Daytrips within the Netherlands
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
44
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Gouda and Apenheul,
Netherlands
Saturday, May 29, 2004
We are off to Italy tomorrow morning. Despite loving Italian food, we decided we would not eat any this week as we would get plenty next week. I can't believe we made it a whole week but finally, our sacrifice is complete. We are a few hours away from the best Italian food ever! Yes!
Anyways, here are a few outstanding items. We hope you enjoy...
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DUTCH LESSONS
Ok, so the bank pays for 60 hours of Dutch lessons for Julie and I
01. Julie slamdunking on a Julie-sized basket
. We each signed up for our first 30 hours of private lessons with a woman named Sanne. I meet for 2-hour sessions once a week. After seeing virtually no progress, Sanne thought it might be a nice idea to have me read a kids book called Jip and Janneke. It's a book full of short stories about a little boy (Jip) and his girl neighbor (Janneke). The pair does all sorts of things together. They are pretty lame stories about getting their haircut or sleeping over the other's house. They remind me a bit of Dennis the Menace. But apparently the stories are a good way of strengthening vocabulary. They were fun to read but it was a bit sobering when I turned the book over and read that it is meant for 'aged 0-6'. How depressing. And I was struggle with them, so what books am I supposed to read?Anyways, I didn't do too well with my lessons. I never did my homework (ala college) so I never really progressed. Lessons were almost painful. Julie, on the other hand, is the ultimate overachiever. Sanne always tells me what a great job Julie is doing. The funny thing is she also tells me in the class about Julie. For example, in one lesson I had to describe myself. I told Sanne that I was 'not very romantic' and she said "that's not what Julie says". Sanne is always telling me what Julie says about me in her lesson. It's pretty funny.
Sanne is also very honest. Brutally honest. Chris also is taking his lessons with Sanne. He once asked her if he was the worst student she's ever had and she said yes. Can you believe that? She didn't even try to smooth it over. She could've said "your good at XXX but need a lot of help with XXX". No, she simply said he was the worst. As Chris' friend, I think that's hilarious...plus I'm glad that I'm not the worst student
02. Chris Melanie and Stephen eating stroopwafels
.Although, after finishing my first 30 hours, I quit. I know, I'm a quitter but in the end, it was so painful to take the lessons. I never did my homework and wasn't learning anything. My feeling is since nobody in the world speaks Dutch except for the Dutch, who all speak perfect English (in addition to about 4 other languages as well) and I would prefer to spend my spare time with my Dutch friends, I would be passing on the last 30 hours. Honestly, I am more interested in learning about the Dutch culture than the language so that is where I am choosing to focus.
I learned what I need to know - I know how to order a beer (bierjte alstublieft), ask for the check (mag ik de rekening), and say goodbye (dag). Dag is actually a very important thing to know in the office as well since it is almost mandatory to say 'dag' whenever exiting the elevator.
Julie, however, has continued her lessons and is doing really well.
GOUDA
We decided we would spend the day with Chris and Melanie in Gouda, a town between here and The Hague that is famous for producing that wonderful cheese
03. Julie with Gouda cheese lady statue
. So we headed over to Chris and Melanie's and were off to get the car. We took our usual trip across the river by ferry to get the car. This time, as always, we had an obstacle to overcome. Chris and Melanie had forgotten the keys. I don't want to place blame...but it was Chris' fault =)So Chris and I walked back over to the ferry and headed back to their place to get the keys. The good news, we got to pick up our 3rd and 4th sample bag of chips that Ascent was handing out for free. Chris and I decided that we would ride our bikes back over to the car in order to save a tad of time. Julie and I hadn't ridden our bikes so Chris let me borrow 1 of his 6 bikes. He let me use the one he found in the garbage. It was so old and crusty I could barely turn the pedals. It was a pain, but we made it to the car and were off.
In the car we got into a bit of a serious conversation about Middle East politics. Chris asked a simple and unassuming question but got quite an answer. I felt back I went off but Israel gets a lot of bad press and I just wanted to share the other side (although I'm sure my opinion is as biased as the other side). Anyways, by coincidence, while we were discussing this, Israel employed a targeted assassination of Hamas leader Rantisi. What timing. To lighten the mood, we made fun of Chris when he admitted that he had bought something with 'geen suiker'. He had wanted something with sugar. Proving that Sanne is right, he is the worst student ever, he completely missed lesson 1 when we learn that 'geen' means 'no'. Pretty funny.
Anyways, we continued onto Gouda and made it there in pretty good time
04. Gouda cheese sign
. We parked the car, watched Julie demonstrate her slam-dunking skills (see Pic 1), and headed into town.First stop; pick up a freshly-made stroopwafel (see Pic 2). Stroopwafels are one of our favorite Dutch treats. They are basically graham crackers with caramel in the middle. They are so yummy. These were so fresh they were served warm.
From here we went to the main square. As it was Saturday, there was a huge market going on. It was a typical market, but still nice. I picked up some fried fish as a snack. We walked around the main square and checked out a few of the really nice home furnishing stores. We then decided we would sit down at an outdoor café in the square for some Italian lunch.
Following lunch we decided we would do a walking town of town. First we headed to the townhall in the center of the square (see Pics 7-10). This building serves as a government building, meeting hall, marriage place, as well as many other things. It was really nice with great details including a super cool clock.
Next we walked to a small museum called the Catharina Gasthuis (Catharina Hospital). From 1665 to 1910 it was a hospice. It is now a small museum (see Pic 13). It has a cool display of toys and an old kitchen which we visited.
Next we went to see the big attraction of Gouda, the Sint-Janskerk (church). They church is quite a remarkable looking building but the stained-glass windows (see Pics 14-16) are what make this place so special
05. Relief of cheese market on weighhouse building
. They are huge, placed between 1530 and 1603. They were donated by all of the wealthy of the time and the wealthier, the more elaborate the window. The most impressive to me was the one odd-ball, the Liberation window. In 1947, the Allies that freed the Dutch were honored with a window. It depicts many images of the war including burning houses, gallows, and concentration camp uniforms. The text of the window reads "Remembering those who when the people seemed beaten and powerless, held high the banner of freedom through all adversities and horrors."After the church, we continued the walking tour. We passed some sort of Jewish memorial. I am not sure what it was since it was not in the walking tour but it was certainly something Jewish (see Pic 17).
We also walked through some nice neighborhoods, spotting a few really cool doors (see Pics 18-19), and along a nice canal.
After making it about halfway through the tour, we had all hit a wall and unwound at a park. Chris played on the swings and one of those merry-go-round things. We were all a bit burnt and decided we would call it a day. After being distracted by some sort of domestic disturbance, we made our way back to the main square.
Chris, Mr. A.D.D., somehow got distracted again as we all seemed to be on our way to the car except for the driver. He had disappeared and we had no clue where he was. Somehow we found him a few streets away at some cheese shop. We picked up a bit of cheese too. Then got in the car and went home
06. Gouda cheese weighhouse
. It was a really nice daytrip.AJAX
The other day I was walking around Leidseplein, a big square where a lot of tourists gather. There were tons of people wearing the A'dam soccer team's jersey (which is red with ABN AMRO down the side in white letters since the bank sponsors the team). Basically, Ajax was so far ahead in the league standings that they could clinch the title with a win. Thousands of fans were starting to fill the plaza. They were chanting. They were singing. They were lighting flares. They eventually began chanting 'joden'. I was not sure what this was about - I started to think 'oh great, here come the Germans again'. Then I noticed that many of the fans were carrying Israeli flags too. This I thought was very strange.
Apparently, the team is lovingly known as 'the Jews'. I'm not exactly sure why this is but according to Simon Kuper's book 'Ajax, de Joden, Nederland' "The opponents' supporters used to arrive at Weesperpoort Station, an area in which a lot of Jewish street-hawkers were working. That's why people started saying, 'We're going to the Jews.' If you are interested in reading a bit more about the Jewish connection to the soccer team, check out...
http://www.ajax-usa.com/history/kuper/
Kinda cool, huh? Anways, Ajax won the match and claimed it's 29th championship. There were over 15,000 fans crowding the streets of Leidseplein, check out these pics of the celebration..
07. Julie and Stephen in wedding room of town hall
.http://www.ajaxfotoside.nl/leidse/leidse.html
http://www.ajaxfotoside.nl/leidse/leidse2.html
http://www.ajaxfotoside.nl/leidse/leidse3.html
As the crowd finally dispersed, some of those who had obviously had a few beers started acting out. I was really looking forward to seeing some of that famous soccer hooliganism. The Dutch were pretty lame though. There were a few punks who decided that they would throw things at the 20-something year old security guards who were protecting the set where Oceans Eleven was being filmed. This I guess was poor planning on the part of the movie, maybe shouldn't film on the same street that will be hosting a soccer championship celebration.
Nothing happened though. It was actually fun watching these guys cause they were just so lame. A group of them would gang up on 1 poor security guard, throwing things at him and kicking over the security fences. But they never did anything, they just kept themselves busy for a few moments. Anyways, the celebration was pretty cool to see.
Next up, the Euro Cup (the Europe only version of the World Cup, played every 4 years) in Portugal, which begins on June 12 and features the big match against Germany on June 15. This will be a huge game. The Dutch hate the Germans...I suppose there's just something about being invaded that creates a bit of a rivalry. There is actually a well-known chant where the Dutch yell at the Germans 'I want my grandma's bike back' because the Germans stole all the bikes in the Netherlands during the war since the Germans needed the steel
08. Julie standing by cool chair in Goud town hall
. Also, as it became obvious the Germans were about to lose the war, they needed to get back to Germany any way they could, so many of them rode Dutch bikes home. That's quite an image, huh? The last bit that adds meaning to this game, the Dutch were suppose to win the Euro Cup back in the '70s and were upset by those dreaded Germans. So this rivalry is very heated. People here actually display pain when you mention that '70s match with the Germans.Anyways, the Dutch would love to beat the Germans once and for all so this should be another fun thing to witness.
APELHUEL
Julie and I decided to spend the bank holiday last week at Apenheul, a monkey zoo in Apeldoorn (EUR 14 entry per person), about an hour from A'dam. We took the train (EUR 26 return per person) and from the train, we took the bus. As the bus rolled up the zoo, we were floored by how many people were waiting in line. Since then, many Dutch have told me that we chose the busiest day in to visit. We decided to wait it out since we had already traveled all that way. Luckily we did, the place was awesome, even if it was monkeys watching the Dutch instead of the other way
09. Meeting room in Gouda town hall
.Anyways, we entered the zoo and were immediately greeted by the guests of honor. There were cute little monkeys all over the place. There were signs that asked the guests not to handle the monkeys (see Pic 22) but much like in Gibraltar, everyone ignored the signs (see Pic 23). Even Julie couldn't resist (see Pic 24).
Luckily, the zoo is very strict about having its guests empty their pockets into 'monkeyvrij' (monkey free) bags (see Pic 37). They are bags with zippers that have the zippers clamped closed so that those sneaky monkeys can't pickpocket the guests or steal their lunches. I guess this is pretty much needed since one monkey came over to me, reached in my shirt pocket, saw that it was empty, did the same with Julie, and kept moving, onto someone who hadn't followed the rules. It was real cute though.
The zoo was really great. It was basically set up like a park with trees all over the place which created a more natural environment for the monkeys. We spent a lot of time watching the Orangutans and the Chimpanzees roll around. The babies are so damn cute! I want one badly. We also watched the Gorillas get fed (see Pics 30-33). We sat there and watched as the staff threw veggies and fruits over the water barrier that separated us. There was one gorilla who was leaning against a log and would just reached up whenever food was coming his way. He was really cute.
Anyways, the zoo was awesome. We'll have to go back another day when it's not quite so crowded
10. Gouda town hall
.EATING OUT
I don't know what it is but everyone knows Julie. We were going to out for lunch the other day and Julie said she wanted to go to a specific place because they have a really good salad. So we went to the place but Julie didn't see a salad on the menu. So she asked the waiter if they have salad to which he said 'yes, the same one I told you about 2 days ago'. It was hilarious. She's only been to the place a couple times but he must remember her for some reason.
This happens also at a sandwich place near my office. Julie doesn't always get the same thing but one thing does remain constant - she likes their olive bread. Well, one day Julie went to the shop by herself and before she even said a word the server said to her 'you always come too late, we're already out of olive bread'.
The last of Julie's fans is at our local Thai restaurant. Whenever we go, the man (who I recently learned is named Jay) approaches and says '104 with chicken, right?' It's amazing, everyone loves Julie. The other night I went for Thai food with a Dutch friend, Dirk, since Julie had knitting (again). I got there before Dirk did and Jay said disappointingly 'are you eating alone tonight' Julie has even seen Jay at the grocery store and he waves to her.
I'm not sure if she's a really good tipper (after all these years with me, I would guess not) or if they're just surprised to see someone so little
11. Sitting out next to Sint-Janskerk
. Personally, I think it's because she's so darn cute!KNITTING
Ok, Julie's has gotten a bit carried away with this whole knitting thing. She is always knitting. She sits on the couch and works those little fingers of hers. She's even started learning to crochet from one of the chicks in her knitting club. She goes to knitting club once a week and for a period of time, she was taking crochet on a second night of the week. That's 2 nights of yarn-fun in a week. Wow, how exciting!
Seriously though, she is getting really good. She's made me a scarf, a baby blanket for Sanne since she is pregnant (see Pics 40-41), a really cute hat, a few more scarves, and crocheted a pretty shawl (see Pics 38-39). She really likes knitting and crocheting, I just wish the yarn was a bit cheaper. I went to the knitting store with Julie once and when she was paying for the yarn, I said to her 'for that much money, we can buy 4 or 5 scarves that are already made'. She didn't find it too funny...although I was kidding!
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Well, that's it. We hope everyone enjoys his or her Memorial Day weekend. We will be back from Italy on June 7. We look forward to hearing from everyone soon.
-Stephen
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