North Sea

  Catvijk, Netherlands
Monday, September 8, 2008

Another fun(ish) weekend in the Netherlands.

On Friday a small group of us headed to the North Sea. I know what you're thinking ... Whoa! The North Sea! ... and you'd be right ... if it weren't cool/cold here. There's nothing like the North Sea in your North Face jacket ;) All in all, though, the North Sea was pretty awesome. We were at the point where the Rhine dumps into the North Sea. There's not much to see, but a walk along the beach was enjoyable, and a much needed break from studying.

Rhine meets the Sea

Feet in the Rhine (Cold!)

We also spent some time walking through the town (both on purpose and not). This was our first time taking the bus anywhere ... and it turns out that our Dutch has not impoved at all (I know "cheese," and as far as I'm concerned that's all I need to know) ... so we didn't exactly know where to get off the bus. Each time the bus would stop we'd say to ourselves, "I wonder if this is Catvijk," or "This sure looks like a nice place," and we'd continue to stay on the bus. Finally, the bus turned back toward Leiden, and we hustled off the bus as fast as humanly possible at the next stop. Anyway, we gave ourselves a nice (and long) tour of the town in an effort to get to the beach.

Baiscally all day Saturday and Sunday were spent doing reading and studying ... after all, there are only 6 weeks left in the term (holy crap!). Of course, those of you who lived in the dorms w/ me know, "studying all day" also includes a lot of talking in the hallway ... and maybe a beer or two when things aren't going as planned. Oh, and we also went to the market (think Soulard, but not as funky).

Market

This Wednesday we are headed to The Hague to watch part of the Charles Taylor hearing at the International Criminal Court in the morning and then to the Organization for the Prohibition for the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the afternoon. It should be quite the outting!

To sum up: school is getting in the way of all the fun travel things I'd prefer to be doing! This has led to my new hobby ... taking pictures of Euro - mullets. I've included the pictures in this week's photo gallery. Have no fear, there will be more to come.

I've also included (for all the engineers out there) some transportation pictures. I thought you'd get a kick out of how there are 2 bike lanes on most roads, but only a single driving lane for bi-directional traffic. Also, the bridge w/ a seperate bike area is pretty amazing ... maybe something to consider for the NMRB?

Have a good week!
Kisses!
B