Day 66: Bike Ride in Hoge Veluwe

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

Fireworks

Day 65: Rotterdam and Scheveningen

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoying some wine and good company:

Day 62: My day as a tour guide!

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

Day 58: Scheveningen, Part 2

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

Day 58: Fit for Free Dance Parade, Part 1

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

Day 57 - Amsterdam again!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The inside:

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