Sept 18: Day 8 - Efteling Day 1: Magic Ride
I was so tired this morning I gave up on my goal of maximizing my time at Efteling and slept in just a little, grabbed a shower to try to wake up, packed and decided to grab an Uber to the train/bus station rather than hike the 40 minutes into town with my luggage. The Uber was €22 just for that, and would've been double to go to Efteling, so I opted to just get to the bus station. It was funny because when I shared with the driver that I was going to Efteling he said that he could take me there, and wondered why I didn't book that, but yeah, I knew how much that would've run me and it didn't seem worth it! The drop off was unfortunately on the other side of the train station, so I had to walk through and then down the street a bit to the bus stop.
I had messaged Katja and we managed to coordinate meeting at the bus stop just in time for the bus to Efteling. Once we got there, we headed towards the very impressive gates! I stopped at an info desk to ask about luggage, and they said they could hold it for me, but my hotel was on the opposite end of the park, so it would be more convenient to check in and drop it off there instead.
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| At the Efteling Gates with Katja |
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Pardoes the Jester at the Entrance
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We ended up going ahead and entering the park with all my bags, pulling up the app to see the map, and walking through towards my hotel. It was a long walk, but scenic; it's a very attractive park and we saw several nice rides to try later, especially the showcase Symbolica trackless dark ride in the big castle! Efteling is a theme park that is larger and 3 years older than Disneyland, based on an original fairy tale theme (not the Disney-fied versions). It's beautifully designed and has its own set of first class unique rides and attractions, including many dark rides and just a few thrill rides. Basically the type of theme park that appeals to me, since my motion sickness can't handle most thrill rides, and many parks seem to focus heavily on them, with most other rides being for children and little in between. This is one of the things I love about Disney parks, and would come to love about Efteling too! Even more appealing, although they had their own mascot characters (such as Pardoes the jester), they felt more original since the rides are based in public domain fairy tales, rather than Disney IPs.
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| The ducks of Efteling! |
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| With Katja at Efteling |
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| Pardoes the Magic Jester |
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| Efteling has their own castle (with the Symbolica ride) |
The exit to reach the Efteling Hotel was past a restaurant on the far end of the park, through a playground and then out a gate and a brief walk on a trail and across a parking lot. The hotel building itself was gorgeous, looks a little like a magical castle and it's surrounded by a moat! I checked in at the front desk and they said while the room wouldn't be ready until after 3, I could use the app as a digital key to get into the luggage storage room and drop my bags myself, so I unburdened myself and we headed back into the park.
We decided to eat first, since it was now lunchtime, and ended up checking out the nearby restaurant, which turned out to be a cafeteria. The food wasn't very exciting. I got a smoothie, a gyro-like wrap and fries, but the only dips available were ketchup or mayo. I'm not a fan of either, but decided to give the mayo a try since it's what they prefer here, and I do like aioli after all, maybe their mayo is different than what I’m familiar with. It was an extra €1, and sadly after a few tastes I found what I already know… I'm not a fan of mayonnaise. I ended up returning to get a pumpkin soup (it wasn’t ready the first time I went through), just to have a little something else to eat.
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| Lunch, such as it was |
We started out with riding Symbolica, which is the highlight of the park, and thankfully had only a 25 minute wait time, I don’t think it was even a fraction of that time, the line was really quick. It was also well themed, much like Disney queues where the line is a big part of the ride experience, although the pre-show animatronics mainly speak Dutch. A wizard splits a staircase in two, and the line then goes through the new opening. You eventually choose one of three different quests, Music, Hero, and Treasure, and the line splits into three. This sends you down a slightly different version of the ride based on your selection. We chose Music, since it’s been the theme of the weekend. This is a trackless dark ride through a magical castle, and it’s really well done, with fairies, a ball where the ride vehicles dance around the room, a feast where you visit the royal court, a visit to a whale behind glass which starts cracking and water drips on you as you are whisked away, and many magical sights. There is occasionally some interaction by pressing the button at the front of your ride vehicle, although our first time through we sat in back. The music part was basically a room with some instruments that play when you press the buttons. When the ride was over, we decided the line was short enough that we’d go again, and picked a second route (Hero), this time also requesting to sit in front. This route ended up with two knights fighting each other.
Since I would have two days at the park, and Katja only had this one, I gave her priority on choosing the rides she wanted to try out. Neither of us were interested in the thrill rides, so this worked out pretty well. We ended up doing the other dark rides that had short lines, and decided that the one semi-thrilling ride we’d try would be the water coaster “De Vliegende Hollander” (The Flying Dutchman). Leading up to this we tried the family coaster “Max and Moritz” which has no drops, but is just a fast race around a track - it actually had two tracks to choose from, and it goes around a second time zooming through the station and going even faster! It was fun and not too extreme for me; I did take a bonine before the ride just in case I got any motion sickness. Katja wanted to try the water rapids ride; I was a bit apprehensive since I didn’t really want to get too wet, but it was warm out and we’d be doing the water coaster next which has a splashdown at the end, so decided to go for it. The ride was pretty fun, but I did end up getting my shirt drenched. De Vliegende Hollander had a really cool line theme, it felt like you were actually going through a pirate town and to the dock, and then boarding a boat. The first half of the ride is incredibly atmospheric, it’s indoors and you’re sailing through fog and darkness, only for lightning to strike and reveal monsters all around you. Suddenly you go through a small drop, and then up the lift hill, and then doors open up and you’re outside and go down a longer drop and curve around a coaster track, before coming to the final “splashdown” drop. This doesn’t get you too wet, as most of the water splashes away from you. We both felt accomplished, and agreed that this ride was really great, but also right at our limits for thrills. As awesome as everyone says the “Baron 1898” is, that one has a complete 90 degree drop straight down, and goes upside down several times, and just looks way too intense.
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| Nope, not doing Baron 1898 |
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| A model trainset |
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| Walking through the fairy-tale village |
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| From my new house |
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| I'm far too tall for this doorway |
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| Boarding the Flying Dutchman ride |
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| Quite wet from the Piranha rapids ride |
As we were walking to the Droomvlucht dark ride, which we hadn’t done yet due to longer lines earlier, it started to rain. At first it was light, but then it started coming down harder, and I regretted checking my umbrella with my luggage, but thankfully Katja had one, and we did our best to huddle under it and run towards the restaurant we had lunch at for shelter, since it was nearby. As soon as we got inside, the skies truly opened, and rain pounded down as hard as anything; we would’ve gotten really drenched!
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| The park is getting very wet too |
Although it was still raining, we decided during a relative lull to make a mad dash to the Carnival Ride. This one was older and not really a highlight, but it was still something to do (it resembles “A Small World After All” in many ways, but more caricaturized.) It finally stopped raining, and we got to the monorail ride above the little village just when it reopened, and went all by ourselves! Had to wipe the wet seats down before we went, but it was a pleasant little ride with a cool view of the fairy-tale village below. After this we walked through the park museum, and lastly went on the Mad House (Villa Volta) ride where there is a long story told by animatronics entirely in Dutch, and then a room that appears to spin around you. Finally we made our dinner reservation at the pancake restaurant for classic Dutch-style pancakes. Of course I had to have fresh mint tea again!
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| In the museum |
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| Villa Volta |
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| Pancake Restaurant |
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| Fresh Mint Tea is becoming my go-to drink |
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| Delicious Savory pancakes |
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| Crepes dessert |
Once I said farewell to Katja at the main gate, I made my way through the now empty park to the other side where my hotel was. It was eerie how empty everything was at this point! I got to my room, which had cute little flourishes in the theming (the cat shaped lamp, the little mouse sculpture hiding in a corner, and so forth). I collapsed and practically passed out right away; completely drained. (I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was starting to come down with Covid but still asymptomatic at this point! And I’ll say this for Covid; it saps your energy enough that falling asleep is really quick!)
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| Saying Farewell to Katja |
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| Mimicking Pardoes |
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| Beautiful in the dusk, heading back to my hotel as the park was closing |
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| The Efteling Hotel |
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| As opposed to the meaner check in ;-) |
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| My Room |
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| Mouse! |
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| Kitty Lamp |
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| Goodnight! |
Sept 19: Day 9 - Efteling Day 2: Carried By The Wind
I woke up excited for my second Efteling day. At a park like this, it’s really nice to have that extra day to ensure you really take everything in properly without feeling like you need to rush around or miss out on anything; and having the chance to enjoy the highlights a second time. I was joined this time by Maggie (also American) and Elan (from Spain) from the Ayreon group. This was a windy day, but thankfully there was no rain.
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| With Margaret and Elan |
Maggie and Elan were concerned that dark rides would mean they were scary or intense, but I assured them they weren’t. We went on Symbolica, and I was able to do the final path this time around. We grabbed stroopwafels and hot chocolate and walked through the fairytale forest a bit, and we soon met up with 2 of their friends from Germany, Sandra and her boyfriend (who wishes not to be shared on social media), before exploring more of the fairytale forest. There was a parrot animatronic that records a short clip of you speaking and after a delay repeats it back to you, and I figured out that the timing worked perfectly for the chorus of “The Age Of Shadows”! Alas my friends didn’t want to join in on the other lines in the verse.
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| Having fresh Stroopwafels! |
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| Long neck guy |
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| A house fit for a smurf? |
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| The little mermaid as Disney would never show her |
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| They convinced me to |
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| Rapunzel |
We rode on the Pagoda, which goes up on a crane-style arm incredibly high for spectular views where you can see the entire park! I could spot my hotel in the distance! Then we took the boat ride and enjoyed a leisurely ride around the lake, and saw many ducks and swans as we went. We finished just in time for lunch reservations at the pancake restaurant.
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| The pagoda |
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| Views from above the park (that's my hotel in the distance!) |
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| Ducks! |
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| On the boat ride |
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| Saying hello |
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| Another view of the pagoda |
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| Pancakes Menu |
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| At the pancake restaurant for lunch! |
From here we went on the other dark rides, they convinced me to again go on the Piranha water rapids, where I managed to get thoroughly soaked at the end as my side of the raft kept rotating directly under the waterfalls! We went on the racing coaster Moritz side, which goes on two laps, the second time going faster, but is not too extreme for me. From there we went on the Flying dutchman water coaster, did a final dark ride, and Maggie and Elan joined me for the Monorail.
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| Walking past more fairy tale forest (there was apparently a whole lot more than I discovered the prior day). |
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| Tricky mice! |
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| Wait long enough and the cat peeks out of the barrel |
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| Hard to tell in the photo since I'm wearing black, but I am thoroughly soaked |
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| About to board the Flying Dutchman water coaster |
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| Grabbing snacks! |
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| Elan looks concerned |
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| On the monorail! |
Walking along we made a stop for drinks and I got a Stroopwafel flavored coffee. We checked out the museum, and made sure this time to take in the big water fountain show at the end of the day, which I had missed during dinner the previous day. We made it to a good spot recommended by Merel to take in the show, and it was indeed fairly spectacular (it has the same designer who did the Bellagio water show in Las Vegas). Definitely a spectacular finish to my time at Efteling! This park is very much on my list right up there with Disney World in quality and enjoyment, but a far better value.
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| Ok this drink was definitely too sweet, but had to try it |
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| Back at the park museum with a bit more time to actually check it out |
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| This is the hall of heads |
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| An old map of the park |
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| At the fountain show! |
After saying farewell to my friends, I headed back to my hotel to pick up my bags, and then made my way to the bus stop. It started raining at this point, so I ducked into the bus shelter. Finally I saw Bus 301 approach… and then drive right past me! I ran out of the shelter waving my arms and yelling, and they just kept on driving. Infuriating! The next bus wasn’t for another 20 minutes! I was incredibly frustrated, carrying heavy bags, getting wet, and really just wanting to get to my destination. Thankfully, I was able to get the next bus to stop. Made it on, then just barely caught the train to Utrecht. I hadn’t had time for a bathroom break in awhile now, so I finally found a bathroom at the Utrecht station, but it was 70 cents to enter (I reluctantly paid)! It was getting pretty late, and there were only a few fast food options in the train station that were still open, so I grabbed a doner wrap for dinner.
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| Future additions to the park in progress |
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| Maybe I'll be able to finally see this when I come back in 2025 ;-) |
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| The Baron does look cool - just not riding it |
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| Waiting for the NEXT bus in the rain! |
Thankfully my hotel appeared to be right across the street, but then things got confusing because this was actually a shopping mall, and all the stores were closed for the night. It turned out that my hotel was inside of the mall itself! But I got very lost and turned around trying to locate the hotel entrance. Finally I was able to get admitted through the locked hotel doors to an elevator lobby, and take the elevators up to the hotel above. By the time I got to my room I collapsed in utter exhaustion in bed. It had been a very active and busy few days, so I chalked my exhaustion up to that, but I was definitely starting to feel off and have some concerns after hearing of others from the concert testing positive for COVID.
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| Crossing from the train station to the mall where my hotel is |
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| Trying to find my hotel! |
Sept 20: Day 10 - Utrecht: Their Greatest Foe is but a Small Microbe
After waking up, I headed down to take advantage of the free hotel breakfast, and enjoyed waffles, eggs, bacon, and croissants. I had started chatting with several of my new Ayreon friends who live nearby or were planning to visit Utrecht today, and ended up making plans with Merel and Tessa (two locals), and Matt (the Canadian) to meet up for lunch today. Arthur, also local, originally hoped to join, but got held up with work. Before heading out, I decided to take a COVID test, and unfortunately it popped positive. I was feeling mostly fine, though, so I discussed options with my friends and they were comfortable with continuing with our plans to hang out with me masking.
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Hotel Breakfast
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Matt found me first, in the mall. We checked out the game store, and looked for Tessa who was going to the Asian market to pick up some Chili Crisp (something she recommended to me and that I determined to try from an Asian market once I got home). We met up at the train station, and headed to the bus stop where Merel joined us.
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| Finding Matt |
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| Tessa too |
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| Finally got the whole group! |
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| Complicated recycling at the mall (but pretty art) |
Stopped at the market, and tried many cheeses, and bought quite a few (50 euros!) since they were vacuum sealed and should be good a few months, even out of the fridge. They were each more amazing than the last, starting with farmers cheese, then cumin cheese, clove cheese, an old hard crumble cheese, a chili cheese, and a truffle cheese. Also tried a goat cheese, which isn’t normally my thing, but I actually did like this one, it just wasn’t my favorite of them. Walked around the canals, and grabbed lunch. Mint tea (great for my throat!), carpaccio sandwich, truffle fries. Bought some throat medicine just in case. After offering to carry my cheese for me, I joked that she was the pack mule, and she insisted she was strong enough to carry me - and to prove this, Tessa had me hop on her back and carried me a bit for a funny photo op!
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| Dutch Cheese seller! |
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| Sampling cheese (with Matt) |
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| Kaas!! |
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| Made my selections |
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| Cheese is very important, okay? |
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| Walking through Utrecht |
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| Tiny duck |
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| Tessa, Merel, and Matt |
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| Ducks in the canal |
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| Construction along the walkway |
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| The Dom Tower under renovation |
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| Jason by the canal |
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| The cute streets of Utrecht! |
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| Merel digs for a sausage to share |
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| Sausage acquired |
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| Truffle fries! |
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| Lunch with Matt, Tessa, and Merel |
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| I honestly didn't realize the meat would be raw but it was still tasty |
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| Tessa demonstrates her strength |
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| And then kidnaps me |
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| Goodbye! |
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| Posing with Matt, Merel and Tessa at the canal |
Walked Tessa and Merel back to the train station, then dropped my cheese off at my hotel, and then Matt and I walked to the Train Museum. It was a 25 minute walk, and the museum would close in an hour, but we managed to run around and see all the trains, walk through the inside of the ones that were open, and check out the outside yard with switches, etc. Took the train from there back to the station, and said goodbye to Matt, and then headed up to my room to rest a bit.
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| Walking to the railroad museum |
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| Cute cat graffiti seen along the walk |
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| At the train museum |
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| Truly an artifact of the past! |
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| The most Dutch train you'll ever see |
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| Matt is a bit shorter than I am |
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| In the railroad museum train yard |
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| A train used during the Holocaust |
Decided to go grab dinner somewhat late. As it was 9, many places were closing, but found several options near the canal, and ended up going to Beer & Barrels Bar And Grill. I was able to get a high-top table overlooking the canal, which was beautiful at night - boats and ducks swimming by, dazzling lights glimmering off the surface. I ordered a “brisket burger”, which was basically brisket done up with cheese, jalapenos, etc on a bun like a burger - with fries. Got truffle aioli with the fries, and a house iced tea, which I was able to get “sparkling”, which I decided to try out of curiosity. It also had a mint sprig in it and lemon. The fries were delicious, and the brisket was so great after just a single bite I almost cried! The weather was perfect, and I was able to enjoy my meal and the view and the outside.
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| The view right on the canal from Beers & Barrels outside seating |
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| This was so damn tasty! |
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| Beautiful night time Utrecht |
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| An unusual dessert offering seen walking by |
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| Marble machine seen outside the Speelklok museum I would go to the next day! |
Once I finished, I decided to walk around a few blocks and explore a bit. There was a large shopping district but everything was basically closed except for some restaurants and bars. Finally made my way back to the mall, but the first entrance I tried was closed… the second entrance also closed. The third finally opened up and let me get back to my hotel! A hotel in a mall will continue to befuddle me.
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| With all my new cheeses! |
Sept 21: Day 11 - Utrecht: SpeelKlok Museum
I slept in a bit and finally forced myself to go down to grab the hotel breakfast so I wouldn’t miss it, arriving 10 minutes before it closed at 10. I was able to grab a few croissants, sadly the chocolate chip ones had been replaced by a pastry with raisins. Bacon was already long gone, as were many other things, so I made another waffle, grabbed a coffee and mixed it with hot cocoa, and took a table as far from people as I could manage. I spent some time catching up on the group chats; which continue to move at a rapid pace. Set it down for a couple hours, and suddenly you’re 500 messages behind! I’ve been enjoying keeping up with everyone, and after the shows have now ended it’s been a great way to keep the spirit going, especially now that I’ve met most of the people there and we’ve created in-jokes, and a great fun community vibe. It truly feels like a family, and I hope to see them again (next time Ayreon plays?).
After a leisurely breakfast, I eventually made my way back up to my room to shower. Since it was raining outside and fairly unpleasant, and I’m still sick (although not feeling too bad), I decided to take it easy and relax a bit more before setting out.
I finally headed out to check out the Speelklok museum, which is a museum dedicated to antique mechanical self-playing instruments, old clocks and music boxes and related objects. I arrived shortly before 2PM. (I made sure to mask up.) This was an amazing museum! They had an escape room too, but sadly they informed me it would only be in dutch, so I couldn’t do it. I took the tour at 2:30, which showed us a bunch of self-playing instruments in action, and really gave me an appreciation for the intricate mechanical work and ingenious design that went into clockwork mechanisms. I ended up staying until the museum closed at 5PM, trying to see everything.
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| Some of the self-playing instruments/cabinets! |
It was still rainy, but mostly drizzling when I got out. I swung into a bubble tea place called Piichi, mainly to sit somewhere dry and figure out where to get dinner. I’m starving at this point since I had skipped lunch!
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| Stopping for boba tea! |
After browsing google maps for options, specifically for options that might have outdoor seating but hopefully under a cover to protect from rain, I found Meat & More which looked like an excellent steak place. The menu had so many tasty sounding options, but after consulting with the server, I got the dry-aged rib-eye, mint tea with honey (and a mini stroopwafel came with it!), fries with truffle mayo, and for dessert: chocolate fondant with belgian dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream. This was all absolutely incredible!
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| With my now-customary fresh mint tea |
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| It doesn't get much better than this! |
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| "Ignorance is bliss" |
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| The meat being aged |
Back at the hotel I spent the rest of the evening making plans for the next day, my last in Utrecht.
Sept 22: Day 12 - Utrecht: DomUnder and Castle De Haar
I grabbed the hotel’s breakfast again, and had bacon and croissants and rushed out to my DOMunder tour.
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| The hotel counter |
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| Breakfast once more! It's nice that it's included! You can see the mall below. |
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| Heading to DOMunder - it's easy to find the tower! |
DOMunder was an underground tour beneath the DOM, which is the old Cathedral that was partially destroyed by a hurricane (the tower still stands). It took 250 years to build, and the rubble remained for 150 years. The cathedral had been built on the location of older churches which were built atop an even more ancient Roman fort. There are so many layers of the history of civilization in Europe, it really is quite incredible! DOMUnder takes you into an archeological dig just under street level to see the artifacts and rubble dating back to that Roman fort. You have a headset connected to flashlights, and shining the light on specific sensors triggers an explanation on the headset of what you are looking at.
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| The DOM Tower |
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| Model of the excavation |
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| Heading down underground |
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| Even Romans dealt with pawprints in their concrete! |
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