A Surprise Treat

On Sunday, Mr. Traveler didn't have his weekly baseball game (instead they played a tournament in the freezing cold on Saturday), so we decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and visit the Botanical Gardens at Utrecht University. The gardens were covered in the yearly Museumkaart that we both purchased when we first arrived, so there was no extra fee for the visit. I didn't really know what to expect as I had only heard passing mentions of the gardens, but I was just excited to be outside.

The gardens are located at an old fort on university property, and it's interesting to see how the gardens seem to engulf the fort, nature taking over a location that once stood for the defense of men. Although the flowers were not yet in full bloom (we are just emerging from a cold winter, after all), the gardens were still very pretty and peaceful. I look forward to returning in a month or so when there are even more flowers and plants to see.

Fort at Utrecht University Gardens

Since not all the flowers were blooming outside, the most colorful plants we saw were in the greenhouses. I especially liked the bright tropical flowers, although I wasn't as big of fan of the heat and humidity in the climate controlled environments. (I'm sure when we head back to Texas in August it is going to be a huge adjustment since we are just getting used to the cold!)

Bright Flower!

The area were we spent most of our time, however, was just a field of grass. "Why?" you might ask. Well, at 2:00pm, the gardens hosted a bird show. (In case any of you local readers are interested in seeing the show, I believe the remaining dates are May 7, June 5, July 2, September 24 and October 16 at at 11.00 and 14.00.) We didn't know about the show before heading to the gardens so it was a nice bonus for the day.

Birds Lined Up for Show

Along the side of the grass, the birds were lined up on their perches when we arrived. A little after two, one of the bird handlers (I'm not sure of the technical term), retrieved the first bird, a tiny and very cute owl who wowed us (okay, maybe not) with his ability to walk back and forth through a turf-covered pipe.

Tiny Owl

After that, the handlers moved through a series of progressively larger birds, including owls, falcons, and ravens.

That's a big bird!

It was fun to see the absolute joy and wonder in the children's faces who got selected as volunteers to hold the birds.

Volunteer

Just as the handlers explained the details of the last bird (in Dutch so I didn't understand much more than the weight, which of course I can't remember now), the bird was released. He flew and flew and flew, and then we waited. There was some murmuring back and forth on the radios and finally it was established that the bird wasn't very interested in doing the show at that moment. Instead, he had flown to the opposite side of the moat surrounding the fort. Everyone was dismissed, and we wandered through the remaining sections of the garden.

Two Blooms

A Week at a Time: Mar 19 - Mar 25, 2011

This past week was filled with new experiences as well as a renewed interest in cooking/baking. Before this week, I was starting to get bored with figuring out what to put on the table for dinner, but for some reason (maybe the abundance of sunshine or the plethora of other events), over the past week, being in the kitchen once again felt exciting.

On Saturday, we finally made it to the zoo, an outing I talked about here. The weather couldn't have been better and Mr. Traveler and I definitely enjoyed our time in the sun. My photo of the day was taken right after lunch as we passed the elephant enclosure. I think the elephant was hoping we would pass him a peanut. Later, we checked out the NEMO science museum and attended a wine tasting. 

Mar 19 - Elephant

On Sunday, Mr. Traveler was supposed to play a baseball game, but found out at the last minute the game had been cancelled because too many players were sick or out of town. For dinner, I cooked homemade vegetable lasagna with fresh pumpkin and zucchini. While I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the lasagna, I roasted the pumpkin seeds for a nice pre-dinner snack.

Mar 20 - Pumpkin Seeds

Monday, I had my first book club meeting in Amersfoort. I enjoyed walking around the city before the meeting and took this picture during my meanderings. 

Mar 21 - Reflections in Amersfoort

Tuesday, I tried to catch up on some of my blog entries and load pictures onto my computer. Rather late in the day, I gathered ingredients to make a soda bread and homemade quiche. Unfortunately, I was too anxious to eat to remember to take a picture before slicing into both items. This poorly focused picture was a last minute capture before the food was piled onto our places. 

Mar 22 - Homemade Bread

Wednesday, the weather was beautiful and I decided to take advantage and go for a walk along to Oudegracht. As I walked, I noticed som epeople in shorts and sundresses and others in coats and scarves. In the evening, Mr. Traveler and I walked to the park to get a better look at the lasers in the sky. Mr. Traveler took most of the pictures during our walk (after all, I do get to monopolize the camera during the week), but he let me snap this one before we left. I like how you can see the stars, the trees in the park, the surrounding buildings, and the lasers all in one shot.

Mar 23 - Sol Lumen

On Thursday, my busy week wasn't over. I met my friend M for a morning of disc golf across town. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the holes we invented going up and down the hills in the park. When I got home, I felt exhausted and my face felt dry and hot. I realized a few hours later that I actually had a bit of a sunburn, an occurrence I hadn't even thought about for months. Even though my cheeks were just barely pink, it was enough to make me feel a little worn down. I laid around for a little while until it was time to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for tacos. Mr. Traveler stopped at the wine store and brought home a surprise bottle of wine, pictured below with the wine journal we've started keeping.

Mar 24 - Wine and Wine Journal

Somewhere in the midst of this busy week, I found out that my brother and his wife were planning a trip for the following week (they arrived yesterday). I ordered an air mattress for our guests to use, and it was due to arrive on Friday between 9am and 5pm. I spent the morning and most of the afternoon waiting on the delivery, which finally came around 2:30. Then, I ran to the store to pick up some extra glasses, bowls to replace the non-microwavable ones that we microwaved too many times, and an extra key for our house. As I walked back home, I noticed the beautiful flowers blooming on the trees down our street. I took the camera outside and captured the following image -- a pretty picture to wrap up a pretty awesome week.

Mar 25 - Tree Flowers

Laser Light Show

Like the last few of my posts, this one is a few days overdue, but I still think interesting enough to share. On Monday, as one of my new friends from the Bookworms group was driving me home, we noticed an odd site in the sky. It looked a little like this:

Lights in the Sky

However, as soon as I got home, I forgot about what I'd seen and went on with my normal evening routine (i.e. plopping myself down in front of the t.v.). The next day, however, there was a nice article in the paper about the lights (well, I'll assume it was nice since I could just pick out a few words). I mentioned it to Mr. Traveler, showed him the picture, and then forgot about the lights again. Well, later that night Mr. Traveler peaked out the window and saw the light for himself. He decided it would be fun to photograph, and we made plans to head out the next night on a walk.

In the meantime, I did a little research about the lights. I'd already figured out from the newspaper article that the lights would be displayed from March 20 to 26 starting at 8:00pm. Further research revealed that the lasers (called Sol Lumen) shone from Utrecht University to the Dom Tower in the center of Utrecht (over three kilometers) in celebration of the 375th anniversary of Utrecht University and in conjunction with the Trajectum Lumen, a light show highlighting major sites in the city center. The lasers are supposed to symbolize the bond between knowledge and culture.


Anyway, now that you know what it is all about, here are some pictures from our walk. I especially like the one with the water. 

From Wilhelmina Park

Lake and Lights

Amersfoort: Old and New

The Bookworms meeting this past Monday was in Amersfoort, and since I had never been to the city, I headed over early to wander around and see the sites. Before leaving, I glanced through a couple Web sites of "thing to do" in Amersfoort, including the Wikipedia entry for the city. I didn't see mention of many "must see sites", so I decided to play it by ear, making sure to get a glimpse of the old city wall and possibly the wall houses.

Arriving in the city, I was surprised by the modernity of the train station. As I walked further, however, I realized that the train station was only one example of the modern architecture surrounding the old medieval city. I liked the contrast of the old and new in the different parts of the city.

I walked through the center, which plays home to both modern shopping and charming old plazas/market squares. I grabbed some frites (my favorite so far) and a Fanta at Vlaamse Friteshuis “van Gogh” and sat in the park while I ate. I watched as people walked by and dogs met in spontaneous play groups. Then, I walked around the perimeter of the old city, observing the ancient walls, the amazing reflections in the water, a hot air balloon, modern art work and the cute wall houses (Muurhuizen). 


Here are just a few of the pictures I took on my walk:

Train Station

Part of Old Wall with Entrance to City

Hot Air Balloon over Amersfoort

Sunset Reflection

First Experience with a Book Club

I recently joined the Bookworms group of the IWCU, and by "recently", I mean I just attended my first book club meeting this week.

At first, I was a little skeptical about joining a book club. As a person with an MA in English, I've been discussing literature for years in an academic setting. I was afraid that this new setting would be too foreign and not academic enough for me. Would I make a fool out of myself by identifying some small element of symbolism that no one else saw? Would anyone care about the analysis I would offer? I felt maybe I was out of touch with the way that people read books for enjoyment, even though I often read for enjoyment, myself.

The book for this month's meeting was Julie Orringer's The Invisible Bridge. I'd been warned that the book was large, but was unprepared for what I saw on the shelf at Selexy a week before the meeting. The book was huge.

Book Size Comparison

Of course, the pages weren't as thin as the Bible or the Complete Works of Shakespeare, but seeing a book of a similar bulk, regardless is a little intimidating. I decided I could probably finish it in a week, though, so I purchased it and stuck it in my bag.

After finding out our zoo trip was delayed, I decided to start the book on Saturday morning. I didn't read for the whole day, but I did spend a lot of time lost in the book. Sunday, before and after the baseball game, I also read for much of the day. And Monday, as soon as I got back from the Coffee Morning event, I was back in the book, where I spent much of the rest of the day until I finished around 11pm. I found the book captivating and very in touch with humanity.

I don't want to give too much of the book away in case you decide to read it, so I'll leave you with the description from the back of the book:

"Paris, 1937, Andras Lévi, a young student of architecture, arrives in Budapest with a scholarship, a single suitcase and a mysterious letter he has promised to deliver to C. Morgenstern on the rue de Sévigné. As he becomes drawn into the extraordinary and secret life of the letter's recipient, his elder brother takes up medical studies in Modena, and their younger brother leaves school for the stage, Europe's unfolding tragedy sends each of their lives into terrifying uncertainty.

From the Hungarian village of Konyár to the grand opera houses of Budapest and Paris, from the lonely chill of Andras's attic to the enduring passion he discovers on the rue de Sévigné, from the despair of a Carpathian winter to the unimaginable life in forced-labour camps and beyond, The Invisible Bridge tells the story of a marriage tested by disaster, of a Jewish family's struggle against annihilation, and of three brothers bound by love and history."

I was struck by the similarities in the sentiments against the Jews in the novel (and history) and the sentiments expressed towards Muslims in the present day. During the meeting, we talked about these connections as well as some of the other cultural and social issues touched on in the novel. We also talked about how the choices of the author affected our interpretations of the characters and events within the novel.

Although I was nervous at first, I really enjoyed my first Bookworms meetings and look forward to attending another one soon.