France

The drive from Bilbao to the Loire Valley was very nice. Leaving Bilbao, the road takes you through high hills, and then down to the french border. I was a bit disappointed, I thought we would be able to see the Pyrenees, but I guess the mountainous part of the them doesn't come that far west. The nice thing about France, is that the speed limit is 130km/h. The bad thing about France was it seemed like there was a toll booth every 100km or so...
We decided to stop in the town of Angouleme for lunch. Angouleme is a beautiful medieval city perched on a hill, with a magnificent byzantine cathedral.
That evening we reached the Loire Valley, where we would spend the next day. The Loire Valley is famous for it many castles. First built in the middle ages for defense, and then later as homes for the rich nobility to spend the summer. The next day we rented bikes to explore the Loire Valley and to visit some castles. One of the castles I visited was the fortress of Chinon. This castle used to be the home of many French and English kings and queens. It is where Joan of Arc visited King Charles VII to convince him to let her lead his armies. This pictures is taken from a bridge looking up the Vienne River to Chinon:I also visited the Abbey of Fontevraud. This is where the remains of King Richard I, King Henry II, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Queen Isabella of Angouleme used to be kept. However they were probably destroyed during the French Revolution, and now all the remains is their tomb covers:
It is a very beautiful region for biking. The roads were quite, the nature was beautiful, and discovering a castle around every corner was really cool. The only problem I had was finding a decent map at the tourism bureau. As a result, I managed to discover a very nice nuclear power plant, that I hadn't been looking for. But, it was very imposing and industrial looking.
The Loire river:

Spain

The second week of May I flew to Spain to help my friend drive her car from Madrid to Rotterdam. I got to spend about 4-5 days in the country, and I really enjoyed it.

My first days were spent in Madrid. It's a large hot city. It's not my favourite European capital, but it does have some nice parts. The cathedral and royal palace are very impressive. The food is great. One night we went out for tapas. I really enjoyed it, except for the eating with the hands part. You have to keep in mind that Spaniards eat late, so don't go too early. We went at 2100, and we were the first ones in the restaurant. One day we went hiking in the mountains just north of Madrid. It was really beautiful. The area was dry and rocky, with steep cliffs and fast flowing streams. Kind of how I had always pictured Spain. It was a fun hike, anyone who knows me knows how i like to jump and climb around on rocks, and there was lots of that. The interesting part of the trip was when we came across two people who might have been thinking of doing a little skinny-dipping... That wouldn't have been too bad, but since they felt the need to fondle each other quite a bit while doing it, made it all a bit uncomfortable.
On Monday we drove north to Bilbao. My first time driving in Europe, and my first time driving on the highway in a manual shift car! Fun! Driving was a bit different over there. The highways are very curvy, so you always had to pay attention to stay between the line. Also, Spanish drivers are crazy. The horn is an important and mandatory piece of equipment for driving in the country. Passing someone on the highway was interesting. It had to be done at high speed, or the next thing you'd notice would be another driver behind you, flashing his lights indicating you're being too slow.
Bilbao is a really great city, probably one of my new favourite cities in Europe. It used to be an industrial port city. It had all the dirt and pollution that came with it. But, in the last couple decades, the government has really done a lot to clean it up. It has new trams, a recently built subway, a beautiful downtown, and not to mention the Guggenheim museum:Bilbao is one of the main cities of the Basque area of Spain, so everything was bilingual, although we never heard much basque being spoken. One day we went to visit an old monastery that was on the coast near Bilbao. It had a fantastic view of the ocean and coast. First we had to climb down to near the beach, then we had to climb a narrow and winding staircase up to the top of an island that was connected to the coast by a spit of land. At the top we found the monastery.

This was a much more lush and cool part of Spain compared to Madrid. With the ocean in front, and the mountains behind, it kept the cool air. It also rains more often... All in all, it wa a climate much like the Netherlands.
Our next stop was the Loire valley of France!

Victor's travels...

Because of popular demand (Linda), I'm going to write a few posts about my travels in the past few months. Ireland, Wales, Sweden and Finland and beyond... Maybe i'll also write some last posts about the Netherlands. So, stay tuned!

Day 317-318

I just noticed this old post that I had started, but never finished. So, here it is:

April 30th is known as Koninginnedag in the Netherlands. In English it means Queen's Day. It is the official celebration for Queen Beatrix's birthday. It's is kind of like Victoria Day in Canada, but the celebration is much bigger. Much, much, much bigger. Especially in Amsterdam and The Hague.
The night before is known as Queen's night, and the main celebration is in The Hague. I went there with some friends at around 2200. We put on our orange clothing(this is a must) and headed out into the streets. They were packed. We went towards the Grote Markt, which is one of the main squares in The Hague. But, we couldn't get in! The police had cordoned off all the streets going in to the square saying there was too many people inside! I was able to see in, and I had never seen so many people in one place before. So, we went to another place where there was a live concert going on. What was realy cool, was the guys with tanks on their back going around selling beer. They had a little tap that came around the front that could dispense it. Though it was a bit expensive. I went back to Rotterdam that night around 4:00Am. Next morning I had to be up early to go to Amsterdam.
By 10:00 I was on the train to Amsterdam. The train was full of orange dressed people heading to the big party. We arrived in Amsterdam, and it was not bad. There was lots of people, but it wasn't too crowded. There is something special about Queen's Day, where it is allowed that everyone can sell their old stuff in the streets. So, the city was like one huge flea market. So we walked though the streets, and browsed the stuff for sale. We eventually ended up in Vondelpark where we relaxed in the sun. When we decided to head back towards the centre, we ran into a problem. While we relaxed, the crowds had grown so large, that going down the street was no longer possible. There was just that many people. So we decided to wander around the edges, and hope we could somehow make our way to the centre eventually. When I finally left that evening, the city was a mess. Garbage was everywhere, and the urinals were overflowing into the streets. But, I think it was a fun day.

Day 312-313: Adventures in Roffa after the sun sets

Friday night I was out helping some friends celebrate their birthdays. We went to Rotown, one of the nicer bar/club in the city I think. It was a fun night, and by 3:00AM there was three of us left. The weak had left, and the strong were now looking for something interesting. "I know this Salsa bar," says Loek, "shall we go there?" "I don't know," says Geert, "but as long as they sell beer I'm happy." So, we set off. The first sign something was different was when we were given the sign to put out our arms and spread our legs for a pat down. That's never happened to me before going into a bar in this city. We got into the bar and discovered something interesting. We were the only white guys there! Not that this is a problem. But I've always found it interesting, that most bars I go to in this city are usually only ever frequented by white Dutch. Yet, over half the city doesn't fall into this category. It seems they just frequent different bars. Anyways, the next adventure came downstairs in the men's toilet. There were a couple guys hanging around there. "Ben jij de politie?" they ask me. "Nee," I reply. "Want some then?" they ask, offering me some drugs. "No thanks," I decline. But, we did have a nice chat about where we were from. I found out one was from Columbia and the other from the Dominican Republic. Interesting people you can meet in the toilets of Rotterdam. Leaving the bar in search of a vuurtje we run into a couple guys from Uruguay. "Who do you support?" they asked. "PSV Eindhoven," says Loek. "Oh PSV!!" they say, "Did you know in 1988 PSV won the European Champions League and went on to play against a team from Uruguay which had won the Americas Champion League? The Uruguayan team won!" "Where are you from again?" asks Loek, "Argentina?"

Day 310: Muiderslot

Another free and beautiful day. Therefore, I must go on another bike ride! This time I took the train to Hilversum, where I met my friend. We biked 15km to the castle of Muiderslot. First built in 1280, it's had a few famous inhabitants over the years. Now it is a wonderfully restored museum. Here you can see the castle in the distance:The King prepared to enter his castle...

Looking out from the ramparts. You can see flevoland in the distance, a completely man made province in the IJsselmeer lake, with some 370 000 inhabitants:Wearing period dress:
My knight uniform!
Now a jester...
One of the birds from the falconry:Some sheep we met on the way:

Day 306: Keukenhof

On Saturday I went to the Keukenhof. We biked there from Leiden, it was about 15km. The Keukenhof is a famous Dutch garden that attracts many tourists every year. In fact, it was hard to find a Dutch person there. Dutch people tell me, that the only people who visit the Keukenhof are Dutch people over the age of 70 and tourists. There certainly were a lot of tourists there. When we arrived there must have been close to a 100 tour busses parked outside:Before we got to the Keukenhof, we biked through the famous Dutch tulip fields:



The Keukenhof was interesting, but nothing I need to see again. I prefer gardens with variety, and I didn't find there was much variety. It was mostly gardens with different patterns of the same flowers over and over again.


It was also very crowded:

Day 298: Doorn

On Friday, I met up with a friend in Utrecht and we biked to a little village about 20km away called Doorn. It was a nice bike ride, except for the start, we had an awful time trying to figure out how to get out of Utrecht. But, once we were out of the city we found our way to Doorn fairly easily. The reason for going to Doorn was to visit a house called 'Huis Doorn'. This was the house where Kaiser Wilhelm II lived following his exile from Germany at the end of World War I. He lived there from about 1920 until his death in 1941. Following his death, he was buried in a mausoleum next to the house. At the house, we got a tour by a very enthusiastic older dutch man, who babbled on and on in dutch for about two hours. A bit too fast and bit too long for me. But, he did tell us some interesting facts about the home and the Kaiser. While Wilhelm was still Kaiser of Germany, he had 66 palaces, the largest of which was 1600 rooms. In exile in the Netherlands he had one house, with 16 rooms. In his writing room, he had a chair shaped like a saddle. This is because supposedly people think quicker when they're in the saddle. As a result of a birth defect which left him with a withered left arm, all his shirts, jackets, etc., were shorter in the left arm. He also had to use specialized utensils, such as a fork with one side which could be used as a knife. In one room which he used to talk with guests, there is a large beautiful chandelier. Apparently the candles put in this chandelier were scented. Therefore, Wilhelm could stand or sit directly below the chandelier and would not be troubled by the unpleasant odours of his guests. I guess this was a time before people showered regularly.
A bust of the Kaiser with the house in the background:
His mausoleum:

Spring, Time and Sun

Spring is here in full force in the Netherlands, and it's wonderful. Together with a new bike, I have been enjoying the outdoors to the max.

For me, spring brings with it such a sense of optimism. The warm air is back, and there's nothing I can't do. I've been on two fairly long bike rides lately. The first one I went north towards Bergschenhoek, and then southeast to Capelle aan den IJssel before I came back to Rotterdam. The second trip was to Delft. It's about 15-20km to Delft, and it's beautiful Dutch farmland in between. The way there wasn't so great, I was next to the highway, breathing in carbon monoxide, but the way back was calm, quiet and beautiful. Except for the odour of manure that was occasionally in the air... Also, there was lots of farm animals: cows, horses and sheep. Not too mention many little baby lambs!

I also find that on these trips I discover the most interesting things. Such as what I think is some kind of ski hill:

Also, a house with a lovely thatched roof:

Some thoughts about time and the sun. If you remember my post from back in December I was complaining about the lack of sunlight. Well, my aunt who lives in Canada's far north told me to stop complaining, because she gets a lot less sun, and that the thing about very short days in winter, is that they will get long again really fast. And, it's true! We went from days where the sun rose 8:30AM and set at 4:30PM to days where the sun is now rising at 7:30AM and setting at close to 8:00PM. It's great, I love it. I find the lack of sunlight in this country, either due to winter, or to the clouds and rain that are so common has made sunny days all that more precious for me. When the sun comes out I feel an overwhelming compulsion to go outside and do something. The dutch are kind of like this too, as soon as the sun came out, and it was a bit warm, all the cafe's put out tables and chairs, and they were packed with people sitting in the sun. As soon as the sun started to disappear, the chairs emptied as they fell into the shade.

Finally, I went to the beach on Sunday at Scheveningen and had a great time. We sat in the sand, played games and ate food. I even dipped my feet into the ocean... still too cold.

Vlieg van de meisjes

In the Netherlands, many people ride bikes. Almost every street has special designated areas for bikes. One of the interesting things I've noticed is how the dutch ride, especially the girls. The majority of dutch girls ride high on their bike, so that their feet can't reach the ground. Therefore, when they come to a stop they must hop down off the seat to balance properly. At rush hour it is quite common to come to a red light, and find a number of girls, with one foot on the ground, and one foot on a pedal, standing, waiting for a green light. Then when the light turns green they start pushing with their foot, a few times even, before they jump up onto their seat and start peddling. I always think that it reminds me of a flock of birds trying to take off. They need to take a few steps before they can get enough speed to get airborne.
Anyways, this is the kind of thing I notice and spend my time thinking about. Maybe I need a hobby.

Day 270: Hoek van Holland

Today was a beautiful day, so I went to the beach. The closest beach to Rotterdam is at Hoek van Holland a small town on the Atlantic Ocean about 25km from Rotterdam. The town is at the end of the Nieuwe Waterweg, which is the main shipping route into the Port of Rotterdam. It's a good place to watch all the huge ocean cargo ships coming in. The beach side which faces out to the ocean is very nice. The sand is soft and fine. I imagine on a hot summer day it is a very nice plae to relax.

Future plans

So... I have exactly three months left before my work visa expires, and I go back to Canada permanently or not. Therefore I have to figure out what there is I have left that I absolutely must do.
There are many places left in the Netherlands I would like to see. I want to visit the north; Groningen and maybe the Frisian Islands, to the east to visit Arnhem and Nijmegan; to the south to see Maastricht; and finally to Zeeland. So, many places left to visit. Also, there are still museums in Rotterdam and Amsterdam I would like to visit. I would like to go to a Feyenoord game. Not because I have an overwhelming love of football, but mostly because it´s something I would like to say that I´ve done.
Also, I´m planning on going travelling my last month in Europe. I´m thinking of a tour across northern Europe. I´d like to see the places where my ancestors came from. That means I´d like to visit the Åland Islands in Finland, the Dalarna region of Sweden, the Hedmark region of Norway and finally southern Ireland around Cork. There´s some other places i´ll probably stop by too. Helsinki and Oulu in Finland to visit friends. Stockholm, Oslo and Dublin just because it´s nice to see capital cities. I still have lots of planning to do, but I´m very excited about the prospect.
Do I have the time left to accomplish all these goals? And try and find anther job in Holland, or back in Canada?
Any of my loyal readers want to join me on any of these trips? It´s always more fun to travel with friends.

Rotterdamse Museumnacht

Last Saturday was the Rotterdam museum night. 44 museums, art galleries, schools, etc., opened up their doors to put on special exhibitions. For 12 euros we could get into all of the exhibitions from 8:00PM until 2:00AM when everything closed down. I can't quite remember how many places i visited, but it must have been 6-8. Many of the places were small exhibitions that took only 15min to visit. An example of one place that I visited, was the Goethe Institute. Usually it is a german language school. But on this day it had an exhibition of German art from Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic. Until WWII, there was a thriving German population living in the Czech Republic. There were other interesting exhibitions like this one. Still more museums i'd like to visit in Rotterdam though...

Carnaval!

On the second last of February i went to the province of Limburg to visit my friend and celebrate Carnaval. Carnval is a catholic celebration that goes back centuries, and is generally held in the five days before Ash Wedensday when the 40 days of fasting begins. It is celebrated all over the world, most famously in Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. In the Netherlands it is traditionally celebrated below the rivers, ie: the south of the country. These are the the traditional catholic parts of the country.
The whole idea of carnaval seems to be five days of drinking lots of beer, dressing up in costumes, having parades and listening to 'Carnaval' music. Here are some examples of the music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw5HmEjSyM4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-apSZWqzY&feature=related
The music is interesting at first... but then it just gets worse as the evening goes on.
overall, I had a really great time, and I hope to do it again.

Day 242: How the Dutch handle the water

Back in June I met a man through CouchSurfing. We got to talking about the Netherlands, and he asked me what I thought of when I thought of the country. So, I mentioned cheese, clogs, windmills, unilever, etc...
"No, no" he interrupted, "the best representation of the Netherlands is the way we handle the water."
He started talking about the Delta Works, Haringvliet and Maeslantkering. It sounded very interesting to me, and he offered to take me for a visit to one of these representations of the Netherlands at some point. So, this weekend we finally had our chance to go visit Maeslantkering, and I could see what could possibly make him so excited.
Maeslantkering is the last of the Delta Works, a series of projects launched after the great flood of 1953 in which almost 2000 Dutch people died. It was left to the last, because all the other water ways could be shut off by simpler dams, while the Nieuwe Waterweg is the approach to the Port of Rotterdam, where one ship every seven minutes passes through. To shut it off, or replace it with a series of locks would be very damaging to the Dutch economy. So, in the late 1980s the Dutch government asked for bids to create a wall that could be moved across the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg in the event of a storm surge. It also had to be built without restricting traffic on the river. The Maeslantkering was the winning bid.
It is really an impressive stucture. On each side of the river is a huge joint, about 10m in diameter. The joint is sunk into a huge pocket of concrete, so that it can resist large pressure put against it. The joint is much like a shoulder joint. It can move up and down, and side to side. Connected to the joints are large steel arms, each one the size of the Eiffel tower, and twice as heavy. The arms couldn't be made in one piece, but had to be brought in in pieces and welded together. Each weld took over 100 hours and 100 layers to finish. They are also each coated in paint in the amount that could fit in half of an olympic swimming pool. The arms were covered in white paint, so that in the sun the steel wouldn't expand as much. If they had used black paint the steel had the potential to expand the diamater of each tube by half a metre. With the white paint it is only around 9cm. On the end of each arm is a large curved wall. The curved wall is 22m tall and 210m long. At the end of each wall, next to the river is a locomotive, which is used to move the wall out into the river. Once the wall is moved out into the river, there is still space between the bottom, and the riverbed. This creates a really fast current which sweeps all the sediment out of the way, exposing the concrete blocks on the bottom of the river. The wall then sinks down.
The structure is completely computerized. The wall will only move on the say so of the computer, and that will only happen when the sea level rises more than 3m. Not at 2.99m, only at 3m. When it was built it was expected that, aside from a yearly test, the wall would only have to be closed once every 7 years, and in the future with rising sea levels, once every 5 years. Since it's completion in 1997, the wall has only been closed once because of rising sea levels. Unfortunately, when I asked, they wouldn't close it so that I could see what it looked like closed...

International Film Festival of Rotterdam

The last week and a half of January, I worked as a volunteer at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam(IFFR). I was a 'zaalwacht', in other words, I stood at the door, ripped tickets and handed out rating cards, and at the end of the movie I helped clean up the zaal(theatre). I worked at the Luxor which is usually used for theatre productions, musicals, that kind of thing. It was only the one theatre with room for 750 people. I had a really good time. I got to see a lot of movies, and got to work with interesting people.
I saw about 17 movies over 10 days. Some of them were quite good, and others, well, I would like the hour and a half of my life I spent watching the movie back.
Here's some of the best movies I saw:

Troubled Water (Norway) 5/5
This was probably the best movie I saw. It told the story of a young man, just released from prison. He had been sent there while still a teenager for murder of a young boy. Something he still claims was an accident. In prison he has become an excellent organ player. On the outside he finds a job at a church as the organ player. Soon, he is an important member of the church; falling in love with the priest, making friends with her son, having his own place to live again. But trouble starts to happen when the mother of the young boy who died comes across him one day...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948544/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7I3hFBtOFQ

Maman est chez le coiffeur (Canada) 5/5
The 2nd best movie I saw was about a young girl and her family over the course of their summer vacation. It is the summer where she discovers that the lives of adults and those around her aren't as perfect as she thought. She helps her mother discover that her father is having an affair, which results in her mother leaving home. How will the rest of the summer go?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1153111/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRmpXuXWgtg
Also check out two of the songs from the movie, which are sung by one of the actors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGFcqGBPtg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NrT14CGWMY&feature=related

The Chaser (Korea) 4/5
This was a really cool Korean film. About an ex-cop who owns an escort service. One night he realises that his escorts, that he thought were running away, in fact all disappeared after visiting the same man. He sets out to find the escort he had just sent to this man. Unfortunately he doesn't know where he lives... There begins a night of chases through the street, fights which explode into a great climax the next day. A very good thriller.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190539/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkqczsLZd1I

Wrong Rosary (Turkey) 4/5
This is a movie about a young muezzezin who has just moved to Istabul to work in a mosque. He meets two people, one an older man who owns an antique book shop and a young catholic woman who is looking after the old nun who lives next door. He begins to fall in love with her. There's also a connection between the old man and the woman. Both men have to make confessions to her, will they do it?
I actually saw the world premiere of this movie. The director and all the actors were there.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1366981/

Bronson (UK) 4/5
This is a true story about the longest serving prisoner in the UK. Charlie Bronson has been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has never killed or fatally wounded anyone. However, he's pubslished 9 books on topics ranging from poetry to personal fitness. It's a very interesting story!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172570/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvVXYwVj-o

La frontiere de l'aube (France) 4/5
This movie follows a young man through two relationships. The first one with an actress, things alternate back anf forth between them, he leaves her, she goes insane and kills herself. Then he's with a new girl, things are going good, she gets pregnant, they're going to get married, than his old girlfriend starts haunting him through his mirror. What will he do?
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=la+frontiere+de+l%27aube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZgsWh7QSxY

La memoire des anges (Canada) 3/5
This isn't your regular kind of movie. To make this movie, the director went to the National Film Board of Canada, and went looking through all their old films that somehow touched on the city of Montreal. Then he took all the old stock film, amd made it into a movie about the city. There's no real characters aside from the city itself.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286825/

Jerichow (Germany) 4/5
This movie is about three people. A German man just out of the army, and a couple a german woman married to a Turkish man. The Turkish man owns a chain of snack bars, and hires the german man to work for him. Then the German man starts having an affair with his wife...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1224153/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPf4TmPB9E

Gomorra (Italy) 3/5
A movie with many different plot lines about life in Naples under the mafia. One tells the story of how the mafia is diggin holes all around Naples to dispose of dangerous chemicals. Another looks at two young boys who want to do things independently.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929425/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk8KeeZcQYc

Delta (Hungary) 3/5
This movie tells the story of a young man who movies back to his home village on the Danube Delta. He decideds to build his own house out on the river, away from everybody else. his sister moves out with him to help him out. But, is their relationship getting too close? The townspeople certainly think so...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910860/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E422dgatB10

Everybody dies but me (Russia) 3/5
This Russian movie is about three teenage girls preparing for a disco at their school. Things start out good, with them promising to be friends forever, but as different pressures build up, as boys come between them, things start to break apart. A really depressing movie, but also quite realistic I think. The filmmakes were not afraid of showing real life.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1227189/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXjEb7JzbBg

Tokyo Sonata (Japan) 3/5
Tells the story of a man laid off from his job, but he decides to keep it from his family. He then meets people doing the same thing. Meanwhile, back home his family is starting to fall apart. It was a good movie, but way too long.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938341/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKDeTVDEIU

Kan door huid heen (Netherlands) 2/5
This movie is about a woman who is assaultd in her home by the pizza deliveryman. It alters her life dramatically. She ends up moving to Zeeland and trying to renovate her own home with the help of the neighbours. A really weird movie. Can't say I recommend it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132593/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jomMVK2skw0

Tony Manero (Chile) 1/5
Weirdest movie ever. About a man living in Chile during the Pinochet regime. He has an obsession with the movie Saturday Night Fever. He takes it to some extremes...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1223975/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCpNw609V8

Parque Via (Mexico) 0/5
Most boring movie ever. It's about a man who's been living in a mansion from 10 years, looking after it, while it waits to be sold. Then, one day it is sold. What will he do? He's now accustomed to living on his own, and has trouble being in large crowds. Apparetnly it's mostly a true story. And the man who it's based on, actually plays himself. it is extremely slow movie. Here he is mowing the lawn... now he's brushing his teeth... now he's preparing something to eat... now he's sleeping... and repeat. The only highlight of the movie was when his girlfriend visits him, and she asks him: 'Do you think my legs are beautiful?' He replies 'I don't care about legs... They're the first things I push out of the way.'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183942/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPz9EhipfWI

Trip to Germany

My trip to Germany was also very good. First I went to a small village called Brilon. This is where the family of a former roomate of mine lives. They kindly invited me to spend Christmas with them. The village is situated in a very nice area. Lots of forests and landscapes. Also, it lacked the light pollution that is so common in the Netherlands, so I was able to see the stars again. It was very interesting to celebrate Christmas with them. New traditions and new foods. The main day was actually Christmas Eve. We went to church. We came home and had a big supper. It was a fondue, something I had never done before, and was very delicious. Then, after we opened the presents. Supposedly the Christ Child comes in the evening and delivers the presents. The Christmas tree was lit up with real candles. I got some nice presents: chocolate and a very nice book. On Christmas day I again got to try new foods. This time we ate stag for supper. I've never eaten deer before, and I have to say it was very good. The next day we went for a walk around the village. All the buildings are quite similar: white with black roofs. The countryside was beautiful, still green despite winter. My next stop was Weimar. Weimar is town in Eastern Germany. I chose to visit it because I had heard good things about it, and it was on the way to Berlin. Weimar is famous for giving it's name to the short-lived Weimar Republic which ruled Germany from the end of the First World War until Hitler took over. Weimar is also where Goethe lived most of his life, and has several museums about him. The final stop on my trip was Berlin. On the way to Berlin, on the train, I was able to get a good view of East Germany. In a way, it was definitely different than West Germany. It seemed much more drab. My first introduction to Berlin was confusion. The main Station, Berlin Hbf, is very large, and I thought didn't have very good signage. But, luckily while I was looking for a ticket office to get my subway ticket, I met my first familiar face from the Netherlands. Thankfully she was able to point me to the right direction. My next experience reminded me that I should be very thankful to live in the Netherlands where so many people speak English. As I was trying to buy a ticket, I discovered that the ticket agent didn't speak English, and had no idea what I was trying to ask of her. Fortunately, she had an English speaking colleague.

I was in Berlin for a CouchSurfing event called Berlin Winter Camp. Five days of 450 cs'ers hanging out together in Berlin. We even had our own bar rented for the duration of the camp. I met lots of interesting people from all over Europe. I stayed in the flat of a guy from Hong Kong who has lived in Berlin for the past three years. Staying there also was a German guy from Stuttgart and three Romanians who had hitchhiked their way from Romania. The camp was kinda of a blur for me, I was having so much fun, not getting enough sleep, and was sick with a cold for most of it... but, I did lots of things. I saw quite a bite of Berlin. I visited the Stasi museum which is situated in the former headquarters of the Stasi. It was a very interesting tour, lots of old spy equipment, the office of the head of the stasi still in its original condition, an example of a stasi jail cell, and lots of pictures and memorabilia. I also visited the Pergamom museum. I was familiar with this museum already, as i had visited the ancient city of Pergamom when I was in Turkey a few years ago. There, I was told if I wanted to see most of the city I should in fact visit the Pergamom Museum in Berlin, as that's where German archaeologists had carted most of it off to. There is quite a bit, most importantly, the Pergamom alter which is very impressive. It also has some famous parts of other ancient cities. It has the market gate from Miletus and the Ishtar gate from Babylon. The museum is very big, and takes pretty much the whole day to see properly. Also, you can expect to wait outside in line for awhile. But, i definitely think it is worth the visit. A lot of the information is in english. The last major location I visited, was the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, which is just north of the city. It is definitely worth a visit. But, it's quite depressing to see. There are also many sites to see in Berlin. I saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat, the tower in Alexanderplatz, the holocaust memorial, Berlin wall, etc.... One really fun event we did was about 30-40 couchsurfers got Santa Claus outfits for 5 euros, and then we went for a walk through the city together. We created quite a stir!
Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Germany, especially the Christmas part. but, I was definitely glad to be back in the Netherlands, and hear and see a language that I could understand a bit again.

Trip to Belgium

During December I went on a week long trip to Belgium. I visited the main Flemish cities of Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges; and the capital Brussels. Overall, it was a very nice trip. The cities were beautiful and all had unique and special things about them. Antwerp has a nice old town centre. There are many chocolate stores and fry ships. It's also famous for it's diamonds. I had a really good time in Ghent. I met up with a friend who showed me all around the city and shared with me many interesting facts about Belgium and it's people. The city also had a very nice castle, with a great view of the city. Inside the castle was a museum that had many interesting old weapons and torture implements. Even an old guillotine that had actually been used. I also had a chance to go skating on an outdoor skating rink, which was lots of fun. The next stop was Bruges, a town whose old centre is a UNESCO world heritage site. it was nice to look at for a day, but there was not much else to do. The final stop was the capital city Brussels. I've been to Brussels before, and it's one of my favourite cities in Europe. It really feels like a capital city of a colonial empire. Big grand buildings that really give it a certain atmosphere.
overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Belgium. It's a nice country with friendly people and many interesting quirks.
The pictures from my trip are here: