Our last day in Koblenz was a Sunday and we learned that in Germany -at least in Koblenz – the city pretty much closes on Sunday. We did some exploring and finally found an open cafe for brunch. It is a beautiful city and we are glad we included it in our itinerary.
It is our last Airbnb in this trip with laundry facilities so we did a couple loads of laundry and repacked and got organized for our last week before heading home. Tomorrow morning we are off to the Netherlands. Our train trip has four changes of trains in four stations and some really quick changes, so it will be a full travel day.
Travelling between the two countries was interesting. Much of the land was agricultural. It could have been Saskatchewan for the most part. The towns, however, are so different. The homes, even the modern homes, are square in almost every case. There are lots of attached or row homes and lots of large apartment blocks. We saw more acreages on this trip and lots of horses and stables. The acreages were interesting in that the houses were usually brick and often the barns matched the homes out of the same brick, in fact it appeared the house was often the front and the barn continued as part of the same building. There were some very beautiful yards. The trains travel so fast I missed so many wonderful shots.
As we got closer to Amsterdam we followed along beside the mighty Rhine. There were bike paths running beside us too. Bikes here are definitely transportation not just recreation. We saw bike parking lots as big as car parking lots in Saskatchewan. Pulling into Amsterdam was exciting. It’s a city I have always wanted to see. We just got a glimpse from the train station as we wanted to get our bags out to Monnikendam, where we are staying and we knew we’d be back to really explore.
We bought a bus pass for three days and headed upstairs in the train station to the bus station (so efficient) and hopped on the bus to our new Airbnb. Once we arrived in Monnickendam we walked through the village to our place. It took forever because I had to stop and take a pic every few steps. The village was so quaint.
We are staying in Monnikendam as we tour Amsterdam and the area for economics, and because we love rural. It’s on a bus line that runs every few minutes to Amsterdam so it’s not much different than being in an area of the city. What we didn’t expect was to love this village so much, we are having trouble leaving the village and heading into the city. Monnickendam kind of feels like Disneyland. It is so quaint and so beautiful – but it’s the real world. We watch the kids biking to school and the Moms and Dads biking the wee ones to school. We’ve been to the butcher and the bakery and many of the everyday shops. Our Airbnb comes with 2 bikes so we have explored many times on foot and by bike. It just doesn’t seem real.
This is when I wish there wasn’t a language barrier. I have a million questions and would love to sit down with some of these people at the bar and just talk!
Tomorrow we will venture back into Amsterdam because I’m sure there are wonderful things to see, and tulips to enjoy, but this village has sure been a wonderful bonus!
Glad you’re enjoying Holland. I was born in a village that is on the main line between Germany and Amsterdam.
I can see why you chose the village. What a surprise to find such a charming place. Probably you won’t love Amsterdam as much. The concept of biking everywhere fascinated us. And of course the canals.
Loved the photos of the village. As you said so ‘Disneylike’, unreal.
Probably hard to ‘take it all in’.