Our mini tour around Netherlands.

Leiden

         Last Thursday my friend Melike came to me to Maastricht from Groningen(the most northern part of Netherlands) and we decided to travel around the country and see the differences and similarities between cities of the country. It was very interesting to have a trip by train every morning and came home late night. Actually it was also cheaper to do so. We bought one day ticket(dagcard) that provided us a chance to travel 24 hours wherever we want. It is only 16 euros round trip.First day we went to Rotterdam, did some shopping there. It is a modern city, because it has been destroyed during the Second World War and then has been rebuilt. The city is covered with beautiful bridges; the longest one is Erasmus bridge. Next to the river you can see harbors and flags of different countries that make the total population of Rotterdam. It was little bit rainy, but fun to walk around and enjoy the sunshine that was flowing through the clouds. I really really enjoyed time there, while we were sitting in the terrace of LA PLACE cafe and having our mint tea with cakes. The view from there was great, i was lost between huge buildings, which is too far from the buildings that are in Maastricht.Next morning we decided to go to The Hague. We went to The museum of Panorama Mesdag. It was a cool place; round pictre in 3-4-5 dimensions. I think that was the best huge, long image, which could explain the beauty of whatever, in this case, the Hague`s panorama. Then we had visited Madurodam, where we saw a mini model of the Netherlands` cities, rivers etc. It was very interesting , too real and too small at the same time.We was taking pictures and was trying to find our cities- Groningen and Maastricht. We missed Turkish food so much! That's why, we had some "simits" in SIMIT SARAYI and tasty turkish food for dinner. It is easy to find Tukish food both in Rotterdam and The Hague. Unfortunately, it is not like this in Maastricht.  My impressions about The Hague or its another name-Den Haag  are very good. Because it is a city which has a sea, rivers, it is modern that make it so beautiful. The Hague is the city where the ministry and presidency of the country are.Very important city, by the way :)We had a free time in the evening, so we decided to see Leiden as well. It is too close to the Hague; only 16 minutes by train. I can not say that is was a city; it was a typical Holland village, with tulips, windmill in the center with small beer pubs and bars, bridges and lakes. I think it was the best place I have ever been in Netherlands that could really indicate the natural life and symbols of Netherlands. Maybe it seemed to me like this, because I stood there only 1 and a half hours. But maybe not..Return to Maastricht was late. But we also had fun at night partying in my dorm.... it was relaxing with good music and our drinks.  On Sunday we went to Utrecht, it is 2 hours away from Maastricht. The city is something between with Amsterdam and Maastricht. It is not modern, it is not so ancient. It has lots of small and large bridges over the canals. Boat tour, cafes around the bridges and Dome in the center. Because it was Sunday, everywhere was closed. We could not do any shopping, but we could walk around the city and feel the smell of the nature after the rain. Although walking in the city was adorable, the pictures that I took there were not the same with the atmosphere of the city in reality. That is strange... But I think sometimes it happen. You can enjoy the city, but pictures that remain after, are not giving you the same energy. By the way, the ice-cream that we ate in the center of the city was awful. To be honest, I am trying to forget the taste of that ice-cream, it is hard :) We had the last dinner of our trip together in the restaurant; it was a chicken with peanut sauce and vegetables. From there we went back to our homes. As the Utrecht is in the center of  Holland, it took 2 hours for both of us to get home. She went to the North part, I went to South...

Ermus Brigde-Rotterdam

Rotterdam-Harbor

Rotterdam

Mdurodam- little Netherlands

Madurodam- The Hague

Utrecht

One day in Liege

                                                           A Random weekend day !


    We decided to go to Liege yesterday in the evening with Irem while we were having a dinner together. It is only 30 minutes by train, but another country, totally different city with french speaker citizens! That is really strange to feel the differences between two cities which are so close in location, but too different inside. In Holland I used to talk to people in english, and all of them know English well... But in Belgium however, their language -french is too different from English that makes a real trouble to switch their accent into english.. whatever. It was a wonderful day...
We went by 10am train and enjoyed the warm morning sun. It is the third largest city in Belgium. We have been in some shops and tried some clothes, but still I couldn`t find what I want! it was nice to see different brands while walking in the city center. The best thing there was stairs that were taking you to the top of the hills. Actually before I was thinking that Belgium does not have hills, because in Holland there is nothing even looking like a hill. Liege surprised me with it`s houses located in the top of hills. The Panorama from there was awesome!!  
We had a waffle with cream, good coffee, ice-cream and Pizza for dinner, I guess I got not less than 2 kilos! ooo, the scary thing was that we were close to missing the last train tonight.But  thanks to the young family, they took us to the station in Liege. They were too kind, even if we couldn`t communicate with them in English they was trying to understand us. They asked, `are you from London?` haha, they really made our day, with their kindness and with their biggest help. We said more than twice `merci beaucoup` to them! 
Today is my best friend`s birthday! I wish I were with her, but unfortunately.... Some friends are parts of us, we rarely realize it, but they have a big impact on us,on our lives and sure we have on theirs.. :)
Thanks for your existence Nemkam! Thanks for being my closest and for making my life so meaningful! Happiest to have YOU in my life! I know she loves tulips as well, so took a few pictures of tulips thinking about her :)

Stairs

Central Station

Prague during Easter

                                       My trip to Praha

        My first period in Maastricht ended up, and for the Easter break I went to Prague. One of the exams was not so well, so there is a fear to fail the course, whatever! Holiday was short, but really nice!

First of all, I saw my friend Narmina, she came to Prague from Switzerland with her friend, and we stood there at her friend`s,  Nargiz`s place. So we were 4 girls. Although it was the first time I met two of them, I felt myself too relaxed with them. It seemed like we know each other for years... weird! I realized how much I missed Nara! it was a great opportunity -to travel a new country and meet with your best friend. This was enough to make the holiday colorful and happyy. Obviously, I didn`t want to come back at the end. 
I went to Prague from Rotterdam and I had an hour there to walk around. Rotterdam is a nice city to visit, it is different from Amterdam and Maastricht. I`m planning actually during these two weeks to make a tour in Holland... and feel differences between cities. We`ll see. 

The flight was only one hour, cheap and comfortable. They was waiting for me in the airport. It was surprising because they came to take me with car. It was so cool! we experienced an adrenaline when we jumped to the wide and  crowded street, from the narrow road across. We went to the city center, meet with some friends there, eat and drink something. Next day we went to Palladium- shopping center located in the center: we had a yummy chocolate fountain with some fruits, then we went to the Clock tower, the view from the tower was awesome, i took some pictures of the Clock square and the city.  I liked Charles Bridge, it seemed like the Bridge is the most important place of entertainment for tourists; painters were drawing caricatures, panoramic pictures, selling them and some other souvenirs. 

"Praha" is a cheap city, money currency is Czech Koruna. Average price for the good dinner is approximately 150-200 korunas, which is equal to 6-8 euros ( the mystery is that is seems more when you see hundreds, but it is only some euros) 

The language sounds close to Russian, but different enough.  But colors for ex, are almost the same (zenely, cherny-green, black).The funniest word was `pozor`, which means `attention` in Czech and `disgrace` in Russian.

I loved our walking around the city, joking and chatting with guys, singing karaoke whole night, spending time freely and entertaining. I really had fun these few days. Nara and her friend moved back a day before me, and we went with Nargiz to the Zoo-great place to visit in Prague, actually it is the best in the whole Europe, haven`t known it before. Very big territory and variety of animals! The weather was great so we could have a chance to enjoy the sun, see animals while walking in the park. Angelina Jolie has been there, we saw some of her photos with children.

The last night in Prague I tried `trdelnik` with Nargiz. It is typically Czech bakery food. I have seen it in one of the Turkish series, Kuzey Guney as if they became rich after bringing this thing into the Turkish market. In Prague they also put nutella inside and it tastes so good!

Coming back after the great holiday, staying home alone was too boring and sad. However, then I just tried to do something in order to destroy my bad mood. I went out to run around. I love jogging, it blows off steam and makes me energetic. 

Today we meet with one of my friends from Maastricht, and talked about our trips. She spent it in Italy. It was nice to listen to her story and adventures. I somehow refresh my lovely memories about my Italy trip 3 years ago...

Happy to be where I am now!

Clock Tower

The view from the Clock Tower to the square

Clock square

 Dancing house (why dancing don`t know)

  Zoo

Trdelnik

The view from the Charles Bridge