A Maritimer in Queen Beatrix's Court

France

2009-08-29T18:44:00.003+02:00

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

2009-06-19T00:36:00.008+02:00

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...

2009-06-15T20:58:00.002+02:00

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

2009-05-02T22:07:00.004+02:00

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

2009-04-25T12:41:00.002+02:00

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

2009-04-23T19:41:00.005+02:00

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

2009-04-23T19:11:00.005+02:00

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

2009-04-13T21:10:00.003+02:00

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

2009-04-06T13:06:00.005+02:00

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

2009-03-17T16:29:00.003+01:00

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

2009-03-13T17:31:00.004+01:00

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

2009-03-12T23:14:00.002+01:00

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

2009-03-10T16:24:00.003+01:00

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!

2009-03-10T16:01:00.003+01:00

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

2009-02-15T21:06:00.003+01:00

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

2009-02-09T12:19:00.002+01:00

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

2009-02-08T17:45:00.005+01:00

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

2009-01-16T17:35:00.003+01:00

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:

Where has the sun gone?

2008-12-06T19:59:00.002+01:00

One of the things I've noticed here in Holland is the lack of sun. Not just because of all the clouds, but also because of sunset/sunrise times. At the moment the sun is rising around 8:30AM and setting at 4:30PM. Compare this to where I'm from in Canada, where the sun is still rising at 7:30AM, and setting at 4:30PM. With 15 days left until the 21st, I'm curious how much more day time will be without sun. It's a bit depressing... especially since when the sun is up, it's usually covered by clouds. Why did I come here again? And not to Spain or Italy?

Hyvää Joulua!

2008-12-04T22:29:00.003+01:00

On Sunday I went to the Finnish market with some friends. One of whom was Finnish. This was very important for me, because I thought the Danish Market was that much more interesting, because I was there with a Dane, who told me what was good and bad. The Norwegian market was not as interesting because there were no Norwegians to give me guidance. So, I met Marjo(Finnish girl) the previous tuesday, and the first thing I said to her on finding out that she was Finnish, was: Wanna go to the Finnish market with me? Fortunately she was agreable.
There was quite a large selection in the Market to choose from, from food to books to handicrafts. I was most interested in food. Here's the Finnish Seaman's Church, which is where the market was:

Inside the supermarket part, they had quite a selection of chocolates and liquorice.

Marjo bought us some karjalanpiirakka. A very funny sounding word, when you say it, it's important to really emphasize the end: karjalanpiira-KA. Anyways, it was rice wrapped in some kind of pastry with scrambled egg on top. A unique but tasty food.
Next was some glogi and joulutorttu. As I already told my Danish friend, the Finnish Glogi was much better than the Danish Glogg. Sorry... The joulutorttu was also quite delicious.

We also bought some different kinds of liquorice. Yummy!

Overall, I've decided I approve of Finnish food. However, another Finnish friend of mine told me that she had never heard of anyone ever eating all these foods together at the same time...

Day 171-173: Dag Sinterklaas!

2008-12-04T14:48:00.003+01:00

This past weekend was the annual Sinterklaas CS meeting in Rotterdam. This was the 3rd year it's been held, all in Rotterdam. It was a fun and grueling weekend. Friday night we started off with some dinner in a restaurent before we moved over to a bar for some fast-paced speed dating. Just to remind us, that CouchSurfing is not a dating site... We were given out random questions to ask our dates. Anything from, 'When was the last time you cried?' to "Have you ever cheated on your partner, and did you confess?'. Then depending on the answer they gave, you had to write or draw something on a piece of paper that was taped to their back. Now everyone knows that I like Elvis, and that apparently i'm a californian raisin and will prune... Some people got quite shocking things written on their back. Just ask the kutwijf... ;)
Saturday we headed out in groups on different activities. My group went on a picture quest. We had to do interesting things like imitating certain statues, or asking a random person to pose for a picture with their bike. It was fun, but damn cold. The hot chocolate we got ourselves at the end, definitely restored things to right. After dinner at a nice Turkish restaurent(and this was decent turkish food not the stuff you find on every corner here in Rotterdam), we went to de Unie for a big party. Zwarte Pieten arrived and showered us with pepernoten, and than the big man himself arrived, Sinterklaas. He directed his helpers(slaves?) to carry some off to Spain, and the rest he distributed presents too. I got some nice Polish chocolates, that I shared out, and didn't last the night. The party didn't go very late, but it was still lots of fun. I conducted a language poll, which I'll talk about later, and also went for a swim in the pile of jackets. Sunday we got up very late and went and said our goodbyes. A great weekend!
Although, I did learn that it seems cigarette smoke is leaking into my room from below, making some parts a bit smelly... :( Fortunately, I don't seem to have a strong enough nose to detect it.
Here's the Couchsurfing band rocking out:
All lined up waiting for Sinterklaas!

The big guy himself! Apparently he's been climbing through some chimney's as well... I never did figure out whether the girl was supposed to be his wife or daughter...

During our picture quest tour, the German dude decided to climb onto a boat.

Speedating!

Dag Sinterklaas!

Metz trip continued...

2008-11-26T22:21:00.004+01:00

My trip to Metz was pretty cool. We set off from Rotterdam Friday evening around 5:00PM. The trip was not too bad, we ran into a bit of a traffic jam around Brussels, but it didn't slow us down too much. We stopped for gas in Luxembourg, which was great, because it means I can now add another country to my list. We arrived in Metz around 11:00PM and after some circles around the city, we found some parking near the Cathedral. The Cathedral, called St. Etienne, is really impressive. We found the other Couchsurfers, and my host and I headed to his place to get some rest for the next day.
On Saturday we went to the Fort of Mont St. Quentin. To get there we took the car up into the hills around Metz. We went through a really beautiful village called Scy-Chazelles. When we arrived at the meeting point, we had to wait around for awhile. There were some people who were quite late... but, i got to know some of the other Couchsurfers. Aside from the ones from Holland, there were some from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and of course France.
When we finally arrived at the forts, I was really amazed. They're still quite intact, and offer a maze of corridors, rooms and tunnels. Large moats travel alongside walls several stories high, with many gun ports. We discovered steel cupolas, that stuck out from the ground a foot or so, and offered an excellent view of the surrounding countryside. The forts could be dangerous too. Once you ventured inside, away from the windows, it was completely dark, and you needed your flashlight, or you would be stuck. We also had to watch for holes in the floor, which could lead down to another floor, or who knows where... Also, there were low roofs(my nemesis) and random pieces of metal hanging from them. But, we all survived and made it out safely.
The last fort of Saturday was at the top of the hill overlooking Metz. It had a very interesting warning sign outside it's barred gate. It warned you of the dangers of the fort, that an adult and child had already died in it and than proceeded to tell you that the fort had absolutely no interest for the public... Well, it was certainly wrong. After we went down into the valley alongside the fort, and climbed up the side, we went into the fort. It has this amazing room, that is painted, almost like greek or roman paintings, such as you find in Pompeii. As far as our guide knew, it was done by the original inhabitants of the fort. It was quite impressive.
Saturday evening we went to the Metz Christmas Market. They had all kinds of interesting things to see, eat, and drink. We had some Gluhwein, and ate some Poele de Noel(some kind of meat stuffed in a bun) and then some tasty chocolate bread. We also visited the Quebecois stall, that was run by a fellow Couchsurfer. It had the usual maple syrup for sale... After we went to a local bar, and I tried a couple of beers made in Lorraine, the region where Metz is located. Noiraude and Loroyse they were called. After the long day, I was really tired, and had a really good sleep. The next morning we headed out to the Fort du Bois la Dame. This one was much more difficult to get too. We had to drive up a muddy, pitted road to get to it. On the way we noticed some people dressed up in camouflage, and we though, oh, some people out doing paintball... Until we got closer and noticed their FAMAS(semi-automatic rifle) and hand grenades they were carrying around. So, we smiled, and drove past them quickly. The group this morning was about half as large. Apparently we were down to the hardcore, while the rest stayed and visited Metz. This fort had some impressive tunnels, some right down into the bedrock. After lunch, we split up into groups. Some went 30km away to Verdun to visit the Maginot Line. Others, went to another fort in the area, and my group went to visit the old Roman aqueduct at Jouy-aux-Arches. This aqueduct brought water from the hills near Metz to the city. After visiting it, we went back to the city.
By this time, it had begun to snow. By the time we departed Metz around 5:00PM it was snowing even harder. By the time we had made it to Belgium, traffic was almost at a standstill. There were cars in the ditches, parked in the middle of the road, and snow completely covering the road. Our top speed was 30km an hour. We finally got going again, about half way to Liege, and made it to Rotterdam by just after midnight. There was some snow in Rotterdam too... but it promptly melted under the onslaught of a rain storm, that also soaked me on my bike ride back home. Ahh, it was great to be back home.
Some other comments I have. The Belgians are really weird. What other country has two names for every city? One in both Flemish and French. They have Anvers/Antwerp, Brussel/Bruxelles, Gent/Gand, Luik/Liege, Namen/Namur, etc, etc. And you have to know both, if you're in Flanders heading towards Wallonia, it will only give you the Wallonian city names in Flemish, and vice-versa.
The French were really friendly, although I noticed they're a lot less willing to speak english than the Dutch are.
I still think Couchsurfers are often the coolest people I meet.

Day 164-166: Some first thoughts about my weekend in Metz

2008-11-24T21:43:00.002+01:00

1. It's nice to be in a country again, where I can understand everything going on around me.

2. If you can tell anything about Luxembourg from it's gas stations, it's a very nice country.

3. The French make the best croissants.

4. Playing in the mud and snow is fun.

5. I have been now been to three Christmas markets in three weeks.

6. French forts are way cool.

7. I spent way more time in Belgium than I wanted to.

8. I had a great time!

Day 158: Ik heb Sinterklass gezien!

2008-11-19T14:10:00.004+01:00

On Saturday, the moment I had been waiting for all my life happened. I saw Sinterklaas. Well, not actually the real one... Apparently the real one was in Almere. But, still, it was a moving moment. I suppose my non-Dutch readers are asking who is Sinterklaas? Well, he's not Santa Claus, as Dutch people will constantly remind you. It's best if you just read the Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas
He arrived in Rotterdam on Saturday, and had a little parade. Here's one of his helper's, Zwarte Piet. (Black Pete) They were handing out peppernoten(candy) to the children.
Some clowns and their crazy bikes:

More Zwarte Piets! They were everywhere.

Not quite sure who they're supposed to be, but they looked nice.

Children waiting for Sinterklaas, with their candy bags.

Here's the old guy himself! All the way from Spain.

Day 157: Norwegian Christmas Market

2008-11-19T14:01:00.002+01:00

The past weekend was the Norwegian Christmas market at the norwegian church here in Rotterdam. It was interesting, but I was a bit lost. Obviously, it's better to go to these things with someone who knows what it's all about. but, I did find some quite tasty chocolate. Lekker! This weekend, the Finnish market!

Day 155: Bergen op Zoom

2008-11-19T12:41:00.006+01:00

For November 11th, which is Remembrance day in Canada, I decided to visit the Canadian War Cemetery at Bergen op Zoom in Noord-Brabant. Remembrance Day is a day to remember the sacrifices of soldiers and civilians in times of war. It's celebrated on November 11th at 11:00AM because that is when the armistice for World War I came into effect. The cemetery I visited contains 968 Canadian graves, mostly from September, October and November 1944. These lives were lost during the difficult fighting in the south of the Netherlands. Intense battles were fought for the Breskens Pocket, Walcheren, South Beveland, and Woensdrecht all with the goal of clearing the Scheldt so that the Port of Antwerp could be opened up. October 13, 1944 is a very common date to see on the grave stones. That day, a friday the 13th, became known as 'Black Friday' to the Black Watch Royal Highland Regiment of Canada. 56 dead, 27 captured for a total of 145 casualties... I happened to meet a Canadian man at the cemetery who was visiting the grave stone of his cousin who had died in this attack. This is the same regiment my Uncle was part of. He fortunately survived the battle, but was wounded later on Oct. 31.

Commonwealth cemetaries can be found all over Europe, and in fact the world. They generally have a similar design for the headstones and the layout.

This is the Cross of Sacrifice found at most Commonwealth War Cemeteries.

This is something unique I found at this Cemetery. It says: 'Aan onze Canadeesche bevrijders', which means, I think, 'To our Canadian Liberators'.

Here's a typic grave stone for a Canadian soldier. His service number, name, regiment, date of death and age plus a short quote. Not all stones have crosses, some have a star of david, a crescent or nothing at all.

I find stones like this especially impressive. It may be hard to read, but this soldier, a private, was 39 years of age when he died. This was a true volunteer. He was too old to be conscripted, and would have not faced the same kind of peer pressure that younger men would have faced. It says: 'To my sweetheart. Love's greatest gift. Remembrance.'

You also come across many gravestones such as this next one. Ones that only say 'An airman of the 1939-1945 war.' This means that a body was found, but as a result of the way he died, it was impossible to identify the body. The phrase 'Known unto God' was proposed by Rudyard Kipling.

It was a very nice cemetery. I recommend to all people, that they should visit one.

Day 152: Æbleskiver and Gløgg

2008-11-10T22:28:00.003+01:00

It looks like Christmas is fast approaching. The first of what appears to be a series of Scandinavian Christmas markets was on Saturday. First up? The 'Julemarked' or in Dutch the 'Deense Kerstmarkt' or in a civilized language: The Danish Christmast Market. I got to visit the market in the Company of a Dane, and two Icelanders who enjoyed speaking their weird form of danish in loud obnoxious voices. However, it taught me the secret to speaking Danish. Just mumble gibberish while pretending to have a potatoe in your throat.
Anyways, the Danish Christmas market was selling lots of different goods. Various Danish food, clothes, decorations, etc... After wandering through, we sat down to enjoy some Æbleskiver and Gløgg. What is this? Well, Æbleskiver is some kind of waffle and Gløgg is an interesting drink, to say the least... It is many kinds of alcohol, such as cognac, and snapps, mixed with almonds, raisins, and cinnamon. The cinnamon gives it a really nice smell, unfortunately, I can't quite say the same for the taste. It wasn't bad, but I certainly didn't go for seconds. The Æbleskiver was quite tasty though.
With my Æbleskiver and Gløgg:

Day 124: CS Bike Tour in Rotterdam

2008-10-12T14:05:00.003+02:00

On saturday I went on a bike tour organized by some local CS'ers. We went over to Delfshaven, through the Maastunnel to Rotterdam Zuid, and then back across the Willemsbrug into the centre of Rotterdam. Here are some pictures. A prison!!!
Delfshaven:
More Delfshaven:
A building in Rotterdam designed to look like periscope:
Looking across to north Rotterdam from the south.
It was a fun trip. I got to see some of the city I hadn't seen before, and also hear some interesting stories I had never heard before.

Day 123: Sustainable fashion show

2008-10-12T13:51:00.003+02:00

Yeah, so I went to this fashion show all about sustainability. Using recycled materials to make new clothes. It was interesting... Though I always wonder why people in fashion shows always seem to wear clothes that no one would ever wear...

Day 121: Schiedam

2008-10-12T13:24:00.003+02:00

Wednesday was such a beautiful day, I decided to go for a bike ride to Schiedam. Schiedam is an old town just to the west of Rotterdam, and is pretty much a suburb of the city now. The town is mostly known for its windmills and distilleries. The town used to be surrounded by 19 giant mills used for grinding grain for the distilleries, but now only five(among the tallest in Europe) remain. There are also only five distilleries remaining out of once was over 400. The distilleries make Genever which uses juniper berries to get its particular flavour. The town was very nice and had some beautiful canals:
Here are two of the windmills, with the genever warehouses across the canal.
Again:
The main church in Schiedam:
I can't remember what this was... Maybe the city hall, or another church.

Day 107: Bike Repair 101

2008-09-24T14:23:00.005+02:00

Since my bike is my primary and very important mode of transportation around the city and to work, it's essential that it works properly. My bike is pretty old and used, and I've had some trouble with it since I bought it. It needed a new brake, a new power generator for the light and the tube for one of the tires had to be replaced twice(the second time for free thankfully). So, i've had to spend more than I would have liked repairing it. A few weeks ago I was complaining about all the money I had spent to a Dutch friend. She went on to tell me that the prices were a ripoff and a real Dutchman would repair it himself. So, I said if she knew so much about bike repair, that next time I had a problem I would give her a call, and she could show me how. Apparently they teach this stuff in some Dutch high schools. Yesterday, when I discovered a flat tire on my bike, and a 5cm wire sticking out of it, I knew who to phone. With her help, I set off to learn how to 'lekke band plakken'. First I had to buy my own repair kit, a 'Bandenreparatiedoos'. Inside is included '3 kunststof bandenlichters', 'tube solutie', 'bandenplakkers', 'ventielslangetje', 'schuurpapiertje', and a 'buitenbandplakker'. The first step is to take the tire off the frame with the 'kunsthof bandenlichters'. Here is the instructor demonstrating:
Then the 'binnenband' has to be removed from inside the 'buitenband'. Once the 'binnenband' is out it needs to be pumped up so you can find the leak. We discovered the leak with a very ingenious method. The instructor had a small container containing plastic beads, and a grate on the bottom. By moving this device over the tire we could locate the leak by noticing when the beads started to move. I really would like to know who spent the time inventing this thing. Once the leak was located, we used the 'schuurpapiertje' to clean the hole. Then the 'bandplakker' is applied to the hole, and held in place for 5 minutes. Here is the finished result:
The 'binnenband' is pumped up to see if the 'plakker' is holding, and then the leak is fixed. Next, deflate the 'binnenband' and stuff it back in the 'buitenband'. Finally, reinflate the tire:
Finished! I took the bike for a test drive, and everything seemed to be back to normal. I can now hopefully fix my own tire the next time I get a puncture. I'm feeling more Dutch already...

Day 97: Boat trip

2008-09-15T11:46:00.004+02:00

Saturday night I went to a birthday party in Hilversum. It was lots of fun. But, it never ceases to amaze me how easily the Dutch can switch to and talk fluently in English. And often it's not a problem, they're happy to do it! Here is an almost completely bilingual country, that only has one official language. What Canadians could learn from this...
Sunday afternoon I went with my roomate and her boyfriend on a boat tour of the Rotterdam harbour. Something I've been meaning to do for awhile. We picked a great day. It was a little cool, but super sunny which made for a great view of the port.
Here are a couple pictures looking back at the city:

Here is the S.S. Rotterdam, the former flag ship of the Holland-America trans-atlantic line. Now it's a multicultural centre.

A cargo ship on the river:

Some of the many containers that are everywhere along the side of the river:
Pictures of parts of the port:

Nice trip!

Day 96: Wereld van Witte de With

2008-09-15T11:12:00.003+02:00

This weekend there was a festival going on, on the Witte de Withstraat in central Rotterdam. The Witte de Withstraat according to my guide book is known as the cultural district of Rotterdam because of its many art galleries. The street is named after a famous Dutch naval officer from the 17th century. Apparently during the 1970s it was know for its many 'louche'(any dutch want to help me out with that word?) cafes and for its illegal gambling houses. But the street underwent a transformation in the 90s and changed its reputation.
When I went on Saturday afternoon, there wasn't much going on. It was kind of boring actually. Some weird art and some weird things going on in the street. Some kind of fashion show where all the models clothing was made up of leftover jeans. I took some pictures of the more interesting things. Here is a giant dog made of flowers. Apparently it was made by a group that goes around the country planting illegal flowers as some kind of protest. I guess there are strict rules where you can plant flowers in this country...
Here was a giant hand, that was demonstrating various hand gestures from around the world.
Anyways, we got bored, so we only spent an hour or so looking around before we went for a drink.

Day 95: To Communist China!

2008-09-12T21:12:00.005+02:00

Today a Dutch friend and I embarked on an adventure to Communist China. We were able to do this thanks to the friendly people at the local Art Gallery, the Kunsthal. The Kunsthal had an exhibition on Chinese propaganda posters from the 1920s on to the present day. What did we learn? The Chinese are happy, really really happy. So happy in fact their smiles almost seem like grimaces sometimes. So happy I felt I just had to visit China to find out their secret. Is it a worker's paradise? Is it the opium? Too much plastic surgery? They're smiling 99% of the time. They smile when they work, when they go to the market, when they go to school, when they're telling their Taiwanese friends to join them and especially when they get to wave their Red Books around. When are they not smiling? Well, usually when their is some capitalistic traitor, or invader often portrayed as a sickly green westerner, with expensive watches and dollar signs on his clothes. This is not something to smile about... There was lots of colour in the posters, especially red. Initially, in the early years, the Chinese were dressed in plain, sometimes traditional clothes, but eventually, especially in the 90s western clothing was adopted. One poster showed Chinese and Taiwanese woman frolicking in their bikinis. If only Mao could have seen the future... he would have wept.
Here's Mao and Stalin having a grand old time: (also Canadian guy and dutch girl reflected in the glass... can you see us?)

After the Chinese propagandist posters, we checked out some of the other exhibitions. There was one with pictures of local football hooligans, some others with dutch factory workers from the early part of the century and some of Swiss children taken during the war. Also some interesting modern art: 30 sculptures modelled after the sculptor in different poses and another 30 or so concrete thingies which have the body space of 30 different people from Malmo, Sweden inside them.

The staircase inside the Kunsthal(which was designed by the famous dutch architect Rem Koolhaas):Not a bad day for a bad day weatherwise. That makes two museum/art gallery from Rotterdam down... how many more to go?

Day 92: Den Haag

2008-09-10T19:49:00.004+02:00

On Tuesday I decided to visit The Hague(Den Haag, 's Gravenhage) in the afternoon, and then attend the Weekly CS meeting that takes place in Den Haag. I had for my tour guide a friend I had met through CS. It was an interesting tour, I was able to see all the main sites. However, I am now able to say, I'm very glad I don't live in that city. In my opinion it's not very nice at all. At least compared to the other major Dutch cities I've been to: Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. I'm not quite sure what it was about the city. Maybe it was the architecture, maybe it was something else, but it just didn't have a very nice feeling to it. It doesn't help that one of the main stations, Holland Spoor (HS), and the one I arrived at, seems to be in the middle of the ghetto area of the city.
Here's a picture of the city centre. Apparently all these tall buildings are government buildings:
The Peace Palace built just before the First World War. I think it's now home to some International Court. The Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was around the corner.

In the Binnenhof where the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch parliament are located. Here's a tv news crew maybe?
The outside of the Binnenhof.

The Prime Minister's office, supposedly...

As we left the Parliament, we came across a motorcade. We didn't recognize anyone, but then neither of us are really familiar with Dutch politicians...
The heavily fortified American embassy, with it's own elevated dutch police station:
After our tour we went to a bar called The Pas for the CS meeting. It was a nice place with a nice atmosphere. Really slow service though... Hard decision too on what to have to drink, they had around 160 beers to choose from.

Macaroni and Cheese...

2008-09-07T20:49:00.003+02:00

I found it!

Too bad it tasted horrible! Het was niet lekker. Definitely not KD...

Day 89: Club Cruise

2008-09-07T20:11:00.002+02:00

Saturday I got invited by a girl who I met through Couchsurfing to go with her and her friends on the Rotterdam 'Club Cruise'. Basically, it was one large pub crawl through 15 clubs in Rotterdam. You pay 15 euros and you get access to all the clubs. It was a really fun night. One Canadian and three Dutch people, joined at times by a Belgian, an Icelander and other dutch people on a trip to five clubs spread all over Rotterdam from 2300 until 6:30... We made it to de Unie, Rotown, de Zimmerman, Exit and the Bootlegger. Our choices at first weren't that great we missed bands at both de Unie and Rotown by a few minutes. But the night and music got better as the night wore on. The music at both de Zimmerman and Exit was really good. A nice beat and good songs. It was a fun night, I made some new friends, tried some new things and now I know some of the good clubs in Rotterdam. I'll definitely be visiting Exit again sometime. Maybe in a few weeks on my birthday...

Day 86: Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

2008-09-04T16:41:00.003+02:00

Tuesday night I was at the weekly Rotterdam CS meeting. It was a large meeting, even for Rotterdam standards. There must have been between 40-50 people show up for the meeting. I hardly managed to talk to all of them, but I did manage to meet the right ones to give me an activity for the next day. So, the next morning I set out with two Austrian CS'ers to see the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. It actually happens to be the first museum I've seen in Rotterdam. I don't know how I've managed to be here almost three months and not visit any of the museums, but I guess I have. Anyways, the museum is Rotterdam's major art museum. Named after two philanthropists who helped to bring together most of the collection, it inculdes many major Dutch and European works from the middle ages to the present day. There was works by Reubens, van Gogh and Rembrandt. The museum is quite nice and probably takes about 3 hours to see properly.
This is probably one of my favourites. It's called: Juno receiving the eyes of Argus from Mercury. I'm not sure who it's by, but it is quite gruesome and lovely I think.
This next one by Ludolph de Jongh is actually a view of Rotterdam from about 1660. The church you can see in the back ground is still there today. (at least a version of it is)
This next one is a portrait of Armand Roulin by Vincent van Gogh.

Day 83: Naar Amsterdam!

2008-09-02T18:12:00.003+02:00

On Sunday I went to Amsterdam again to see a museum exhibition at the Nieuwe Kerk. it was called 'Black is Beautiful' and was about how dutch artists have portrayed black people over the centuries. I read about the exhibition in this Financial Post article:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23ba792e-6a59-11dd-83e8-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1
It was an interesting exhibition. I learned some interesting things such as that many families in the 17th century would have a black page drawn into their family portrait, even though they probably did not even have a page. It was only a status symbol. As well there was a painting by a dutch artist that showed Moses with his Ethiopian wife. During the middle ages, this part had been edited out of the bible, that Moses had two wives, one of whom was black. But, the artist was a biblical scholar and was inspired by the passage describing Moses' black wife and decided to do a painting of them.
I also went to this interesting bar, with specialty liqeuers. Not really my thing, but I tried two flavours, strawberry and an herbal one with a secret freemason recipe. The second one was a bit tasy. The bar was very old and had a nice atmosphere.

Some more pictures from Kinderdijk

2008-09-02T18:05:00.002+02:00

Day 82: Naar Kinderdijk!

2008-09-02T16:43:00.006+02:00

This weekend the right conditions finally came together for me to go to Kinderdijk. The weather was good and my friend Karim had a bike. Kinderdijk is a major tourist attraction about 15km southwest of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is a small village known for it many windmills. The system of 19 mills built around 1740 is used to drain the polder. It is the largest concentration of old mills in the Netherlands.

The three of us set off at about noon and headed east along the Maas river.

After leaving Rotterdam we went through Capelle aan den IJssel, where we crossed a bridge over the IJssel into Krimpen aan den IJssel. After Krimpen there is a nice area of farms and nature. We even found some friendly horses. Though I think they were really hoping we had some food.

After the farming area we came to Krimpen aan de Lek. To cross this river we had to take a ferry.

On the other side of the river is the village of Kinderdijk.

And immediately on the other side of the village you encounter the mills. It really is quite a sight.

After we left Kinderdijk, we took the Waterbus back. The Waterbus is a ferry for people on foot or bikers, and goes up and down the river between Dordrecht and Rotterdam with several stops in between.
The inside:
Overall, it was a very nice trip. The weather was finally beautiful after a real miserable week. it was nice to enjoy a nice weekend before autumn arrives. Which I think will be very soon. At Kinderdijk we were able to go inside a mill, which was impressive. A lot of the mills are actually inhabited by people. I don't think the old mills are actually still used for draining the polder. Instead there are more modern ones. The only problem was that it was quite busy. There were a lot of tourists there. Not to mention wasps which insisted on interrrupting our lunch.

Day 66: Bike Ride in Hoge Veluwe

2008-08-18T23:16:00.003+02:00

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

2008-08-18T23:09:00.001+02:00

Day 65: Rotterdam and Scheveningen

2008-08-18T19:36:00.006+02:00

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!

2008-08-18T19:21:00.004+02:00

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

2008-08-18T16:12:00.002+02:00

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

2008-08-18T15:56:00.003+02:00

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!

2008-08-08T23:13:00.005+02:00

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

2008-08-06T16:26:00.003+02:00

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

2008-08-02T23:35:00.007+02:00

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

2008-08-02T21:24:00.003+02:00

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

2008-08-02T20:59:00.003+02:00

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

2008-08-02T20:17:00.003+02:00

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.

Zomer Carnaval - Friday Night

2008-07-28T23:03:00.004+02:00

Friday evening and saturday morning I attended some of the events for the Rotterdam Summer Carnival. Friday night was a battle of the bands. Four drum and brass bands marched down a closed off street through the crowd where they then performed on stage one at a time. It was some really spectacular music. After the battle, judges chose a winner who got a prize of 3000 euros. Finally, a band from Colombia closed out the night with some great latin music. Here are some photos:
Brazilian girls!

The first band. They all had such colourful outfits.
Another one of the bands.

The River Maas

2008-07-28T18:51:00.004+02:00

The Maas river is the river that flows through the middle of Rotterdam. Rotterdam is actually named after the Rotta, which wikipedia refers to as a 'fen stream'. Rotterdam means the dam on the Rotta, and Rotta means 'muddy water'. Now that I think of it, it isn't a very flattering name... But, lets get back to the Maas, or the 'Meuse' as it is know in French. The river starts in France, flows through Belgium, into the Netherlands, and then out to the sea just west of Rotterdam. I think it is one of the most beautiful parts of Rotterdam. The buildings along the river are very nice, and there are some beautiful paths along the waterfront. The striking bridges that cross the river certainly add to the nice view. The river is always busy with boats. Whether it's tour boats, personal boats or the large river cargo ships that go up the river the Rhine and than to Germany.
This is a picture of three bridges in Rotterdam. At the back, you can see the Erasmusbrug with its distinctive shape. The one in front I think is called the Koningshavenbrug and is an old train bridge that seems to be permanently up. On the right is the Willemsbrug. The interesting building on the left is the head office for Unilever. They're the ones who make brands like 'Dove'.

This is a cargo ship going up the river.

Some more of the river.

The Erasmusbrug. I think it's one of the most beautiful bridges I've ever seen.
A very colourful boat parked at the harbour from Romania.
Finally, here's some of the port of Rotterdam which is down river from the city. The port is one of the largest and busiest in the world.

Day 46: Many stories to tell...

2008-07-28T18:34:00.003+02:00

I'm sorry about the long time since my last post, but for one week I didn't do much of anything interesting, and than the next one I ended up being too busy to post anything... That's life I guess.
I'll start with a trip I took to a park last week. The park is called Kralingse Bos, and is a short bike ride from where I live. It's located near the neighbourhood of Kralingen which is where in the 19th century rich Rotterdamers built their villas and gardens. The park is really nice and contains a large pond called Kralingse Plas. People can take their boats out on it, or relax on its beach. I thought the park was very nice. It was full of people walking along the paths or laid out on blankets relaxing in the sun. Well at least it started out sunny... but it was cloudy by the time I left. Here are some pictures:
Of course, we have the wind mills that seem to pop up all over this country:
The city is never far away:
The lake was very calm on the day I was there:

Rotterdam Video

2008-07-24T23:14:00.003+02:00

A fellow Canadian living in Rotterdam, Karim, has made a wonderful video about Rotterdam. I think it really catches some of the city's spirit. Take a look!

http://www.vimeo.com/1402189

Day 31: A trip to the Zoo!

2008-07-13T17:27:00.004+02:00

On saturday I visited the Rotterdam Zoo (aka Diergaarde Blijdorp) with Sarah who was visiting from Amsterdam. The zoo is one of the oldest in Rotterdam, having been built in 1857. The zoo was destroyed in the German bombing of Rotterdam, but was rebuilt in a new location, and opened to the public on December 7, 1940. The Zoo is quite large and has many interesting animals to see. There are animals from all over the world, and under the ocean. One of the most well known residents of the Rotterdam Zoo is Bokito, a male gorilla, who made headlines around the world when he escaped from his enclosure in 2007 and injured four people before he was tranquilized. We saw him during our visit, fortunately inside his enclosure. I read on Wikipedia, that apparently the word 'Bokitoproof' meaning "durable enough to resist the actions of an enraged gorilla", and therefore "durable enough to resist the actions of a non-specific extreme situation", was voted the Dutch language word of year for 2007. Here is the picture I took of Bokito:

It's hard to tell in the picture, but his size is really quite impressive. I can only imagine what those people must have felt, seeing him coming at them... Here are some more pictures from the Zoo:

Overall, it was a very nice day, especially since the weather turned out to be much better than expected. I definitely recommend visiting!

Day 30: Disposing of your trash!

2008-07-12T00:03:00.008+02:00

In Canada, we are used to getting rid of our garbage by putting it at the end of the driveway on garbage day. Rotterdam has a most fascinating system. I'm not sure what it's like in other dutch cities, but I really like the system here. In Rotterdam, you put your garbage in a bag, and you put it in bins, that are usually found on every street:

Or, if it doesn't fit, you can put it next to the bin... Although, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do that, and if you get caught you get a fine. Ideally, you're supposed to open the lid and put your bag in. But Victor, you're probably saying how does everyone fit all their garbage into one small bin, when garbage is probably only picked up once a week... Well! I reply, looks can be deceiving! Here are pictures of how the trash is emptied, and you will see the true size. First the Garbage truck grabs onto the bin:
Then it starts to lift:
And lift:
And finally the whole bin emerges:
The truck keeps lifting the bin up:
Until is is over top of the garbage truck:
This is where my pictures end. But, after this stage, the bottom of the bin opens up and empties the trash into the truck. The truck than returns the bin to it's whole in the ground. I'm really curious as to how many full bins one garbage truck can hold, as the bins seem quite large.

Day 28: Rotterdam architecture

2008-07-09T23:15:00.003+02:00

In 1940 the Dutch were given an ultimatum by the Germans: Surrender or Rotterdam and other cities would be destroyed. The Dutch surrendered, and Rotterdam was bombed flat anyways. As a result Rottrdam has been mostly built since the end of the war. This has resulted in many beautiful modern buildings. You can see many of them down near the harbour. Here are some pictures of a few:

Day 25: 'Bestemming' aka A lesson in Dutch

2008-07-06T11:21:00.004+02:00

Bestemming (n): destination, end of the line, train stops here.

Today, I meant to go on a bike trip to a castle near Amsterdam, Muiderslot. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. However I learned a very valuable dutch lesson. I learned the definition of the word 'bestemming'. The bike trip left from a train station called 'Amsterdam Amstel'. The best way to get to this station, without having to go to Amsterdam Centraal first, is by taking the Sprinter train to Amsterdam via Gouda. This train stops at all the stops on the way to Amsterdam Centraal. When I checked the Dutch railway website this morning, everything looked fine. When I got to the station and went to track 12, the electronic sign stated that it was going to Amsterdam Centraal, as it should. I got on to the train and took my seat. I noticed that the electronic sign on the train said: 'Bestemming: Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel'. I figured it meant that Nieuwerkerk was the next stop, or that it wasn't stopping there today. Well, I turned out to be wrong. I found out after the train had left and they made an announcement. The announcment caused some of the locals to get excited, so I asked what was wrong. A very helpful man told me that the train was going no further than Niuwerkerk, apparently, there was a problem with the track to Gouda. So, as I had no choice, I got out at Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel, and took the train back to Rotterdam. By the time I got back to Rotterdam, it was too late to go another way. Oh well, at least, I won't ever forget what the word 'bestemming' means.

Het is jammer. :(

Day 19: Victor's hot new ride

2008-07-04T16:28:00.007+02:00

I have finally purchased my first dutch bike! A bike is indispensible in the Netherlands. The towns and cities so compact, and with the profusion of bike lanes, they are an easy way to get around. I bought my used bike for 30 euros from a roomate who was moving out. It had a few problems... a broken kickstand, only one brake, but another 30 euros later and it was fixed. An easy task considering that within a five minute walking distance of my house, there must be at least three bike shops.

It's not the prettiest bike, but in a country where 800 000 bikes are stolen annually, it's probably better not to have the best looking bike.

For the reason stated above, a sturdy lock is definitely in order.

This is at the bike lock up at Rotterdam Centraal. As you can see, there are many bikes. It is important to know exactly what your bike looks like, and where you left it, or you may never find it again. There are a lot more racks that can't be seen in this picture.

Riding a bike in the Netherlands is an interesting experience. Most roads have separate bike lanes. However, don't let this relax you. The bike lanes are also used by motorized scooters, and if you block other bikers by going to slow, they'll snap you out of your reveries with a sharp tinkle from their bell. Bike lanes also have their own lights at intersections, and it is important to pay attention to these. They often don't work in unison with the crosswalk lights or the traffic lights. Also, not everyone pays attention to these lights... It seems the Dutch know when it is safe to go, even if the light disagrees. Often at big intersections a number of bikes will crowd up, and then even though the light is still red they will all go at once. It's almost like those wildlife videos of the widelbeest in Africa on their annual migrations. When they get to the river infested with crocodiles, the first one will stop, until more of his fellows join him. Then they'll all jump into their river together, perhaps hoping their numbers will confuse the crocodiles, and they won't know which one to chow down on. Perhaps dutch bikers feel safer in numbers, and don't think cars will hit them, if there's a bunch of them together...

Day 17: Visit to Amsterdam

2008-06-30T11:43:00.003+02:00

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

2008-06-30T10:27:00.002+02:00

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

2008-06-29T21:04:00.005+02:00

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

2008-06-23T11:46:00.006+02:00

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!

2008-06-20T16:04:00.002+02:00

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

2008-06-20T15:00:00.004+02:00

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