Further down the Maas

Michelle and I spent this weekend in Rotterdam and Den Haag, the often forgotten major cities in the Netherlands. Heck, we almost forgot to visit them, until we realized we only have one last "unplanned" weekend left! So we trained it up to Rotterdam on Saturday morning, and saw some of the coolest feats of architecture. Considering how old Amsterdam is, it's easy to forget that most of the new construction in Holland is in Rotterdam, and thus we were quite amazed to see so many new buildings. Rotterdam has in fact taken over Amsterdam as the biggest port in Europe, and if I remember correctly, the world (though I may be mistaken on that last one).


Of course, in true Dutch form, everything had to be extreme, different, and often have a slight dark humor to it. All over the town where the metal statues of naked men. Often they would be standing on the edge of buildings, like they were about to jump off... sometimes they would be on the ground like they just did. There was also this cute, almost mascot of Rotterdam named Fikkie. The plaque next to it basically says that Fikkie found his way all over the town, because people would rob him and move him all over. Now he has a permanent home... and a mess to clean up.




There was also these funky looking cube houses, which are like cubes, but tilted into a diamond shape. They are hard to explain, so here are some photos :) you can buy one for about 219,000 Euro.





For fans of extreme sports, you can repel off the side of this tower in Rotterdam.

Michelle and I opted out.


Apparently we weren't the only people who ever made it to Rotterdam, as we found some famous names in the walk of fame.




The next day, we trained further north to Den Haag... A city you may recognize as the international war crimes tribunal's headquarters. That was cool, and the city looked pretty sweet, but we were more interested in the Scheveningen, a big beach resort town on the edge of Den Haag. It had been a long time since we'd seen a sea, and thus we spent most of the day playing like the many kids we saw in the sand.







Oh, and another extreme sport allowed people to bungee off another tower above the sea... again not really our cup of tea... in fact, it was scary enough walking up the tower, since some of the boards were broken off, and others creaked, and bowed as you stepped on them. According to Michelle, I walked nervously, and hugged the sturdier center area.



So then we headed back home. Good times. Almost over times... I'll leave you with a fun Dutch company to try and pronounce. I know I'm going to miss seeing words with 20 + letters in them! Oh and some cool sand sculptures we saw in both Rotterdam and Den Haag.

Take 25

This is more a post for those of you who have visited, but for those that haven't, it's still interesting, good times :) On Sunday our favorite watering hole celebrated its 25th anniversary of being open. It also happened to be the 30 anniversary of the owners, Peet and Mery, being together as a couple. I don't think I've ever seen the place so packed. It's good to see that so many people came from all over the country to help celebrate. I guess Take one is truly a special place.

With only 3 weeks left here in Maastricht, we've been trying to get out as much as possible, so you'll probably be seeing more photos soon. In the mean time, here are some flashes from our evening :) oh, and check out that snack barge... absolutly amazing :)

Sometimes I forget...

It's easy when you spend so much time in a single place to forget about all the cool things you see everyday. Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, and before starting my lessons, I decided to take a walk around town, and remind myself how sweet Maastricht really is. I don't think my mind fully realizes how much it's going to miss being bombarded with such beautiful imagery on a daily basis. I don't think it realizes how much I'm going to miss cobblestone streets and building that are on average older than my country. And also the way that modern construction has fused with these old buildings in such a perfect blend.

So I thought I would share some photos of Maastricht in the summer....since I think all our others are in winter, and I don't want you to think that it's always raining in Maastricht.

Last first Sunday...

This weekend is the last time that the stores will be open on a Sunday. at least for us... You see, every 1st Sunday of the month, the town shops all open and everyone goes out for a big shopping day. Since Michelle and I will be gone by the next one (September 7th) we decided to really appreciate this one. And while we didn't do any real major shopping, we did do plenty of window shopping... it's for the best, keeping our wallets heavier, and our suitcases lighter for when we do finally come back home.

We started off with services at the Basilica in the Onze Lieve vrouw plein. And much to our surprise, the priest actually took time out of his Homily to give a stern lecture to a couple of young kids who were running around. He said something like "This is a church, not a place for jongens to be running around." He didn't start again until the mother had removed the most unruly of her children completely.

After our eventful mass, we had our usual coffee/tea cafe break followed by said window shopping. It will be sad to say good bye to these days.

Oh, and yesterday, we went on our longest bike ride yet... 60 km through Belgium :) I know it's nothing compared to Tim and his crazy Seattle to Portland ride... but it's good for us!

One more time...

We finally have our first, non-family visitor here in Maastricht! David! So we got to do all those things that people do when the have an excuse... eat out, beer tasting, long bike rides, trips to Amsterdam, and lots of lounging about.

Earlier in the week, David and I took off around on the bikes, while Michelle spent some time at a Platelet school in Birmingham (England).

We then met in Amsterdam, and toured around the city all night. This was after making our usual donations to the Holland Casino. One of these days we'll learn that we probably won't win, but it's still a good time. So the next day we left for home. Michelle was a little tired on the train ride.

So we came back to Maastricht, and enjoyed a wonderful beer tasting with the three of us, and Michelle's co-worker/friend Reyhan and her husband Birol.

That last one is what I was seeing by the end of the night.

David is still hanging out for the weekend, so there will probably be more to come :)

Just doing all those tourist things we love to do, one more time :)

Average weekend

After such a slew of new posts, I realized we've been falling behind a little bit! Well, things haven't been super exciting around here... just working and going through the motions. That, and we're saving the excitement for next week when our friend David comes to visit for a week! However, we have still been doing somewhat interesting things. Take this weekend for an example of a slice of our lives here. Friday we went out for dinner at one of the many outdoor restaurants in the Markt square. And good thing we sat outside, because Michelle bumped the table as she stood up, and spilled the wine all over the place!

That night we stayed out late with our Turkish friends. We were dancing in the celebration night club for hours, when it finally dawned on us; no one was smoking! The Netherlands joined many other European countries in banning smoking from inside of restaurants and bars! We were able to stay all night with out feeling the sting in our throats and smelling like the Marlboro man. Well, our throats were dry, but I think that was from the fog machine.

Then Saturday we went out shopping, and Michelle picked up some facial cream....

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And some how she convinced me to put some on with her that night as we stayed in and watched movies. I decided to wear an OSU shirt, so everyone could easily tell that I wasn't in my right mind :)

Then today we took a long bike ride. 50 km to be exact, through Belgium. It was very nice, and we saw some good landscapes as we went. Michelle decided that she wanted to lay in the Wheat fields.

Oh, and Michelle made a new friend... but he seems more interested in eating her bike...

So yeah, life hasn't been super exciting, but we still find ways to keep ourselves entertained!