Ahhh, the wonders of living in another country.  Here is our list of things you must experience if you live in the Netherlands, and if you happen to be traveling through and the time is ripe, seize the day! 

1. How the Dutch Treat the Disabled
2. Dutch Museums
3. Puccini Chocolates of Amsterdam
4. TEFAF of Maastricht
5. Keukenhof
6. Kinder Kook Café of Amsterdam
7. Olie bollen
8. The Arrival of Sinterklaas
9. Traffic signage
10. For-pay, “public” toilets!

Honorable Mentions:

1) Salmonella Free Eggs
2) Lichtjes route in Eindhoven
3) Customized postage stamps
4) Bies Gallery, Eindhoven

How the Dutch Treat the Disabled
The Dutch seem to be relentless in seeing that each disabled person is given the tools with which to live daily life.  At the soccer stadiums, disabled people sit on the front lines.  On the streets, they use all manner of vehicles on the bike path.  In Eindhoven, we continue to be amazed by a man who, each afternoon, takes out his motorized gurney.  He has a mirror placed over his head so that he can see the road ahead of him, and he drives around town lying flat on his back.  You’ve got to love a country that makes this possible.

Dutch Museums
Is it possible that a country as small as the Netherlands could have so many fabulous museums?  If you are even vaguely interested in the topic, these are worth driving well out of your way.    And this is just a short list; there are many, many others.

Amsterdam:
the Rijksmuseum (even under construction!)
the Van Gogh Museum
the Anne Frank House

Otterlo:
The Kroller Muller Museum

Overloon:           
The Nationaal Oorlogs en Verzetsmuseum - War and Remembrance Museum

Haarlem:           
The Frans Hals Museum

Leiden:           
The Naturalis Museum - Museum of Natural History

Utrecht:
Van Spelklok tot Pierement Museum - You’ve got to see this to believe it.

Puccini Chocolates
The secret is out and the best chocolate in the world comes from… Amsterdam.  Puccini Chocolates:two stores, one near the Anne Frank House and the other near the Muziekplein sell handmade chocolates in flavors such as prune, black pepper, thyme, and less original cinnamon, coffee, marzipan, gianduia and other liqueurs. We have friends send us care packages from Amsterdam if we go through withdrawal.  Hey, if you don’t want to take our word for it, check out the reviews at: http://www.hiptravelguide.com/amsterdam/php/reviews-121.html

TEFAF
If you like fine antiques, it would be worth scheduling a trip to the Netherlands around this event.  The annual international European antique fair held for one week in March in Maastricht is a thoroughly entertaining, temporary exhibition of museum quality pieces.  Don’t plan to buy anything; just be amazed that these delightful paintings, old masters, exquisite jewelry, and beautiful furnishings are still available for SOMEONE to buy.  If you like antiques, the catalog is a who’s who of antique dealers that can afford to get to Maastricht.  For lunch try to make table reservations in advance through phone numbers at the website.  From elsewhere, you can take the train to the Maastricht station and catch a bus quite easily to the exhibition hall.

Keukenhof
The most fabulous springtime gardens, on a par with the Cherry Blossom Festival in Tokyo.  End of March to end of May.  Check the website to see what’s “showing,” but plan to spend about three hours, including a short coffee or lunch.  Near Leiden.  Hard to get to from the south of Holland and devilish traffic on the weekends, but worth it.

KinderKookKafe
This restaurant is for people who have kids, and it’s written up in all the guidebooks.  The trouble is getting a reservation, but it would be worth rearranging a trip with children in order to get into this restaurant.  The concept is simple but incredible: drop your kids off for about two hours, return and eat a meal that they prepared themselves.  The kids get to wear chef’s hats and take your drink order.  Eight year olds can prepare dinner; five and up can prepare a high tea.  Pricing is extremely inexpensive given the combination of “daycare,” and interactive family entertainment, and the comfort food is pretty good, too!  Near the Muziekplein.

Olie Bollen (O-lee-BOLL-uh)
Sometime in late November, vendors open stands selling fried dough balls.  Sounds like a recipe for overeating during the holidays?  Well, then show some restraint.  Some are filled with apples, others with raisins (skip the banana filling, which can be synthetic).  In the cold, dreary, dark, rainy winter that is the Netherlands, an olie bollen can light up your insides.

The Arrival of Sinterklaas
Will spare you the details of the bishop and his blackfaced assistants, but you’ve got to love a country that actually televises his arrival.  Sinterklaas arrives by boat three weeks before the big day, December 5 (gifts delivered that night), but somehow the children’s news network has scooped the other stations by getting a cameraman on board his ship.  And, if it’s on TV, it must be real, right?  On various weekends after that, he “arrives” again in different towns and villages, either by boat or on horse.  Ask the the local Dutch where and when this superstar will be arriving in your town or neighborhood because this information is hard to come by outside of a Dutch newspaper.

Traffic Signage
Sure, just like everywhere else, you have to know whether Maastricht is south and Venlo is east, but the traffic signage in the Netherlands is abundantly clear.  Outside most towns and major cities as well, they’ve put a little roadmap sign and a couple parking spaces next to it, so you can just jump out and check your location.  In addition, they’ve done a great job naming streets like “kerkstraat,” which means church street.   So, if you need to find a shop near Church Street in Heusden, find Heusden on a map, follow roadsigns until you get there.  Jump out and look at the roadmap sign  and then look into the sky for the church spire.  Note that compliments about traffic signage do not apply to detours, of which there are far too many, and which are very badly signed.

For-pay, “Public” Toilets
Hey, here’s an idea.  Put low wage earners to work.  Have them guard and clean public toilets.  Make public toilets safe and clean.  Why doesn’t the United States do this?  Of course, this could account for why you see men peeing along the side of the highway, but the reality is that the Dutch deserve real kudos for making nasty public toilets a thing of the past.