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.