ENGLISH

So many topics to write down yet so little time to do so, so I will just write the key points on this post. We will see though whether I can be as concise as I would like or not, hahaha

Picking up my brother

I told you earlier this month that my brother is visiting me in Europe for Christmas break this year. And so, he arrived in Europe on Monday morning. He caught a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur (so he had to go from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur first) to Amsterdam, the MH 16 flight on a Boeing 777-200ER flight.

This flight was scheduled to arrive at Schiphol at 6:35. Yes, so early!! As a good brother, of course I was going to pick him up. He already told me the day before that his flight was somehow delayed as he boarded the plane a little bit (about 40 minutes) late. To get to Schiphol, I decided to take the 6:05 Intercity from Delft (I got up at 3:45 that morning. I don’t know, it is a bit weird though that I always get up too soon when I try to get to bed a bit earlier, like this time) and I arrived at Schiphol at around 6:45. There, I found out that his flight was indeed late and would land at, approximately, 7:45!!

Well, in a way, it was also my fault though as when I left my apartment, his flight was still above Romania. How did I know? Well, I used the online flight radar (http://www.flightradar24.com/) and at that time, it was like this:

So, yeah…

I was thinking of going to the Panorama Terrace. However, at that time, it was still closed because it was still too early (during winter, it was opened at 9 AM). And so I just waited there in front of the arrival gate, hahaha. Long story short, at 7:41 AM, his flight landed and at 8:10 AM, he finally got off the arrival area.

Zaanse Schans and Amsterdam

After checking in at his hotel, our first destination was the Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans is a place north to Amsterdam where we can see some old-fashioned windmills. Yes, it is a little bit like Kinderdijk, which I already visited some months ago, but the windmills are a little bit different. And I had never been to Zaanse Schans before, so why not?

We took a public bus ride to get there. Long story short, we arrived in Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans was a very nice place. Yes, so Dutch, right? I liked it a little bit more than Kinderdijk: even though in Kinderdijk there were more windmills but in a way, Zaanse Schans offered a little bit more as there was a (very tiny) cheese-making exhibition near there. So it wasn’t only about the windmills, though the windmills were definitely the main attraction.

Anyway, after spending about 40 minutes there, we decided to go back to Amsterdam. And so we spent the rest of the day exploring Amsterdam, mostly on foot, huahaha . We had lunch and dinner there, and went back to his hotel at around 19:00.

Pempek and Stuffs

I went back to my apartment that evening bringing a lot of stuffs for me that my brother brought from Indonesia. One of those stuffs was: pempek!! Yay!! Finally I could eat pempek after all this time in Europe!! Hahahaha Well, I mean, actually it wouldn’t be that impossible to find someone who sells pempek here in the Netherlands (there are a lot of Indonesian living here anyway), but so far I haven’t got the urge to look for it myself.

He brought a lot of other stuffs as well, like fried chicken from Tojoyo (one of my favorite restaurants in Yogyakarta), my grandma’s nasi goreng (fried rice) sauce, sausage from Bali, etc. Nice!!

Den Haag and Scheveningen

Today, we went to Den Haag and Scheveningen. Well, because today is the first Christmas Day (December 25th), most shops were closed the whole day. So Den Haag was kinda dull. Later in the afternoon, we decided to go to Scheveningen. Surprisingly, Scheveningen was much more alive than the Den Haag city center!! There were a lot of people there (enjoying their off day with their family or loved ones or friends, mostly)! And it was so windy!!

Later on that night, we had dinner at my apartment in Delft. Now, he is already back in his hotel in Amsterdam. I am writing this post and after this I will have to pack for my year end trip which will start tomorrow!! hahaha

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ada banyak sekali topik yang ingin kutulis tetapi hanya ada sedikit sekali waktu untuk itu. Jadi kayaknya aku akan menulis yang inti-intinya saja deh di posting ini. Kita lihat saja apakah aku bisa seringkas yang kuinginkan atau tidak, hahaha

Menjemput adikku

Seperti yang kubilang awal bulan ini, adikku akan berkunjung ke Eropa dalam rangka liburan Natal tahun ini. Dan jadilah ia tiba di Eropa di hari Senin pagi kemarin. Ia naik penerbangannya Malaysia Airlines dari Kuala Lumpur (jadi sebelumnya ia harus terbang dari Jakarta ke Kuala Lumpur dulu) ke Amsterdam, dengan penerbangan MH 16 di pesawat Boeing 777-200ER.

Penerbangan ini dijadwalkan tiba di Schiphol jam 6:35 Iya, pagi banget!! Sebagai saudara yang baik, tentu saja aku akan menjemputnya dong. Ia sudah memberi-tahuku sih di waktu keberangkatannya itu bahwa penerbangannya agak terlambat karena boarding-nya agak (sekitar 40 menit) terlambat. Nah, untuk ke Schiphol, aku memutuskan untuk naik Intercity jam 6:05 dari Delft (aku bangun jam 3:45 pagi itu. Entah kenapa ya, aneh deh, aku selalu bangun terlalu awal ketika aku mencoba untuk tidur lebih awal, seperti waktu ini) dan tiba di Schiphol sekitar jam 6:45. Disana, aku mendapatkan informasi bahwa penerbangannya beneran terlambat dong, dan baru akan mendarat, diperkirakan, jam 7:45!! 

Yah, di satu sisi, salahku juga sih soalnya ketika aku berangkat dari apartemenku, pesawatnya kan masih di atasnya Romania. Eh, kok aku tahu? Yah, aku menggunakan radar penerbangan online dong (http://www.flightradar24.com/) dan waktu itu, kayak gini deh:

Ya gitu deh…

Awalnya aku berencana untuk jalan-jalan di Panorama Terrace. Namun, waktu itu terasnya masih ditutup karena masih terlalu pagi (di musim dingin, baru dibuka jam 9 pagi). Dan jadilah aku menunggu gitu di depan gerbang kedatangannya, hahaha. Singkat cerita, jam 7:41 pagi pesawatnya mendarat dan jam 8:10 pagi, ia akhirnya keluar dari area kedatangannya itu.

Zaanse Schans dan Amsterdam

Setelah ia check-in di hotelnya, tujuan pertama kami adalah Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans adalah sebuah tempat di utaranya Amsterdam dimana disana terdapat beberapa kincir angin kuno. Nah, Belanda banget kan?? Iya sih, memang agak mirip-mirip Kinderdijk gitu, yang pernah kukunjungi beberapa bulan yang lalu juga, tapi kincir anginnya kan agak berbeda. Dan toh aku belum pernah ke Zaanse Schans juga, jadi kenapa tidak?

Kami naik bus umum untuk kesana. Singkat cerita, tibalah kami di Zaanse Schans. Zaanse Schans keren loh. Aku menyukainya sedikit lebih daripada Kinderdijk deh: walaupun di Kinderdijk ada lebih banyak kincir angin tetapi, di satu sisi, Zaanse Schans menawarkan lebih juga karena ada pameran pembuatan keju (kecil) gitu disana. Jadi nggak cuma kincir angin aja gitu, walaupun tentu saja atraksi utamanya ya kincir anginnya itu ya.

Anyway, setelah menghabiskan waktu selama sekitar 40 menit disana, kami memutuskan untuk kembali ke Amsterdam. Sisa hari itu kami habiskan di Amsterdam deh, dan kebanyakan jalan kaki loh, huahaha . Kami makan siang dan malam disana, dan kembali ke hotelnya adikku sekitar jam 19:00.

Pempek dan Barang-barang

Aku kembali ke apartemenku malam ini dengan membawa banyak barang yang dibawakan adikku dari Indonesia. Salah satu dari barang-barang itu adalah: pempek!! Yay!! Akhirnya aku bisa makan pempek juga setelah selama ini di Eropa!! Hahahaha Eh, maksudku sebenarnya bukannya nggak mungkin gitu ya mencari seseorang yang jualan pempek di Belanda (kan ada banyak orang Indonesia disini juga), tapi sejauh ini kan aku masih belum ngidam-ngidam amat sampai harus mencari-cari sendiri gitu.

Ia juga membawakanku barang-barang lain juga, kayak ayam gorengnya Tojoyo (satu restoran favoritku di Yogyakarta), bumbu nasi goreng omaku, sosis dari Bali, dll. Yeah!!  :D

Den Haag dan Scheveningen

Hari ini, kami pergi ke Den Haag dan Scheveningen. Yah, karena hari ini adalah hari Natal pertama (25 Desember), kebanyakan tutup deh sepanjang hari. Jadi ya Den Haag agak membosankan gitu. Siangnya, kami memutuskan untuk pergi ke Scheveningen. Yang mengejutkan, ternyata Scheveningen malah lebih hidup loh daripada pusat kotanya Den Haag!! Ada banyak banget orang (yang lagi menikmati liburan dengan keluarga atau teman, kebanyakan) disana! Dan berangin banget dah cuacanya!!

Malamnya, kami makan malam di apartemenku di Delft. Sekarang, dia sudah kembali ke hotelnya di Amsterdam. Aku menulis posting ini dan setelah ini aku harus sibuk packing untuk acara jalan-jalan akhir tahunku yang dimulai besok nih!! hahaha