It's been a little while...

It's been a week since I last wrote and what a wonderful week it's been.

Tuesday saw me venture out on my own for the first time in this Kikkerlandje (Little Frog's Land - as Holland is affectionately called by Netherlanders). There is an Bus terminus just across the square from my sister's unit, so it was just a quick walk with my suitcase rolling along behind me, to catch the bus into Amsterdam city. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the terminus which is situated on the large square in front of Centraal Station. People were milling everywhere in the huge station, but I managed to find a 'loket' (ticket office) easily and quickly. Platform 4 is where I needed to be, but I still had to wait quite some time before the train to Gouda would arrive. It really was very cold, so I headed for the open end of the platform to stand in the sun. In the end I nearly missed the train as the trains have the destinations on the back not on the front of the trains.
The train trip was comfortable and I enjoyed seeing the country side as we sped along. I arrived at Gouda about 50 minutes later and was greeted by my cousin Henk and his lovely wife Sonja. We all hit it off straight away and after hugs and (3) kisses, alternating between each cheek, we headed off to their home in the burbs. After a bread table lunch, we headed off into the ancient city of Gouda. It's a very old city, with many buildings dating from the 1500's or even earlier. The streets are laid with cobble stones or bricks and comfortable shoes are really a must. The Dutch mostly wear sturdy shoes and simple clothing such as jeans/pants and warm jackets. There is lots of short grey hair about and sometimes I find it rather hard to distinguish between men and women because of their similar clothing and hairstyles they wear, because of the cold and/or windy weather.
Daylight saving is also in force at the moment, so the evenings are long and bright. The weather has been very mild this spring, so you can stay outside into the evenings because it is still light.

Anyway, I had a great week with them. We had loads of fun reminiscing about our childhoods, parents, siblings and places we had lived. On Wednesday we went to the Kinderdijk (so called because a child was found there many years ago, drifting in the water in a basket, like Moses), where there are many windmills all in one place. Then to the Biesbos (reed wood) where we enjoyed an hilarious boat ride which ended in three young Dutch men having to rescue us from destroying the small boat because my cousin couldn't get the steering and power right, and kept steering us into the mud banks. We in turn rescued them, because their motor wouldn't start. After dropping the boys at the small river harbour, we three ended up sitting in the sunshine with a lovely white wine each for us girls and a Pils beer for my cousin, safely back on shore.

Thursday was wonderful, as we visited my cousin's brother in The Hague (Den Haag), a very different city from Amsterdam and Gouda. The buildings are quite different there, as are the wide and treed avenues and thoroughfares. I had a great time catching up with my cousin Bert and his wife Els, who live in a typical Dutch, older style unit. We browsed through an album he had put together about his parents, which also contained a number of photos of my dad, my mum and even us all as kids. So many memories. I also heard some new stories about myself as a kid, and also their view on why we left Holland and went to Australia. Very interesting.
After a lovely bread table lunch, we said our goodbyes and headed off to the North Sea for a walk in the sand dunes and the beach. It was special for my cousin Henk and Sonja, because it was there that they had scattered the ashed of their son, who died of MD some years ago.

Friday I insisted on a quiet day of shopping in Gouda with Sonja. We didn't go till  mid afternoon, but it was nice even so. I picked up a top and some Arnica cream for my aching hands, which has worked wonders for them.  We watched the very modern Dutch live production, 'The Passion' on TV on Friday night which was totally brilliant. Talked till 3am with my cousin that night. Next day we said our goodbyes and I headed back to Amsterdam on the train.

Got home and virtually immediately had to head off to the city once again, to attend a performance of the St Matthew's passion which was being held in an old Catholic church building, De Duif (the Dove).  I didn't think I'd really want to go, but went because we had bought tickets for it even before I left Brisbane. The church filled up slowly and finally when not a sound could be heard, the conductor waved his stick for the music to begin. Don't know what happened inside me, but I was sobbing as soon as the first notes filled the building. It was unbelievable...just seemed to throw up a whole lot of deeply buried emotions and memories. The music was brilliantly played, the singers were unbelievably talented and 2 1/2 hours went by so easily. Could have listened longer to such brilliance. Afterwards we savoured the beauty we had just experienced over a coffee, followed by a beautiful meal.  We headed home by tram and bus and got home around 11ish.

Well, that brings me to today.  We slept in, then had a lovely Easter brekky of cereal, softly boiled eggs, toast and cups of tea.  This afternoon we walked in Het Amsterdamse Bos (woods), got lost and finally found our way to a quaint farm house used as a pancake house. I had a huge pancake sprinkled with icing sugar, some tart strawberries and an absurd amount of whipped cream while Mieke had a bacon pancake. We washed it down with coffee and tea. Really was far too much cream and ended up eating only about a third of it...way too much of a good thing I reckon. Walked back to the car and then headed off to Mieke's friend's place for another cuppa, then home by about 9pm. Loaded up photos to my usb stick, wrote my blog and now will add  some more pics for you to enjoy.
Night all...missing you lots, but also enjoying all my new experiences. xo

Photos will be uploaded later. Sorry..x

Some quiet reflection...

I'm now well into week 2 of my return journey and so far, so much has happened that my brain feels quite full! haha.
I don't seem to easily remember things I've done, said or heard the day before at the moment. I am busy with planning what's next on the agenda and what to wear each day to suit this climate, that events and conversations slip into history faster than usual.
So here are a few of the differences between my life in Oz and here in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Clothing: 

Dressing in clothing suitable for a colder/cooler climate, is proving to be quite complex for me. The days can start with brilliant sunshine, but within an hour or two, the clouds roll in and the lovely spring day turns quite cool. Or, a wind springs up out of nowhere, adding another dimension to the 'feel' of how cold or warm it is. So, when I'm dressing, I need to think about how my Queensland style winter clothes will be warm enough for a Dutch Spring day. I am learning fast that days can change to cool or quite warm within minutes, so I need to 'be prepared'! So, a camie first, then a tee or long sleeved light tee, then a jumper, topped by a cardigan. When going out, take off the cardy, then add a short jacket covered by a windcheater and finally a scarf. I do have a beanie, which I forget to take in my bag and not something worn here, so I may go and buy another type of head cover to keep my head cosy.  Then, when/if the sun comes out to surprise us, the reverse happens and the top layers come off but never far removed because the weather can change back to cool again very quickly.  Anyway, I am so fortunate to have come this year, because last year it was still snowing in April and I don't think I would have coped.

Rugged up for the cold

Walking:
Who wants to walk on a 35C day? Not me, that's for sure. Who wants to walk up and down hills in the blazing sun? You got it, not me.
But...here in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, EVERYONE walks EVERYWHERE. Well, at least anything within a 1-2 or 3 km distance. Maybe not 3, because then they ride their trusty, rattly, Dutch style bikes.
So, seeing Mieke doesn't have 2 bikes here atm (her other bike is at the garden house) we walk.

We walked to:

• church
• the shops
• to a friend's place and back
• to the dyke and the farmlands
• in the city
• at Keukenhof
• and ofcourse to the Rijksmusem after catching a bus into the city. 
• up and down the stairs to her unit which is on the second floor

So, lots of exercise for me. Luckily Holland is totally built on flat land, most of which is below sea level, so that walking is,a pretty straight forward exercise. One benefit of walking is that it makes you nice and warm despite the biting wind (at times) and makes your cheeks rosy. Mine are a little too old these days to get rosy, but one can live in hope :-)
Then there are the stairs! Lots of them everywhere. In the city, at the shops and ofcourse in the unit buildings where most of the population live. Here, where I'm staying we need to get to the second floor, so there are 3 stairs to climb. There are no lifts here, so groceries and any kind of purchases need to be carried up the stairs.
So it's all quite different but very beneficial. I sleep brilliantly at night but wake up thinking about how much walking I'll be doing that day. :-) (smiling...) self talk:  "It's good for you Tricia!".

Houses:
Most housing here in Amsterdam is in large Unit buildings or very small worker's cottages situated on the dykes, or rows of slightly bigger, semi detached houses. Most are very small compared to Aussie houses. Even our small houses seem larger than what I've seen here. My sister's one bedroom home is lovely and roomy though even though it essentially consists of only 4 seperate spaces - lounge, dining/kitchen, bedroom, entry/bathroom. Lots of light coming into a house is very important here as every ray of warmth is utilised and enjoyed, so houses have very large picture windows whenever possible. The curtains are rarely closed and you can look into people's homes as you walk by. This is regarded as normal as people actually like it that way. Seems strange to our way of thinking but here it is normal and almost desired.

 Yesterday we were at a friend home, who lives in a very unusual unit in the rounded roof space of her building. The windows here are fully sliding doors but there are no balconies! So she has installed some artistic railings to stop one stepping out into the air! When I mentioned that this would certainly not be legal in Australia, I was told that the Dutch feel they are all adults and therefore responsible for their own and their children's well being. So they have less regulations in place. Something to think about, as we have so many regulations in place in Oz. 

Unit in the roof top space of unit building- view to the Marina

View from the main bedroom

Looking down the length of the one beddroom unit.

Access is via a very narrow and steep circular staircase. For furniture to be moved into her apartment, everything had to be winched in through the front windows, as nothing would fit up the staircase space. This house is in a very sought after area in a very old section of Amsterdam Noord (North). The ancient houses are actually built on top of the side of a dyke with the front of the old cottages at street level and the back of the houses descending down the outside of the dyke, thereby giving them another one or two levels. Behind most house in this area there are small canals, so lots of water everywhere and hundreds of small bridges that can open to let the small boats through. It really is very special.


Language:
I was just eleven years old when I left Holland. When we arrived in Brisbane, my mum decided we would speak English at home, because she needed to learn it and didn't want to be one of those mothers who went shopping with a child in tow to translate for her. So I very quickly lost my Dutch, until a few years later a family with 6 teenagers arrived from Amsterdam. I became friends with one of the girls and soon picked up the language again because they still spoke it at home. I've never really lost it since then. However! Having said all that, now, being here, I know my Dutch is not quite up to scratch. Going to the shops asking for things is ok. Talking with people about this and that on a daily level is ok. Talking with people about politics, religion, or anything more than light conversation is not ok. I'm struggling to translate things like 'free trade policy', or finding words for appliances or IT terms etc. On the other hand people generally are amazed that someone who has been away from their country for 58 years, speaks the language as well as I do. Must say though that my head aches with all the new informations (as I said earlier) and I wake up in the morning rearranging sentences in the correct order for Dutch, as they really can say things back to front to English. Or is it that English is back to front to Dutch?
As well, most Dutchies speak English very well and regularly include English words in their speech as a normal way of speaking, so that helps.

Food:

Latte Machiatte and Appel Taart.

There's lots of cheese about as is to be expected. Nothing new for me there, as I love my cheese and it's hard to change that in a girl from a dairy country. Coffee is best taken in coffee shops as Latte Machiato and resembles a three tiered drink - coffee, then milk, then froth - in a tall glass. Appel taart is my favourite so far, as other small cakes seem to be filled with loads of whipped cream and quite sweet.
Haven't tried anything typically Dutch so far as we mainly eat at home, because my sister if gf and gf foods are very hard to find in Holland. You can ask for them, but there's not much creativity in that area, so the meals are rather basic when eating out. I hope to go eat some more Dutch specialties when I'm with Dutch rellies and friends. I must eat a raw herring at a stall, as well as some croquettes. Will see how it goes.

So that's my little diatribe for today.
Today is washing and packing day, as tomorrow I head out on my own to Gouda to visit my cousin Henk Dijk, who I recently re-connected with on fb, but haven't seen in the flesh since the 1960's when he lived with us in Brisbane for two years. So that will be an adventure for me to catch buses and a train on my own.

More about that next time.
Enjoy your day, wherever in the world you may be this new day.

Please click on the photos for  a larger version.

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Some more goings on

I have been in Amsterdam for just over a week and we have done so many things already! I had a list of things to do in Amsterdam and have just about ticked off every one of them.

My wish list of things to see inluded a visit to Keukenhof, the Rijksmuseum to see Rembrandt's Nightwatch.
The Rijksmuseum was amazing, in that it has been thoroughly renovated over several years and has only just been re-opened recently. The people's entrance hall is magnificent and the structures that were built are an engineering feat...amazing stuff. See here for More about the renovations .

 

The amazing 4 story historic Art Library recently restored and open to the public.

Here are just a few photos of the hundreds I took, of our visit there.

1770's Delft Blue Ceremaic vases. The tall ones are to display single tulip stems in the little spouts on the sides

The new foyer and entrance court showing coffee/restaurant  with store beneath (downstairs)

The all important coffee time at the Rijks

The visitors crowding around to see the Nightwatch by Rembrandt

me with the Nightwatch. It's a huge artwork.

Mieke with Vermeer's streetscape that Dad loved so much

We have been to both in the first week. As well as that we have been to Edam,  a gorgeous little town not far from Mieke's house, where they make the famous Edam cheeses.

MS 'Ria' - on Het Ij

Me with my new friend Ria

On Friday we visited the parents of a friend , who live on a houseboat on Het Ij,- in Amsterdam. They have lived on this boat for many decades and have never lived in a house. It is very roomy and comfortable and recently motored down to France in it for a holiday. How good is that, to be in your permanent home on holidays! No packing, or organising someone to look after your place. They stock up with all their regular groceries and even oil for the engine before they set off for their journey. They are a very lovely, hospitable and kind couple, and we enjoyed our visit with them very much

Mieke with Ria and their keeshond

At Mieke's garden house

Inside

This past week we've also spent several days at Mieke's garden house, weeding the very large garden and planting some seedlings. There is just so much work to be done after the winter months, as well as that she was away in Australia for 6 weeks, so she is somewhat behind in the jobs that should be done in early spring. These garden complexes were opened up to the community after WWll for people who lived
 in flats and had no probability to acquire a garden of their own.(Some history about these gardens.) Each garden contains a very small house - about 6 x 6 metres each, which you can renovate however you like but you have to stay within the parameters of the rules laid down by the council governing these garden complexes. There are a number of these on the outskirts of Amsterdam and highly sought after when they are available for sale.

In the garden

In the garden

Anyway, with all the sightseeing, gardening, walking everywhere we go, I feel rather tired each night so I sleep very well.
The house I am staying in is a one bedroom unit but the rooms are roomy, so I sleep in the lounge or dining area and then each day the bed is folded up and put away...but it is a comfy bed and the rooms are centrally heated so it's very comfortable and plenty warm enough.

OK...It's taken me quite a long time to load these photos from my phone to my memory stick and then back into my blog...so it's goodbye folks for now.
Missing all my lovely family and friends in Oz but enjoying my time here immensely.

Photos, photos...

I haven't had much access to the internet, so today I will post mostly photos with comments.

Yesterday was just a beautiful day weatherwise at Keukenhof, Holland's famous tulip gardens near Amsterdam. Thousands take advantage during the 2 short months it is open during the spring time, to visit this amazing parkland filled with mainly tulips, but also other bulb based flowers like hyacinth, daffordils, jonquils etc. There are also halls filled with, tulips or gerberas, or orchids where farmers compete for the best flowers.

So here are some of my pics.

At the entrance to Keukenhof

At the entrance to Keukenhof. Here is where I found my jacket at the end of the day (after I had lost it in the late afternoon), hanging on the gate.

Admiring the beautiful trees and gardens.

Beautiful displays and layouts around every corner

Clogs for photo opportunities,

An old fashioned icecream cart. This a called a 'bakfiets'. (Bike cart)  I remember buying an icecream from this kind of cart when I was a child,

Having a little shut eye after walking many kms through the gardens. This is a hall where the various farmer's flowers are judged. One of 5 halls.

The colours are just glorious

Another gorgeous corner. Everything is immaculate. Not a blade or flower out of place and zero rubbish anywhere.

We bought lunch here, but ate outside. Dutch people are hardly inside if there is even a minute chance that the sun might shine. :-)

Inside one of the show halls. This one is for Orchids. The variety was enough to blow your mind.

I love this. It is so contemplative and set in amongst the cherry trees which were shedding their blossoms over everything surrounding them.

The Dutch tricolour blowing in the breeze over Keukenhof as I arrived, somehow pulled at my heartstrings.When I was a child, I always remember my parent's putting out the flag from the top story of our house on every birthday of a member of the royal family.

At the Friesian display. Lots of cow photos, clogs and daffodils here. Friesland is where I was born.

The cherry trees were spectacular. Shedding their blossoms which looked like snowy rain. Thousands of people were there,

The new queen of the Netherlands. Here she is with her footman, golden carriage and velvet chairs.

I think I'm in the red light district here...haha. Don't quite look the part.

Tulips from Amsterdam. I would like to dedicate this to my amazing husband Ross ...it's his birthday today. Happy Birthday Rossy love from me in Amsterdam.

what can I comment...more tulips :-)

A wood carving of the composer Haydn. A rather stern statue for such a pretty garden don't you think?

Lovely idea. I think I'll bring back a dozen pairs!

Another fun idea, Daffodils in milk cartons.

Brilliant colours. Loved my day at Keukenhof.

Reflections...

Constantly planting new bulbs...the gardens are open till mid May, then they shut down until next spring.

When I came around the corner to see this scene (in the late afternoon) it blew me away. The white swans, the fountains, the deep colour green of the grass and the flowers in the foreground...just WOWWOWOWOWOW!

This was one of our fave sections.

A panaroma at Keukenhof (with my sis Mieke) looking away from the photo below.

This is what Mieke was seeing. Just a stunning setting. The flowers here are yet to bloom.