Kasteel De Haar

Kasteel De Haar

We left the campground in the morning and went to Kasteel De Haar before checking into new hotel in Amsterdam. This castle is HUGE and very extravagant. It was built by a spoiled, wealthy baron who married into money and wanted to upstage is wealthy in-laws. He spared no expense and this was frowned upon by the Dutch, who favor a more common, practical style of living. This family lived more lavishly than even the Queen and royals here in Holland. Of course you cannot take any pictures inside the castle, I hate that. Trust me when I tell you it was nuts! The castle is even surrounded by a moat. Still to this day, every September the baron and his family come to vacation at the castle and they invite all kinds of distinguished guests. Roger Moore and Bridget Bardot have been invited and entertained here among many other famous and political figures. Many royals from around the world are invited, but we learned that Dutch royals and rich never attend because they still snub this family’s lavish living quarters. The tour was very interesting and Colin was pretty well behaved. He was rewarded afterwards with a new crown, shield and sword from the gift shop, he loves to pretend to be a knight.
We checked into our hotel and then caught the train into the city’s central station. We found Starbucks and then wandered around. Amsterdam is a totally different place, very relaxed and laid back, bikes everywhere and just about everyone speaks and understands English. We found ourselves on the outskirts of the red light district and had to laugh at some of the window displays selling “toys.” Colin was totally oblivious to the windows and was far more interested in looking for pigeons to chase. We got out of the super touristy area and found a Dutch restaurant that was delicious. I had a steak with some mushroom cream sauce stuff on it and Shelby had salmon and Colin did too. We had Colin pee before leaving the restaurant and then walked to the nearest tram stop on the line that ran back out to our hotel. Right before the train was due to arrive, Colin said he had to pee. With no places around I found him a corner really quick, pulled down his pants and he then refused to pee. Said he couldn’t go and as all this was happening our train came and went and we missed it. Colin got fussed at a bit for crying wolf and causing us to miss the train. The next train didn’t come by for another 10 minutes so we just started walking in the direction of the next station. We got there and sat for a few minutes waiting on the train and of course Colin said he had to pee. Again. So this time Shelby took him off to find a spot and wouldn’t you know while they were gone our train came and went. AGAIN. When they came back I told Shel to just throw the kid in the river because I was about to kill him! So off we went walking again towards the next train stop since we had at least another ten minutes to kill. FINALLY we caught the train and headed back to the hotel.