Matchmaking
Here at Fine Fleur Amsterdam, we are all about matchmaking: we bring you together with the experience that suits you, and this also goes for the people that are involved. Therefore, we have carefully scouted the best of the best local hosts that we personally know and where we can be certain that they share our vision of creating a highly personalized and memorable experience every time! We are delighted to introduce you to two of them via short interviews, please enjoy reading “Five Findings with Fine Fleur’s Favorites”!
- Your favorite experience in the Netherlands?
One of my favorite tours are my Ancestor tours. Many Americans have Dutch ancestors. With a few names and data I can start a research about your family history in the Netherlands (the more information you have the better!). We will then visit all the places that were important for your ancestors and you can step into their foot steps and you will learn things about your ancestors that you probably did not know yet. Usually we visit places that are not visited by other tourists, we might see the houses where your ancestors have lived and sometimes there is even distant family that we could meet. The ancestor tours create a lifetime memory for my guests and are often an emotional experience.
- one fun fact you like to tell during a tour?
A fun fact is that the country officially is called the Netherlands and not Holland and that the entire country is only the size of Maryland.
- one fact relating to the relationship between the US and NL
Many guests from the US are very surprised when we tell them about the fact that New York was founded as New Amsterdam and that the DNA of old Amsterdam was exported to the new world. Did you know that Harlem (Haarlem), Brooklyn (Breukelen) and Flushing (Vlissingen) are named after Dutch towns and that these are not the only Dutch references in New York?
- how do you make your guests feel comfortable during a tour and what is your guiding style?
My goal is to create a memorable experience for my guests. If you are interested in facts and figures I wil gladly share my knowledge with you but if you prefer to enjoy the local street side cafes and enjoy my insights about Dutch culture then that is fine too. I will always try to find out what your wishes are regarding the tour and adapt my tour to your wishes …. after all it is YOUR tour.
- why did you become a guide?
I am a passionate traveler myself and love to meet people from other places. I had a career in IT but I decided that I wanted to work with people. Spending time together with our guests and exploring Amsterdam and other areas of the country together gives so much energy and joy.
- tell us some highlights of your touring?
To me the flowering bulb fields and Keukenhof are an absolute highlight! I always like to give my guests some ‘free time’ to discover the park themselves and to take as many pictures as they like. But before I let my guests go, I take them through the park for a little walking tour and tell them all about the history, the must see’s, the most beautiful flowering spots at that moment and the ins and outs of Keukenhof. Since I also guide directly for Keukenhof I have some funny stories to tell which I’m actually not allowed to! But to me, these are the best, so I’d love to share them with you (but please keep to yourself!)
- a fun memory with a client
The daughter of a guest asked her to bring a special Dutch cookie back from her trip to Amsterdam, she told her she could find it in any coffee shop. So she asked me for a good and typical Dutch coffee shop, I was a bit surprised but gave her a recommendation. Once she stepped in she turned around right away. This place smelt so weird, this couldn’t be a good address for the nice, freshly baked cookie her daughter asked for. When she met me again, she explained the story. I had to laugh out loud as apparently my guest didn’t have a clue what her daughter actually had asked her to buy: a good piece of freshly baked space cake from a ‘coffee shop’, the place to (legally) buy your soft drugs in the Netherlands! Once she understood the story my guest had to laugh about it too and had a good talk on the phone with her cheeky daughter.
- how do you make your guests feel comfortable during a tour and what is your guiding style?
Quite often people ask me if I still like my job. ‘Isn’t it always the same…same places, same story?’ To me this is the weirdest question one can ask me! A tour is never ever the same! Every tour is different as I always adapt the tour to my guests. Each guest has his/her own interests, which allows me to tell different kind of stories and to take different routes. This also keeps me alert, because in this way my guests are showing ME the same places from a different point of view. This is something I really like about my job! City life is also very vibrant, it’s changing all the time! In this way I always have new stories to tell. You won’t hear me calling out boring numbers, but I will always tell stories and anecdotes instead. To me guiding is storytelling (of true stories). And of course I do know all those numbers in case you would like to hear them…
- favorite Dutch food our audience must try when in town?
While visiting Amsterdam one of the must see’s is the Albert Cuypmarket! It’s Amsterdam’s favorite daily street market, very well-known and beloved by its locals. It gives you a good idea of the variety of Dutch food: Try the delicious ‘poffertjes’ with powdered sugar and butter. They are like little pancakes, but very different! Did you know we would never eat something like this for breakfast, but rather as lunch or dinner? Another nice, sweet treat to try is the ‘stroopwafel’, a tasty cookie with syrup in between. On the market you’ll find the best place to taste them (fresh and still warm) in front of a former church -it houses a restaurant nowadays- which can be easily recognized by the big angel on top of the roof. If you don’t like sweet, try a fresh raw herring! With pickles and onions, they are the best!
- why did you become a guide?
In 2009 I moved to Amsterdam. The city my mum always told me about since she grew up here. Immediately I fell in love with the city. I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for Amsterdam with its visitors, but I found out it was very difficult to become a guide. Instead, I started to work for Madame Tussauds, where I worked for about 3 years. My wish to tell the visitors of Amsterdam more about this lovely city only grew during these years. I decided to just give it a try again and applied for a job to become a guide. The company hired me! I was the happiest person on earth!!! The studying started (and would never stop anymore) and a few months later I welcomed my first guests! To me it was very clear from the start, this would be the job I would be doing forever. And yes, I’m pretty sure that I will still be guiding once retired one day… it’s my job, but above all, guiding is my biggest passion!
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