Day 17: Visit to Amsterdam

On Saturday I took a trip to Amsterdam to visit a friend, Sarah. She acted as my tour guide and we did all kinds of fun things. First we set off in search of a book market. After much walking back and forth we found it. It was quite nice, with lots of english books. Afterwards we went to Puccini's, a chocolate store in Rotterdam. Definitely, some of the best chocolate i've ever had. Also, some of the most expensive. A single piece was around 2 euros. The next stop was a boat tour around Amsterdam through the canals and the harbour. it was a nice trip, and we got to learn interesting information. Like in rich dutch homes, there are two front doors. There is one on top of the stairs for the owners to use, and then one below the stairs for servants. There's all kinds of boats on the canals. Some really nice ones, some not nice ones(these ones seem to usually be fore sale), and some for living in. A lot of the houseboats have all kinds of plants growing on them and hanging off of them. After the boat tour we went to the Anne Frank house. Unfortuntely, the line was really long, and both of us didn't feel like waiting. So instead we went to the Westerkerk, a church right next to the house. We weren't able to go inside, but instead we went on a tour up the spire of the church. It's quite tall, and the stairs were quite narrow and small at times. The tour guide enjoyed telling us about the bells, and how they were so special, and so much better than bells anywhere else. Finally for supper we joined Sarah's boyfriend for dinner at an Indonesian restaurent. It was my first time trying indonesian food, and I have to say it was very good.

Overall a great day, and I'll have to back some time, because there's still lots to see.

The Westerkerk.

Day 16: Rotterdam (Crosswijk) General War Cemetery

On Firday I decided to visit the Commonwealth War graves located in Rotterdam. It's at a very beautiful cemetery in Crosswijk. There were a mix of Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Brits and Poles buried in the cemetery. Mostly they were soldiers in the air force who had died in crashes during the war. There are also some Dutch war graves from the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. The cemetery actually has a very interesting story. This is copied from the Commonweath War Graves Commission:
In May 1941, the local civil authorities set aside for Allied war casualties a plot in the immediate vicinity of the Dutch war graves. A number of British airmen were moved to this plot from other parts of the cemetery and from scattered graves in the surrounding countryside; and subsequent Allied casualties were buried there. These graves were constantly tended and provided with flowers by the people of Rotterdam, in contrast to the German graves which were ignored. The enraged Germans therefore caused them to be removed, in May 1943, to the remotest corner of the cemetery. They were fenced off by wooden hurdles, and even for a short time guarded by an armed sentry to keep away visitors.

Pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/euphemeo/

Day 15: Blijdorp

On Thursday I decided to take a tour of my new neighbourhood: Blijdorp. Blijdorp is in the north of Rotterdam, on the north side of the train station. The name means 'happy village.' Blijdorp is a neighbourhood of about 9500 people, and known mostly for the zoo called Diergaarde Blijdorp. So far I find it to be a nice neighbourhood. The people are friendly, it’s clean and there’s lots of interesting stores/canals/parks.

A Canal in Blijdorp.

A church.

You can see more here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/euphemeo/sets/72157605892594860/

Day 9: Midsummer’s Day and night in Utrecht

On Saturday I visited Utrecht for a CouchSurfing event. Couchsurfing “seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding." Basically CouchSurfing is a way to travel around the world without staying in Hostels or hotels. When you visit a city you can find people who are willing to let you stay with them, or even just to show you around the city. The organization also has events around the world where CouchSurfers can meet and get to know one another. The event I went to in Utrecht was to celebrate Midsummer. There was in treasure hunt in the heart of Utrecht, workshops in the afternoon, supper, and then an evening spent in the park socializing. The treasure hunt was nice, but long. It gave us an opportunity to really see Utrecht. Utrecht is an older city than Rotterdam. The buildings are older, the streets are narrower. It has a medieval feel to it. As part of the treasure hunt, we were also given an egg an apple that we had to try and trade. We managed to trade our egg for a flower pot and our apple for a cabbage of some kind. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the treasure hunt, or the trading contest. Some people managed to trade up for an old computer, while others traded up for a couch! This being ‘CouchSurfers’ those who brought the couch in, won automatically. The park was large and spacious. There were various workshops during the afternoon for CS safety, Latin dancing, improvisational theatre and Poi. I took part in the improvisational theatre class and it was lots of fun. The supper was prepared by volunteers and was tasty. For the rest of the evening we hung out in the park and socialized. I met lots of interesting people, from all over the Netherlands, a few Canadians, some Americans and others. Overall it was a great night, and I definitely recommend CouchSurfing as a great way to meet new people.
The Dom tower in downtown Utrecht.
Some CS'ers.
Poi.

Day 6: Hup Holland Hup!

Euro 2008 is going on in Switzerland in Austria. It's a big football(soccer) tournament for the top teams in Europe. The Netherlands has done quite well, despite most predictions against them. They won their first three games, and will play in the quarterfinals against Russia on Saturday. On Tuesday night I went to meet some new friends at the Cafe Boudewijn on Nieuwe Binneweg. I had forgotten this was the same night as the Holland vs. Romania game. The bar was packed, and quickly filled up more and more. Men and women decked out in orange crowded in front of the TVs. The atmosphere was noisy, smoky(for three more weeks) and everyone had a beer in their hand. People order pitchers and quickly emptied them into whoever had empty glasses in their hands, including strangers. When the national anthem was played, everyone started singing. When the game started, the whole bar hushed, and the only noise was groans or cheers depending on what happened in the game. At half time, everyone ordered more beer, or went outside to stretch their legs. In the second half when Holland scored their second goal, the whole bar broke out into a rousing chorus of 'We are the Champions'. When the game ended with the Netherlands winning 2-0 everyone cheered and hugged and was overall quite happy. If you ever visit the Netherlands, I recommend visiting a bar during football season. it makes for a very interesting atmosphere.

Day 1

Lesson 1: Don't forget your umbrella when you visit the Netherlands.

I learned this lesson fast and hard on my first day in the Netherlands. By midmorning I was soaked. Lost and soaked. By first mission on arriving at Rotterdam Centraal was to find my hostel. I had printed out the directions, and felt pretty confident. However, I was a bit dismayed as soon as I emerged from the station. As soon as I stepped outside, I stepped into a construction zone. They are building a new station, and by the time I had reached the end of the construction, I was disoriented and starting to get wet. I knew that I had to walk straight away from the station, and eventually I would come to Rochussenstraat where my hostel was located. So, I started walking straight away from the station... in the wrong direction. As I got wetter and wetter, and not recognizing the street names(when I could frind them) from my directions I got more and more annoyed. Evntually I returned to the station, and did the smart thing. I took the bus.

Having arrived at the hostel and stowed my gear, I set out to look for the house where I had an apointment to view a room. Located in Blijdorp(litteraly 'Happy village') I again had instructions on how to get there from Centraal station. Blijdorp is north of the station whereas my hostel was south of it. I got lost again. And even more wet. Streets don't seem to work the same as they do in Canada. First of all, there are no street signs. Instead the names of streets are attached to buildings, on the corner. Often quite high up. Secondly, you can have a street split in two. One half going one way, on one side of a canal and then the other half going the other way, on the other side of the canal. Thirdly, streets can suddenly come to a stop at a building, but then start up again on the other side. Finally, streets can often change their name after an inersection. Overall, it can make finding a place difficult. I finally did find the place, and checked it out.

By the time I made it back to the station, I was completely wet. At that time, I broke down, and bought a cheap umbrella at one of the stores. It then stopped raining.

Eventually I did choose the room in the house I visited. It's a nice room that has it's own small balcony that looks out into a courtyard. I share the area with five roomates(only two at the moment). it's for international students, so everyone speaks english. I now know the way to the train station, and it's a quick 15min walk.

You can see pictures from my trip here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/euphemeo