Delft with 10 year old son
 

I would like some suggestions on what to do with my ten year old son for two and a half weeks in Delft and surrounding areas during a business trip with my husband end of May , beginning of June. We will be based in Delft the whole time.

There are great amusement ("theme") parks in the Netherlands. De Efteling (www.efteling.nl) is the nicest one, and has been voted "best theme park in the world" several times. Others include Duinrell (lots of water, so best on a sunny day) and Six Flags. These parks are all max. 1 hour by car from Delft, slightly longer by public transport. Also take him to Madurodam in The Hague ("the Netherlands in miniature") and the Panorama Mesdag, also in The Hague. If the weather is nice, the beach at 's-Gravenzande is the closest to Delft (about 15 km) or go to Scheveningen. Maybe he wants his picture taken in a village called "Monster" (20 km from Delft on the coast)<BR>Have a nice stay.

Another thought: Do you and he enjoy bicycling? If you do, you'll have endless fun!

Just so you know. There are a lot of sex shops all over Holland. Never been to Delft though. Visions of blue porcelain ... well, you know...<BR>

Margaret,<BR><BR>Don't worry about sex shops in Delft - you will find that outside the large cities The Netherlands is a very prim and proper little country. <BR><BR>However if you haven't already, this might be a good time to have that conversation about where babies come from...<BR><BR>Do rent a bike and go into the countryside - there are bike paths everywhere.<BR><BR>I wouldn't necessarily recommend most theme parks: De Efteling is geared to a Dutch audience and if you're from the US, 6 Flags is hardly a novelty. Madurodam is fun however.<BR><BR>Explore Amsterdam: canal tour, great zoo and so many other wonderful things to see. 2 museums a 10-year old will probably like: the Tropenmuseum which has very interesting costumes and artifacts from the former Dutch colonies in Asia and the Van Gogh museum - the paintings are very recognizable and accessible, even for a smaller kid.<BR><BR>You can also go to Rotterdam and take a boat tour of one of the world's largest ports.<BR><BR>Also reasonably close are Antwerp, Brugge and Gent.<BR><BR>Train schedules to all these places are at:<BR>http://www.ns.nl/domestic/index.cgi<BR><BR>If you're in a more adventurous mood, Amsterdam Schiphol airport is less than an hour away by train and is served by 2 discount carriers, Basiqair and Easyjet. So why not fly to Spain or France and have some fun for a few days?<BR><BR>www.basiqair.com<BR>www.easyjet.com<B R><BR>Have a great time!<BR>Andre

Instead of a long plane ride, Europe is very easily done by train. How about instead of that to take the train to Cologne and go down the Rhine and vist all of the castles. As nice for the adults as the 10 year old. The climb up to Drackenfels is great for kids - he'll like both the dragon legend and the climb. If you leave Fri afternoon, you could be back Sun. night.<BR><BR>

THanks for all your suggestions . Very much appreciated. :-) Margaret

I didn't mean to sound prudish about the sex shops. but I just remember stopping in Utrecht, in the "AltStaat" (not sure if I remember that in Dutch correctly), and almost right in front of the main old cathedral is a shop with the front window filled with very explicit "toys" in every conceivable fluorescent color. None in Delft porcelain blue, that I recall. (Oh dear - - hope I haven't given someone an idea for a cottage industry in new and very WEIRD souvenirs from Holland!)<BR>

Rex,<BR><BR>That is a pretty "good" location for a sex shop!<BR><BR>That said, my "favourite" such location remains the porno movie theatre in Frankfurt airport - no kidding...<BR><BR>Andre