UPDATED 02/05/2025 The unsuspected Haarlem Red Light District towards the end of this street at Begijnhof. It is a small cluster of operations around Waalse Kerk Haarlem or Walloon Church Haarlem. Yes, a real church! The undistinguished pink building with red lanterns hanging outside is Het Poortje, a brothel in…
Tag: free things to do

Mozes en Aäronkerk
Every time I go shopping for bric-a-brac at Amsterdam’s oldest flea market on Waterlooplein / Waterloo Square, I would always look up and wonder about this imposing two identical 30-meter-high towers corner building called Mozes en Aäronkerk / Moses and Aaron Church. It is unmistakably one of the iconic buildings…

Kerk De Papegaai | The Parrot
Nestled between the shops on Kalverstraat, Amsterdam’s the busiest shopping street … A church with a neo-gothic facade is the HH. Petrus and Paulus Church, better known as “The Parrot” (Dutch: De Papegaai). A striking façade but most people walk right past it. According to the church website, there has…

King Willem of NL & LU
I have always noticed this bronze statue whenever I walk past the Binnenhof complex. Some noble guy sitting on a high horse on the Buitenhof, overlooking the Hofvijver lake, in the centre of The Hague. I never give it much thought. A week later when I was visiting Luxembourg, I…

Drielandenpunt
Drielandenpunt in Dutch means three-border-point or three-country-point or Dreiländereck (“Three-Country Corner”) in German, or Trois Frontières (“Three Borders”) in French. I visited three countries in three seconds! Less if I run 🙂 Right here at Drielandenpunt in Vaals (province of Limburg), the borders of the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. There are no river dividing…

Best McDonald’s with a view!
McDonald’s Airport Schiphol McDrive Noord 📍Loevesteinse Randweg 200, 1118 EL Schiphol. Like a child, I was so excited to see these countless planes land again and again. I can see why the locals and fanatics are gathering here for hours just to plane spotting. My McDonald’s chicken nuggets never tasted…