Author: Yellow Duckie
•20:06
Having been to Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) countless time, I finally get see part of Holland (further than Hoofdorp that is). I was heading towards a tight schedule of pulling together the business case with the team and was not quite in a "tourist mode". However,the charm of this quaint little town did put some life into me and draws me to venture into the tiny alleys of the town. Not matter how much I deny it, I think I am getting old, as the 2 hours flight + 2 hours train ride did drain me out quite significantly.

Having attempt to take the walking tour as indicated by the tourist map I picked up at the hotel, I ended up hopping in and out of the shops before they close at 1800. With the long daylight during this time of the year, i only begin my self guided tour after my little shopping escapade.

Although the European architecture is quite similar , this town does have it's own unique identity. The feeling that I get when I was strolling down the street is the sense of familiarity, it is almost as though I know where the old candy shop is or where John's bakery is. A small town where every one knows everyone. Of course, that's just what I felt. Breda, after all is quite a small town. It's a place where I'll visit for a nice quiet vacation.
Cafe around the Grote Market add some life to the stillness of this town. I was keen to try on some Dutch food, however, without much knowledge I decided to go with the cafe recommended in the map. There were alot of people there so I took it as an indication of good food served. Much to my regret, they were serving Asian food such Sate ( Malaysian Food) and Thai Curry as part of the menu. I ordered something close to a dutch meal, at least for the potato, and was quite glad that it did turn out well. However, the waiting time was killing. We experienced the same horror of waiting the following night at the Gauchos ( which happen to serve excellent steak). I noticed that the restaurants don't serve Dutch food, it makes me wonder if Dutch cuisine actually exists as the maps seems to boast about the French, Italian, Asian food, anything but Dutch.
If you can afford, I would suggest you to lodge at Bliss hotel. I did not have the luxury to do so, however I did managed to get into one of their room to complete our task as one of my colleague was staying there. Racing agaisnt time to finish of the business case, we were in the wedding suite where there was a bottle of wine, basket of fruits and liquor chocolate to distract us. It's a pity that we weren't there with our significant ones and to top it off, we were concerntrating to finish the business case.. how romantic indeed...
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