Monday, August 16, 2010

Madurodam

Madurodam Entrance
‘Madurodam’ ..Dutch miniature city …. Strenge name, but very interesting.

When first I heard this name, I thought it is related to ‘dam’ ( in English)…. But later when I actually visited the place, I came to know that it has no correlation with ‘Actual Dam’.

It is situated in the Den Haag.. After reaching Den Haag Centraal Station, get a tram number 9 from tramstop 'Station HS/Stationsplein'. It takes nearly 15 minutes by tram. Get off at tramstop 'Madurodam Noord'. Walk for 2 minutes and then you will reach to your destination…. The Madurodam- Dutch Miniature City.

The timings are 9 am to 11 pm in summer. This is because; you can enjoy the daylight till 11 pm in Netherlands in summer… So you get maximum time to utilize as you want…

For more information you can visit www.madurodam.nl

Madurodam is not only the amusement park but is also a war memorial. It opened in 1952 in the memories of George Maduro who was the resident fighter. He died in 1945. So his parents financed the miniature town intending to donate the profits in good cause. Madurodam also has a replica of the house of George Maduro where he was born I Willemstad, Curacao.

House of Gorge Maduro
Everything is precisely 25 times smaller than in reality. But that does not make it less real. This is because everything in Madurodam, has been exactly replicated. All buildings are made up of synthetic material, and not of wood, because the models must be displayed outside for around 30 years. Some models took 5 years to build. The green areas require very special attention because they are real trees and shrubs. Their intensive pruning keep them at the height of 60 cm , without which they can grow 15 m.

Madurodam is roughly divided into 4 parts… Madurodam Harbour, Madurodam Polder, Madurodam Centre and Madurodam Recreation Area.

Madurodam Harbour : Here we can find major Dutch works such as refineries, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and number of large office buildings besides Harbour.

Madurodam Polder : This is the location of the new residential district of Madurodam, situated between several old farms and mills old Leidschendam. Rotterdam Blaak Station provides the public transport, and HSL – High Speed Railway for faster transport.

Madurodam Centre : In the Centre of the Madurodam, we can see Churches, Museums , The Cheese Market and Typical Amsterdam Canals. Also Government Buildings like Binnenhof, Museum ‘Rijkmuseum’ and Basilica of Our Lady from Maastricht.



The Smallest Town in Big People’s Figures
Miniature Town Surface area : 18,000 m2
Inhabitants : 66,000
Cars and Trucks : 4,542
Kilometers per year per car : 14,000
Kilometers per year per train : 16,000
Trains : 13
Trams : 5
Rail and Tram Tracks : 4,250 m
Aircrafts : 15
Height of Schiphol traffic tower : 4 m
Number of cases in baggage system : 500
Miniature trees : 5,236
Flower bulbs 30,000
Light in Miniature Town : 50,000
Railway Sleepers : 80,000
Ships : 40

Madurodam has two restaurants and Souvenir shop where we can buy Postcards, Memory cards, Cuddly toys, Printed T-Shirts etc.

All building, Museums, beaches are fascinating…. They are actually the replica of real. This we confirm when we visit the miniature thing and actual place …. This gives us the overall look of Netherlands and its beauty…



It is the main source of live information about what should be seen or visited in Netherland by default….. So I suggest if someone want to see Netherlands, then he /she should visit Madurodam first and then plan their trip. It also provides us one handbook stating about information related to every miniature thing in it….. So afterwards it can be used as a perfect guide to visit all places in real…..

After visiting Madurodam, you can rest at park near station while returning back to home…. Enjoy the silence with wonderful memory of Madurodam…..


I salute to the person having such a terrific vision to build Madurodam, enjoyment with introduction to Country……..

Really some small things sometimes make a big difference ………

Thursday, August 5, 2010

First Sunday in Netherlands ......

On Saturday, we returned back to home at 8.30 pm from Keukenhof. Since morning we were only walking in excitement to explore the new things.. but when we settled down at night, slowly my body started paining.... I could not realized as I was much more tired and wanted a deep sound sleep. I had never walked so much earlier and that to continuously….

Really, when our mind is excited, it shows a perfect chemistry with our body ….. and does things never done before… the same thing happened to me….

Next morning, when I woke up, I was not even able to keep my feet on floor… terrific pain in my whole body…. At least I should had had a pain killer, but it didn’t strike me at night.

So ultimately we decided to stay at home … very nervous but had no other way… I had ruined one Sunday in my life….

I took enough rest till afternoon …Till then; it was the perfect lazy day.... I went downstairs, took a long breath, went near the window.... and shocked seeing outside view ..... each and every 'dutch' was getting ready with their cars, bikes and bicycles !!!!....Earlier, I had heard that Dutch people are the happiest and enthusiastic people on the earth…. That moment I experienced the truth …After a week or two, they were enjoying sunny day....started for outings....

The day was really shiny and warm.... we missed it half...... We planned to go out at evening, roam around, do some window shopping and have dinner at good restaurant …… At 5.30 pm, we went out also …. But….. :( :( :(  We came to know, everything was closed ….shops, some restaurants, parks…. It was like pin-drop silence on roads…..

I knew that Dutch people love to live each moment….. That is fine …. But they keep all shops closed and everyone enjoys the weekends ….. ?????!!!!!! Strange and shocking to me ….Because in Pune, actual day starts at evening on Sunday…. And lasts late night….

I know it is very difficult to adjust other culture….. but I believe that no culture is absolutely perfect in it … The only thing we can do is to accept the culture as it is and try to be the part of it….. Then only we can know why this is so…..

Its just about how you react to the change.....