The Wanderer Returns

REMBRANDT PLEIN FINALLY OPENED

Friends, Followers and Countrymen

Apologies that you have not had to “lend me your ears” for so long but it has been such an exciting two month’s since my last blog. After 8 weeks of sea, sun and sand not forgetting the new love of my life, my beautiful grandson I had to leave my tropical paradise and head home to Europe. Touching down over the snowy white landscape I felt cold and immediately donned my Mexican blanket. Where was the padded winter coat I had been carrying around for two months??? Stuffed in the holdall in the checked baggage along with the fleece. Why?? Being very smart and lugging two large bags/suitcases across the marble floors of Cancun Airport, in my wisdom and in the searing heat I decided rather than have them dragging along the floor and getting caught up in the wheels, to stuff them, temporarily of course, into one of the bags, with a view to pulling them out at check-in and taking them on-board ready for arriving in the freezing temperatures of Europe. So busy chatting with the friendly folk at check-in, and feeling pretty pleased with myself that I had managed to check-in online that morning from home, with only bag-drop between me and Passport Control, smug because the regular queue snaked back into infinity, I walked off leaving the much needed coat and fleece still inside my luggage. Too late when I realised my mistake, the bags had disappeared down the conveyor not to be seen again until Amsterdam. Well that’s great I thought standing there in a flimsy cotton shirt, I will be frozen on the plane and worse when we touch down in The Netherlands. That’s why I arrived back in my gaudy Mexican blanket, a last minute purchase from Cancun Airport Souvenir Shop. At least the people waiting in arrivals could see that our plane had landed as I marched out looking ridiculous – well at least I wasn’t tempted to buy the velvet and gold matching sombrero!

Flurries of snow have continued for the past two weeks and I haven’t ventured out on my bicycle at all. K has been far more adventurous and in my absence has even put a bike stand on his bike to improve stability when chaining up.
The roads have been very icy indeed and the bridges over the canals lethal, there are a lot of buckled wheeled bikes abandoned around the place. The hiking boots come in very useful. Not very elegant when going out for dinner, but at least they have some grip in these conditions. Actually The Swedes have got it right, ladies always carry their smart shoes in a shoebag when going out and most places have a boot rack where you can change instead of sitting in wet boots all night. Very sensible in arctic conditions
I am at least positive about Spring being just around the corner. As the days lengthen and when we do get a reasonable day with some sunshine, dusk starts after 5.00pm which is so much nicer than those December and January days when you wake up in the dark and it is dark again by teatime. Definitely leaving Europe for a couple of months in winter is an excellent idea although Christmas for me is never the same in the tropics.

The closest I got to a true Christmasy feeling was heading down to Playa del Carmen on the main “carretera” to visit my daughter and newborn grandson in the hospital, when in the distance, in the pitch black night, I could see fairy lights in the fast lane. What is that I thought, I must be going crazy and I hate night driving at the best of times and worse when you are alone in foreign parts surrounded by what you think are the worst drivers anywhere. Slowing down to get a better look, there was, I swear , Father Christmas in his open-topped sleigh, being pulled by two reindeer not exactly zooming along but certainly blocking the overtaking lane. Nowhere else but Mexico would you see that on the highway? Father Christmas was chatting to a friend in the passenger seat, red hat blowing in the night breeze, both munching on tacos, the open sleigh travelling about 15 miles an hour. Possibly being propelled by a lawnmower engine or similar! How dangerous apart from anything else. There were also processions and pilgrimages in the night on unlit roads to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe. A big event in the Yucutan Peninsular, people on bicycles travelling from village to village carrying huge banners and flaming torches . With not even a hard shoulder on the motorway the procession just walked along the inside lane! The local taxis and trucks travel at breakneck speed. I can only think the pilgrims thought they were in such a state of grace they would go straight to heaven in the worst case scenario!

Now it’s all wonderful memories and time to look forward to Spring. Soon all the bulbs will be blooming. The daffodils are pushing through the snow already, there are hyacinths everywhere in the flower shops and soon it will be the spectacle of the greatest flowershow on earth(for tulips and bulbs anyway) ... The Keukenhoff... now I definitely don’t want to miss that.

Crossing Borders

A long silence, but that is because I have been in 4 countries in as many weeks.   When I finished off my last blog I went off to Spain for a long weekend.  What glorious weather after the deluge we have been experiencing  in Amsterdam, what bliss to have blue skies, sun and barmy nights after weeks of grey and rain.  Future plans are to spend more time there if this dreary weather persists.  Not only the dark skies but the 16^th century windows rattle in their casings when the wind blows across the flatlands.

What could be better than a stroll along the beach  in the sunshine to enjoy a tapas lunch.  An ice cold beer watching the sun set  over Gibralter or dining al fresco in the old town.

Inspired, I decided to paint the hall wall  a beautiful sunset orange.   Mediterranean bold colours suit the light, now the hallway looks really fantastic.  Sadly, we had to leave too soon but..

Where next?  Then off to London.  A great time there too.  The APT tennis will now be played in London for the next 5 years. No self respecting tennis enthusiast should miss the opportunity to see the top 8 male tennis players battle it out over two weeks play.  Very impressed with the venue at the 02 (ex millennium dome) great seating no bad views and very cheap into the bargain.  Must make a mental note to go back next year.

But, the most exciting part of going back to London was that we had booked two plays, Lenny Henry in Othello and Kevin Spacey directing The Power of Yes.  Both had good reviews so I was really looking forward to seeing them. On Saturday night, braving the underground, (were there always that many people travelling and pushing their way out of Leicester Square underground station),  we arrived early at the Box Office to collect our tickets , only to discover the  receptionist couldn’t find them. 

A fuming K was not happy and after trying to locate them through his credit card whilst being jossled around by the incoming theatregoers, the receptionist announced that K had booked for the show the previous weekend but we had not showed up!!  Of course not, we were not even in the UK.  How annoying was that!  Definitely not the moment for me to say too much.  Luckily, returns were on hand, an American couple with two extra tickets saved the day and after K had raced around the corner to the nearest ATM to get enough cash to pay for the replacement tickets,  we did see the show and well worth it too.   But what about The Power of Yes the next day, yes you’ve got it K booked these tickets too for the wrong weekend so we never got to see the play.  An expensive weekend .  Oh well,  c’est la vie there are more important things in life.

Christmas Lights in Utrechtsestraat - close to home. 

 

Heading back to Amsterdam and the final Mexicaanase Griep Prik it was time to pack up for my long trip to Mexico.   I left Amsterdam on the 5^th December arriving in Mexico to blue skies interspersed with a little warm rain, glorious white beaches and living in a jungle setting.

Great, apart from the mosquitos who love me.





I am about to become a grandmother, that is why I am here on the other side of the world.  What excitement .   It’s years since I was surrounded by all this baby stuff.  Today’s baby has endless designer clothes, parents have his and her matching bags to hold all the  baby needs, I don’t remember such smart accessories, not to mention all the equipment that are “must haves”  for the new arrival ....but  time moves on.

A Cultural Weekend

PICTURE OF THE WEEK - Rain doesn't stop play in Amsterdam. 

The Swine flu vaccine arrived at the clinic last week, so via letter I was invited to participate in the vaccination programme between 15.30 and 18.30 to have my Mexicaanse Griep Prik (Swine flu or H1N1).  I trundled along on my bike around 16.00 thinking I would just pop in on my way back from shopping.I couldn’t believe my eyes, it looked like the whole of Amsterdam was queuing for the jab, a line snaking down the canal and around the corner at least 100 people!  What’s going on asked a passing antipodean cyclist doing the school run, Oh just the flu jab I responded, no worries, (as they say down under).

If you haven’t had it yet, the needle is big enough to inject a horse, so be warned.  Actually the clinic did a terrific job of “priking” everyone.  Seven staff on duty, all the practice Doctors along with a few others. There was a general feeling of jollity as everyone squashed around the tiny waiting room awaiting their turn.  The vaccination comes in 2 parts, so after my second jab I should be ready for my imminent trip to Mexico, where, according to my source, there have been very few cases of the flu at all.

There has been so much rain lately in Amsterdam, it has been difficult to plan outside activities, but last Saturday was glorious.  A last minute plan  was decided, we would walk around the streets taking in Rembrandts' house en-route. We definitely want to get our money’s worth out of the Museum Card which is one of The Netherland’s best deals if you are spending time here. Two visits to any museum/gallery in the scheme and you have practically covered the original outlay for the card.   Rembrandt’s house is well worth the visit, built in 1606, perfectly restored and laid out in exactly the way it would have looked in the 15^th century.  Wood panelled rooms, walls covered with “The Masters” paintings along with those of his students, as well as other artists’ work he was selling at the time, you get a real feel for what life was like in those times.

The top floor of the house was HIS studio and there was a very interesting craftsman showing visitors how Rembrandt mixed his paint from powdered coloured stone and oil as well as another demonstrating the printing press showing how he prepared his etchings which were also very fashionable at the time.

On zondag (Sunday) Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) arrived in Amsterdam.  It’s a wonderful old tradition especially for the children.  Sinterklaas arrives with Swarte Piet (black Peter) and the parade goes through the city to the delight of all the children.  Click on the links to get the full story particularly the Wikipedia as it appears that the Canadians changed the story slightly when helping with the celebrations after WW11.  Unfortunately we missed this year’s parade because we had accepted an invitation by Dutch friends to drive to The Hague to see an Art Exhibition.   As we left in the pouring rain on our bikes to meet up with our friends (and the car) the street and the canals  were full of children dressed in the Swarte Piet beret (with feather) making their way to the parade.  We must make a note to stay and watch it next year.   The Exhibition in the Hague was paintings by Wouwerman,  an Artist I don’t know but who became famous through his paintings of horses.  Interesting enough, but the highlight of the visit, to the “Mauritshuis” as far as I was concerned was the wonderful Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.  She is really beautiful.  Maurithuis is a stunning 17th century Palace, built on a lake in the old part of The Hague and home to some of many great artworks of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Holbein, Rubens and Van Dyck.   I was amazed that you can get so close to these works of art, although rules (written on your ticket) apply:  Visitors are not allowed to sit on the air conditioning grates or obstruct others from looking at the paintings, fair enough!  Bags larger than A4/letter size not permitted, wet coats MUST go in the cloakroom and only small pocket sized umbrellas allowed in if you keep them in your pocket!. Visitors must maintain 50cms distance from a painting – well I saw people touching them! You must not point pens and pencils at the paintings (for obvious reasons I suppose) magnifying glasses are prohibited, and finally for my Tour Guide friends out there, you must not ask people to move away from a painting??  Having read the rules we could now enjoy the works of art.  We definitely need to go back to The Hague and spend more time there.  A longer visit will be included in the tour we are planning for 2010 when we hope to take some holiday discovering the rest of The Netherlands.

There has been so much rain recently that our bicycle seats are permanently saturated.  Strange, because they are plastic but somehow the water seeps through to the middle so whenever you get off your bike you are soaked through to the skin, very uncomfortable, leaving you soggy in the nether regions.  Now I know why the local bikes are all sporting interesting looking plastic seat covers which look something like shower caps, I think I will head off to market and buy one before the next downpour.

 

MEDICAL HELP//

Photo of the week - Parakeets through the garden window, soon all the leaves will be gone and the splash of green in the trees is fantastic, who minds their squawking - not me!

Recently I had a recurrence of a niggling medical condition that returns from time to time. History told me I needed a course of antibiotics to clear it up.   I registered with a Doctor some time ago so I checked the Practice card indicating the opening hours etc.   Walk-ins are from 7.45 to 09.00 it says, so I thought I would pop by and pick up a prescription.  I didn’t wait long, a Doctor came out to collect me from the waiting room, nice touch, unlike the Receptionist in London who calls across the entire waiting room “Mrs R to room 8 please”.   Inside his office, before I could explain anything, the young Doctor went into a spiel to explain his Doctor position, which was basically he was qualified,  but doing training to become a GP.    This took a few minutes until he got to the end of his monologue and I agreed to be treated by him.  Oh well, I thought, he at least will know all the latest medicines if he’s fresh out of Medical School.

As I don’t go to the Doctor very often I save up a few items that need dealing with while discussing the real reason for the visit, ie a strange looking mole or something like that.  The, "while I’m here Doctor would you just take a look at this" sort of thing.  The Doctor was quite put out with this approach, confirming I needed a further prescription. You should have told me about that before I made the first prescription he said, I’ve printed that off now.  Oops! Off to a bad start.  Right, I’ll remember that next time I responded, making a mental note to rattle off all my ailments at the same time in the future.  I was just about to leave, when I was put further into my place, the Dutch way, which is always very direct and to the point. The next time you need to come, if you have more than one item to discuss you must make an appointment for the afternoon session.   Ah, said I, sorry I thought that you could just turn-up for the morning Walk-in sessions.  You can he replied, but only if you have one thing wrong with you because I cannot allow you too much time!!!   Well that told me.  I don’t know how you deal with that if you notice one ailment is causing another??   The prescribed antibiotics didn’t work anyway, so within a few days I was back at the Walk-in.  I want you to have some tests done said the Doctor, me foolishly thinking they would do it at the clinic.  No, you have to go to the hospital down the road.  But, he informed me, you must take two pieces of identification.   Here we go again I thought,  more paperwork. I already have my Medical Insurance Card which I always carry, but this was not sufficient, so I had to return home to get my passport.  Cycling at speed because I was late for another appointment, I chained up outside the hospital and rushed in.  A lady on the stairs with the sole duty of directing people to the right place accompanied me to the laboratory where I met the two nurses in charge.   Where is your hospital registration card one of them asked, are you registered with the hospital??  No, the Doctor sent me, here is the Form he completed.  Well if you are not registered we cannot accept this.  So how do I get registered I responded, now dear readers you know the answer.. go to the Registration Desk.    The Registration Desk had at least 6 employees sitting there doing absolutely nothing as this is a small Cottage Hospital for outpatients and minor injuries only,  but of course I had to chose the only person who was “in training” so to complete my Registration on the computers drop down menu took twice as long, with the finale being, sit on that chair as we need to take your photo.   I now have another piece of plastic, photocard for the local hospital, valid for two hospitals only, the main hospital in Oosterpark(?) and the annex close to home.  I dread to think what would happen if I got sick outside my zone.

First Visitors

Photo of the week!   Segway lessons in Prinsengracht!!!

 Montelbaans Toren (Tower)

You will have noticed there’s been a break since the last blog. That’s because we have had a number of visitors in town. First a visit from my sister and brother-in-law, in fact our first visitors. This was great, because you have to save some nice things to enjoy together, otherwise you can get bored covering the same places of interest with all your visitors. It just happens that an amazing Exhibition at the Van Gogh museum has recently opened. This was top of the list as far as my sister was concerned and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Apparently, it has taken 14 years to put the Exhibition of van Gogh’s letters together with his works of art giving you a fantastic autobiography of the man and his life. He wrote something like 400 letters to his brother Theo, hundreds to his Doctor, Dr Gachet (famous portraits) as well as many of the great Impressionist Painters of his time. Most of the letters include sketches of the paintings he was working on at the time, with little notes on the colours he had used etc. The Exhibition is nothing short of brilliant finishing up with the 6 Volumes of photographs of his work and his letters. As we had a few days together, we also visited the Masterpieces in the Rijksmuseum which is currently under renovation, so the best pieces have been put together in a small collection.  If you are into Art then a great opportunity to see Vermeer, Rembrandt and Avercamp,  to name but a few,  in a smaller gallery.    Anne Franks house is possibly still the main attraction in Amsterdam and if you don’t mind queuing for an hour or so to get in, it is quite something to see what happened just down the road from where we live now. There are some great Museums in Amsterdam and when you are not visiting those, just wandering about the streets discovering the little nooks and crannies of the town is great fun. No visit is complete without a trip around the canals on a boat so we did that too. There is an amazing flea market on Waterlooplein which I want to browse more thoroughly when I’ve got the time. This leads round the corner to Rembrandts house built in the 1600s. We stopped for coffee opposite in the St Antoine Sluis house leaning at such an angle I’m sure it will fall into the canal one day. From my office window I can see the spire of Zuider Kerk. Brilliant at night when it’s alluminated. K and I visited the outside one Sunday assuming that it was still a Church, locked up after Sunday Service. On my sisters visit we discovered that it is no longer a church but the fantastic interior has been opened up and now exhibits all Amsterdam’s current and future planning, ie, roads, bridges, parks, waterways etc. All very hands on stuff with huge flat screen TVs with virtual tours around the various places. I think I should write an “Amsterdam for Free” book similar to the Harden’s London for Free, this is a great place to while away the time.
Making our way around a circular route via Nieuw Markt and China Town, we strolled into the Red Light District, but of course, no photos allowed. It’s amazing how many girls there are advertising their wares – young, old, black, white all shapes and sizes.

We had a wine tasting at home this week. I wasn’t officially part of the invitees but as I live here I suppose they couldn’t ask me to leave. I just played the role of waitress and handed out cheese and biscuits and water to clear the palate. There’s been a Communications Conference in Town, ECOMM Europe, so a number of people who know each other were able to enjoy this little diversion. It was organized by a friend from London attending the conference and staying with us. His brother being a wine expert in the UK talked to us on a laptop screen explaining about the various wines as we were tasting. It’s amazing where technology is going, we will all be chatting to each other across the world from our enormous TV screens in the not too distant future. Once again, having friends staying this weekend gave us a further opportunity to show off our “new” town to them and enjoy lots of eating out. It’s all rather quiet now everyone has gone...

Work In Progress

For some months now, Amsterdam has had elephants parading all over the place.  Sometimes in the shopping malls or like these on Museumplein or in our locals park.  They have all been decorated by local artists and are in aid of "save the Elephant".  Soon they will be auctioned off... shame, they have becoming a very colourful part of the Amsterdam scene.

Despite reporting all these outside activities, for the past week my main concern has been workmen in the house. Bob the Builder?? No, it’s Pavel and Karel our Polish builders who have been renovating our 17th Century Windows.

What a mess. I had hoped when I agreed with the landlord he could carry out the work,  that it would only take a couple of days painting the front windows of the property, but it turned out to be an 8 day total renovation job of burning off, priming and almost rebuilding the frames. This with the inevitable cigarette breaks to get away from the lead paint!! Can you imagine renting out your every expensive property then expecting the tenants to eat dust and have most of the property out of bounds for a week. It seems to be quite normal here. One of my Mahjong friends was asked to leave her rental property with something like only 24 hours notice because asbestos had been found in the building. I think they will find more than asbestos or lead in this house. Actually, there is a great book we have just bought because we are living in one of the old canal properties, called Amsterdam Canal Guide which gives the history of all the houses along the main canals. It says about our house that it was built in 1695 and had the façade renewed in 1890, hence the 17th century windows. Richly ornamented compared to our neighbour the book says. I wondered why so many tourists were staring up at our windows with guidebook in hand, not because of the peeling paint clearly. There is a totally out of character little pavilion sticking out of the wall just below our windows held up with rope –hopefully not 17th century rope or the whole structure could finish up in the street!! Like anywhere else, when the builders are in, if I went out, then work slowed up and the workmen left early, so I have been at home supervising or at least being a presence and not allowing shoddy workmanship to pass unnoticed.
I did make a break for it last Thursday and went on a daytrip with Amsterdam-Accueil my French ladies group, we went to a unique place called Broekersveiling. It’s the area of 1000 islands dating back to the 12 century made up of tiny strips of land accessible only by boat where farmers cultivate their strip growing fruit or vegetables.

We sailed around these tiny strips of land after visiting the museum which incorporates the Auction room where boats would arrive floating into the room to sell their goods. The boat would enter and approach the auctioneer with the name of the farmer and a sample of his produce onboard, ie cabbage, carrots etc, this would then be auctioned off. The starting price starts high and the huge clock ticks down to the price someone is prepared to pay. Hence the saying a Dutch Auction. A buzzer placed in the seat of the person in front gives you the opportunity to join the auction – I managed to buy 3 oranges that didn’t even come from Holland by fiddling with the buzzer – noone else of course had made a bid and that caused a bit of hilarity. I also bid and won 3 tomatoes!! Others did rather better, one of the ladies managed to get heaps of different vegetables, she was clearly going to make a “pot-eau-feu” for dinner. Apparently, this Auction House was used until about 1973, but once the Supermarkets arrived with a vengeance, farmers grew and sold their entire produce mainly to one buyer so there wasn’t a lot of need for daily auctions.

The nice thing is that they have turned the whole area into a place of interest, with the auction house and boat area converted into the museum, followed by the boat trip. Brilliant for children and adults alike. It was nice getting out of town for the day which also gave me the opportunity to get back into “French Mode”, make new friends and pick up a lot of tips over lunch, particularly on good restaurants and places to shop in general. The French inevitably find all the best places. The weather is still holding up, although now winter draws on, definitely gloves and bonnet weather. Am I glad I brought that old cagoule I have been wearing for years – nothing like the discomfort of cold ears when you are speed cycling!!!!

A LEARNING CURVE

THE SUNDAY MORNING BOAT - WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PASSENGERS - A GOOD ADVERT FOR HEINEKEN!

 OUR BEAUTIFUL LOCAL CINEMA - THE TUSCHINSKI BUILT BY A POLISH IMMIGRANT IN THE 1920's

Buying stamps.  K asked me to post a letter to Canada while I was out and about yesterday.  There are not too many Post Offices around in Amsterdam our closest being in Waterlooplein but as I was shopping around The Dam I made my way to the very impressive Central Post Office behind the Royal Palace, all sweeping marble balustrades leading to the front door.  Once inside, I noticed the line-up of staff all with illuminated numbers above their heads.  It wasn’t very busy so I made my way to a free counter.  Can I buy a stamp here I said to Cashier No.5.  No he replied, you have to go to Cashier No.1, she sells stamps.  Now here we are with at least 10 cashiers waiting for a customer and only No.1 busy!!!  I joined the line and as I approached the front of the queue, I spoke across to cashier No.2 who was clearly bored to death standing there doing nothing and asked the same question – can you sell me a stamp?  Not unless you’ve got a number he replied.  Ah, where are the numbers I said.  In the machine at the back of the Post Office he responded.  Well, there was no way I was giving up my spot in the queue now I had made it to the front, particularly as the man with the huge parcel had just about paid up. Now it’s my turn – can I have a stamp for Canada please.  No, responded Cashier No.1, you have to buy a strip of 6 stamps at 95c per stamp or I have to charge you the minimum amount for a stamp transaction which is 1.12€.  Being the economist I am, I quickly decided that K MIGHT in the future be sending further mail to Canada so plumped for the strip.  The poor boy behind me from Australia trying to send a postcard to his Mum has probably used his backpackers weekly allowance on unusable Dutch stamps.

How not to use the tram.  I raced after a tram the other day and just caught it by hurtling through the back door behind another latecomer.  I used my ov-chipkaart – the latest technology, which all passengers using public transport will have to buy before the end of this year, when the Nationale Strippenkaart is phased out.  It works similar to the Oyster Card in London.   Out of breath I sat on the back seat.  Suddenly I realized I was being summoned by the conductor from her goldfish bowl in the middle of the tram.   You got in the wrong door she said. Did I, sorry, I replied I just followed someone else.  Well you can’t get in that door, you have to get in this door.  Does that mean my card hasn’t registered that I am on the tram because I did check in??   No, but you got in the wrong door she insisted!!!  Being facetious and in a loud voice I thanked her profusely for taking the trouble of pointing out my error, how kind she was and how it was greatly appreciated.  How stupid of me not to know which,  out of a choice of at least 5 doors, is in and which is out.    Irony wasted I fear… Actually, The Dutch don’t do irony or sarcasm at all so the British sense of humour is not effective. Everything is taken literally, no play on words.   In general, the conductors on the trams are a miserable looking, unhelpful bunch, but the drivers on both trams and buses are delightful.  They are always helpful if you are not sure where to get off, most have a little joke with you and some even chat or give you information over the microphone.   Last week on my first trip to find my newfound tennis club I asked the bus driver if I could get off at La Verandah a café close to the courts.  The driver went into real chatting mode telling me how they do a great cup of coffee etc.  I didn’t have the heart to say I wasn’t actually going there, although the tennis racquet over my shoulder should have been a clue!