Day 66: Bike Ride in Hoge Veluwe

On Sunday I went on a bike ride in the National Park Hoge Veluwe. The park is situated near Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands, about 1.5 hours from Rotterdam. It is one of the largest parks in the Netherlands and has animals like deer and boars. Supposedly someone even saw a cougar there once... The Park is made up of heathland, sand drifts and forested areas. At the gates of the park were bikes that could be rented for free.
We stopped and had a picnic:
Some of the sand drifts:
An old hunting lodge:
The park was very beautiful:
It was quite a nice bike ride. Beautiful scenery and excllent biking companions. Supposedly we did close to 30km.

Fireworks

Day 65: Rotterdam and Scheveningen

On Saturday I had the opportunity to again be a tour guide. Some friends visited me in Rotterdam, so I showed them around the city. Although much less of the city than last time. We saw some interesting things... Like Santa Claus with a buttplug:

This was in a courtyard at one of Rotterdam's art galleries. Sometimes art makes you wonder what the artist was ever thinking. Other times it makes you think 'Oh that looks fun to sit on!'

Overall we had a nice walk around the city I think. They didn't get to see as much as the people from wedensday. But, they got to see the highlights... and Santa Claus with a buttplug.

After, we went to Scheveningen to meet up with some more CS'ers to watch some fireworks. A multi-country, multi-day competition was going on. We got to see the Netherlands and Mexico. While the Netherlands may be my adoptive country, I have to say that Mexico gave by far the better performance. It was a nice evening, we relaxed on the beach, chatted and watched the fireworks.

One guy made himself quite comfortable in the sand. I tried it out. Very nice. very hard to get out of:

Enjoying some wine and good company:

Day 62: My day as a tour guide!

Tuesday evening I met some German couchsurfers at the Rotterdam weekly meeting. They were looking for someone to show them around Rotterdam the next day. So, I met them Wedensday after lunch on my bike, and we set off on a bike tour of Rotterdam. It was strange being a tour guide in a city that is still unfamiliar to me, but I think I managed. We started at the Erasmus bridge, and headed to see the Cube houses. A must see for everyone visiting Rotterdam. Then on to the old harbour, and along the water front. The wind was blowing so hard, it was amazing! We would come around a corner on our bikes and almost be stopped in our tracks. Several times we got blown into each other. By the end of the day, there was branches and leaves scattered over the ground everywhere. After the water front we went through some parks and then to the Euromast. The top most part of the tower had actually been closed down due to the wind. But we still had a nice view from where we got to. This is the second time i've been up the euromast, and it always reminds me of the closeness of everything in the Netherlands. When looking to the northwest, you can see the tall buildings of The Hague on the skyline. After the Euromast we biked over to Noordereiland, which I had never been to. Then we wrapped up the trip with a ride through Kralingse Bos. We saw quite a bit of the city, and I saw a lot of stuff I hadn't seen before. Overall, a very good day. If only I could have gotten this out of my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acCFpFgpEvk

Day 58: Scheveningen, Part 2

On Saturday evening I went to Scheveningen. This is the big beach near The Hague. Usually it can be quite busy, but since it was the evening, a little chilly, and a little drizzly, it was quite abandoned. I went with some friends and we hung out at a bar for most of the evening. Then when the bar closed we went down to the beach. The beach at night, depsite the temperature, is really nice. The wind blowing, the waves crashing against the beach, the lights of huge cargo ships anchored out at sea, the night sky above... it really makes for what I thought was a very peaceful experience. It was nice to sit out on the beach just relaxing and enjoying the surroundings.

Day 58: Fit for Free Dance Parade, Part 1

Saturday afternoon was the Fit for Free Dance parade in Rotterdam. It was basically a big parade of trucks with DJs on the back playing techno/dance music. Lots of people dancing in the street. Plus a few fights broke out in the crowd just to make things interesting for the police. They might lose their edge if they had to stand still, right?

Day 57 - Amsterdam again!

Today I went to visit Amsterdam again. A professor of mine from UNB was on a research trip/vacation there. It's always nice to see familiar faces from home, especially those who are so familiar with the history of the town you're visiting!

We started with lunch at a restaurent on the Rembrandtplein with his wife and daughter. I officially had my first croquette, which is a dutch delicacy. Well, not really... It was ok. I'm not sure if i'll try it again, but maybe definitely one of the other varieties. It definitely has a unique flavour and texture. What is a croquette you're asking? Well, as usual, let's see what wikipedia has to offer:

The croquette or croquet is a parcel of food such as minced meat or vegetables, encased in breadcrumbs and sometimes mashed potatoes, formed into a cylinder or disk, and then deep-fried. The croquette (from the French croquer (v), bite), was originally a French invention that gained a world-wide popularity both as a delicacy as well as an industrially produced fast food.

If we scroll down, we find a description of dutch croquettes:

Netherlands: Whereas previously the dish was regarded as a French cuisine delicacy of varying meat or vegetable content, in the 1800s it started to be used to use up leftover stewed meat. After World War II, several suppliers started mass-producing croquettes filled with beef. The croquette subsequently became even more popular as a fast food. Its success as a fast food garnered its reputation as a cheap dish of dubious quality, to such an extent that Dutch urban myth relate its allegedly mysterious content to offal and butchering waste. The "kroket" is even so popular that it is sold at McDonalds. Besides the common ragout type filling, other popular fillings served in fast food restaurants are whole boiled eggs, noodles, and rice.

I'm a little disturbed by the use of the word 'dubious'. Even more so by the fact that McDonalds sells it. If you don't see any new entries from me this week, my advice is stay away from the Croquettes when you visit the Netherlands. This 'dubious' dish can be found everywhere in the country. Often at little stores at train stations. There is a wall full of little windows, each window with a croquette inside. Put in your coins and the window pops open. (I think... I haven't actually tried this yet.) Anyways, lunch was quite good overall, and I'm happy to have finally tried a croquette.

After lunch the professor and I headed for the Joods Historisch Museum and the Portuguese Synagogue. (Dutch question: why is 'history' the tongue defying 'geschidenis' but 'historical' is 'historisch'?) We both have interests in this area. I've been interested since I wrote an essay for his class comparing Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands. The museum was nice and traced Jewish history in the Netherlands from the 1600s until the present day.

After the museum we headed over to the Portuguese Synagogue. Both the museum and the synagogue are in what used to be the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam. I've never been in a synagogue before, and this one was quite beautiful. Before we went in, we first had to put on our kippah:

The Portuguese Synagogue was built during the 17th century by the Amsterdam Sephardic community. It is called the Portuguese Synagogue, because Sephardic Jews were known as the Potuguese Jews. These Jews were refugees from the Iberian peninsula due to the expulsions in the 15th century. They mostly came from Spain, but due to the dislike of Spain in most of northern Europe, they did not want to be associated with Spain. Here are some photos. The front:

The inside:

Overall, it was another good day spent in Amsterdam. I can't wait until my next visit to this great city!

Day 55: Het weer

Why do we like to complain about the weather so much? Why do I like to complain about it so much? Is it something unique to me? Is it unique to Canadians? The Economist City Guide to Toronto when suggesting topics for small talk before meetings suggests talking about the weather. I find myself complaining about the weather here in the Netherlands often. It rains quite often, which I don't like because I enjoy going out to do stuff. I didn't come all the way to the Netherlands to sit inside. On the other hand, I don't like it when I get very warm here either. It gets very humid. Also, my room is on the top floor under a flat roof, which means my room is often warmer than it is outside.
Perhaps I'm just too picky. Maybe I just miss Canadian summers, which are sunny and hot. But, at least I would have my cold basement or an airconditioner to retreat to... It seems all I can do here, is go and hang out in the meat section at Albert Heijn.
It is quit strange though that if you compare the average monthly precipitation between Fredericton(87.1mm) and the Netherlands(70mm) for july, you find that we have much more in Fredericton. With all the rainy days I've had here, how does that work? Does it just rain harder back home? Does it rain more often at night?
The point of this post is that i'm tired of thinking about the weather, and most of all tired of complaining about it. So no more! My resolution for august is just to relax, and not think about the weather! If any of you should catch me, be sure to give me a good smack about the head. Thank you.

Day 51: Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade

Today I attended the Amsterdam Gay Pride Parade. Generally parades are held on roads, but since it's Amsterdam, it was held on the canals. For my first gay pride parade, I was quite impressed. Especially by the number of people who turned out. It was almost impossible to find a place to watch the parade from. The sides of the canals, and the bridges crossing them were packed with people. The parade was full of colourful boats full of colourful people.
Yours truly, with the parade in the background:

The most colourful boat:
This one was interesting:

Some leather:


The Westerkerk looming over the parade:
After the parade, all those who had been watching the parade on their boats headed home:

Day 49 - Cheese Market in Gouda

Thursday mornings is the weekly cheese market in Gouda. Sarah and I went to see what all the excitement was about. This is the city where the famous dutch cheese comes from. However, it's not actually pronounced as we would pronounce it in Canada. It's kind of hard to explain, but the 'g' is prononced by kinda of making a choking sound in the back of your throat. Kind of like 'ggg-ow-da'. It's actually quite fun to say!
Gouda is a city of about 70 000 about 20min northeast of Rotterdam by train. It has a very nice old town centre. Right in the middle of the main market area is the magnificent old stadhuis(city hall). And right next to the market square is St. Janskerk a really large beautiful old church. It's quite unique(at least for me) in the Netherlands as it is actually named after a saint. It seems most churchs here are either called 'oudekerk' (old church) and 'nieuwekerk' (new church).
As for the cheese, well, I'll just copy and paste from wikipedia:
The cheese is made from cow's milk that is cultured and heated until the curd is separate from the whey. Some of the whey is then drained, and water is added. This is called "washing the curd", and creates a sweeter cheese, as the washing removes some of the lactic acid. About ten percent of the mixture is curds which are pressed into circular moulds for several hours. These molds are the essential reason behind its traditional, characteristic shape. The cheese is then soaked in a brine solution which gives the cheese its rind and distinctive taste. The cheese is then dried for a couple of days before being coated to prevent it from drying out, then it is aged, depending on age classification, for a number of weeks to over 7 years before it is ready to be eaten.
I find it to be a very nice cheese. It's hard to avoid it here, it usually is the main cheese sold in most grocery stores.
The cheese market:
The Cheese ladies!
The back of the Stadhuis:
The Stadhuis with St. Janskerk further behind:

The rest of the Weekend - July 26-27

After the parade I rushed home, had supper, and then went to Ploenk's in Hilversum for a CouchSurfing party. It was lots of fun. There were some new faces and some familiar faces. We watched movies: Coming to America and Monsters, Inc. After we went to a local club where I saw how they party in Hilversum... pretty much like they do everywhere else. However, unlike Canada the club was open until 3:00AM. I learned some new dance moves(the shopping cart, the lawn mower, etc.) and heard some really bad music. The DJ had a strange urge to switch songs every 30 seconds. The next day Sunday we woke up late(those of us who went to sleep) and headed to Utrecht to a park where a couchsurfer's Ska band was playing some music. We spent a relaxing few hours stretched out on the grass listening to good music, and finding new ways of annoying each other. I'd never heard Ska before, but I definitely recommend it! The band was called Stampede. Here is their myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=79267120
Overall a great weekend. I'm really grateful to Birgitte for introducing me to CouchSurfing and to all those CS'ers I've met since I came to the Netherlands. They've really made me feel welcome in the country and also really made my first month and a half a lot better than I expected it would be. Thank you!
Some couchsurfers!

Zomer Carnaval - Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoon was the big parade. It must have been one of the longest parades I had ever seen. We stationed ourselves at the very start of the parade, and by the time the last people in the parade had passed us by, it was almost three hours later.