Sarah in Neverland: Sightseeing Saturday

søndag 29. juni 2008

Sightseeing Saturday

Yesterday I got a visit from Victor (of the victorineurope blog in the right hand margin) who is originally from Canada, but is spending a year in Rotterdam. So I had a go at being a tour guide of sorts, going around the city with him, taking a boat tour together etc. I feel I know my way around here pretty well, but I may need to glance at a map every now and then if I'm to get to a specific destination.

Boat tours are a great way to get a view of the city in a limited amount of time, and they usually provide some details about the buildings and bridges you are passing. A standard boat tour usually takes about an hour, though you can also find more specialised ones that will take longer. Like the candlelight boat tour that Boyfriend and I went on last year, that serves wine and cheese and takes you through the canals in the evening time for 2 hours. Good for those who are more romantically inclined. For candlelight tours, or other specialised ones you will probably need to make an advanced booking, but for the standard one hour ones you can just hop on a boat when you feel like it. They leave with frequent intervals and have several stations along the Damrak (between central station and Dam Square).

We also made a stop at Puccini for some chocolates. These are seriously the best thing I've ever tasted, and if I didn't exercise some self control I would be eating these almost every day.... My mouth is watering just thinking about them.... They look quite nice too:

Puccini is made locally here in Amsterdam, in fact in the very stores they are sold. You hear about Belgian chocolates, and Boyfriend says he prefers Leonidas (Belgian brand), but as far as I'm concerned, Dutch chocolate kicks Belgian chocolate's ass. And I did my share of sampling of the Belgian stuff when we went to Brussels last March. There are two Puccini stores in Amsterdam. You can find them at Staalstraat 17 and Singel 184.

We also wanted to go to the Anne Frank house, but we had limited time and the line was long. Boyfriend said the line is always long, but I know I've seen it much shorter at times. I guess a Saturday afternoon in the middle of summer may be a particularly busy time. Instead we ended up taking a tour of the tower of the Westerkerk (right next to the Anne Frank house), which was more fun than I had expected. And also a bit of a challenge for someone like me who has a moderate fear of heights. Those stairs were quite steep and narrow, particularly going down. We were accompanied up to the 42 metre high platform of the tower (the whole thing is actually about 87 metres high), by a guide who told us titbits about the history of Amsterdam and the history of bells. The bell in the photo bellow weighs 3500 kilos, I was informed, whilst standing right underneath it. It occurred to me that that was possibly a good time to move....

Here are some pictures of the view from the tower. You can go all the way around, and see the city spread out beneath you. It's a recommended experience, unless you're even more afraid of heights than I am...

We ended our evening having dinner with Boyfriend, in one of my favourite restaurants, Kantjil & de Tijger, an Indonesian place with delicious and reasonably priced food. We've been to this restaurant at least once every time I've been in the Netherlands so far, and I've always loved it. So far it's always been a sure winner with guests as well. One of the nice things about this place is that you can order a fixed menu (in 3 varieties) with lots of different little dishes. So you get to taste a lot of different things in one meal, and you're almost guaranteed to find something you like. Besides, Indonesian food is kind of a speciality here, since Indonesia is a former colony of the Netherlands, so it's in a way also an essential Dutch experience.

All in all I'd say it was a pretty good day! Now, anyone else feel like coming to visit? :)

2 kommentarer:

EM sa...: Oooh, the same Indonesian restaurant we went to when I visited? Btw, did you know that Indonesian restaurants aren't exactly easy to locate in these remote parts of Norway (like Steinkjer or Levanger)? Sigh...I am starting to think Amsterdam is as close to perfect a city can possibly be :)

Hugz from Edith! (and say hello to boyfriend from me!) :); 29. juni 2008 kl. 11:51
Sarah sa...: I didn't know that about Steinkjer, but I could've made an educated guess. We'll have to go back to Kantjil when you come visit next time. :) Boyfriend says hi back! *koz*; 29. juni 2008 kl. 13:03

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Books

Currently reading:

* Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. The (true) story of a womans search for happiness and balance in her life, travelling through Italy, India and Indonesia. Good read so far (though be prepared to be hungry for pizza when you read the Italy section).

*The Liar, by Stephen Fry. Not as interesting as previous reads by Fry, but I believe it also has something to do with my personal taste. Still he remains a good and funny writer.

(Some) books I've read:

* The Twilight series, by Stephanie Meyer. Which I unapologetically love. Yes, the writing is sometimes sentimental and manipulative, but I fell in love with the characters and the story, and after I finished the last book I felt sad and empty for a while, because there was no more left. And no, I am not interested in your criticisms.

(There's a gap here, in which I can't currently remember what I read. I may come back to it.)

* The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. A recommendation from my best friend, who was reading it while visiting. A touching story of a girl who runs away from home, and what she learns about life and her own past. A lot of love here.

* How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, by Toby Young. It has such a good title, and then it turns out to be so boring, uninteresting and pretentious. Ah well, they can't all be good.

* The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, by Douglas Adams. Adams remains a very clever and funny writer, whose descriptions of objects both animate and inanimate continue to surprise and delight me. Very enjoyable, but definitely not as strong as the Hitchhiker books.

* Making History, by Stephen Fry. A very interesting story indeed, about what could potentially happen if we went back in time somehow to change history. Entertaining, well written and thought provoking. It's so nice to read a book that you genuinely have trouble putting down.

* Moab is my Washpot, by Stephen Fry. A funny and well written autobiography of an interesting man.

* Wicked, by Gregory Maguire. The story of the wicked witch of the west, from The Wizard of Oz, and how she came to be 'wicked'. An interesting idea, and some good storytelling, though it didn't completely capture me.

* Completely Unexpected Tales, by Roald Dahl. A collection of Dahl's delightfully macabre tales. Very entertaining and well written.

* Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. An enjoyable little story of fantasy and fairytale, but I must admit I liked the movie a wee bit better. Then again, I did see the movie first.

* Pepe & Poppy, by Joe Novella (of the Joe Novella blog, linked above on this page). A sweet and funny story about two young people in love, and the complications of coming from different backgrounds.

* Muleum, by Erlend Loe. Nice and unusually serious, about the loss of loved ones and the wish to die, from this mostly hilarious author.

* 11 minutes, by Paulo Coelho. Still not quite sure what to think about this author. The story is good, and sometimes very well written, but at other times I feel like Coelho loses his grip.

Moving to the Netherlands: checklist.

Before you leave your current country of residence, be sure to make the change of address there as well. Registering you as a resident of the Netherlands will not automatically 'unregister' you as a resident of the country you previously lived in. Make sure that your new address is known to any important instances so you avoid getting bills you knew nothing about to your old address. It's probably good to look into forwarding your mail to your new address. I registered for that service with the post office in Norway before I left.
Obviously you'll need a valid passport
If you're importing any goods (books, furniture, what have you), be prepared to fill in a lot of paperwork before you get your things back. My stuff went through a shipping company that doesn't usually handle goods like that, and maybe it's less complex if you do it via other channels. I also suspect it's easier if you're travelling from another EU country (free movement of goods). I needed to have a photo copy of my passport, a signed list of contents x 2, an approximate value of said items, a BSN or in lieu of that a confirmation that I had been registered as a resident of Amsterdam (you'll need to make an appointment for that, so be sure to call the gemeente where you'll be living ASAP), proof of living at my current address (lease or similar) and proof of income (in my case this meant that Boyfriend wrote a letter promising to support me financially until I got a job, in other cases you may need bank statements, payment slips, job contract or something like this). In addition to this I also had to fill out a form with various information about where you're moving to and from, and why, a form that is only available in Dutch. You can find more information about this here: http://www.douane.nl/particulier/verhuisboedels/en/. All these papers then needed to be sent to an office for the douane (customs) in Rotterdam at the Linatebaan (this applies for moving to Amsterdam, for moving to other areas of the Netherlands you may need to send your documents to a different douane office), and only when they were read and returned we could pick up my stuff. Of course if you're willing to pay taxes on the goods you're importing, then you don't need to do all this.
When you make an appointment with the gemeente (for instance http://amsterdam.nl), you will need to have your passport, a copy of your birth certificate in English with an apostille (should be available from your local authorities in the country you're moving from), a lease, and proof of income (or in lieu of that, the proof of income of whoever is providing for you, and in that case their passport as well). 5 days after your appointment at the gemeente you will be registered in the system, and you should recieve your BSN shortly after that.
BSN: a number of identification that recognises you in the system, like a social security number. You will need this in order to work in the Netherlands, and in order to get a bank account. According to Boyfriend the easiest bank to register with is the postbank.nl.
Basic health insurance is mandatory for anyone living in the Netherlands. In theory any insurance company has to take you on as a customer if you apply with them, but I'm currently not sure if this also applies to foreigners. I haven't got my health insurance yet, so I'll try to update this section once I know more.
Looking for a job: If you don't speak much/any Dutch, there is a website for people like us who are looking for jobs here in the Netherlands - http://www.undutchables.nl. If you do speak Dutch, you might try monsterboard.nl.
If you're moving from a country outside of Europe there may be additional steps for you to take that I am currently unaware of.

Sarah in Neverland

søndag 29. juni 2008

Sightseeing Saturday

2 kommentarer:

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Moving to the Netherlands: checklist.