Friesland, Golf, Gay Pride Parade, Party
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
24
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Monday, August 4, 2003
Sorry for the long absence in T-Pods. Things here have been pretty hectic. We have officially entered into 'visitor season' - Julie's parents just left after being here for a week and my parents are coming in a few weeks for a 2-week trip. I'm sure you'll hear a bit about Julie's parents' trip soon, but not right now. This is what else is doing in A'dam...
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WORK
Work has been going well. I continue to be amazed as to how much responsibility they are giving me. I just finished working on a Powerpoint presentation on the bank's global loan portfolio, discussing industry and geographic concentration and deterioration that might be present
01. Julie on her bike along the Amstel River
. I also prepared a memo discussing the bank's performance by business unit as compared to some of our peers by their business unit. The memo went to the CFO of ABN AMRO. Crazy shit. I hope I didn't fuck up!It is still difficult for me to get used to work here. My previous jobs have never been project-focused so it has taken some time to get used to it. I have always worked in the revenue-generating areas where my daily job was centered on 'taking care of the customer'. I'm sure I'll eventually get used to it, but for now it's still new and different. One thing I have learned already - projects require TONS of meetings. Even meetings to discuss future meetings. It's crazy.
Working on all of these projects, I have noticed another very interesting thing - the Dutch have a fondness for pears. Not literally though. Many, if not all, when trying to compare like things, use the phrase "apples to pears". What happened to 'oranges'? I thought the phrase was "apples and oranges", not "apples and pears". Maybe I've had it wrong all this time - which might also explain why my nana always says, "the apple doesn't fall far from the PEAR tree".
FRIESLAND
A few Saturday mornings ago, Julie and I awoke with the thought that we would take our bikes and head west, eventually making it to the North Sea. It is about a 2-hour bike ride. We had heard that it is an amazing trip and one that the Dutch take commonly, especially when the weather is nice. We ended up not taking the ride but Julie did it with her parents (I'm sure you'll hear about this fantastic ride later)
02. Melanie in the car on the way to Friesland
.We had every intention of taking the ride but Chris and Melanie called and asked if we wanted to take a drive to a series of islands at the north of the country called Friesland. We had also talked about taking this trip so thought, why not.
After taking a small 1-hour bike ride along the Amstel River out of town (Picture 1), past some beautiful country homes complete with thatched roofs, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things for a picnic and headed to Chris and Melanie's for our drive north.
Melanie is a much more important person at the bank than I am so she was given a car. We rode our bikes over to their house, about 5 minutes away. Julie rode with a backpack full of a picnic blanket, change of clothes, and a few other things while I somehow balanced a cooler full of fresh cheeses, bread, salad, olive tapenade, and some beers. I have no clue how I managed this but I somehow made it...I'm so Dutch.
From Chris and Melanie's, we walked another 10-minutes to Central Station where we took a free 24-hour ferry to an island on the north end of town
03. Julie and I on the way to Friesland
. This is the same man-made island where we went to Bruce and Ange's bar-b-que. Melanie parks the car there. Unfortunately, when A'dam was built 700 years ago, they didn't plan for cars so parking is really tough to come by. However on the island, parking isn't so hard...and it's free. The ferry only takes about 2 minutes so it's really not inconvenient at all.Anyways, we headed out of town and weaved our way to the highway (Pictures 2-4). From there, Julie and I being in the back seat hit the Holland travel guides that we had brought with and tried to figure out what we were going to do. We had wanted to take a ferry to one of the islands where we would lay out the picnic, relax on the beach, and possibly rent bikes. We decided we would head to Harlingen where we could catch a ferry to the car-free island of Vlieland.
Looking at the map, we guessed we would have to drive at least 2 hours, but after only 1 hour, we were basically there. The last piece of the journey was along a sea-wall, built to keep the land from being overtaken by the Waddenzee and the North Sea. It was pretty cool, as there was a brief view off to eternity. As we drove along the 32-km (20-mile) dyke, we noticed many true Dutchies who had thought of taking a picnic like us
04. Chris driving to Friesland
. However, they had packed these huge water-proof bike-bags full of clothes and gear that hung on the side of the back tires. They rode while we drove. I like biking but c'mon people.Anyways, we made it to Harlingen and it looked like the set of MTV's TRL. There were Brittney Speares-types everywhere. Tons of high-schoolers. We struggled to find parking and finally found some at the off-site parking and took a 2-minute shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal. We walked up to the ticket window and got news we were not thrilled about - we had just missed the ferry and the next one leaves in an hour but the last ferry back leaves in 90 minutes so we couldn't get home that day. None of us had brought camping gear and didn't really feel like staying over so we decided to just hang around Harlingen. Apparently, the campgrounds on the islands are very similar to the campgrounds at the Rock Werchter concert during the summer and judging by all the aforementioned kids, I can certainly imagine that is true. We will do an overnight trip at some point but probably not at the peak of summer.
We were all pretty hungry so we found a bench overlooking the harbor and the sea and set up our food (Picture 5). It was yummy. We had a few beers as well. I felt very European drinking a beer in a public place
05. Picnicing on the bench in Harlingen
. I don't think there are any laws about alcohol in the whole continent. None regarding age. None regarding open containers in public. Only about drinking and driving but even that I think is far more liberal than in the US.After cleaning up our bench, we dropped the cooler and backpack off at the ferry station's luggage room so that we could walk around town more comfortably. The town was really cute - population of 16,000. Tons of small, 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century buildings including some East Indies Company warehouses surrounded by cobblestone streets. The center of town had some nice small stores - kinda your typical Dutch town with a cheese shop, a sweets shop, a beer shop, etc. There was a small street market that was winding down and an impressive town church.
We walked along the harbor and noticed all the gorgeous 50-foot sailboats. They were all very well maintained, with polished wood - a stark contrast to the dinky motor boats that line the A'dam canals. As a result of the unseasonably HOT weather, the town was bursting with boaters. The bridges were constantly up to allow these huge vessels to pass (Picture 6).
We continued walking around town for a bit more and stopped at café where we tried to cool down. Everyone had told me that the weather in the Netherlands was very moderate but that was not the case that day. We also shared some of those little pancake things with powdered sugar and butter - although I definitely ate most of them.
During our brief rest, we read in the travel guide that Harlingen had "the obligatory statue"
06. Sailboat passing a raised bridge
. Their version is of the little boy who supposedly saved the dyke by sticking his finger in the hole. We thought, why not, we had already seen the Copenhagen Little Mermaid, how could we not see the Harlingen Boy who Saved the Dyke.We walked and walked, seeing many statues but never THE statue (Picture 7). So we continued our search, never finding it. Chris even stopped into a small shop to find out where the statue is. They looked at him like he was an alien. After a small side bar, they came back to Chris with "we've heard of the statue but we think that's another town". How could this "tourist attraction" be in town but nobody know about it?
We finally found it - it was right next to the bench where we ate lunch but because it is so unimpressive in size, we never noticed it (Picture 8). Apparently it is a great place for local kids to make out (Picture 9). Incidentally, upon our return, Chris and Melanie found out that the statue was created by one of their Dutch landlords who made it for a movie about Manekin Pis, the Brussels statue of a little boy peeing. Small world, huh?
After seeing the statue, Chris and I grabbed a beer from the cooler and walked about 15-minutes to get the car. We picked up the girls and Melanie drove us home (Picture 10), Julie navigated (Picture 11), and Chris and I fell asleep in the backseat - what a bunch of grandpas.
We stopped just outside of town where we walked along the sea-wall (Pictures 12-14). Melanine drove us the long way home, opting to go through some small towns in hopes of seeing some nice views of the Ijsselmeer, a giant lake that borders A'dam to the north and east
07. Nope not the boy whose finger saved the dyke
. We never saw anything except for sea-wall and it wasn't until later that it was pointed out to Melanie by a co-worker that since the country is below sea-level, we would be in some serious trouble if we saw the water. The towns were really cute though and we even went through the ancient kingdom of some friends, Sondel (except only 1 "L").The drive was a bit longer since we went through the small towns. After about 1 hour of smelling cow poopie, we headed back to the highway and made it back to A'dam in 30 minutes. We parked the car, took the ferry back to city center (Picture 15), and ended the day with dinner at midnight. A very long, but great day.
GOLF
I played golf the other day. I'll make this short - I still suck. I'm not a scientist but I could swear the physics of being on this side of the Atlantic effected the rotation of my ball in a similar way to how it changes the way toilet water flushes in Australia. Yeah, a likely story right?
I played golf with Michel, Dennis, and Leonard. Michel and Leonard work for the bank and Dennis is Michel's college friend. After a long day at Friesland the prior day and knowing a little bit about physics, I was kinda hoping the game would get cancelled. When I awoke I was happy to see that it was raining. But no, the game was still on. Michel and Dennis picked me up at 9:00 and we headed out of town for our 10:15 tee-time.
The course was really nice
08. Julie with statue of boy who saved the dyke
. It is very flat and open, just like the country. I only lost 1 ball so that ought to tell you something about the place. I left my clubs in storage in Chicago so used rented clubs. Not that I am making excuses but the clubs were so short, almost Julie's size. I was pretty surprised about that since the Dutch are so tall. I continued to hack away, topping almost every ball. I know that a golfer with an ounce of talent can adjust to the bad clubs but as I mentioned, I do not have an ounce of golf talent.I was hoping to at least keep busy drinking a few beers on the course but the Dutch don't drink during golf. I thought that was odd since they drink almost everywhere else. Case in point, there's a bar in the ABN AMRO head office. It is run exclusively for bank employees. Afternoon meetings often end with beer and wine. I mean, it's okay to drink in the office but not on the golf course? Anyways, it is my hope to introduce this important piece of the golf game to the Dutch. I'm sure we'll see golf scores improve - think about it, aren't you a better darts thrower once you have a few bullseyes to aim for? After the round, we finally had a few beers at the clubhouse and relaxed. We headed back into town, about 45 minutes.
I felt bad leaving Julie at home by herself all day
09. Couple making out with statue of boy savior
. She spends all day during the week by herself and now I was leaving her at home by herself again when she didn't need to be. I had put the golf game off for a few weeks as I felt it would be easier for Julie to be alone on a Sunday later, rather than sooner. In the end, I don't think it made a difference. Luckily for her, the way I played there is not much drive for me to leave her alone on a Sunday again.GAY PRIDE PARADE
Yesterday was the Gay Pride Parade (Pictures 16-47). It is similar to other parades except that it is on the water. Thousands of people lined the canals and bridges to watch the extremely colorful boats cruise the Prinsengracht canal for about 3 hours (Picture 46). It was a great parade. I love the one in Chicago and similarly, loved the one here. I'm not sure what it is about the gay community but they seem to really shine during these parades.
I was hoping to find my usual spot along the parade route next to the religious protestors who inevitably yell at the paraders that they are all sinners and are going to hell. I love that interaction because usually the paraders know that these protestors are idiots and yell some great things back and take the opportunity to dance a bit more flamboyantly for them.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) there were no protestors. They call A'dam the gay capital of Europe. It is a community that has been accepted with open arms. Throughout history, the Dutch have taken in people when there was nowhere else to go...the Spanish found asylum here during the inquisition and obviously, everyone knows about how the Dutch helped the Jews of WWII, so the gay community has also come here to live their lives in peace
10. Julie and Melanie driving
.We set up camp on a bridge next to a house-boat that had tons of gay men hanging out on the roof. Most of them were mellow, enjoying the beautiful weather and their prime viewing spot. There was one guy who continued to blow this pink whistle while dancing around and playing to the crowd. He wore small tight black hotpants and furry grey leggings, nothing else. He was dancing to the techno crap blaring from the houseboat all by himself. He was pretty funny at first but the persistent whistle-blowing began to annoy me.
We saw tons of drag queens, heard "YMCA" a few times, and saw far too many leather pants with missing butts (Picture 29). Among my favorite floats was the Amnesty International float, which shared the sad news that it is illegal to be gay in 80 countries (Picture 37). There was a health services float which had public service announcements including a brief skit acted out by paraders that taught the audience such information as AIDS cannot be spread by using a toilet. I thought that was a really great float as well.
Every nationality was represented (Picture 21). There was even a boat called Noah Ark that had people waving the flags of the Middle Eastern countries with one parader holding the Ten Commandment tablets (Picture 41)
11. Julie navagating us back to Adam
. I'm not positive what the message was but I can bet it was related to the peace process.Every fetish was represented. Men in drag (Picture 34), men wearing leather (Picture 26), men wearing period costume (Picture 19). Clubs for gays in sports (Picture 30 is tennis, Picture 31 is wrestling). One guy was wearing a cape made out of small white plastic cups (Picture 33). There were men in uniform (Picture 16 shows the head of Queen Beatrix at the head of the boat). The canal was packed with boats (Picture 25 also shows the house-boat to the left).
Some of them were really funny (Picture 32) - none were pretty though (Picture 20). As the boats emerged from under the bridge, the paraders would rise to waves and applause. As the boats approached the bridge, everyone would lay down and pull their props in so that they could clear the bridge.
As I have mentioned in a previous T-Pod, the canal water is soooo dirty, they say you need to get shots for dysentery if you fall in. Nonetheless, there was a guy from the Gay Water Sports clubs swimming along side the float with a water polo ball (Picture 28). It was disgusting. I wonder if he is alive today
12. Atop the sea-wall
. There was also the fire-fighters' float that sprayed water from the canal (Picture 27). Again, people were not looking to get a ton of the water on them so when he began spraying the crowd, I closed my mouth real tight. One woman who was on a motor boat parked along the canal was not so lucky...she got sprayed directly for about 2 minutes straight. It was pretty funny and the crowd loved it, mostly because everyone was jealous of her boat.It was a great parade that began what is actually a week of festivities. It reminded me a lot of Queen's Day.
PARTY AT OUR PLACE
Last night we had about 50 people over for some drinks. Almost all of them are from the bank so I don't think Julie was thrilled (Pictures 50-62). She ended up having a really good time though. The Dutch have been very anxious to see our place so here was their chance. I also figured, we've been going to their parties for the last 4 months, it was time we pay them back.
I went with Melanie to Makro on Friday after work. Makro is the Dutch version of Sam's Club or Costco
13. Looking into the endless North Sea
. I always feel overwhelmed at Sam's Club - imagine how it must feel when you don't even know what the products are. Luckily I was only looking for beer so that made my trip easier. The next challenge would be carrying all these beers up 4 flights of stairs. Chris and Julie helped so that made it a lot easier.It's been some time since we had a big party so we weren't really sure what and how much to buy. We figured we would stick to beer and white wine, but how much? We bought 5 bottles of white wine and ready for this...10 cases of Heineken - that's 240 beers. How much do you thin 240 beers cost? Only E80. Isn't that crazy? That's 33 cents per beer. I think $80 would get you about 10 6-packs of Heineken in the US. We had so much beer I couldn't believe it. I had to rotate beers throughout the night to get warm ones chilled - never actually making it to 'cold' (Pictures 48 and 49).
In the morning, we headed to an outdoor market to pick up some things to serve our guests - cheese, salami, olives, tapenade, and veggies. Next I searched for ice. There is no ice in the whole town. You can't buy it at the super market, and with our fridge being so small, we couldn't make it either. I ended up visiting one of the nicer hotels and getting ice from them. We cleaned the apartment a little and hoped that now that the apartment was finally put together, it wouldn't be destroyed by a bunch of drunk Dutchies.
People started arriving at 9:30, early by Dutch standards. After swinging by the fridge to grab a brew, everyone headed upstairs to see the place. Everyone was impressed by the apartment and Alfonso, our Colombian friend, even asked if we would take him in as a boarder
14. Melanie taking a picture
. I tried to stress to people that we are benefiting from a depressed housing market coupled with the lack of expats. I also wanted to make it clear to our guests that although it is heavily subsidized by the bank, the apartment is not free - we pay as much as we did in Chicago.Almost everyone brought gifts, ranging from bottles of wine to flowers. We were even given a beautiful plant complete with a pot, soil, and gardening tools for our garden from Berryl, Adinda, Yen, Michel, Birgit, Suzan, Brigitte, Judith, and Marjolein.
Our guests spent a lot of time looking at our wedding pictures. We got tons of questions about Jewish weddings. They seemed to really like our ketubah as well. It was really nice that they were so interested. Eventually, everyone headed upstairs and onto the terrace as the weather was gorgeous out. We stayed out there for most of the evening, up until the last people left at 3:30, which incidentally is about the time that the old man in me really begins to take over. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a lot, Julie and myself included.
Cleaning the apartment the this morning, the damage was minimal. There were cigarette butts all over the terrace but that was it. And how much did we drink? We still have 50 beers in crates and about 30 cold ones in the fridge. So 240 less 80 is 160 beers and 7 bottles of wine (Picture 63). Not a bad showing.
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That's about it for now. Next weekend we head to Montreaux, Switzerland near Geneva for 4 days. Speak to you then.
Stay well.
-Stephen
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