Self portrait

we were away for a night! we explored the netherlands a bit again (and attended a PhD defence). we went to the far north part of the country; groningen. last time we went there by train, now we went by car. both is nice, but by car is defenitely more convenient and you can easily make many detours. unfortunately, when getting back today we got stuck in the evening traffic into amsterdam. beeeeehhh. 

we stayed in a nice and quiet hotel with a swimming pool, so we went for a little swim last night as well as this morning. breakfast would have been more expensive than the cost for the night. we had some special offer and stayed for only 25 euros; breakfast would have been 32 for the 2 of us. but guess what?! most supermarkets serve relatively good coffee for free, so all we had to do was buy their croissants; bringing the total cost of our breakfast to around 3 euros; we went all out and bought some fancy orange-mango juice as well.... hmmmmmm (thats how cheapos do it!)

yesterday it was really sunny, but today was grey and gloomy. and chilly! we went for quite a walk and i was glad to have something on my head...

more pictures of what we saw in the coming days!

Pollard willows

see?! this is how grey and rainy the netherlands is right now. beeehhhh!! again a rainy day today. we drove on this narrow road, which is actually a 2-way road. every now and then there was some space so that cars could pass each other (but we didnt see any other). the trees you see above are so very dutch! they line many small roads and pastures. according to the digital dictionary, in english you call them pollard willow (we call them "knotwilg"). by heavily cutting back the branches of the tree close to its trunk, you get that bushy growth on top. this has been done by people for many centuries; its cut off branches were used to make all sorts of stuff; from houses (or more like building blocks of houses) to weaving baskets and other utensils made by braiding some branches... nowadays we dont use their branches for that anymore, and more and more trees disappear. but those trees are such a dutch thing, some people are trying to actively keep them in the dutch landscape. to keep the trees healthy; their branches need to be cut periodically. if not, their top becomes too heavy and they will die. nowadays this is mostly done by volunteers. birds (mostly owls) like to make their nests in these trees and lots of vegetation grows on them as well....

before posting this picture, i just knew the dutch name of these trees, and that they are very dutch...!

Twin girls..

this was a few weeks back, near the finish of the amsterdam marathon. those 2 little girls were so cute! i only took one photo, as i didnt really dare taking photos of them. but they were too cute!!

its been raining on and off the past few days. and its really getting colder. this evening we biked to the city center and i was glad to have my gloves!! surprisingly, nobody is wearing gloves or a hat yet, but i really missed a hat!

Too bad!

as you can see, they were just doing some work on that cute house, so its covered with this ugly white cloth... :( too bad!! up close the wooden house was indeed just painted to shiny green perfection. this is still at the zaanse schans, just like yesterdays picture. i wouldnt mind going back anytime soon just to take some more pictures (even though its one of those places that has been photographed by everyone already, apparently it gets almost 1 million visitors per year). too bad you of course do have to pay for parking... (7.50, some 10 dollars if you stay longer than 30 minutes, which you will most certainly do).

Too pretty!

yesterday we went to yet another very very dutch place. very touristy too. suddenly we were one of the few dutch people amongst mostly asian tourists. but we had big cameras too, and took as many pictures. unfortunately, looking at them today, i was mostly disappointed... :( we even had those great typical dutch clouds as you can see above! lots of them in crazy formations, some very dark, others more white, all perfect, but my photography not so much....  this is one of the few i actually liked. 

here we are at the zaanse schans, a neighborhood of the town zaandam (not too far from amsterdam). there are 8 windmills of which you see a few here, and they all have a name! those are sawmills, oilmills, a dyemill and a mustardmill. i was just disappointed there wasnt a flour mill so that i could buy some for my bread baking... (as opposed to the US, different types of flour arent that readily available in supermarkets). 

this is not only a tourist destination; actual people are living here too. they bike around and we experienced that they are VERY annoyed when you dare stepping on the bicycle path, even if you are not blocking their way (just the possibility that you might slow a dutch person down while they are biking is enough for most of them to make it very clear that you have to stay out of their way). dont you worry, i do that too.... sometimes... :)

Stupid thieves!!

this is part of our street, and as you can see, leaves are coming down!! when we got back home 2 or 3 weeks ago a handbag was lying next door, right in that corner under the 9, and all its contents were next to it. after staring at it for a bit, i decided to pick it all up. seeing there was no phone, wallet or anything else valuable, it seemed to have been dumped there, after all that had been taken. 

we did find a diary with a name and phone number, but the number wasnt answered (i guess because the thieves just had taken that phone). upon further inspection, i discovered the idiot thieves hadnt taken everything; a small pocket inside the bag still contained some 50 euros! tim then just dialed the first random number he found scribbled down on a piece of paper. although that person actually didnt know the owner of the bag, her boyfriend did and so a few days later she came to pick it up. this is what happened; she was biking, in broad dayligyht!! her bag was in the basket in front of her bike. while 2 guys on a scooter passed her, they took the bag. she then tried to pull it back from them, but they wouldnt let go of it and she fell off her bike, the guys speeding away with her bag. she lost her phone, wallet, etc etc...AND she didnt dare biking alone anymore....

unfortunately, this happens quite a lot in amsterdam (and elsewhere in the netherlands?). so, beware!! (the other day it was the scooter that crashed while they tried to rip a handbag off a bicyclist, and still they managed to get away with the handbag; those at least got caught by the police soon after..)

Interesting hairdo

after 2 days of absence finally a picture again. sometimes i think of just stopping the blog entirely, im a bit frustrated, and not taking as many pictures. and then i post again, and again, and then i dont what to post, and then im too lazy, and then i want to quit again.... grrrr. this weekend i didnt take any pictures, the weather has been awful. especially today it was crazy with heavy wind, rain and hail.

but the above chicken really made me laugh. their hair, i guess feathers are soo very odd!! i have never seen that before i think. not on a chicken at least, their hairdo very much reminded me of our former queens hair. you can see for yourself here if you agree with me... :D (apparently she more or less has had this hairdo since she was 18. some call it the hairdo made out of concrete)

Dutch landscape

yesterday i posted a freaky photo of the museum we visited this sunday, so now one thats a bit nicer. this was the day before the crazy storm and at one moment it was cloudy, then it was raining, and here it was sunny... this cycle was on repeat that day.

we were again in an open air museum, this time a little further from home, in Arnhem. but actually, to see something like the above, you dont need to visit a museum, you can see it in the "real" netherlands as well! arent those houses cute? as well as the bridge, and even further away, the windmill? this museum is different from the one i showed you earlier. its more spacious, and has several farms, and houses from different time periods. i dont really know which one i like better, i guess they are both very nice. this one is also nice for just wandering around in the woods (in winter thats what you can do; you cannot go into the buildings, but you can still walk around in the park).

oh, did i mention already someone finally came to fix the roof? he thought it was most likely the pipe from the gas heater. it was a bit loose, and he fixed it a bit... im still a bit hesitant to put our stuff back in that spot.....

Real doll!!

this past sunday we went to another open air museum in the netherlands. even though the weather forecast was not the best, we decided to go, as it was the last day before closing for winter (although we found out its still sort of open during the colder months, but anyways). although windy and rainy at times, there were very sunny moments too. as well as scary, when in one of the very dutch houses we discovered this very real doll! we saw it from a distance, and since she didnt move at all while we were staring at her, she probably was a doll. upon closer inspection she indeed turned out to be a doll, but i continued to wonder whether she would move, or even start to scream or something. so very scary!! i seriously wonder how many children have left the museum traumatized by this doll. this was in a sixties/seventies house, and it had the same bread and cake box as we do!! all the other items from that orange series were present as well (i didnt know there were so many, but i think we keep it at the 2 items we already have). some music was playing as well, and it was so very eerie. until we left the house i expected a sudden move....

perhaps tomorrow a more pretty picture of this museum! :)

Crazy storm

on this picture it all looks quite calm, but it wasnt at all! do you see all those branches scattered around? the water wasnt calm either... this was yesterday, during the storm. we went to the gym, and decided to walk instead of bike, considering the crazy winds. we walked past the nearby school and the children were just having their break; they were all outside and i guess they liked running around in the crazy winds; they were even louder than they normally are. when we got back, we discovered something had blown off the balcony, even though it had been very well attached! luckily that was on the backside, with just neglected gardens from the people on the lowest floor and not on the street side with all the cars!

the news showed how bad the storm really has been for large parts of the netherlands (and europe!); in the center of amsterdam (as well as other cities), many large trees fell down. at least 1 fell on a houseboat that sunk within 15 minutes. even worse; a tree fell on a 21-year-old tourist, killing her. other people got hurt when trees fell on their cars. theres millions and millions of euros in material damage.... 

it calmed down, but today its still quite stormy and rainy at times...

Autumn storm

we have a real storm at the moment in the netherlands! the wind is howling like crazy and we saw some big tree branches broken off already... trains are not going (or less), and flights have been cancelled as well. ah, and the check of our leaking roof (which happend over 2 weeks ago now) was cancelled too; too dangerous to climb on the roof right now. they will come tomorrow. right.... 

i guess in boston such a storm would have happened with more preparation prior to it; shops would have been emptied of milk, eggs, bread and water. and candles of course... 

our roof is making all kinds of noises. i do hope it will stay attached to the house..... ;)

the above picture was yesterday, by the way. then it was a bit stormy already, with very dark clouds. but the next moment it was sunny again. only to be followed by very heavy rain... and sun again.... in the US, many highways dont have lights, like you can see here. and i always thought; oh, in the netherlands the highways are so perfect, and always very well lit!! now guess what; just recently the government decided to shut off the lights around 9 in the evening, to save electricity and repair costs etc... so our roads are very dark now too.... grrrrrr

On flip-flops..?

we watched the marathon for a bit at the edge of the vondelpark, a huge park in amsterdam. these are all half-marathoneers, and at this point they had less than a mile to go before the finish line. my previous post showed some runners in morhsuits, but there were lots of other interestingly dressed runners. there was an elvis, for example, someone with a green wig and at least 2 vikings. i really wonder why people dress like that when they are running. to get noticed? i can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be, while the running itself is already uncomfortable, haha.

the above must be the most uncomfortable i have seen, they are joined in 1 t shirt! and only now, when looking at the picture, do i see that the woman is running on flip-flops!! they seem to be tied to her with strings... flip-flops! that many miles on flip-flops..? i sometimes even have a hard time just walking on them...

A what..??!

those people are running in morphsuits.... i didnt know that until i saw it printed on the back of one of their suits. of course i had to look that up. apparently its a company in scotland, founded by 3 guys in 2009. and well, they make these skin-tight garments, covering literally the entire body. they started making those next to their day jobs, but became so successfull that they quit their jobs to focus entirely on the company. they sold some 50,000 suits between 2009-2010, and 250,000 between 2010-2011. most of their costumers are men....

so the above was at the amsterdam marathon this past sunday. here they are about to cross the finish line; just one more round in the olympic stadium of amsterdam. those people above are finishing their half marathon. i cannot imagine running a half marathon (not even a quarter, buuuh. i seem to be unable to run more than 5 to at most 7 kms...), and i certainly cannot imagine running in such a suit!! i have no idea why they did... (the morphsuit website claims its amazing to wear one; everyone can see you, but nobody knows WHO you are, and thats apparently addicting; "you will find yourself wearing your suit more and more!")

they are available in many colors, btw... :)
ah, i just found that the people running in these pink morphsuits were doing so to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Smoked herring

in the open air museum they smoked herring and eel. i remembered that smell and all those fishies from when i was visiting the museum years ago, and nothing has changed..... this is in the house on the left in yesterdays picture. when going home we bought one of each to bring with us for dinner with friends. i liked it less than anticipated (the fish that is), so many little fish bones and too much of a hassle to clean it all.... but it was so pretty, seeing all that fish lined up!

Dutch landscape

this is so dutch! the windmill, the water, the grey sky.... although this is a typical dutch scene that you can see around the netherlands (with a more modern boat perhaps), this is actually in an open air museum, the Zuiderzeemuseum in the city of Enkhuizen. here they recreated a typical dutch village as it existed over 100 years ago. many of the houses are authentic and were "just" moved stone by stone from their original location to the museum. the museum opened in 1983.

we went there this weekend, and it was really nice to walk around. i had been there as a kid quite a few times (at least thats how i remember it) with my mom and sister, but this was the first time i think i was there as an adult; the boat ride to the museum was less impressive than it was in my memory (and of course we had to pay for parking, grrrr). next weekend is the last weekend its open; after that it closes for the winter. everything looked so perfect and old, but not fake old as often seems to happen in such recreations of the past.

other than that, still nobody has come to check our leaking roof. luckily it hasnt been raining as crazy as the past weekend when the leak occurred, but we certainly wont be putting stuff there until it has been fixed. and thus the living room is even more a mess than it already was and im getting quite frustrated....

Crooked trees

i like this traffic sign for crooked trees! but i like the trees even more, its like you drive through a green tunnel, so pretty. and all trees are bending over at the same angle. there are tree tunnels for either direction of car traffic, and a tree tunnel for the bikes (which i have shown you before). it turned out to be difficult taking pictures, in real its so much prettier! we drive/bike here whenever we visit tims grandmother. im curious if fall colors are present by now.... (but perhaps i expect too much after experiencing fall in new england for the past 3 years)

Dutch dining

on my birthday, it was actually only the second time we went out to dinner since i am back in the netherlands. as i mentioned before, going out to dinner here is just so much more expensive, much slower (which can be a good thing), and the service... well... it can be OK, but often it is less than that or even plain awful. however, at least the food is usually much tastier :)

in the usa, it took me quite a while to get used to the overly friendly (and to me a little fake) "Hi, my name is ... and i will be taking care of you today. please let me you if you need anything, ok?" but it was not difficult to get used to the endless possibilities when ordering. at first it was a bit intimidating, and i was always jealous of the real americans ordering exactly what they want, without the waitress having to sum up all the possibilities (types of dressing, bread, size, types of milk etc etc). it surely took me a while before i could order like that..., and i was real proud when i could!! :D

so... now back to dutch dining. i guess it will be shocking for americans. it might take ages before they notice you are there and want to order something. you will not get water automatically (more often than not there will be a note on the menu saying that they dont serve water. unless you pay for bottled water). you will not be able to order salad A with dressing from salad B, and you will not be allowed to take your leftovers home (but the portions arent crazy big like in the US so thats usually not an issue anyways). moreover, you will have to pay for everything. see that bill above? it lists a 0.75 cents (about a dollar) charge for the mayonnaise!! here in the netherlands we eat our fries with mayonnaise, but you will always have to pay for it. this is even the case at mc donalds!! i liked that in the USA there was always a ketchup bottle on the table, and it was never a problem when we asked for some mayo, they would just bring it (and not bill it!).

now when we sat down, the waitress asked what we liked to drink. tim wanted a beer, and he could choose between a normal or a large (0.5 ltr) size. then i said to him; lets take the large and we will just share it! (i also still have to get used to the fact that now everyone can understand again what i say, although in the US sharing has never been a problem). when the beer finally came, the guy bringing it put it in the middle of the table and said "i understood you want to share this beer??!!" and then put 2 straws in the beer. only when he left i understood this snark... i actually should have called him back to explain himself, but i didnt want to make a scene. but thinking about it still pisses me off!! we were there to enjoy ourselves and drink as much as WE want, even if that means sharing one beer. and as you see, 2 entrees, 1 beer and 2 coffees came down to 37 euros, which is 50 dollars (at least there is no 20% tip as waiters here get a normal salary. you can tip as you  like, or not tip at all, although they will not appreciate no tip at all)

Sinking ship

when i took this photo a few weeks back i didnt want to post it, since its so grey. but currently the weather is like this.... or its raining. beeehhh!

the amsterdam canals are filled with little boats. somehow tim got the impression that you can put your boat anywhere for free (and he kept saying, i want a boat too!!), but thats not the case. just like for your car, you have to pay to park your boat. i read somewhere 30 euros per meter of boat (but im not sure). anyways, its not free, and if you do park your boat without paying, they can tow it, just like your car. they also periodically remove boats that look like the one above, so after heavy rain etc you should definitely check whether your boat still looks fine...

as for the leak in the apartment; someone was supposed to come today. and then didnt... they were swamped taking care of apartments with leaks much worse than ours. today it rained, but luckily not inside. its not sure yet when the will come, but i hope it wont take too long....

It's time...

for my american red shoes...! unfortunately not to trudge through mountains of snow, but to avoid wet feet. it has been raining like crazy the entire weekend (as well as friday, and perhaps thursday, i dont even remember), and it will rain tomorrow as well.

while tim suddenly had to come into work for a few hours today, i was deciding whether i would just spend the entire afternoon on the couch or do something useful.. that was until i suddenly saw quite a puddle of water in front of the old-fashioned heater. water? is the thing now spewing water?? hmm, highly unlikely. is it perhaps condensation....but from what... the drying laundry? (i can be a little slow) then i finally looked up and saw it was coming from the ceiling.... buhuhuhuhuh. water was dripping down and quite a bit!! its coming down from that ugly plastic ceiling that tim cleaned back in july. for once it was a good thing we have been extremely slow with filling the cupboards we bought a little while ago. they all needed to be moved to not get wet. it has been dripping all afternoon and evening (worsening a bit). for once i was also happy we werent out all day, i think we would have come back to quite a mess! tomorrow someone will come and check. no, they couldnt come before dark today. and as he said on the phone "you know, its the rain. there is a lot of rain coming down right now, and lots of rain gives lots of leaks, but its just the heavy rain you know". hmppf. great...

(and no, i dont know whether the neighbors really have better stuff. i do hope for them its less wet than in our place..., i also hope the ugly ceiling wont come down or something... you never know...)

Fall colors

i really liked fall in boston. so many colorful trees, the cold but sunny mornings that warned you it could very well get much colder... driving to new hampshire in the weekends to see even more colorful trees....

so... this is a picture of the cemetery behind our apartment. now we dont have a cemetery behind our apartment anymore... buuuhhh... there is one, but its a 5-10 minute bike ride away, so i most definitely miss going there for a short walk... the cemetery here is pretty too, but much smaller, and it specifically states at the entrance that photography is not allowed. ah well... perhaps someday i will take some pics there anyways.... but for now you have to make do with a picture taken one year ago at the american cemetery... :)