Modern Vespa

Perusing some travel videos (byproduct of COVID I think) ran across this happy and lovely lady who had a horrible time in Amsterdam and clearly had problems with budgeting. No love lost for the Dutch, all-in-all. I'd swear it's an attempt at comedy, but, well, no. Nearly gave this a [SSR] due to a scooter cameo.....

There's a Victorian-era book, The Clumsiest People in Europe, penned by one Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer, who, despite only stepping out of England twice, didn't hesitate write a travel guide and to find something nasty about just about every place in the world. Except England, of course.

Makes a great gift for budding travelers.

That's a great impression of a lame Merikun..

I worked for a Royal Dutch electronics company for several years, in the states. My Dutch Masters definitely wanted things done just so, but in person were warm, friendly folk. Every tech worker I met spoke better English than me. But the service workers? A very different story.

Holland is amazing. The people, the food and the roads are all better than in the UK.

I was standing outside Rotterdam Railway Station about a year ago with a map in my hands and 4 different people asked if I needed directions and one of them was English.

It's all good.

You seem to imply that that wouldn't happen in Britishland and that's the only thing that surprises me.

A great county and lovely people, but I draw the line at eating raw herring broodjes (sandwiches). I once was persuaded to try one by a friend from a street vendor in Amsterdam.........never again!!

Believe me it wouldn't happen in England. People might offer you drugs but not directions.

But no ...
Don't listen to clichés, from a behavior of a small group of people you can't judge a nation.

I don't understand why a clearly dubbed video bitches about people not speaking English.

(I also don't understand how anyone could have a problem with how people in Amsterdam speak English. It might be the easiest non-native-English city in the entire world - basically everyone you meet speaks excellent English.)

I've been in Amsterdam of Queens day and it's a bloody riot.

Nothing beats a barge crammed full of S and M enthusiasts.

Nothing.

Just don't go on that barge.

I think she's jealous. didn't do her research and she expected too much.

I've been there 5 or 6 times now and the thing that actually spoils it are the English.

It's a beautiful city with beautiful people.

Wow. I mean, I appreciate the comment about how good looking we are as a people, but I think she was a little off the mark in general.

Reminded me a little of this video.

It does where I live Bill. But the lesson I learned long ago is that folks generally are pretty much the same the world over, albeit with some differing cultures. What's good in one county will mostly exist in other countries, what's bad will be mostly be the same elsewhere too, with some exceptions of course.

This ^^^^

And this too ^^^

They must have run out of potato salad.

I had a week long course in Leiden, just south of Amsterdam. Apart from the preponderance of Heineken it was a great place to visit.

There is too much humidity in the Netherlands, it is because they are called that ... There is nothing else.

I need to avoid this thread, having a Dutch wife ( and mother in law) I feel uniquely qualified to run away and hide now.

Good bye..

Now Fritz is gone we can make some joke about window shopping.

I got a bit of a kick out of the comment about the picture that showed a Dell Inspirion poster, you see I was watching this by using my Dell Inspirion Computer! My coffee cup is now empty so guess I need to go melt some snow and make some more.

The YT video from the TS is a load of BS.
Ok i'm biased, i live in the Netherlands. It's far from perfect but it isn't half bad to live here.
There's always something to complain about but i think there are plenty of other countries that are far less attractive.

BTW: In general i think people in big cities are less fun than in rural areas in any country.

Shhhhhhh....

But only at the bike shop.

Actually, my real addiction is American railroad pocket watches, I have a small collection of these which I prize. One evening when my kids were quite young, my wife sent them looking for me to tell me dinner was ready. When they returned to the kitchen my wife asked them what I was doing. They told her I was surfing porn on the computer.

Since my only use for the computer is motorbike forums and searching for parts for my watches she wasn't bothered in the least. Oh how sad my life has become.

Just for the record I love the Netherlands and its people. The ONLY gripe I have is that we went in late April (kid was on break) hoping to perhaps get a look at a tulip. Nope, cold and rainy. That and the lack of public bathrooms when you need them, but that's another story. Anyway, it was great to be back.

I underestimated the country in my youth....for some silly reason wanted to challenge myself, use the German I'd learned or even confront other languages. Heard the Dutch spoke English too easily. Anyway, moved it down the list of places I needed to visit.

Subsequently met a couple of Dutch kids in Florence, invited me to Groningen where I spent a few days visiting and exploring. One of the nicest experiences I had....and yes the women were quite comely.

So I don't know if this (Spanish, I believe) woman had bad luck or is just miserable everywhere she goes, but she seems to be on a mission to warn the world....though she rather strangely does find them attractive. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now if they'd held her down and forced her to eat herring....

Did you get the impression that things for her should have been a lot easier ?

She seems to taken many events personally ?

In conflict with the title, I can think of a lot worse countries in Europe than Holland.

It rates very highly in my book. Rotterdam is really worth a visit if you'd prefer somewhere more quiet.

What a bunch of nonsense in that video. Can't wait to see their other travel reviews of places they visited without research and preparation and left with frankly bizarre impressions of people that don't line up with my own personal experience at all.

Maybe a hot take on US locales is in order...

"I visited San Francisco and I only saw ONE person with flowers in their hair and it was really cold and foggy in the morning, not at all like I imagined. It was too expensive and I ran out of money in 3 hours. Luckily a rude but sexy Dutch tourist gave me money to take a cab back to the airport."

"My experience with Vermont in February was that the beautiful Fall foliage from my 'North American Natural Nature' calendar was nonexistant and a lie. Also, everyone drove tractors everywhere - being a car free state because it is so small. But I wasn't able to rent a tractor and was therefor forced to drive a car and couldn't integrate with the locals. The maple syrup was expensive"

And for the record London's streets aren't paved with Gold.

Just sayin.

... and this ^^^^

I was in Little Switzerland, North Carolina a few years ago, getting breakfast in the hotel with other riders while attending a gathering.

A couple was dining next to our table.

We started talking with them and found out that they were from the Netherlands.

I looked down and was puzzled.

Then said, "How can you be Dutch? You aren't wearing wooden shoes"

Being an old American, our history always showed the Dutch wearing them.

Bill

Not to mention the clichés of Italians, from "pizza and mandolin" to other not very noble references ...

I had the opportunity to visit Amsterdam on two occasions. Not much comes
through the memory of time because I couldn't stop drinking their great beer.

1. I remember something vaguely about canals?
2. The public transportation was on the honor system (paying). That clearly would
not have worked in the USA.
3. The ladies were attractive and looked like all the scandinavian descendants
that dominate in Minnesota. Just like being back home. Long legs, great hair,
but not as well endowed up top like the ladies Attila gazes on in Italia.

So, salute to the Highland Dutch, the Lowland Dutch, the Rotterdam Dutch, and the dang Dutch.

Side note: Sailors go ashore in a foreign port, only visit the nearest bar, get drunk,
pass out - get hauled back to the ship. When asked about the country
they say "Greatest Place Ever".

Shiver me Timbers!

Bob Copeland
USN - Long Ago

There is the running joke on Heineken here in BE.
This is in general what people in BE believe is the way that Heineken beer is being produced: https://de-toestand-in-de-wereld.com/2020/11/17/heinekens-hongaarse-rode-ster-en-over-ander-schuimend-gerstenat/#jp-carousel-2849
Palm is a Belgian beer.

It is only a joke. Heineken is drinkable, well, if there is nothing else available.

Ah, phrasebooks.....not going to be missed.

Well, they were good for entertainment value. Somewhere I have the French phrasebook I bought when I went to Brussels for a couple of weeks for a college class. I admit it helped slightly, but was far more useful for entertainment value. Who says things like "Could you please draw me a bath at 6?" Or "Please deposit my baggage in my room."

I dunno, perhaps I purchased above my class level. I needed things like "Whaddya mean I can't leave my smelly backpack there??" Or "What's the problem with doing my laundry in the sink?"

Subpar Parks (Google images search results)
https://www.google.com/search?q=subpar+parks&source=lnms&tbm=isch

Subpar Parks: America's Most Extraordinary National Parks and Their Least Impressed Visitors
by Amber Share
https://www.amazon.com/Subpar-Parks-Americas-Extraordinary-Impressed/dp/0593185544

Nice!