Big Data eCourse
Together with Laudius and another teacher I made a Big Data eCourse in Dutch about what Big Data is, how to analyze Big Data and Privacy & Ethics in Big Data research. With the code: GUISELAINE 10 percent discount (Affiliate).
Index
Free Walking Tour
To learn more about the city I am in, I take a tour. These are good for getting a general idea about the history, culture and hotspots of the city. In 2013 I discovered a nice variant of these tours, namely the Free walking tours. These tours are held in 'major' cities. They are on foot. And most importantly they are free. Well, it is the intention that at the end I give a donation what I think the tour is worth and what I can afford. This makes these tours also accessible for people with a small budget.
Quality Of The Free Walking Tours
The quality of these tours is generally surprisingly good. Of course it differs per city and per guide. The best I've had so far is the one in Berlin. Maybe it was because they also offered paid tours, which made them see the free walking tours as business cards to get people to book other tours with them. In addition, there is competition in Berlin of two more tour companies.
All Free Walking Tours
One thing all these free walking tours have in common is that their guides are very enthusiastic all over the world. I have used the free walking tours in Berlin, Sidney, Melbourne, Auckland, Adelaide, Reykjavík, Bucharest, Eindhoven (twice), Rotterdam, Den Bosch, Curaçao, Maastricht and Amsterdam. There are also other free variants of these tours. I did the free Botanical Gardens tours in all Australian cities I visited, and I did the free parliament tour in Wellington. The Christchurch free tour focuses on the effects of the earthquakes there, quite tough tour. Well worth it and a good start to visit the museum and other tours about the eathquake.
New City, Eindhoven
Nowadays, these free walking tours can also be found in many Dutch cities. I went to live in my new city of Eindhoven (2017-2019) and by chance I found the free walking tour with no less than two routes. I walked both routes. The Strijproute is mainly about the Philips past and I found it interesting. The other route is about Eindhoven in general and walks mainly in the city centre.
Beach Run
My aunt was in The Netherlands for a few days for the Scheveningen run. I was also in Rotterdam for two days, so it was ideal to do the free walking tour there as well. There I learned that the same company also has a free walking tour in The Hague and Amsterdam. So when I was in Amsterdam recently, I did the Amsterdam variant. During the Rotterdam and Amsterdam tour I got to know a few places that I didn't know about those two cities and the background information in Rotterdam was super interesting. The Hague is still on my to do list because it is only on Saturdays. Utrecht has also one, but I never took this tour, because I know the city centre by living in Utrecht.
Language
The free walking tours are all in English, also in The Netherlands. Abroad, there are often also other languages such as French, Spanish, German and Chinese. In The Netherlands, Amsterdam offers a Spanish variant, and a Spanish variant will be launched in Rotterdam this year they told me in 2018.
How do I find the free walking tours?
I google the city I am going to in combination with a free walking tour before departure and then I will know whether the city I am going to visit has a free walking tour. Well worth it. I do it with every city I visit. They tell me about most of the highlights and I walk some of the highlights. Also they tell me what else I can do in the city.
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