Meet the coolest grandpa alive!!! His name is Jerry a.k.a. Colson (his nighttime’s name) LOL.
I met Jerry online yearrrsss ago via blogging. He always read my post no matter how uninteresting it is and he has this sense of humor that I didn’t really get. Xp
When I mentioned about my European plan (lonngg time before I bought the ticket) he said that I had to come to Netherlands and he would guide me to the best stuffs (weed *ahem* weed) but I didn’t say yes because my initial plan was only two weeks and only covered Italy and France. But he never gave up to lure me into Netherlands with sweet stories of Netherlands (and the fact that there is Van Gogh Museum) so when I extended the European plan to 4 weeks, I put Amsterdam on it.
Bandi was sick on the second day we were in Amsterdam so I was worried that he won’t be fit on the third day because Jerry has prepared the full day adventure with both of us on the third day. Thankfully Bandi woke up healthy the next day, yaiy!
Jerry picked us up in the morning at our host’s house and we went to have coffee in Van Gogh Cafe while waiting for our Canal boat cruise to start. The cruise was interesting because Jerry kept adding comment to the guide’s story. He liked to joke and to be honest sometimes I couldn’t tell when he was joking and when he was not. Well I guess he was joking all the time so I never believed his words. LOL.
Us, on board the Canal cruise,
The canal seen from inside the boat.
After the canal cruise, we went to have another coffee in a memorial cafe. I didn’t remember what was the name of the cafe but I do remember the story. Jerry brought us to sit by the window, staring at the canal and told us the story about the wife who was drown (or killed?) and she keeps calling her husband’s name. Some people said that they heard the sound of woman crying. I hope this story is right or else I’m busted to not listening to your story, Jerry! Xp
Our second drink of the day!
But the view was beautiful though. ;)
It is said to be a “haunted canal” LOLOL
And then the car trip began! And I’m so glaaaaaaaddd we did this because it was one of my favorite moment during the whole Europe trip! :)
Jerry drove about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam to a small town named Zaanstad. I didn’t have any idea what I was about to see because I didn’t listen to Jerry. (LOL) We passed by some cute cows too during the trip. Ah I wish I could take photos of the cows. The cows were so fat! They are cuteeee I wanted to touch theeem!!!
Anyway, pardon my weird obsession with farm animals. Ahem, so we finally reached Zaanstad. The first thing that Bandi and I said when we got out of the car was… “what is this smell?”
“It’s cocoa.” Jerry answered.
“It’s the smell of my childhood!!!” I said.
Ahhh!!! it’s the smell of Van Houten cocoa powder that my mom liked to use to make marble cake. It’s the smell of my childhood and I looove my childhood when I didn’t know much about how cruel the world is… Ahem, okay, enough drama queen! Let’s get back to the story.
We visited this.
Zaanstad.
Yep! We didn’t visit a chocolate factory! We visited real town with windmills!!! OH MY GOD!! SO FREAKING AWESOME! I’ve never seen windmills before in my life!! I am a city girl! yeah yeah, whatever.
The chocolate smell was from one of the windmill which produce chocolate. Jerry also bought me chocolate and when I said “thank you Jerry!” he answered, “Shut up!” Man, what kind of manner is that? Tsk. (LOL)
Ok, then it was time for the real experience. Let’s go inside the windmill!!! I chose to go in to two windwill. First was the spice mills.
The grinder behind me was fully controlled by the wind.
It was a great experience for me, going to a small dutch town with a real dutch specialty, robbing Indonesian’s spices, building windmill. LOLOLOL.
Second was the saw mills.
The moving saw was controlled by the wind!
The logs were coming straight from the boats, not that small boat of course, dugh!
Different type of wood sizes.
We went for a late lunch in a very nice restaurant, and seriously I don’t bullshit you, Jerry, it was the best meal I’ve ever had during the trip. You have a good taste. ;) Love the beef. Sadly, I forgot to take photos.
Now that we’re full, we’re heading back to Amsterdam. Hiks, bye Zaanstad!
And it wasn’t a true Dutch experience unless you drink with them!
Our third drink of the day!
Oh I wish we had more time for a free champagne. :p Thank you again for the drink, Jerry! And don’t reply “shut up!” LOL
And then we headed to the most hype area in Amsterdam now, EYE. It’s called EYE because the tiny island does look like an eye. It is actually a movie theatre that screen European, hollywood, asian, even bollywood movies. So Bandi asked for some movie advises from Jerry. Thank you for the list, Jerry! Now I just need to shift my time from playing playstation to watching European movie. LOL
The last Supper. :p
The night then fell, and we watched the sunset from the EYE. Too bad Bandi and I needed to catch our night train to Basel.
It was a very great experience to be sharing trips and meals with a funny wonderful Dutchman. Life itself is funny. What are the odds of meeting a blogger friend on the other side of the globe with nothing in common, but then turned out to be a very wonderful companion. =)
Bandi and I are so grateful for our acquaintances and we hope we could meet you again.
At the end of our day I asked Jerry, “Are all Dutchmen as funny as you?”
“Yes. And we are charming too.”
Haha! I never knew Dutchmen are funny. Yes, Italian guys are sexy, French men are romantic. So the only thing that could make Dutchmen compete with them is the sense of humor. Thankfully they got it. Ha!
After my encounter with Jerry, I did realize that almost all dutchmen have witty sense of humour. The ticket man, the coffee man, even the bus driver, they all suddenly looked very different to me. Not the all-scary colonialist that used to bully the Indonesians, but the warm, relaxed and funny people.
I guess the history did happen and there is nothing we can do about it but we live in the present and thanks for being the cool Dutchman so I’ve gained a new perspective for Dutch people. =)
Writing this post has also refreshed my memory about one important thing in our Europe Trip. We were so blessed with not only wonderful weather, but also wonderful people throughout the journey. I can’t stop counting my blessings.
Cheers,
May, still awed with the beautiful windmills.
Here’s a bonus photo!
Tiap baca postingan barumu pasti deh aku jadi iri berkepanjangan…. haizzzzz….. pengen juga neeeh travelling…!!! >.<
Ayo mulai menabung dan mem-planning yul! =)
Maunya sihhhh…. tapi suami maunya planning buat beli rumah n anak… haizzzz…. T_T
Hahaha yah kalo emang dr awal niat nya begitu nggak boleh ganti2 dong hihihihi :p
Kan prioritas orang beda2 yah yul
Kalo aku sih niatmya travelling….hahahahaa…tapi gak boleh egois…. ya jadi harus ada yg dikorbankan…
Windmill-nya keren ya, traditional yet useful.
true.
Hai, may! Nyasar ke sini dr blog siapa aku lupaa huehehe….
This is a great posting! Dari yg tadinya gak tau apa2 ttg belanda (dan cowok belanda) jd ngerti deh dikit2 :)
Hihihi, nggak bisa dibilang generalisasi lah ya. Nggak semua funny tapi most of them lah. hehe
Beautiful pics! May, Jerry is surely exceptional. He is definitely the coolest, 2.0 grandpa I know. Looks like you had fun with him. He’s a good host. So sorry I couldn’t join you then and that our appointment didn’t go well at Rijksmuseum. Till next visit to the Low Lands.
Til next time, Lor! Believe it or not, I am already planning my next visit. Haha!
Wow, travelbug stroke again! Honeymoon in Europe? ;-)
salah satu cita2 gw… pengen punya foto berlatar belakang kincir angin ituuuuu!!! :)
btw, dunia maya ini emang luar biasa yah efeknya mai, kalau kita bisa mempergunakannya sebaik mungkin bakal banyak hal ajaib yg kita temui, saluuuuuuuuuut deh buat lo mai ;)
Betuuuulll!! Emang bener2 dunia yang ajaib yahhh! Gue seneng banget gara2 blogging bisa dapet banyak temen dari seluruh penjuru dunia!
Oh my..Eh.. what can I say in return??? Well, that I had the nicest, entertaining and interesting couple of people as my company that Sunday:). I’M SERIOUS!!! And, please, don’t forget to drop in when you and Bandi take on the “Woodlands to Woking” adventure :).
Haha you read that! I’ve already discussed it and I think we’re gonna do it. Hahaha! However there will be some changes but I hope I would end up in Europe again! =D
aduhhh may….itu foto windmill nya bikin ngiri…bagusss bener…puas banget yah jalan2 ke europe nyaa…
Iyaaah! Mataku bener2 dimanjain deh. =)
Wat leuk zeg! So you visited Zaanse Schaans yaa? Indeed May, there are a lot of cows once you get out from the center of Amsterdam. They are fat and super cute. Sometimes I jump over to the farm land and pet the animals, like cows or sheep and sometimes pony! (that is not allowed of course..but it happened only twice tho’!) Looked that you had fantastic trip in NL, too bad we didnt see each other :( next trip OK? x
Wat leuk zeg –> Does it mean “what the fuck”? HAHAHAHA
Ahhhh!! Jerry said I can’t touch them when I asked whether I could touch them or not. He said there was a special farm for kids where we can touch the farm animals, but of course I felt insulted because I’m not a kid. LOL
I misinformed you. You can touch them. If you manage to jump over the ditches. And if there’s no bull around on the pasture – or an angry farmer :). So I prefer touching cows on children’s farms as a promise for the future – especially if the actual present time schedule doesn’t allow for detours :).
It’s a promise! Yaiy!!!!!
owwww, ini yang kamu ceritain kemaren itu yaaa May? ketemuan juga ya hehehe
Iyah Non! XD
lucu ya mesin2 di dalem windmill itu digerakkan tenaga angin semua ya. gimana kalo pas lagi gak ada angin ya? atau di sana pasti selalu ada angin sepanjang tahun ya?
seru juga ya ketemuan ama orang yang kenal dari blogging. that’s another good thing about blogging ya… :)
Kalo nggak windy yah mereka rugi produksi lohhh. Sama aja kayak petani yang lahannya nggak kena hujan. Yang namanya rely sama nature memang pasti ada resiko nya.
Mereka juga bisa berhentiin windmill nya kalo lagi gak mau dipake, tinggal diiket aja kain yang dibentangkan di windwill nya.
seru sekali prjalannya.. dan tentunya banyak minumnya :)
btw, aku masih bingung sama yang namanya Jerry, yang di foto paling atas iitu ya?
salam kenal
Hi Tina!
Iyah Jerry itu si grandpa funky yang diatas itu. Hihihi
aih keren.. beliau nampak masih bugar yah.. salam kenal jerry :)
Alrite! I think I know why I can be that “close” to you (even tho we haven’t met in real life yet). We share the same weird interest on…. farm animal!! Hehhh…..
Ah gw mau cari temen blogging dari luar negri juga ah. Biar bisa diajak mblusuk ke tempat-tempat yang very local gitu juga kalo jalan-jalan… hehehe…
Iyahhhh!! I love farm animals they are adorable!!!!
Tapi mawnya yang sapinya gendut2 dan hitam putih kayak di iklan2 susu gituu!
Eh May, gw udah beberapa kali liat yang komenannya si jerry ini.. Cuman ga nyangka klo dia udah grandpa..hehe.. Nyaru sama ava nya..huahaha..
Kerenn bener yah windmill ini.. Udah pas lah memang, ke belanda emang kudu ke tempat ini yah :D
Sama py!! Pertama kali juga gue nggak tau dia grandpa! Pas lama2 baru dia bilang dia 70 years old! Whaaaat!! And he doesn’t like like one!
aaahhh jadi ini colson ituu.. gw selalu liat komen dia di setiap post elo may!
okeh, mulai sekarang gw mau posting pake bahasa enggres biar dpt temen blogger dari pelosok dunia juga! *ga mau kalah* *ambisius*
Buwahahaha! Katanya kalo niatan jelek tuh nggak akan dilancarkan lu tan! Inget dong kebijaksanaan lo akan “kotoran wc”
G ga tau loh klo windmill trnyata dipake buat ini itu. G kira cuma buat ngalirin air ke macem sawah gitu bok. Abis kayanya tiap kali ada gambar windmill pasti ada bebungaan ato pepohonan. Mana kutau trnyata buat motong kayu juga.hahahahha.
Na! Lo lulus sma nya nyogok ya?
(Songong abis padahal gue juga baru tau sampe sana mana pake norak sgala disana xD)
iri is iri ceceeee~
soal Dutchman has god sense of jokes, kayanya emang begitu XD sepupu aku yang orang Belanda kerjaannya bercanda melulu tuh hahahaha
aduhduhduh…aku dengki sekali inih liat poto potonyaaa…
keren banget ituh windmill nya kayak yang suka dipajang di postcard2 gitu yah May :)
And I think it’s gonna be a new trend…when someone say thank you…you should say : SHUT UP!..hihihi…
Unyu sekali sih si Jerry inih :)
HWahahaha iya dia unyu banget. Gue ketawa2 melulu pergi sama dia sampe gue ga tau lagi mana serius mana bercanda. T.T
ihhh komen gw ternyata kaga masuk kemaren huhuhu.
eniweiiiiiii… gw baru tau lo isinya windmill itu macem2. gw pikir itu simply bangunan aja tanpa ada fungsi apa2 dalemnya haha. *apa gw ga dengerin pas sekolah ya LOL
ahh.. beautiful places.. you are so lucky, you know… gw juga ikutan hepi baca ceritanya :)
Lo pasti lulus SD nyogok deh. ckckckc. anak2 muda jaman sekarang… mau jadi apa masa depan bangsa ini…
Maaf ibu guru, waktu SD saya kebanyakan main jadi ga perhatiin ibu guru. Saya menyesal. *tertunduk malu
wow.. everything look beautiful
baru kali ini gue liat daleman-nya a Windmill…..gede juga ya…
View luarnya keren banget!!!
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