wife loves the 'magic of Christmas' and especially all the decorations both inside and outdoors. For instance one of her favourite venues is the Osborne Lights at Disney World Fl.

For the last two years and other years in the past we have been in Florida in November/December and have enjoyed seeing all the Christmas decorations as well as enjoying warm and sunny weather. This year we visited Florida in September/October and now we are missing being there at this time of year.

To compensate I started looking at what Christmas related events were being organised near us in the U.K. One of the many treasures we have in this country are our Stately Homes and historic houses/mansions. Many of them go out of their way to decorate the home as they would have been in the 19th Century, the period when the Christmas we know today was introduced.

I looked on the internet to see if there was a house near us that was holding such event; I saw that Shugborough Hall was holding a Christmas Fayre and lighting the hall by candlelight between 28th and 30th November. Just the job! I pre-booked tickets and we visited on Friday 28th.

The decorated rooms in the house were fantastic, everything we could have imagined. The staff and event organisers had obviously worked hard and imaginatively to decorate the rooms in a festive manner.

If that is all that had been offered then we would have come away very satisfied.

However, there was the promise of a Christmas Fayre: fortunately, or, as in this case, unfortunately, I have an active imagination and I had imagined what the stalls comprising the Fayre might look like. What I had imagined was a few stalls, set up in the house itself, selling unusual, tasteful goods biased towards the festive season.

In reality it was nothing like that at all. The Fayre was held in a gigantic marquee erected in front of the Hall. It seemed to me that there were around one hundred stalls, certainly there were very many. However, less than 20% of them had a Christmas theme. Most them were stalls selling goods that you would find at any small town market at anytime during the year.

In itself that is not a problem. The event was very well attended and I guess many of the people there new exactly what to expect because they had been to similar events before.
I would assume that they were not disappointed.
It is just that the fayre aspect of the event did not equate to what my wife an I had imagined.
The fault. if there is one, lies with us.

As I say the Candlelit Hall was a delight and all credit to those who prepared it.

Here are a few photos from the event -