A Week at a Time: May 14-20, 2011

Saturday, May 14, (just a little over 2 weeks ago now) was the last full day of my parents' visit to Utrecht. As you may remember from my post here, we took it relatively easy that day with a trip to the local botanical gardens. I took the following picture in one of the greenhouses:

May 14 - Curlicues

Sunday, I dropped off Mom and Dad at the airport. Originally, I thought about attending Mr. Traveler's baseball game, but the weather was too windy and cloudy (besides, it was nice to have a little time to myself). After several weeks of our visitors pointing out the smoking giraffe on the side of our local tobacco shot, I decided he'd make a good picture of the day.

May 15 - Smoking Giraffe

On Monday, I considered skipping the monthly IWCU coffee morning at the V&D and taking some more time for myself, but something told me it was important to get back into a routine. As always, I was glad that I went and enjoyed chatting with the other ladies. However, I did get to the place a little early and had to wait until the store opened:

May 16 - Time to Open

Tuesday, I started catching up on some of the errands and chores around the house. First up was taking out the trash. In the process, I found two snails crawling up the side of the trash bag (in our garden area).

May 17 - A Pair of Snails

Wednesday, I met a friend for a museum trip to Amersfoort. We visited the Flehite Museum, which was currently hosting an special exhibit called Nachtlicht (night light). The paintings in the exhibit demonstrated how gas and electric light influenced Dutch art between 1880 and 1940. I actually liked many of the paintings in this exhibit more than Dutch art from other time periods.

My picture for the day was taken on our walk near the old city entrance of the city. Since I had already taken several pictures of that area during my previous walk around Amersfoort, I selected a photo of something different for the day, a train which appeared to be responsible for testing (?) the track.

May 18 - Testing the Track

Thursday, the weather was a little blah. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I knew I needed to get out of the house. I took a walk down to Wilhelmina Park, where I snapped the following picture of a lonely stuffed animal, which had presumably been left by a young visitor.

May 19 - Lonely Bear

Friday, I spent a lot of time catching up on journaling and blogging about Mom and Dad's visit. By the time dinner rolled around, I hadn't taken a picture yet, and opted for this shot of one of our dinner ingredients:

May 20 - Cilantro

Dag van het Park - Disc Golf Style

Today, May 29, was the national Dag van het Park (or day of the park) in the Netherlands. Around the country, various parks hosted different types of activities, allowing residents to sample offerings of the communities, as well as the parks themselves. A few months ago, my friend M (first mentioned here) asked if I'd help out with a disc golf demo going on that day in Maxima Park. Since I don't have too many commitments here that would get in the way of volunteering, I agreed to help.

I had a great time at the park today. Together with the couple that runs the Leidsche Rijn Disc Golf Club, I helped explain the sport of disc golf and handed out flying discs (the light weight type that are commonly given away as promotions... most people refer to them as Frisbees, but that is actually a trademarked brand). We had a steady stream of interested kids and adults, picking up the free discs that the parks organization provided and trying out our temporary disc golf holes. It was really great seeing all of the interest that our booth generated, considering that disc golf is not very big in the Netherlands.

One of the most challenging things to me was communicating with interested parties, since I don't speak Dutch (beyond a few basic terms, mostly revolving around food). Most adults are pretty fluent in English, so I didn't have much trouble explaining the game to them or giving basic information. However, I did feel bad when I couldn't answer the younger children's questions. At one point, I tried to explain to some girls, probably around 10 years of age, that I didn't speak Dutch (Nederlands). One of the girls looked at me as though she pitied me, shook her head, and said, "Oh, you don't understand." I half-expected her to follow up with the "bless your/his/her heart" saying from the Southern U.S., as the sentiment was basically the same. (For those of you who are lost on this point, see Jennifer Youngblood's description here. "When your cousin Susie does something just plain dumb, and your aunt Margaret calls you up to tell you about it, you just listen real close and utter a few "bless her hearts" when she pauses long enough to draw in a breath.")


Despite the pity of the young child, however, I felt like I did okay communicating with people, even throwing in the occasional "dank u wel" and "alstublief". (Yes, it's very basic Dutch, but it's better than nothing.) I also had fun conversing with a few fellow Americans (my friend M, the woman who heads up the LRDGC - along with her Dutch husband, and a disc golfer living in Eindhoven who is originally from NY but moved to the Netherlands from Austin).

Unfortunately, since my point and shoot camera is currently broken, I don't have any photos to share from the event; I can tell you, though, that looking out on our temporary holes and seeing 10+ kids at once enjoying themselves, throwing the discs towards the basket was pretty amazing. I can only hope that at least a few of the children will be at a local course soon, developing a love for the sport which has meant so much to me over the past few years.

Back to the Beach

If you thought Mr. Traveler and I would be resting, basking in the freedom of not having someone sleeping in the middle of our living room floor, you'd be sort of right. We've slept in more and enjoyed going to bed on our own schedules. We've had more time to work out and get back into our normal routines (even when that just means laying on the couch in the evening watching TV). However, with a little less than 3 months left in our international adventure, we don't feel like we can waste too much of our weekends just laying around and doing nothing, so when Mr. Traveler asked me what I'd like to do last weekend, I suggested we head back out to the beach.

Even though I'd already been with Mom and Dad the previous week, I felt like the beach was a perfect outing. Mr. Traveler hadn't been, it wasn't too hard to get to, and it didn't require the same type of attention/commitment as a visit to a museum. Plus, Mr. Traveler and I had talked for a while about how we wanted to visit Madurodam, and it was conveniently on the same tram line. We could knock out two of our must-see sights in one day with minimal effort.

First up was our stop at Madurodam, a miniature village consisting of famous and familiar sites from Dutch culture. (Okay, so it's a little like a museum but with more focus on entertainment and less on education.) It was fun to see the miniatures of sites we've already seen, as well as depictions of areas we haven't yet checked off our list.

Madurodam - They used shrubs to mimic trees.

After making it through the Madurodam maze (they have little arrows which point you on the desired path so you don't miss anything), we were ready to continue on to the beach.

The day was a little warmer than when Mom, Dad, and I went, so there were many more people soaking up the sun and even playing in the water.

Springtime at the Beach

In the background of the picture above, you'll notice a large circular building - a restaurant/casino. Behind that is a tall crane used for bungy jumping. When we first stepped onto the beach, we actually saw someone jump off; I can't imagine how anyone would trust the stability of the contraption after walking down the pier with rotting wood and rusting metal, but maybe the safety net of the water gives them that extra boost of confidence.

We walked down the beach in the opposite direction, taking care to avoid the many jellyfish, which had accumulated on the sand.

Jellyfish

My goal was to make it to the rocks (seen below as a dark line sticking out into the water), climb up on them, and see whatever could be seen from that vantage point.

The Beach (from a week before)

Along the way, we saw people preparing for surf lessons, kids digging in the sand, teenagers dashing out into the water, and a group of men flying kites.

Kites on the Beach

We sat down for a rest, just listening to the sounds of lapping water and laughing (and screaming) children. Had we sat down for much longer, I think I could have fallen asleep, so I suggested we move on towards the rocks.

As we got closer, I noticed that the rocks were much larger than they seemed, and they turned out to be a little bit of a challenge to climb with flip flops and an over-the-shoulder bag. Between the rocks was an entrance to the harbor, and we saw some interesting boats arriving, including what I deemed "the pirate ship".

Pirate Ship?

Looking Back from the Rocks

At this point, we were both getting hungry, which started the beginning of the what-to-eat-nothing-sounds-good crisis. We walked back on the promenade, which has a huge variety of restaurants. We chose one early on based on the tapas menu they displayed on their bulletin board. After we each ordered, the waitress advised us that one tapas order was designed for two people, so we revised our order to share. When our food came out, it was neither enough food nor very satisfying. By the time we got our check, we'd already decided that we needed "second dinner". It actually wasn't quite dinner time, though, so we wasted a little bit of time walking out on the bungy pier and further exploring the promenade.

As we walked past the Kurhaus, a giant resort hotel, we noticed a bunch of youngsters on the patio dressed in formal attire. I commented that it must be some sort of prom event. As we debated whether teenagers had proms in Europe, one of the kids commented quite loudly, "This is the best prom I've ever been to!" She was American, which left us with quite a few more questions.

When we started to look for restaurants for "second dinner", I realized that the variety in the restaurants was only superficial. They had different names, supposedly specialized in different food styles (Thai, French, American, Dutch), but they all had almost identical menus. After our not-so-great experience earlier, I wanted something that wouldn't disappoint.

We walked up and down the promenade, we explored the restaurants off the beach, and we both agreed on a sushi restaurant. It was pretty disappointing, then, when that restaurant was completely booked.
Finally, after a bit (okay, maybe a lot) of whining on my part, we gave up and picked a place that was sure to live up to our expectations... because our expectations were as low as they could get. We opted for the Tex-Mex restaurant. To truly appreciate this choice, you have to remember that we're both from Texas.

Anyway, the margaritas were good, the chicken fajitas were actually decent, and the rice and beans were edible. The only inedible thing we were served was the salsa... but, remember, we weren't expecting much.

Once we had eaten, we had regained just enough energy to make it back home. Even though our experience of choosing a place to have dinner didn't really fit into my picture of what a relaxing day at the beach should be, the rest of the day was quite enjoyable. The sun was out, the weather was warm, and for the most part, we were just able to relax and enjoy being near the water.

Visitors, Take Five (Wed - Sun)

A few weeks ago, my parents visited us. We crammed a lot of activities into just one week, so I've split their trip into two entries. Feel free to catch up on our adventures in the Visitors, Take Five (Sun - Tues) entry. 

Wednesday, I made my third trip to the touristy city of Delft. While I didn't mind going back, I couldn't imagine any reason to go through the Royal Delft pottery factory again. I sent Mom and Dad on ahead and waited in the cafe with a bottle of water and possibly the worst cupcake I've ever had. (I still finished the whole thing, though. A terrible baked good filled with sugar is still better than a gristly piece of meat or a soggy vegetable.) Even though I wasn't looking forward to learning anything else about pottery, I was interested in two buildings which I'd skipped due to lack of interest or lines on my first two visits: the Nieuwe Kerk and the Oude Kerk. After Mom and Dad finished at the pottery factory, we made the rounds through the two churches.

Since we'd recently visited the Nieuwe and Oude churches in Amsterdam, it was interesting to see how these churches compared. Since the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft sits in the center of a square and isn't surrounded by other buildings, it's easy to see how impressive the building is from the outside.

Nieuwe Kerk, Delft

The groundbreaking for the church happened in 1396 and the building was completed 100 years later. Since then, it has served not only as a place of worship, but as the burial grounds for members of the House of Oranje-Nassau. Because of this connection, the church has a display detailing the history of the royal family, which helped give some historical context to the building and the city.

Inside the Nieuwe Kerk

Next, we moved on to the Oude Kerk, whose foundation was laid in 1246. From the outside, you can see how this same foundation isn't exactly level.

Oude Kerk

Inside, I enjoyed how the church wasn't afraid to incorporate new elements into the historical setting. For example the stained glass below paid homage to the connection between God and science:

Science and the Church

I wasn't quite sure, though, what to make of the art exhibit that was going on inside the church. Modern depictions of dogs, demons, and other random characters and items were scattered around the church. These provided a rough contrast to the old memorials on the edges of the church.

Dog and Memorial/Tomb

Finished touring Delft, we stopped for a bite to eat and then headed on to Keukenhof to see the gardens. While I had already been to the flower display with my inlaws, this was one trip I definitely didn't mind making again. Even though I'd expressed my distaste for tulips a number of times before my first trip to the gardens, I thoroughly enjoyed both visits. I also realized that tulips are really quite pretty when they open, and besides, there were plenty of other types of flowers to enjoy, too. The place is just so relaxing. On this visit, Mom suggested we start on the outermost circle and make our way around the whole place first. I was surprised at the number of things I'd missed the first time, including a lookout point to see the tulip fields which would have been in full bloom on the last visit.

Fields After the Harvest

Odd Flower

Through careful planning and planting, Keukenhof does a great job of making sure there are flowers filling the gardens during their entire season.

After checking tulips off the things-to-see-in-Holland list, Mom and Dad decided they needed to experience the Dutch bicycle riding tradition. On Thursday morning, we rented bikes and headed over to Theehuis Rhijnauwen since it's a convenient distance for a bike ride. Over lunch, Mom and Dad must have forgotten that their legs were feeling tired, because afterward, they agreed to keep riding to the next town, Bunnik. I hadn't been all the way to Bunnik before, and I wouldn't say that it was the most exciting town ever, but it was a nice ride, and once we got there, we were able to walk around and stretch our legs before heading back.

Church in Bunnik

Later that evening, we all ate dinner at Salamat Makan, the Indonesian restaurant Mr. Traveler and I had tried when my brother and his wife visited a few months ago. I think everyone agreed that it was a good choice, which was a good thing because I had a bit of (mostly self-induced) difficulty making the reservation. First, I made the reservation online but forgot to change the number of people from 2 to 4. Then, I had to track down the number and call the restaurant. Unfortunately, I chose to do this before the restaurant opened, which meant I got an employee (probably the owner) at home with his family, and he was holding a screaming child right next to the receiver. Not so good on my ears, but worth it in the end.

Friday morning, we took a short bike ride to get a little more use out of the rentals before returning them. It wasn't quite time for lunch, but Dad was now stuck on trying out a Turkish pizza (which I'd recommended a few days earlier), so we decided to wait until lunch time before heading out of Utrecht. While we waited, I showed Mom and Dad around some of the local stores, including the HEMA, which I think of as a Dutch version of Target. About 5 minutes after the restaurant was supposed to open, we headed back over to get our pizzas; however, we were turned away because the food wasn't ready yet. At this point, I decided we should just try the pizzas that were being sold by a vendor at the market. They ended up being just as good, and the service was wonderful.

During our wait for lunch, we discussed what we were going to do for the day, going back and forth between a walk in the national forest and a trip to the beach. Since we hadn't already decided a plan when we left home, I had done no planning, which actually was a bit liberating. We eventually decided on the beach, figuring we would just ask for directions when we got to the Hague. As soon as we walked out the door of Den Haag Centraal, however, I saw the tram that was heading to the beach. What luck!

One of the things I was most excited about was the sand sculpture festival, which lasts from April 29 to June 27. There were only a very sculptures so far (and mostly just advertisements), but they were still impressive. I'm guessing more sculptures will pop up towards the end of the festival, since it does last for two months.

Sand Sculpture

I wasn't too disappointed in the lack of sculptures, however, because the beach was quite impressive on its own, stretching miles in both directions.

Scheveningen Beach

Saturday, Mom, Dad, and I went to the fabric market (or lapjesmarkt) on Breedstraat in Utrecht. I wasn't really too interested in buying fabric, especially since we have absolutely no storage space in our house (and I don't sew), but I still enjoyed the experience, seeing the variety of fabrics, prices, vendors, and customers. Afterward, we popped over to the flower market before heading home.

Flower Market, Utrecht

When we returned home from the markets, Mr. Traveler was awake (and probably thankful he got to sleep in). We picked him up and headed to lunch at La Place atop the V&D. I've already talked about how much I like to take visitors to this little spot, with its overhead view of Utrecht. Even though the view is not nearly as great as the one from the Dom Tower, the escalators make La Place much more accessible.

Since it was Mom and Dad's last day in town, we decided not to spend too much time hoping back and forth on trains, and stuck around Utrecht for the day. After lunch, we headed over to the botanical gardens at the university, where we enjoyed a walk in the beautiful weather. Even though I could have done without a stop at  every plant (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating), I still had a nice time. And, we even wrapped up the visit in time to make it back to the cheese shop to pick up supplies for dinner before they closed at 4. We spent our last evening together playing games, as we had done several evenings during the week.

Dad Taking Photos at the Gardens

In the morning, it was time to take Mom and Dad back to the airport. We accidentally boarded the train in the silent car. It took Dad a few minutes to figure out what we were trying to tell him about keeping quiet, but eventually he got the message, and we all rode in silence to the airport. At the airport, I helped Mom and Dad find the check in desk, and then we said our goodbyes before they went through security.

On the way home, I felt an unexpected emptiness. Even though I was glad to have some time back for just Mr. Traveler and myself, it was hard to think past the presence of company. It was probably the closest I've come to feeling homesick since we arrived. Having so many people who care about us come and visit was a reminder of what waits for us at home. And even though I am glad to have some time to myself and to get back into my own routine, I would have to say that I did enjoy each and every visit that we've had so far and that I'm looking forward to reunions with all of our friends and family back home this fall.

Visitors, Take Five (Sun - Tues)

Our final visitors in the long parade of company arrived on Sunday, May 8th, the same day that M and V flew back to Texas. Mom and Dad had been cruising along the Rhine for the past week, so they had already adjusted to the time difference and were ready to go when I picked them up at their cruise boat Sunday morning. On the train back to Utrecht, we talked about their cruise, my dog (who they're watching while we're abroad), and possible plans for the afternoon. Mr. Traveler had a baseball game, but suggested that we skip it since his team was missing their best players and playing against a team that was supposedly much more talented. By the time Mr. Traveler returned home from his game (which they won, by the way), my parents and I had already visited the Centraal Museum (where they bought their own Museumkaarts), popped into the Dick Bruna Huis, walked through the Domkerk and courtyard, and bought ingredients to make pizza for dinner.

In the evening, we checked the forecast, and it looked okay, but not great for the following day. We decided to go ahead and visit Amsterdam since there was a chance of rain, and we would be spending most of our time in museums. The next morning, the chance of rain had dropped to almost nothing, but we decided to stick with our plan (sans umbrellas).

Our first stop was the Anne Frank Huis, one of the places I'd been meaning to check off my to-do list for a while. I knew it would probably be a pretty emotional experience, but also an important one in understanding the history of the area. As we walked through the empty rooms (left unfurnished at the request of Otto Frank, Anne's father), it was hard to imagine how two families had spent so much time in the space, unable to walk without tiptoeing or talk with whispering. Quotes throughout the museum portion and powerful videos from friends and from Otto brought Anne's story to life. Even though I managed not too tear up (too much), afterwards, I felt a little emotionally drained. That combined with the rain and my building hunger made me not such a happy camper, but on we went.

Back in Dam Square, we visited the New Church (Nieuwe Kerk), which actually originated in the 15th century (even though it has undergone many renovations since that time). (We probably wouldn't have walked through the church except that it was included with the Museumkaart. One of my favorite parts of having one of the cards is that I feel a lot more willing to check out a museum or site if I don't have to pay anything extra. If I'm not enjoying myself, I feel like I can move on to something else.) Dad was fascinated by the monuments to war heroes erected inside the church and pointed out the many excesses in the design and details of the church itself. The gold gilding, the massive organ with intricately painted doors, and the size of the building seemed to be more of a monument to wealth than one to God. Even though it is a shame from an artistic and historical perspective that so much of the ornate detail in Catholic churches was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation, witnessing the excess first hand helps me see how individuals became so fed up with a system that took money from the poor (in the form of indulgences) to build such monuments to humanity.

Nieuwe Kerk

By the time we finished at the church, everyone was starving, so Mom suggested that we grab a quick lunch at the shopping mall across the street. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to order the special of the week: smoked salmon salad. Well, it was not. The salmon was okay, but the salad also had tons of hardboiled eggs which had merged with the sauce. Since I'm not a huge fan of hardboiled eggs, I had trouble stomaching a whole plate of something tasting like them. I tried to hide everything between the two large pieces of bread on my plate, but I only made it through about half of the salad before giving up. For the next two hours, I kept burping up the taste of salmon and hardboiled yolks. Yuck!

Even though I wouldn't call my lunch satisfying, it did give me enough energy to continue with the day's adventures. We boarded the tram to our next stop, the Van Gogh Museum. Even though I'd previously visited the museum, I felt that it was worth seeing again, if only to let Mom and Dad experience the massive collection of works by Van Gogh. It felt especially worth it since there was no extra cost with the Museumkaarts and we could bypass the, albeit small, line. I was pleasantly surprised to find out once we got there that the special exhibit had changed, which meant that at least part of the museum would be brand new for me. I would say I probably enjoyed this visit to the Van Gogh much more than my first one, probably due more than anything to the fact that we hadn't walked there this time, and therefore my feet still had enough stamina to stand long enough to make it through the exhibits. My favorite part of the visit, though, was the special exhibit: Picasso in Parijs, 1900-1907. Displaying his early work, the exhibit brought out another side of Picasso that is rarely seen in museums. This early work showed how Picasso struggled with finding his own technique, experimenting with many different mediums and perspectives, and sometimes imitating the works of his contemporaries.

After visiting the Van Gogh, Mom suggested that we pop on over to the Rijksmuseum. I wasn't too excited about going to the museum again, but it does provide a good overview of Dutch art: true to life, still life, drab. Luckily, the museum wasn't too crowded, so we were able to make it through fairly quickly. Afterward, we decided we all deserved a bit of rest, and we backtracked to the area of stands between the Van Gogh and the Rijksmuseum to grab a drink. However, when I saw the waffles with ice cream and cherries, I couldn't resist. It was one of the best things I've ever eaten: the outside of the waffle was crispy and sprinkled with powdered sugar, while the inside was soft and fluffy. It definitely made up for my not so great choice at lunch.

With the sun finally make an appearance, I decided it would be nice to go back to Dam Square, so that Mom and Dad could see the palace (at least from the outside) and the National Monument.

National Monument

At that point, we decided we'd seen just about all the museums we could stomach for the day, but we were so close to the Old Church (Oude Kerk), that we decided to make a detour and stop by on the way back to the station. The tall stained glass windows in the church were quite stunning, but it was hard to focus on anything other than the World Press Photo exhibition, which was scattered throughout the church.

Stained Glass in the Oude Kerk

The powerful media photos brought back to life many of the events which occurred in 2010, including the earthquake in Haiti, the drug war in Mexico, and the volcanic eruption in Indonesia. (If you are interested, I would definitely recommend checking out the photos online.)

After a full day of visiting sights, I was a little tired, but much more confident that we'd made the most of our visit to Amsterdam. Packing in the sights is such a familiar travel style to me, that I didn't think twice about continuing to the each new museum or church. Plus, I think Mom and Dad felt like they'd gotten good use out of their Museumkaart investment since everywhere we went accepted the passes.

However, the next day, we made sure that the museum passes got even more use with visits to the Speelklok and Spoorweg museums. At first I was hesitant to visit the Speelklok Museum; as far as I knew it was just a museum about those silly (and slightly annoying) street organs we see a lot around here. It had, however, come highly recommended by our friends M and V and by one of my friends in the area, and Mom and Dad both said it sounded interesting. So, why not? I actually enjoyed the museum a lot more than I thought I would. There were plenty of loud street organs, but also a good variety of other automatic instruments, including antique music boxes and novelty pieces, player pianos, and something that resembled an early jukebox. After the tour ended, my dad asked a question, and the tour guide was nice enough to walk us back through the museum to show us one more instrument.

Mom and Dad in Front of a Street Organ

When we finished at the museum, we went in search of Turkish pizza, which I'd suggested as an alternative to the regular Dutch lunch of cheese and bread. (Okay, I'll admit that there are more choices than just cheese, but everything at lunch is served sandwich style.) Unfortunately, the shop we were headed to wasn't open (it looked like they'd maybe run out for a few minutes since the door was only halfway closed), and the other ones I knew about weren't nearby, so we ended up with cheese and bread anyway.

After lunch, we headed to the Spoorwegmuseum, walking along the Oudegracht on the way. Mom managed to find a quilt store, and we popped in for a minute to pick up some souvenir quilt blocks. At the museum, which I was visiting for the 3rd time, we even managed to find rooms and exhibits I'd missed on my previous visits. Dad seemed to really enjoy the museum, and he made sure that we didn't miss anything important!

Even dinner on Tuesday was a genuine Dutch experience for our guests, as we stopped to pick up a variety of cheeses, olives, and stuffed peppers from our local cheese shop. We'd already fit so much into their first few days in Utrecht, but there was still plenty of time for more. We hadn't seen any tulips, visited enough churches (this one is debatable), or been to enough cities. I'll tell you about the rest of Mom and Dad's visit soon in the second installment of "Visitors, Take Five".

Visitors, Take Four

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of hosting a couple (literally -- they are married) of friends from the States. [Sidenote: Friends M and V actually went to the same high school as Mr. Traveler and I, which is funny, because Mr. Traveler and I didn't start dating until I'd been out of high school for 9 years (he graduated a year after me).] It was really great having another couple to hang out with since most of my and Mr. Traveler's social interactions here are separate. He plays baseball, and I get together for coffee or book discussions with the women's group.

Since M and V just welcomed their second child last fall, I knew that V was a little apprehensive about leaving her babies for a week, but I think they stayed busy enough to enjoy the break from the little ones. Plus, with email and Facebook, an update on how everyone at home is doing is just a click away!

On Saturday morning, Mr. Traveler headed off to the airport with J (our visitor from the previous week who was catching a flight out) to pick up M and V. I stayed home, washed sheets and towels, and waited for our friends' arrival.

Once they arrived, we distributed orange shirts for everyone to wear for Queen's Day (in honor of the House of Oranje), and we headed out to grab some food and check out the day's festivities. Our first stop was La Place  in the V&D. I love taking company to this restaurant for a few reasons. First, it's cafeteria style, which means there are a lot of different options, and everyone can move through at their own speed. Second, located on the top floor of the department store, it offers a great view over the city of Utrecht.

M, V, and the City of Utrecht

After lunch, we were ready to begin the day's festivities. Mr. Traveler said his coworker had said something about "garage sales" taking place on Queen's Day, but the logic behind celebrating a national holiday by selling junk escaped me, and I decided there had probably been a miscommunication. Soon, however, I was proven wrong as we walked through the Vrijmarkt (free market), where people were selling all sorts of things, ranging from old clothes to household goods to phone cards to beer, right on the street. Later, I read that historically on Queen's Day, no fees or permits are required to sell goods on the streets, which has, over time, resulted in what equates to a nation-wide garage sale. We quickly browsed the junk that people were selling, but settled on having a few beers instead. After all, to me at least, enjoying a beer feels a lot more like a holiday than picking up a pair of shoes no longer worth the few cents for which they are being sold.

Vrijmarkt

The beers, combined with the sun, and the fact that our friends had slept very little on their international flight, soon meant that everyone was ready for a little r&r. We returned to the house, thinking we'd take a nap, read, or play computer games for a while, and then head out in the evening to catch the last of the festivities.

When we headed back out, though, we weren't greeted by fellow partiers (except for the few that were being carried by friends in a drunken stupor), but instead by the street cleaners and a bunch of cups, bottles, and other trash on the streets. We realized we'd missed the majority of the party, but instead of being disappointed, we took it as the perfect opportunity to introduce our friends to our neighborhood bar. Just down the street from us, the bar has an amazing fire pit, a friendly bartender, and a laid back atmosphere. We ordered a round, and with our drinks the bartender brought us some puzzle games to try and figure out. It kept us entertained for a while, as we chatted and caught up with each other.

On Sunday, Mr. Traveler had a baseball game, and M and V decided they'd like to go and watch. I warned them ahead of time about the negatives -- no scoreboard and a lack of seating, but these challenges proved no match for the bright sun which lulled V right to sleep laying on the grass! It's hard to be concerned about the lack of scoreboard when your eyes won't stay open.

Asleep at the Game

Monday and Tuesday, I actually got a a little bit of alone time as M and V went to Amsterdam and then The Hague. Even though they offered to let me tag along, I felt like they'd probably have more fun on their own since they'd have one less person's opinion to consider when deciding what stops to make. I felt kind of bad that I didn't do a better job of sending them off with a definite plan (including bus/tram stops and the like), but they seemed to do okay figuring everything out. M even commented that it added positively to their experience to have to figure things out on their own. In Amsterdam, they stopped at the Heineken Experience, the Van Gogh, and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and in The Hague, they visited the Escher Museum, Madurodam, and the beach.

Even though I'd let M and V head off on their own Monday and Tuesday, by the time Wednesday rolled around, I felt a little stir crazy and also didn't want our guests to feel like I didn't want to hang out with them. (I really did just want to give them a little time alone together.) They mentioned they'd like to climb the Dom Tower, and since I hadn't done so yet, I was ready for the climb (or at least I thought I was). It turns out that climbing 465 steep stairs is actually pretty challenging. Going back down also presented it's own challenges, as I had to make sure to step solidly on each stair to avoid tumbling in a spiral, knocking the rest of the tour group over like dominoes in the process. When I got back down, my leg muscles were trembling so much I could barely stand in one place. Even with the taxing climb, however, I felt that the tour was definitely worth doing. We learned how the large bells in the tower must still be rung by hand and how the smaller ones can be played by hand (by a very talented carillon player) or with a device much like the ones in music boxes. We also saw some amazing views of the city, and it was fun identifying various familiar buildings and locations around Utrecht.

One of Many Views from the Tower

Later that afternoon, M and V went on to the Spoorweg Museum, but I stayed home as I'd already made a few visits to the museum. (I'd actually be making another one the following week.)

Thursday, our friends decided it was about time that they experience the joys of Dutch bicycle riding, and they rented two bikes from Fietspunt, a local bicycle shop from whom we've received nothing but friendly service. Since I knew the way, I rode out with them to our favorite pancake house (seems like we are starting to have a theme... doesn't it?). Then, to take full advantage of the rentals, we rode all the way to Kasteel de Haar, on the other side of Utrecht. In the late 1890s, Baron Etienne van Zuylen van Nijevent and his wife decided to rebuild on the grounds of a medieval castle. The castle is unique among its Dutch counterparts, because it very much has a classic castle appearance, instead of looking just like a mid-size mansion.

Towers at Kasteel de Haar

We arrived home from the castle around the same time that Mr. Traveler got home from work, and we started to make plans for dinner. We'd read about a restaurant located on the Oudegracht in part of an old castle, and it sounded intriguing (plus it went with the theme of the day). Mr. Traveler called to make reservations at Oudaen and was thrown off when they asked whether we'd like to sit in the bar or the dining room since there were different menus for each. Since Mr. Traveler didn't want to eat bar food, he made the obvious choice of the dining room. However, when we got there, we realized that we'd probably made the wrong decision, as we walked through the bustling bar area and climbed up to a fancy dining room with few guests. The menu was of the gourmet variety with prices to match. Later we learned that the bar actually served normal dinner food -- steaks, chicken, etc, and not the bar food that we'd expected. Lesson learned.

Friday, M and V went off to visit the Speelklok Museum. I wasn't thrilled about the idea of going to the museum (although I ended up enjoying it when I did visit the following week), so once again I let them go on their own. While they were out, they also made a visit to the Utrecht University Botanical Gardens. As they arrived back in town, they called me so I could meet up with them for a trip to the beer shop, where we purchased some of the best beer in the world and a few other varieties of beer to try.

On Saturday morning, after a fun week of visiting and sightseeing, M and V headed off before we even got up to cram in some more sights before spending the night in Amsterdam. On Sunday morning, when I went to pick up my parents, it was funny to think that M and V were probably just leaving Amsterdam as our next set of company arrived.

I truly enjoyed the week that we got to spend with M and V. Some of the best moments were just those where we chatted over a few drinks at the bar or at our house. Having friends visit makes me remember how much I miss some of our friends at home and how much I'm looking forward to reuniting with all our friends when we return to the States in August.

A Week at a Time: May 7-13, 2011

Once again, I'm going to keep this post brief, as I plan to spend plenty of time talking about the week during my recap of our fifth set of company (my parents). I want to keep up with the continuity of doing the Week at a Time posts, though, at least until my photo project is done at the end of the year. So here it goes...

On Saturday, we recovered from our fourth set of guests and prepared for our fifth. It was my only day (and night) alone with Mr. Traveler for a 3 week span, so I tried to absorb every relaxing moment. While I had to do a little laundry (sheets and towels) to prepare for the guests, most of the day was spent resting. We even took a picnic out to the park and just laid on a blanket, watching the ducks and other park visitors.

May 7 - Bikes on Break

On Sunday, I went to Amsterdam to pick up my parents, and took the following picture in the Utrecht Centraal train station, which is currently being renovated. In the picture below, you can see the arches from the original station, the more modern station in the background, and finally the construction which will lead to a state of the art train station (which hopefully preserves some of the old charm... I've heard rumors that it will).

May 8 - Construction Zone

Monday, during our visit to Amsterdam, I took this picture of the Dutch National Monument in Dam Square. The obelisk was dedicated in May 4, 1956 by Queen Juliana as a memorial to the victims of WWII and as a monument to liberation and peace.

May 9 - Rembrance

Tuesday, at the Speelklok Museum in Utrecht, I snapped the following picture of a player piano with three violins, all played automatically by the instrument.

May 10 - A Different Kind of Player Piano

On Wednesday, I revisited Keukenhof, but without Mr. Traveler along, had free reign of our digital SLR. I took advantage and snapped many photos including the following one.

May 11 - Keukenhof, Revisted

On Thursday, we ended up out at the pancake house, but since it was my third time in as many weeks to make the trip, I opted for a wrap instead.

May 12 - It's a Wrap

Friday, I finally made it out to the beach in Scheveningen (near Den Haag). The beach seemed to go on forever, and pictures didn't really do it justice. However, I did snap some photos of the impressive sand sculptures that were up for the International Sand Sculpture festival, including the one below:

May 13 - Sand Sculpture

A Week at a Time: April 30 - May 6, 2011

We've had quite a bit of company in the last few weeks, so I've fallen a bit behind on updating you. I'm going to try to make this week's entry short and sweet, as I'll be recapping many of the week's events when I tell you about our fourth set of visitors.

Saturday was Queen's Day, and I snapped this picture from the La Place cafe in the V&D in Utrecht. The flags on top of the Dom Tower were flying in honor of the holiday.

Apr 30 - Queen's Day Flags

Sunday, at Mr. Traveler's baseball game, I snapped this picture while I chatted with our company and tried unsuccessfully to follow the game. (There is no scoreboard, which makes it a little difficult.)

May 1 - Almost Dandelions

Monday, I ran to the store to pick up a few necessities (bread, milk, and cheese) and was greeted by this little pup. His owner had run into the store and left him tied in the front. He looked very anxious for his mommy to return.

May 2 - Where is My Mom?

Tuesday, I took some time out for myself and went to Wilhelmina Park to snap some photos of the baby ducks in the park. I managed to find three separate sets of ducklings, but the following picture was my favorite of the day.

May 3 - Baby Duck in the Spotlight

Wednesday, I climbed the Dom Tower with our visitors, and although it was quite an exhausting climb, the views were definitely worth it. Here is one of the many landscape photos I took from the tower:

May 4 - Over the Oudegracht

Thursday, we cycled out to Kasteel de Haar, pictured below:

May 5 - Kasteel de Haar

And finally, on Friday, I took this picture from a spot I pass several times a week. Sometimes I'm so busy taking pictures of interesting things that I forget I need some photos to remind me of my everyday surroundings.

May 6 - Familiar Sites

As I mentioned at the beginning, I kept this post short as I will be updating you soon with details of how we entertained our friends who visited during the week of April 30th. Stay tuned!

A Week at a Time: April 23-29, 2011

On Saturday the 23rd, Mr. Traveler and I decided to take advantage of our last weekend before three solid weeks of company and go shopping for orange shirts for Queen's Day (or Koninginnedag). While we weren't successful in that endeavor, we did have fun walking through the center and eating at La Place at the V&D. Later in the evening we brought our dinner out to the park, where we sat among other groups that had the same idea.

Apr 23 - Dinner in the Park

Sunday was Easter, but we didn't do much in the way of celebrating. Mr. Traveler had his weekly baseball game, and I went to watch in a tank top, shorts, and plenty of sunscreen! I couldn't believe it was so warm. Even though their team didn't play too well that day, it was still nice sitting on the bleachers in the sun. I managed to snap the following picture just before the batter hit a home run over the fence.

Apr 24 - Home Run!

On Monday, Mr. Traveler's friend arrived early in the morning. I've already written a little about his visit here. Since it was Easter Monday, or Second Easter, and the marathon was taking place, the bus and trains were not running on their normal schedules. Mr. Traveler got in touch with J and had him navigate to our place. After we visited for a little bit, we headed off to grab brunch, walked around town (and around the Utrecht Marathon, pictured below), had a beer at a local cafe, and ate at an Indian restaurant for dinner, where the waiter insisted that I didn't want to order the Chicken Vindaloo because it would be too spicy. I assured him I could handle it and enjoyed every spicy bite!

Apr 25 - Utrecht Marathon

On Tuesday, while our guest was meandering around town, I started working on my to do list. I sent off cards, purchased a present for a friend who is getting married this week, bought the next book for my book club, and went for a run. As I came in from jogging, I noticed a new flower in our flower bed out front and went back outside to take this picture:

Apr 26 - Pretty Weed

On Wednesday, J and I rode the bikes out to the pancake house for lunch. Later, Mr. Traveler had baseball practice, so I ran over to one of the smaller grocers and picked up some ingredients for veggie and black bean tacos. As I was preparing dinner, I noticed how similar the pepper on the cutting board and the flower picture from the day before looked.

Apr 27 - Pepper

Thursday, I had to run to the bank and to the beer shop to pick up the "best beer in the world" for our guest to try. I thought it would just be a quick bike ride to do both, but I couldn't unlock my bike since Mr. Traveler's bike was connected to it and his friend J still had the key. I enjoyed a nice long walk around town, though, and walked back through the park, where I took the picture below of two men transporting several canoes.

Apr 28 - String of Boats

Friday, was perhaps to most eventful day of the week. Mr. Traveler took the day off to spend with his friend, and I decided to let them have some "guy time" in Amsterdam. Since it took them a while to get going, I left just before them on a mission to finally buy some orange shirts. I was rushing to get out the door, anxious to forget I was getting left behind (even though it was completely my idea). I rode the bus to the center of town, where I almost immediately found some orange shirts for 4 Euros at the C&A department store. I purchased 4 since more friends were coming in for the holiday and then picked up a ridiculous hat at an accessories store called Girlzzz. By that time I was getting hungry, but I wandered around a little bit before heading back to our house to eat leftovers for lunch. However, when I got home, I realized I didn't have my keys. The compartment of my purse in which I normally store them was unzipped, so I wasn't sure if I left them at home or whether they fell out.

I didn't have my phone with me, since it tends to set off the theft prevention alarms at stores, so I decided to walk to the rental office to see if they had a spare key. When I got to the rental office, the lights were out, but the door was unlocked, so I walked inside. A girl met me at the door and informed me that the rental office had moved. She gave me directions to the new office, and off I went. At the new office (a significant walk away), I was welcomed by a sign that indicated they were "open, but out on appointments". I waited around for a little while, but no one came to change the sign, so I decided to grab lunch and coffee.

When I came back, the sign was gone, new hours were posted, and the doors were locked. Since the office wasn't supposed to close for another hour, I waited around for about 20 minutes, but then gave up, figuring that they might have closed early for the holiday weekend.

I walked back to the C&A to see if anyone had turned in a lost pair of keys, even though I wasn't even sure I had lost them. The woman working the register looked through the drawers and decided that no one had turned in any keys.

At that point, I decided I was probably going to be locked out for a while, so I ran by a bookstore and picked up a new book to read. I walked to Grift Park and sat and read until 6. Then, I walked back to our place and dropped a note in the mail slot indicating that I was locked out and would be at Wilhelmina Park reading until dark or until someone came to get me. Around 9:15, I left Wilhelmina and came back to our street, hoping that the boys had returned and just missed the note. They weren't back, so I sat under the street light for a while at the end of our block, continuing to read my book. At 10:00, I decided I was tired of being outside (and I needed to use the restroom), so I left a second note, this time asking Mr. Traveler to meet me at the bar next to our house. At the bar, I found an empty table, ordered a beer, and read for almost two more hours, until I glanced up and saw Mr. Traveler's face.

While it was a long day, I felt like I stayed pretty upbeat throughout the whole ordeal. Buying the book was definitely the best decision all day. Ironically, I took the picture below when I first headed out shopping. I marveled at how patiently the dog seemed to be waiting for his owner, outside of the store, in the middle of a giant crowd of people. I just didn't know that later, it would be me doing the waiting.

Apr 29 - Patient