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VT-meeting 26th April 2003
"Why come to Haarlem?"
Why should you come and visit Haarlem? Well Sandravdp and I have thought up a great day to spend here, that's WHY!!! You'd better come because the day will be great in this historical city that is only a stone's throw away from Amsterdam! If you happen to be around come to Haarlem and if you don't happen to be around you've got a great excuse to visit Haarlem and the Netherlands.
Another good reason to come to the Netherlands and attend the meeting in Haarlem is that 4 days after the meeting April 30th, there is a big PARTY in Amsterdam called Queen's Day or Koninginnendag. This is the day the Dutch celebrate the birthday of the Queen! You just have to have experienced this day once in your life!
"Day of the Flower Parade"
The meeting will be held on Saturday April 26th 2003. This day there is a flower parade that leaves Noordwijk early in the morning and will arrive in Haarlem at about 20:00. I believe it is the biggest flower parade of the Netherlands, but I'm sure it is the most beautiful!! To get an impression go the site of the bloemencorso. Every year millions of hyacints, tulips and many other flowers are used to create a colourful parade. Many people come to see this event that is held every year. All the towns and cities along the road organise many events like fairs and markets. During Arpil Haarlem is extra colourful. It is for a good reason Haarlem calls itself the City of Flowers.
"So what are we going to do?"
We've got a great day planned that includes some sight-seeing, drinking, a dinner and at the end of the day see the flower parade! Take look at the plans. If you have any suggestions or comments please tell us!
12:00-13:00 Meet at the trainstation of Haarlem in the 'Stationsrestauratie' restaurant next to platform 3 for a drink.
13:00-14:00 Walk to Haarlem's cheapest restaurant for a quick lunch.
14:00-15:00 Visit the Teyler's Museum, which is the oldest museum of the Netherlands!
15:00-16:00 Having a drink at the Waag pub, a few metres away from the Teyler's, with a nice view over the river Spaarne.
16:00-18:00 City tour through Haarlem, by your personal guides sandravdp and martin_nl ;-)
18:00-19:30 or later we go to the restaurant called Specktakel. They have an international menu where a 3-course menu will cost € 27.00 We'll see if we can include drinks for that price too!!
19:30 or later we go for the Flower parade. You can choose to either watch the parade come into the city at around 20:00 or eat a little longer/ more relaxed and watch the parade later on in the city centre where they will be stationed for the whole weekend.
For the die-hards the night is still young so we can look around and see what Haarlem nightlife has to offer us. Unfortunately we also might have to say goodbye to other people already : ( ,but then we hope you had a great day!!
"How to get to Haarlem?"
Public transportation
From Amsterdam:
Easiest is to take the train, that leaves 6 times per hour all day and evening. The numbers behind the . indicate the minutes the train leaves at every hour:
-.07 and .37 from platform 4
-.11 and .41 from platform 1
-.21 and .51 from platform 2
So for example at 10:21 a train leaves in Amsterdam from platform 2.
The train should take about 15 minutes to get to Haarlem.
From Amsterdam Schiphol Airport:
The easiest and fastest way is to take bus 300 to Haarlem. Buses leave every 10 minutes outside Schiphol Plaza shopping mall. Just follow the signs. Haarlem train station is the final stop.
From other cities in the Netherlands:
Please follow the link in Dutch or in English.
From outside the Netherlands:
Please choose to following link to plan your trip.
Other transportation
Please contact sandravdp or martin_nl for more details if you want to come by car or plane!
"Where can you stay?"
Haarlem offers quite some nice hotels in the city centre. There is also an HI hostel a little outside the centre. Here we summed up some useful links if you want to stay the night and enjoy the nightlife of Haarlem! If you decide to come to Haarlem make sure to book soon, because with the flower parade the most hotels tend to be fully booked!!
Some suggestion:
-HI StayOkay Hostel, not very centrally located but cheap!
-Hotel Amadeus, cheap 2** hotel right on the Grote Markt!!
-Van der Valk Hotel Haarlem-Zuid, not very centrally located but last bus from centre leaves at about 1am and stops almost in front of the door.
-Spaarne 8 Hotel, very small, quite expensive hotel but very romantic and quite centrally located at the Spaarne river.
If you want any advice on other hotels in or around Haarlem you know where to find us ;-)
"Let us know if you come too!"
The meeting is organised by sandravdp and martin_nl so if you want to come please drop us a line and we will add your name
to the list that will be put up here!
YES
-sandravdp
-martin_nl
-xowe
-isolina_it (+ friend)
-dila
-irisbe
-b_caro
-eden_teuling (+ husband Pip)
-pieter_jan_v (+wife Swanet)
-ac_spotter
-jinwenwang
MAYBE or INTERESTED
-la_holandesa
-sapere
-sargentjeff
-nighthawk
-catnl
-europebn
-sammie
-aspierings
-matim
If you have any other other questions, comments etc. please contact us and we will try to help in the best way we can! If you want more info about the city of Haarlem take a look at our sites here at VT.
