Sarah in Neverland

Paris, Je T'aime (no, not the movie)

2009-04-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, my (two or three) faithful readers, I know I have been gone a good long while. But fear not, for I have returned! And I will now go on to bore you at great length with the story of my recent trip to Paris. Yay!

For many years I have wanted to see the fabled city of love. My resolve strengthened again when I learned it only takes four hours by train from Amsterdam to Paris, and ticket prices go down to 25 euros one way. The only thing that held me back, was that I longed to visit this city, which I perceived to be a romantic one, with my love – who absolutely, positively refused to go anywhere near France.

However, after some months of gentle nagging, and the encouragement of a friend, he turned around and said he'd come with me (mind you, making jokes about how horrible France was bound to be up till the very end). And so it was that about a month and a half later, I found myself on the high speed train (which doesn't really get up to any sort of impressive speed until after Brussels), on my way to Paris, for a long weekend with Boyfriend.

As we came closer to our destination, I could feel the anticipation build, and the butterflies in my stomach get restless. It was the nervous excitement of meeting someone you love for the first time in a loong while. And when we finally got off the train at Gare du Nord, I could barely contain myself from jumping all over the place. I was in Paris!

Day 1 – arrival, and the Eiffel tower

The city was warm and inviting and full of life. There were a lot of impressive looking buildings (and even the normal residential ones has nice little wrought-iron balconies with green stuff hanging off them) – I almost felt like there was a landmark on every street corner. Now, you may think that sounds imposing and possibly even tiresome, but it works for Paris. So, after making Boyfriend walk with me the 40 minutes or so to our hotel (in the sun, with his jacket on, and carrying our backpack...), I decided a good stop for our first evening in Paris would be one of it's most famous landmarks – the Eiffel tower.

The seemingly endless line of people queuing up to get in was disheartening. But I didn't come all this way just to NOT go up the Eiffel tower. And we were lucky enough to have a street performer entertain us while we queued up (he was one of those people where at first you're not sure if they're a performer or just a crazy person – though when I looked into his eyes they were clear as day, which I feel usually signifies a healthy measure of sanity). When I was starting to give in from hunger and aching feet, we finally passed through the doors that led us to the first elevator up.

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived on the second floor (out of three), the sun that was setting when we were nearing the end of the line downstairs, had already set, leaving the city beneath us shrouded in the shadows of dusk. It was still a pretty amazing view. Less scary than I was expecting – at least for someone such as myself that claims to be afraid of heights – yet seeks them out almost whenever possible. The elevator ride freaked me out a bit, particularly the one from the second to the third floor (this one made some creaking sounds..), because we could see out of the elevator and down to the ground that was disappearing beneath us. I also noticed when we got off the first elevator that the floor actually seemed to be swaying slightly. Which was disconcerting at first, but which I quickly got used to. And we were well protected by high fences when we went out to look at the view. It was a interesting experience and worth a trip, in my view. Though I must admit my favourite part was sitting quietly on a bench in the dark after we came down again, just looking at the now illuminated tower lighting up the night sky.

Day 2 – the Louvre (and sushi!)

On awaking to our second day in Paris, without having gotten much sleep – I rarely sleep well in unfamiliar places, my mood was somewhat different to my normal grumpy morning frame of mind. I looked around me, and couldn't stop smiling. More than ready for a new Paris adventure. Luckily for Boyfriend, whose feet had not recovered from all the walking I had insisted we do the previous day (everything looked so much closer on the map than it turned out to be once we actually walked there!...), the Louvre – goal for the day, was only a few minutes walk from our hotel. And after a nice buffet breakfast with croissants, toast, cheeses, fruit, yoghurt and coffee, we were ready to take in some artistic masterpieces. Though of course, when you're in a museum you tend to walk around quite a bit too – so Boyfriend's feet gave up after a couple of hours (and one out of three wings of the museum), and I decided the rest of the exhibition could wait until my next visit. We opted for the wing with Italian and French masters, where they advertised amongst other works, Mona Lisa. Almost immediately when I walk into any type of museum that holds an exhibition of any interest to me (be it art, culture, history, religion or something else entirely), I feel happy and excited, and I think to myself that I really ought to do this sort of thing more often.

There were many impressions and many impressive pieces to see, though I won't dwell on each and every one – or I shall never finish writing this post. Two works in particular stay with me. One being the Winged Victory of Samothrace – a sculpture of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. The now armless and headless sculpture gains much from its dramatic placement in the museum, at the top of a broad staircase. There is something fierce and triumphant about this winged woman, yet something also soft and defenceless (most likely strengthened by the fact that she no longer has a head or arms – which I think works to the sculptures advantage). The details and the sense of movement in this work is amazing. I stood and marvelled at it for quite a while, barely registering that busier/less impressed museumgoers were passing me by.

The other work was La Jeune Martyre by French painter Delaroche (and may I add that I suggest to google the image, as my photo is a poor substitute). There is something touching and slightly frightening in the way this young woman seems to willingly drift away, down to the depths. Though of course, that is what martyrs do; willingly give their lives for what they believe in. Still, there is something about the calmness and beauty in this work of art that almost takes my breath away. The image or idea of giving in to the water (be it ocean, lake or river) and giving it your life is something that's always appealed to my darker side. The sea has a mysterious, almost magical pull.

We did get to see the Mona Lisa as well, though there was a fence several metres in front of it which you were not allowed to pass, and quite a big group of people already gathered behind this fence. And as you may be aware, the Mona Lisa is not a particularly large work of art, and it was therefore not possible to see many details of the painting from the distance at which we had to stand. Something I found disappointing. I understand the need to preserve great works of art, but it was already behind glass, and had guards on both sides. Why not let us look a little bit more closely? I did not exactly experience what Walter Benjamin refers to as the “aura of art”. The idea that a work of art reflects also the times it has lived through, the people that have looked at it and the feelings they have projected onto it. I like this idea, and I usually get this feeling of awe when viewing great works of art, which I think coincides with this "aura" theory.

Since we finished with the Louvre (this time around) earlier than expected, we suddenly had a wealth of time on our hands, and decided to hop on a water taxi type of boat that takes you up and down the Seine to places like the Louvre, the Eiffel tower and Notre Dame. It's a pleasant way to travel, not too expensive for a day ticket (particularly considering that we were given one by a woman just coming on the boat – and we passed on our tickets to another couple wanting to go onto the boat later that evening), and you get to see the city from a slightly different perspective.

We hopped off at Notre Dame – a magnificent site, when looking up from the brink of the river. I had initially planned to climb the tower, but changed my mind when I saw how crowded the area around the cathedral was, and also feeling how warm it was getting again. Maybe next time. Instead we sat down outside a café nearby for some lunch. And by lunch I mean wine and cheese for me, and lemon sorbet (and later a crepe) for Boyfriend. The things you can allow yourself on holiday...

We hopped onto the boat again, and decided to get off at Jardins des Plantes, never having heard of it, but assuming it was some sort of park. Which indeed it was. Nice and quiet since the sky had greyed over, some blossoming trees and flowers, and time for me to sit down and write in my notebook about my thoughts and experiences of Paris so far – and to reflect on how lucky I was to be able to have such an experience, which after all, is not something one should take for granted.

After going back to the hotel (again by boat back to the Louvre stop) for a quick nap – which for me translates to reading in bed, we went out in search of sushi. Something we thought we'd find easily, given the enormous number of Japanese restaurants we seemed to have passed on our way over there from the train station the previous day. And indeed, there seemed to be an entire street full of Japanese restaurants just metres from our hotel. However, they seemed to sell only other Japanese food and no sushi (up until this point I must confess I had thought of Japanese food, at least in terms of restaurants serving it, largely as sushi). And for some reason they were all mysteriously full. Granted, it was Friday night, but given the ridiculous number of Japanese restaurants, one would have thought they'd be able to accommodate everyone in Paris if they all simultaneously decided to go out for Japanese food (which is perhaps precisely what they did..). After wandering around a little longer, we saw a bright sign down the road with the words “Hello Sushi” on them – which seemed promising. This restaurant was half empty – which Boyfriend said was probably due to the fact that sushi seemed to be quite a bit more expensive than other Japanese food. Nonetheless we got a boatload of sushi (quite literally speaking) for a significantly lower price than back home, and though the quality wasn't completely on par with our local sushi place, it was still good.

Satisfied with a successful second day in Paris, we returned to our hotel room for some more reading before bed time (and in my case a couple more glasses of white wine..).

Day 3 – sightseeing by help of the Paris metro

As even I could see that the distance from our hotel to the Montmartre area was considerable, we opted to get metro tickets for our third day. And what a good idea that turned out to be. Cheap, efficient and easy to navigate – absolutely recommended for anyone visiting Paris.

Montmartre, even though having the feel of being a tourist trap (and therefore also quite crowded), did still exude some of the artsy charm I had imagined. Nice little buildings and cobblestone streets (which admittedly we have quite a few of here at home as well...), and little shops selling local sweets, postcards and art prints met us when we wandered into one of the little streets behind the Sacré-Coeur.

The Sacré-Coeur stands atop a hill, providing a nice view of the city stretched out below.

Along your way up the hill, don't be surprised to be approached by several very persistent black men seemingly trying to sell you coloured pieces of string (I never found out if that was indeed what they were selling, as I found their continued persistence even after I had politely said “no thanks” annoying, and avoided them as much as possible). This church we did go into. It was nice, but very crowded, so I didn't get my usual feeling of church calm. After we'd wandered around a bit more outside, and I had purchased some nice black and white photos of Paris (which I plan to hang over my desk here, and which I hope will help inspire me to write), I decided that it was time to see Moulin Rouge. So back on the metro it was. We resurfaced right across the street from the place itself, and left again a few minutes later. It turns out Moulin Rouge is nothing more than a building with a red windmill on top, next to a heavily trafficed street. Didn't I already know this, you may ask. And yes, apart from the traffic, I did. But somehow I had imagined that the surrounding area would have kept intact the old time bohemian feel of Paris, that you get from for instance the movie by the same name. Not so much.

But no matter – there was still more of Paris to see. Next stop, Arc de Triomph. We also stayed here very briefly, as Boyfriend was not in favour of more climbing up stairs, or walking of any kind for that matter, and I decided that two views of Paris from above (Eiffel tower and Sacré-Coeur) was enough for one trip. Again, maybe next time.

Due in part to the brevity of our last two stops, and in part to the efficiency of the metro, we again found ourselves with more time on our hands than expected (rather the opposite of what is usually the case when on a short holiday and trying to cover a lot of ground). So we decided on a picnic in the Jardin Tuileries, by the Louvre. It was nice to eat some cheese and drink some wine (again..), and just relax and watch the people pass. One guy came walking straight towards us, before he abruptly turned and headed straight into one of the hedges. I heard him rummaging around inside the bushes, and thought he was involved in some sort of shady drug deal. But then he came marching out of there again carrying one of those big flat cases that architects and artists use to carry their drawings around in.. I guess that's what you get for picnicing by one of the worlds most famous art museums (or alternatively the guy was just hiding his drugs inside the carry case).

For dinner that evening we went to a genuine French bistro(t). The food was nothing special (frankly I think my own béarnaise sauce is better than the one I got in this bistro, even though it was invented by the French), but the atmosphere was exactly what I was after. Chequered tablecloths, shelves of fake books and wine bottles (and for some strange reason 80s hit songs instead of amorous cantatas), dripping candles – you name it. And we spent a very pleasant evening there.

Day 4 – modern art, and departure

The plan for our last day in Paris was to see modern art at Centre Pompidou. We were lucky enough to be in Paris on the first Sunday of the month – which means free entrance (to the Louvre as well, I believe)! We decided to avail ourselves of the metro once more, since it worked out so splendidly the day before. And again, we were not disappointed. We arrived outside the museum to see a huge queue. Which turned out to be for the library. The entrance for the museum was on the other side of the building, and there we could walk straight in (mind you, there was a long line for entrance there too later in the day).

When we walked around the first floor of the exhibition, I thought to myself “yeah, I don't like modern art”. Most of this floor seemed to be filled up by kiddie drawings that are called art because someone famous did it, or someone with an art degree, or perhaps a very good PR team. This is the sort of thing that annoys me. I could splash a bit of paint on a canvas and call it art too – but nobody's going to want to see that. By the time we got the second floor however, my frustration dissipated, and I was once again filled with joy. So many colours and shapes, beautiful and strange, and sometimes quite disturbing. This was modern art at it's best. I even recognised some names and styles from my mothers art books that I used to look at when I was younger (Matisse, Chagall, Picasso..). With modern art it is a lot harder to describe why I like something. More often than not it's just a feeling. Suffice it to say that I spent some very enjoyable hours here and it was well worth the visit after all.

When our train pulled out from Gare du Nord a few hours later, part of me was sad to be leaving, but a much larger part was happy to have had such a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and it is certainly something I shall always remember. And Boyfriend found that a few of his prejudices were indeed just that. All the French people we met on our trip spoke English and were nice and helpful. So I think I can proclaim the trip to have been a successful one for us both, even though Boyfriend would rather have gone to London.

So, London next?....

Never a dull day in Amsterdam

2008-09-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

You know when you're walking along in your own thoughts, listening to some music, and contemplating what to make for dinner tonight, and then suddenly you see a a guy lying in the middle of the street blowing flames? No? Well, I do:

Job!

2008-09-18T08:16:00.001-07:00

Like mentioned in a previous post I have lately been looking for work. And now I actually have a job. I start on Monday. It's a job in customer service for TomTom, where I'll probably be helping people in both Norwegian and English. I'm a little nervous about it, but the company seems nice, and I hope that once I get into it the job won't be too technical for me to do. It's also incidentally the first job I've interviewed for since I got here, so I'm rather pleased that I got it.....

Last night boyfriend and I celebrated by going out for sushi. Mmmmm..... unagi. Being the perfect boyfriend that he is, he also came home with a box of Puccini and some really beautiful flowers... :)

So, everybody wish me luck for Monday!....

Amsterdam bike city

2008-09-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

As you probably all know, bikes are a major means of transportation in this country. In cities like Amsterdam that's probably because there are a lot of narrow and one way streets, as well as limited parking. So biking is rather practical, also because of course it's so flat.

It is also quite common to get your bike stolen, so you need to have a very good lock (alternatively get a really old bike, so that the lock is actually more expensive than the bike itself), or - like Boyfriend - a folding bike that you can keep inside. Sometimes people steal bikes to use or to sell, but other times (drunk) people just seem to find it fun to throw bikes in the canals. They have boats that go through the canals specifically to pick up bikes from the bottom of them. I saw one outside our apartment once, and it picked up three bikes within a few metres distance... Here's some pictures of such a boat that I saw the other day:

Cheeky pigeon

2008-09-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

This in not the first time I've seen a pigeon inside Albert Heijn,but it is the first time I've seen one behind the cheese counter, pecking away at the old cheese.

Wandelen in de Vondelpark

2008-09-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Thursday I was again not feeling the city love when I woke up at 7.something because the airplane traffic had been redirected over our house, so you could hear the planes quite clearly, and all the time. Our next door neighbours were being noisy with hammers, and across the street builders were throwing metal plates out of windows with loud metallic bangs. I went to seek refuge in the Vondelpark, which turned out to be a good idea. It is one of the largest parks in the city, and although it's not exactly free of noises and people, you do still feel the serenity of nature. It was nice to see and smell the trees and grass (not so many flowers any more, this time of year), feel the wind on my face, and hear the birds chirping. After having somehow gotten myself into the area of the park that was under renovation (well, there was a small path next to the fence, how was I supposed to know I shouldn't go there?...), getting out of there again by going through some stinging nettles and almost falling in the water, I turned out to be on the opposite side of the park from what I'd wanted. And when I got home again I'd been walking for three hours and was far too tired to be upset about anything. :)

Some old geezers trying to catch fish. Though the water seemed pretty still and fish free to me.

A statue of the Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel, after whom the park is named. I would not have known who he was if it hadn't been for the fact that he was mentioned in one of the Dutch exercises I recently did. Now I also know that he was born on the 17th of November, 1587 (Joost van den Vondel is op zeventien november vijftien zevenentachtig geboren).

A willow tree that I naturally had to climb out onto. It was quite nice to sit there for a while. I can imagine it would be a nice place to write..

On my way home I came across a chocolaterie that had camouflaged itself as a fish/shoe store. I didn't even buy anything. How strong am I?..

Last days of summer

2008-09-06T06:50:00.001-07:00

Summer seems to be drawing to a close here in the far south (for a Norwegian like myself...), and last weekend we probably had the last warm days of the year. Lately I've been feeling, on and off, that Amsterdam is a little to busy and noisy, but last Saturday was one of those perfect Amsterdam days that made all my concerns disappear.

When I was standing outside the Nieuwe Kerk in the sun, waiting for Victor to arrive, the first scene of what may become a movie sort of fell into my head. I am currently in the process of developing the script (very early stages still), and am quite enjoying it. (Incidentally, does anyone know of a disease that is detectable in a foetus before it's 3 months old, a disease that is potentially harmful but also possibly also not? I have an alternative already, but I wouldn't mind some more suggestions... Yes, I know, my writing sounds cheerful, doesn't it?).

Anyway, when Victor arrived we went to see the Black is Beautiful exhibition inside the church. The exhibition focuses on the representation of black people in Dutch art throughout the ages, accompanied by interesting facts about people and history. There were some really nice paintings, and there were also little monitors placed around the room, which offered background stories on paintings and painters. It was very interesting and well done. Though the lighting was sometimes unfortunate, since it reflected off the glass in front of some paintings, so you had to stand in really weird angles if you wanted to see the work properly. Among the interesting things I learnt while I was there was that Moses was apparently married to an Ethiopian woman before he married a second white one. Since this has later been deemed improper it was edited out of the Bible, but there still remain paintings of it (since I am not terribly familiar with the details of the Bible and it's history, I can't vouch for the truth of this, but am merely relaying what was written in the exhibition). I also learnt that in the late 1800's there was an exhibition of Surinamese people on Museumplein. They actually imported Surinamese people to stand around and be ogled at, like animals in the zoo. Though at the time I suspect they thought nothing of it. But the Surinamese people were apparently not happy with the way they had been treated, and had been given certain promises that were not fulfilled. Interestingly, I recently read an article about a similar situation in Norway, but then with Sami people, and as late as the 1930's. They were basically paid to act like the stereotype Sami so people could look at them, and then when the show was over they got to go back to their normal life. It seems strange to think about that this was an acceptable thing to do at the time. It's one of those things that makes me wonder what people are going to object to in 100 years that we find perfectly normal now..

Anyway, the exhibition is on until the 26th of October, and is highly recommended for anyone who might have the chance to see it.

After the exhibtion we headed home, for some of Boyfriend's super yummy pancakes, which I think all our previous house guests have been treated to. And later we went out for a little drink around the corner, at the Wynand Fockink proeflokaal. A charming old bar that serves a large variety of liquors in small glasses that they fill up to the point where you have to bend down over the bar to take the first sip before you can lift the glass up. Some of my previous guests are probably familiar with this bar as well. :)

In the evening we went to the movies to see The Dark Knight. The movie was good, and Heath Ledger did indeed pull off a very convincing crazy, though I still don't think the movie was all it has been cracked up to be. Then again, I wasn't expecting it to be.

It's so nice to have interesting exhibitions, nice bars and movie theatres in the immediate vicinity of our apartment. And when we were walking back from the theatre, the little bridge lights and the lampposts were reflecting their light on the water of the canals, and I was completely in love with Amsterdam again....

I'm puzzled

2008-08-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

What the heck do people want with 'glasses' like this, and what are they supposed to be good for? When I asked the man selling them, he said "Uuh... they're for the sun" and shrugged his shoulders and smiled. Can anyone provide a better answer?

I found the glasses (which I do think I might've seen elsewhere a few times already) at yet another market I stumbled across today. Where they naturally sold lots of fabulous stuff that I can't buy because I have no money. And of course sometime in the distant future when I have some money again, there will be no fabulous stuff to buy. This top was also kinda funny, and I would've considered buying it for Boyfriend if it had come in a man's shirt (and I'd had any money), since he's a total Pizza Hut Slut.

I have also discovered that the Netherlands is more exotic than I thought, when I saw several houses with grapevines around their entrances, with actual, real, ripe grapes. I thought that only happened in countries like Italy, Greece, Spain etc. Cool.

Norway

2008-08-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

Dear reader(s),

Sorry for my lengthy absence due partly to me being on holiday, and partly to me not feeling like writing anything.

I went on sort of a tour of Norway with Boyfriend earlier this month, to visit places I used to live, my friends and family and attend my dearest friend's wedding. It was a busy, emotional and lovely time.

First we went to visit my mother, her husband, my little sister and their new and super cute cat. That purrs as soon as you pick her up. I fell in love immediately...

We also went fishing and lost two pieces of bait and caught one minuscule little fish that we just let back into the water. And we had one sightseeing day in Oslo where we went to the Munch museum to which I've never been, something I enjoyed immensely. We also went to Vigelandsparken and had a look at sinnataggen...

... AND we went to the movies to see Mamma Mia! I'm totally going to buy that on DVD, so I can sing as loud as I want to while I watch it.. Apparently our whole row of seats were already moving because I was dancing around in my seat. If you want to believe Boyfriend, that is....

And here, a special treat - the royal residence aka. the big yellow block (I always thought it was disappointingly plain and ugly):

While we were in the south we went off for the weekend to celebrate Marte and Egil's wedding. Which also included Boyfriend's first time using a 'utedo' (out of house toilet). Exciting stuff. The wedding ceremony and celebration were absolutely beautiful (but kinda cold for summer), the happy couple looked really really happy, there were lots of nice speeches filled with love, and spirits were high throughout. Needless to say, I bawled like a baby.... Marte is my very dearest friend, and we hadn't had a chance to see each other since December last year. So meeting for the first time in so long and to such an occasion made me extremely emotional. But it was sooo good to be there. And if all goes well, Marte will be coming to visit this fall. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Me and Marte, very happy to see each other again.

The newlyweds.

Aaaaw!...

In my completely unbiased opinion, the most beautiful bride the world has ever seen.

After that the trip went on to Trondheim. In my completely unbiased opinion the most beautiful city in all of Norway. It's funny how you appreciate things so much more once you don't have regular access to them...

View of Trondheim from Lian, with horseys.

Horsey up close and personal.

Then again, I did always appreciate Trondheim, but I always cursed myself for not having moved every time winter and months of snow and cold and dark arrived, as they inevitably did every year. Still, it was lovely to see the place again, and to see my aunt and cousins if ever so briefly. As luck would have it, we also got the chance to meet some other VIPs:

Mikael in his office. After I had endured him and Boyfriend speaking about computers almost the entire time we saw each other.

Me trying on one of Mikael's Venetian masks. After seeing pictures from his trip there, Venice is even higher on my list of places I want to go.

For some reason in all the pictures I have of me and Øystein, we are drinking beer.... But of course, when you are at Mikrobryggeriet you have to drink beer. They brew it themselves, and it is go-oo-od. Especially the stout. We also had some lovely sushi and some pleasant conversation. :)

Meeting my dear Edith for yummy tapas and a lovely evening at Solsiden. Another one I'm hoping for a visit from soon. (Did you hear that Edith? Get your ass over here!...)

We also spent a day doing the obligatory tourist stuff. Seeing the cathedral, Bakklandet, the old town bridge, the fortress (that apparently at some point protected us from the Swedish..) and the radio tower at Tyholt with cafe on top. Even though I've seen all these places several times before, it was still nice to be able to show Boyfriend my old home town, that I still feel quite connected to.

And we even managed to go for a walk in the forest, something I miss living in this flat and 'natureless' country (which has other joys to make up for that, but still...). I picked some blueberries, and Boyfriend refused to kiss me when I had smeared them all over my lips. What's that all about??...

Boyfriend being a 'Gumby' in front of the Lian lake.

Our last stop was Tromsø, where we only spent a short weekend. It was kind of strange to go back to the city where I spent all my teenage years, and where I haven't been in 2 1/2 years, for such a short time. Part of me feels like we were never really there. I also fell ill on Saturday night, which means we spent our last holiday night eating take-out from Burger King in our hotel room... (I got sick with a fever last time I visited Tromsø as well... Joincidence?..). Nevertheless, it was nice to see the city again, even though we didn't get to see as much of it as I had hoped. We did have time for a cable car ride:

I'm a little afraid of heights, so going up on one of these things is not my favourite activity ever, but it was kinda cool too. And I have done it before, and fared a lot better than my grandmother, who was so terrified she insisted on walking back down. Poor thing!...

And the view is pretty amazing.

We also had the chance to meet my old friend Ingrid, whom I haven't seen in years. Boyfriend would like me to emphasise that we are not talking about him in this picture... (Though as to what we are talking about, I have no clue..). :P

Homeward bound.

All this and more in 12 days, so you can imagine we were busy. But it was all good.

Since last time we've also attended Boyfriend's aunt's wedding in Leiden, which was nice, and included a boat tour (with champagne) through the canals in Leiden - of which I have no pictures. I also had a visit from my Italian pen pal Walter, which was also nice. He now wants me to come visit him in Milan. I could combine that with Venice, I suppose... :)

I'll try to update my blog more regularly in the weeks and months to come. However I am also really starting to look for a job now, and trying to get some more Dutch studies done, so my life might become less 'postable'.. Time will tell. =)

Gay Pride 2008

2008-08-02T10:01:00.001-07:00

Earlier today the annual gay pride parade went through Amsterdam, by boat (of course). They went through the Prinsegracht and the Amstel, and people were plentiful along the edges and on the bridges and houseboats everywhere in this area. If I'd been smart I would've brought a stepladder, like we saw some other guy with. And if I'd been less lazy I'd have shown up earlier, but apparently it was already pretty crowded over an hour before the parade started. Anyhoo, as I am 'blessed' with tallness I could mostly look over peoples shoulders. And it was an enjoyable sight. They really seem to have worked hard to decorate their boats and make costumes, and they seemed to have a lot of fun dancing around and throwing confetti and flowers and such. So much fun indeed, that I was wondering if being gay is a requirement for being on one of those boats, because I wouldn't mind.....

Here are some pictures from the colourful event:

Say 'cheese'

2008-08-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

Cheesy title to have on a post about a cheese market, I know.....

Yesterday Victor and I went to visit the kaasmarkt in Gouda. We both like the cheese, and it's mentioned as an attraction to be seen in the Netherlands, so why not check it out?

Well, it's not really much to see, as it turns out. There are wheels of cheese lying around on the ground in front of the town hall, and there are women dressed up as milk maids, or something like that, wearing clogs (OMG!), carrying around wheels of cheese in their arms and posing for photos. There were also horse drawn carts standing around, which I suspect also had wheels of cheese lying around in the back. At some point two men were haggling over the price of the cheese, and they didn't seem to come to an agreement. And, that was pretty much that.

Now, you may say, "but Sarah, what did you expect of a cheese market, other than cheese?". Well, seeing as it's supposed to be this tourist attraction, I had imagined they might've created more of an event around the whole thing. There were other market stalls all around, selling clothes and fish and whatnot, but I can find more interesting markets here in Amsterdam anyway. And I had expected that maybe people would be allowed to sample different varieties of cheese. but not so much. Well, at least I can cross that off my list. And Gouda seems to be quite a charming town, though we didn't see all that much of it during our short stay.

"Decorative" cheeses hanging above the street

Cheese!

Girls carrying cheese!

Cheese chair (children sold separately)

People weighing cheese!

And apparently someone just got married.... :)

Stephen Fry agrees

2008-08-01T04:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I came across a section in Moab is my Washpot, Stephen Fry's autobiography, which made me think of my last post here:

"I had a terror of insects, moths in particular, horrible scaly moths which flew through open bedroom windows and fluttered about the light bulb as I tried to read. I could not rest or relax in a room which contained a moth. Butterflies were fine during the day, but moths disgusted and terrified me."

I'm not the only one..... ;)

Moth menace

2008-07-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

I've never been a great fan of any insects other than butterflies and ladybirds, and I also have a problem with spiders as long as they're not very tiny. It doesn't matter that I know they can't hurt me (in this country anyway) - rationality doesn't factor into it.

Then, last night, as I was sitting comfortably on the couch watching Gordon Ramsay yell at some poor sod whose restaurant was going to shit, I saw something moving up near the lamp, out of the corner of my eye. "It's probably nothing" I thought, as I turned my head and my eyes were confronted with the largest moth I've ever seen. I imagine it to have been the size of my fist, but I am most likely exaggerating. I almost froze up with fear, but had enough presence of mind to call for Boyfriend to come rescue me from the winged menace.

Thank goodness for Boyfriend. If I'd had to handle it on my own I'm almost positive I would've thrown up all over the place. Instead I hid bravely under the blanket whilst yelling "take it away, take it away!!".

After Boyfriend captured the fiend in a glass with a magazine over, there was a moment where you could very audibly hear it flapping it's wings inside the glass (involuntary spasms are going down my back as I recollect it). This is the part of the movie that would be made in slow motion, and with every flap of the wings of the moth it would sound like a thousand birds taking flight.

Boyfriend just let it out of the bedroom window and closed the curtain, which naturally left me somewhat apprehensive in regards to whether or not it would manage/want to find it's way back into our home. Thankfully it did not.

Moths are nice, Boyfriend said, they're like butterflies. But they're NOT! They're like the anti-butterfly! Yes, I know technically they are from the same family, but where butterflies are colourful, beautiful, delicate and fragile, moths are fat, hairy, hideously ugly, disgusting, flying lumps.

And I'm damn well going to make sure the curtain is drawn at night from now on!

Eating dos and don'ts

2008-07-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

The last week or so has been pretty busy over here, with visits both from the in laws and from old daddy longlegs (my father, that is..), whose legs are not working terribly well anymore. Apart from a social overdose - for someone like me who usually prefers keeping to herself most of the time - there was also a lot of eating out. I was thinking of creating a sort of list of my favourite places to eat here, and also places not to go (of which I only have two yet), but this'll do for a start.

On Tuesday 'Man With Boat' (a friend of Boyfriend's, who doesn't really have a boat, but I believed he did for a long time, so now he is nevertheless 'man with boat') came over, and him, Boyfriend and me all went out to a Mexican restaurant called Cafe Pacifico. They are located in what I like to call the 'gay street' since it has lots of gay bars and gay sex shops. On their web page they claim to make the best Margarita's in town, and even though I've not had a Margarita in every bar/restaurant in Amsterdam (yet...) I do believe they're not far from the truth. In other words, they do make a damn good Margarita! The food is also yummy (though the menu carries little variation), served fast, and relatively inexpensive. And the music playing always has me dancing in my seat.... The combination of all these factors means I can even happily sit through a dinner where Boyfriend and Man With Boat are discussing programming. ;)

On Wednesday the in laws came over for a late birthday celebration for Boyfriend (who's birthday was the 7th, an occasion we incidentally celebrated at a lovely - and slightly pricey - Italian restaurant along the Singel called Casa di David). They were very pleasant and very Dutch. Which is to say they spoke a lot of Dutch, and by the end of the evening my head was spinning from having tried to keep up with all of it. I've no doubt I must've learned something new in the course of the evening though. Aaanyway. For dinner we went to a nice Thai restaurant near here, on the Staalstraat, called Krua Thai. We've been there a few times, but only for special occasions, since it's on the expensive side. They have this really nice white fish in garlic and lemon sauce that I always order, and that I've recently tried to replicate at home with moderate success. I'm also a sucker for the deep fried banana dessert. NOT a good idea if you're on a diet....

On Thursday I saw my dear old dad for the first time in 4 years (WAY too long!). And as is the custom with all our guests, we took him out to Kantijl & de Tijger, as mentioned in a previous post, for Indonesian food. Once again it was a great success. Later in the evening dad and I drank too much wine (something of a theme for his stay here... Irishman, you know. ;)) and reminisced about old times. It was good!...

On Friday we were planning to go for Sushi, since it's one of mine and Boyfriend's favourite things and dad had never tried it. However, our usual sushi restaurant is quite small and it was completely full. We decided to try an "Italian" place nearby. We soon came to regret that decision.... You know it doesn't bode well when you see a dessert menu on the table with the most tacky pictures and descriptions you can imagine, including a pic of grass green ice cream combined with some sort of weird candied ice cream that I'm sorry to say I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of. The dessert menu also tried to tempt us with real orange ice cream with real orange bits, inside a real orange... Same with lemon and coconut... We had a good laugh about that. Funnily enough, me and dad stopped by an other "Italian" (which in most cases apparently translates to Lebanese, as far as staff/owner is concerned) place on the Damrak on our way to the station. It had the same real lemon and real orange in the dessert menu. I'm happy to report that the pizza at this other place was actually quite nice though.

Real lemon ice cream in real lemon. Quite the rage at "Italian" "restaurants" in Amsterdam, it would seem. I bet you I wouldn't find this on the menu at Casa di David.

A picture of the exterior of the "Italian" place on the Rokin, so you are fairly warned:

Well, when we got our food, it for the most part did leave something to be desired, though some of it was also perfectly adequate. I had some rubbery and tasteless snails for an appetizer, even the garlic butter didn't taste anything. I should've known better than to order snails in a place like that of course, since they're not the easiest thing to prepare. I did however imagine it would be safe to order a pizza - how can an "Italian" place screw up that, right? Well, it was edible, but with a faint and unpleasant aftertaste of mould. The low point of the evening however (which caused much amusement and disbelief) was when we opened a single serving ketchup portion and discovered the ketchup to be dark brown, rather than its usual red. We subsequently opened the second package on the table, with the same result.. Boyfriend dared go where I did not, and tasted a tiny bit of it, saying it tasted old - not surprisingly. On the bright side, it did give us something to laugh about. And I will give them a plus point for having a cat. Some people may not like having cats walking around in the dining room of an eatery, but as mentioned previously I happen to be extremely fond of these little creatures.

Yes, the ketchup was actually this colour...

We had a similar bad eating experience at an "Italian" place in the "gay street" when we wanted to take my friend Marte to Cafe Pacifico but had to make other plans quickly when we discovered that most things on the menu there were incompatible with Marte's lactose intolerance. Which goes to show that nothing good comes of improvising when hungry. At least when you end up in an "Italian" "restaurant".....

After our dining disaster on Friday we decided to have dessert at Häagen-Dazs on the Rembrandtplein, and for the first time we went to sit in the restaurant section in the back. GOOD choice. They had the most mouthwatering selection of combinations of ice creams, pancakes, sauces and fruit you could imagine. And when the food arrived it was at least as good as expected. Obviously not somewhere to go every day, seeing as it must contain about a million calories,but if you love ice cream and want a real treat, then this is the place to go. Although I don't recommend going right after dinner, since I had great trouble getting down the last few bites of the dish below, even though it was delicious:

On Saturday we had been wise enough to make a reservation, and we finally got our sushi. This restaurant is a small and cosy place, in the beginning of an alley leading up from the Rokin, just opposite where the tour boats leave. And for being sushi the prices aren't bad. I also had Unagi (the eel kind, not the state of total awareness) for the first time ever, and it was yummy. I've been daydreaming about it several times since... After our sushi we went across the street to take a candlelight boat tour with (copious amounts of) wine and cheese. Boyfriend and I took a similar tour last year for my birthday, and it has been lovely both times. Particularly recommended for couples.

Dad on the boat

Magere brug by night (and through the glass window of a moving boat).

This post may make it seem like I am a little food obsessed. Apart from that not being terribly far from the truth, I do also hope it may help anyone who comes across it in their search for decent place to eat in Amsterdam...

A little more Rotterdam

2008-07-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Since, like mentioned in the previous post, I spent most of my Rotterdam day in the zoo, I didn't get to see all that much more of the city this time around. I'll have to go back and have a look around one of these days. The thing that sets Rotterdam apart from other Dutch cities I've visited is all the modern architecture and tall buildings. The other Dutch cities I've seen usually consist mostly of the same type of old stone houses. But as you probably know, dear readers, Rotterdam was bombed by the Germans during WWII, so it follows that a lot of the buildings here are of the more modern variety, which makes for an interesting change. I do still think I prefer the older buildings, partly since it's what I've come to associate with this country, but nevertheless Rotterdam is interesting. Here are some pictures of what I've seen so far:

The tallest building in Rotterdam, possibly in the whole of the Netherlands. There was a miniature of this in Madurodam, which was still pretty tall.

Bicycle art. I suppose. It's too big for anyone to actually use anyway.

The famous cube houses, which I'm still very curious about. It seems like such a weird (and inefficient) idea to build houses this way. Apparently you're supposed to be able to go inside one of them and have a look, but it was already late by the time we got there, so further investigations will have to wait for the next visit.

A detail from a weird and interesting sculpture near the cube houses. After some googling I've discovered that it was made in honour of a Dutch Cartoonist called Marten Toonder.

When we were at the train station waiting for my train back to Amsterdam, an old fashioned steam engine showed up on the next track.

If you want to see more of Rotterdam without actually going there, this page is pretty cool: http://www.dakvanrotterdam.nl/index.php?option=com_dvrgmm&category=1&Itemid=38&class=r

You can click your way onto the top of different buildings, and have a look around by dragging the image up, down, left and right with your mouse.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

2008-07-13T05:09:00.001-07:00

(A little bit of a misleading title, since I didn't see any lions or bears, and only one tiger. But I recently re watched the Wizard of Oz....)

Yesterday I went to Rotterdam to visit Victor, and we ended up spending (almost) the whole day in the Blijdorp zoo, which was fun. It's a really nice zoo, where they seem to have done their utmost to create a comfortable and natural environment for the animals and give them space to roam around in (and a chance to hide if they don't feel like being stared at by a bunch of silly humans). It has a large variety of animals, and covers quite a big area. We were there for a little over 5 hours, and by the time the zoo closed we'd covered most of it, if not absolutely every inch. One of the coolest things was the butterfly room, which is the closest I've ever come to the rain forest. It as very warm and full of rain forest/jungle type plants, and there were all sorts of colourful butterflies flying about. The Oceanium with the sea lions and the underwater tunnel was pretty cool too! I also added some animals to my list of animals I'd like to have (whenever I see one I like, I add it to my list...). This list is of course not terribly realistic unless I become extremely wealthy and can keep my own zoo, since most of these animals aren't exactly household pets, but a girl can dream. Among the cutest were the swift foxes, the dik-diks (which I've been wanting to see ever since they were mentioned on an episode of QI), and the fishing cats. The fishing cats had babies, which were so cute my heart just melted. I could've sat there staring at them for hours there they lay sleeping all huddled up together. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of the fishing cats since they were behind glass, and it was rather dark in there. Here are some other pics though:

Prairie dog, which doesn't look anything like a dog, but which is awfully cute.

Sea lion

Swift foxes, which are quite small and quite adorable.

Flutterbies....

Dik-dik is cute-cute!

Elephants

Camels

Monkey business

Timon (or alternatively, meerkat)

Giraffes

Some kind of antelope.

Madurodam

2008-07-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Madurodam is a theme park made up of miniatures of important buildings/streets/places here in the Netherlands. It's located in Den Haag, and we went to visit on our way back from Delft. It was fun to see, and it was really nicely made, with little people in the streets and little cars and boats actually moving around. Nice eye for detail. It must've taken a long time to make all of these displays. It costs 13,50 euros for adults, but the nice thing is the proceeds (after taxes) go to charity. And it's definitely something that's worth seeing if you're interested in this country. Here are some pictures:

Overview

Miniature parliament in Den Haag

Miniature town hall in Gouda, outside which they have the cheese market that I still want to go visit one of these days. Love that cheese....

Miniature Dam Square. Strange to see a miniature of something so familiar to me. I see this square almost every day.

Miniature Magere Brug, and miniature people on pedal boats.

Miniature red light district.

Delft

2008-07-07T09:55:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we went to visit Delft, which I've been wanting to do for a while. It (naturally) brings to mind my mothers Delft Blue china (is it still called china when it isn't made in china?....) that she inherited from her father. It is world renowned, and most of the stuff you buy in souvenir shops are actually knock offs, made in China. But we went to one of the stores where they make it, and you could actually see it being made. It's quite nice and distinctive.

We also took a tour of the old church and the new church (creative names, no?), including the tower of the new church, that Boyfriend reluctantly agreed to ascend with me. It was quite a climb up the spiral staircase, and I found myself a little dizzy once we reached the top (probably also caused by looking down and realising exactly how high up we were). But what a view!

The new church

View of tiny people on the ground from the tower

View of the town hall from the tower

View of the old church from the tower

Delft is also known as the home and birthplace of the painter Vermeer (and also the setting for the film about said painter, Girl with a Pearl Earring, based on the book with the same name), and also the home of inventor of the microscope, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. Both of which are buried in the old church. Below you can see the place where Leeuwenhoek is buried.

Heart art, outside the new church. It did not come with an explanation, but then again, art usually doesn't.

All in all it was a nice visit, and both the churches are definitely worth seeing if you like that kind of stuff (which I do, as mentioned in a previous post). The tower was fun, and a little scary, and the poffertjes we ate in the square after our big ascension were delicious. ;)

What could be better than...

2008-07-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

.. a boyfriend who comes home after you've had a crappy day, and gives you a niiiice bottle of perfume, just because? No, he's not making up for some sort of guilt over cheating on me, this is just what he's like - dangerously close to perfect..... <3

The laws of Property Improvement (™)

2008-07-04T05:17:00.000-07:00

1. Your place of residence can always and must always be improved in some way. Never be satisfied with what you have.

2. If you're feeling blue, if you're feeling empty and like your life has no meaning, do not fear - salvation is near: just redecorate!

3. If your neighbour redecorates, so must you.

3.1. Remember to always wait until your neighbour is done redecorating, before you start your own project, so as to lengthen the period in which your other neighbours will be bothered by noise pollution. Maybe even wait a day, to let people remember what quiet sounds like, so they remember what they're missing.

4. Develop a sixth sense about when the worst possible time for you to start drilling is, for anyone else who can hear it, and then start drilling.

4.1. Lull your neighbours into a false sense of security by being quiet for several hours, and then start drilling or hammering as soon as their head hits the pillow, or better yet, just as they are about to drift off to sleep.

4.2. Start making loud noises as early in the morning as possible. This law is particularly important to follow if you know that any of your neighbours have been up late and/or drinking alcohol.

5. Once you're done with one project, realise that (for instance) your walls no longer go with your new floor, and start a new project. Repeat until death or dementia.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, for a deeper and quasi philosophical exploration of the themes in this text. Is it that we are constantly moving to new places, no longer able to settle down anywhere, that makes us redecorate? Are we always moving into new homes? Are we too concerned with what is new and what is in, and what everybody else has? Do we want to show of our wealth? Does it really have anything to do with comfort or convenience? Are we trying to fill a void in our lives, trying to convince ourselves that happiness can be bought? Are we hoping to improve ourselves by improving our homes? Are we trying to increase the value of our property? Are things just not built to last these days and need to be replaced too quickly? Have we regressed to some sort of caveman stage, where we can no longer speak to the people around us, and this constant noise making is a desperate last ditch attempt to create some sort of bond or connection with the people surrounding us?

As for the main theme of the above text, it is obvious: The author is tired and her neighbours are being noisy.

Sightseeing Saturday

2008-06-29T06:35:00.001-07:00

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? :)

I'm not wearing sunglasses because I'm blind

2008-06-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

So, here's the zen question for all you guys out there: If you can't see a woman's eyes, can she still tell you're staring at her cleavage?

Warning: girl blog!

2008-06-22T11:34:00.001-07:00

I went shoe shopping the other day, as my regular walking shoes have holes in them, and weren't all that nice to begin with. If my new shoes are fit for walking long distances is perhaps doubtful, but they do look nice...

These were bought for 10 euros to console myself after I once again found red shoes with white polka dots (under), that were supposed to go with the dress also (partially) shown under (that I bought on sale last fall and am using for the first time today), but this time they were too small.. What's a girl to do? Buy another pair of red shoes of course!

I also went back to the market the other day to buy the Beatles bag that got cooler in my mind every time I thought about it, and I do still think it's rather nice!

So that should keep my shopping itch at bay for a little while at least.. :)

And so it ends

2008-06-22T11:25:00.001-07:00

The Netherlands participation in euro2008, that is. And my newly bought fuzzy orange cowboy hat couldn't save them from the Russians. In fairness, the Russians did deserve the win.. Well, it was fun while it lasted!

FINALLY

2008-06-20T04:56:00.001-07:00

When I first packed all my things in boxes and sent them here through a shipping company, I was given the impression that it would be possible for Boyfriend to pick up my things even before I arrived here. This impression was erroneous. And since I arrived here on the 23rd of May there has been a seemingly never ending path of paperwork, bureaucracy and appointments stretched out in front of me. And any time I was convinced I'd finally reached the last step, there turned out to be just one more. Kind of like when you're climbing a mountain and think you're arriving at the peak, just to see that the peak is even higher up and further away. Well, yesterday I finally reached the top of my mountain. I now have all my stuff unpacked, and I've also received a BSN, which enables me to get a bank account and work here (when I get a job, of course). Things are looking up. Yesterday evening was spent celebrating by listening to my dad's old cassette that I haven't heard in years, since I haven't had a tape player. Now maybe I will at last stop having dreams about having to go back to Norway, and having to catch flights and having forgotten my luggage/ticket or both....

God has spoken to me

2008-06-20T04:51:00.001-07:00

The funny thing is that I was actually lost (not spiritually), looking around for something I might recognise, when this act of divine intervention revealed itself to me. It's going to take more before I pledge my life to God, but the symbolism was nice.

Sunday walk

2008-06-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

One of the things I love about this city is that there always seems to be something new to discover. Even in places I've been several times before. Suddenly there's a market of some kind, or people playing music or doing performances, a shop I haven't noticed previously, an exhibition etc. I may feel differently after living here for a few years, but cities change and evolve too. Today I had a really nice long walk, and happened upon a second hand book market which also sold comic books and vinyl. That would of course have been a bit more interesting for me if I could read Dutch properly or had an LP player, but it's still nice that these things pop up round and about. I also came across a modern art market that was kinda nice.

And I walked past a church I'd seen before that was open now. I'm not terribly religious, although I do believe in a power greater than man, I just don't know what it is specifically and am reluctant to call it God. But for some reason I often like churches. I feel at peace there somehow. And of course a lot of them are nicely decorated. I had a cup of coffee at a cafe/restaurant down by the canal side, and on my way home I got distracted by a jazz trio playing in another cafe. I heard the music out on the street, and I thought I'd go in and have a look. The music was really nice (I like jazz as long as it's not too experimental), but the venue was a little intimate - read: I didn't get a seat, and after several hours of walking my legs were too tired to stand up for much longer. But apparently they have live jazz there every Sunday, so that's something to remember. The nice thing is, I wasn't specifically looking for any of these things I came across today, they were just there. I love days like this, and I love having the time to just wander around and go where my fancy takes me. Holidays rule! (Oh and BTW, so does the Dutch football team, still... )

Pedal boats are NOT fun

2008-06-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess opinions might vary, but I must agree with Boyfriend in this matter, who was very reluctant to go in the first place, since he had been in a pedal boat before and thought it sucked. And it kinda did. But at least I got to find that out for myself, which is the only way to be sure. It wasn't that bad either, but it wasn't fun. The pedaling itself I didn't mind, but the boat was a bitch to steer (and there are quite a few other boats out and about which you would do well to avoid). I was just getting the hang of it when we were at the end of our ride. On the bright side we did see a boat with a toilet in it, and how often does that happen?...

For anyone who DOES want to go pedal boating, there are four stations along the canals more or less in the centre. The one in the picture is on the corner of the Leidsestraat and the Keizersgracht. For more info you can check out their website. I'm sure some people do think it's fun....

Dubious marketing?

2008-06-13T05:40:00.001-07:00

Seriously. What self respecting male is going to buy his clothes at a store called 'Sissy Boy'?

Market day

2008-06-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to go to the Albert Cuyp market to have a look around.

I've been there a couple of times already with Boyfriend, but he usually just wants to go down the road and buy stroopwafels (syrup waffles), and go back again. Having a better look at it all I've realised that they have everything at this market... From clothes to exotic footwear,

from birdcages

and handmade soaps

to chocolate boobs and penises (!),

underwear, discount drugstore items, second hand DVD's, fruit and veg stalls,

all sorts of snacks, and these really cute shoes that were unfortunately too big for me (the heel is a little taller than I care for as well, but for 5 euros, what woman cares about that?..),

and these really cool Beatles bags that were not cheap enough for me to impulse buy, but if they're still there next time I visit, I'm getting one!

In short it's a nice place to spend a day when you have nothing in particular planned. And you're likely to find a really good bargain that you didn't even know you were looking for... :)

GOOOO HOLLAND!!!

2008-06-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

First I must admit that I'm not an avid football fan anymore, though I used to be when I was younger (LFC and our local Norwegian team, TIL). Maybe it's been less fun to watch since Norway has been sucking for quite some time. However, I usually still follow the world cup and the European cup with some interest. And yesterdays match was one of the most exciting I've seen in years. Of course I may be a little biased now that I am officially a resident of Amsterdam (yeah that's right!), but how cool was it to see Holland beat Italy, the reigning world champions 3-0?? Like, totally awsome dude. :)

Heineken, Holland T-shirt and scarf. How Dutch am I??

Boyfriend showing off his awesome Dutch lion T-shirt. Are ya scared? Are ya?? :)

Some patriotic displays I snapped pics of in the week leading up to the match:

Now we just have to beat France on Friday. That should be totally doable, right?....

The Efteling Adventure

2008-06-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Efteling is the biggest and most popular theme park in the Netherlands, and we went to visit last Saturday. I'd been looking forward to this for quite some time, since, like Boyfriend likes to point out, I'm really just a little kid (in some areas anyway). It is really a park made with children in mind, but it's nice for grown-up children as well. And some of the rides are dead scary!...

We set out on a grey Saturday morning, after not having had much sleep, and when we were over half way, ready to get on the bus for the final 30 minutes, we discovered there was a bus strike. Luckily for us we found a couple of other people heading in the same direction that we were able to split a taxi with both ways. Nevertheless, this day became a much more expensive pleasure than we'd expected. It was a pleasure though. And it didn't start raining till we were on the train on our way home.

When we entered the 'magic kingdom' my feet were tingling with anticipation, as we first made our way towards the fairytale forest. This area basically shows situations from lots of different fairytales, while there is often a voice telling some of the story (in Dutch) that goes along with each scene. If you know fairytales, like I do, you don't really need the explanations, because you will immediately recognise Rapunzel throwing her braided hair down from the window, Hansel & Gretel outside the gingerbread house, and Vrouw Holle's well. Some of this stuff is really well made, and the whole wandering through the forest seeing all these different fairytale scenarios was an enjoyable experience. I'd particularly like to draw attention to the display from H.C. Andersen's "The Little Match Girl", which I found most impressive (and which I unfortunately don't have a picture of, since it was dark and behind glass). Here are some fairytale pictures:

From here we wandered on the Droomvlucht (dream flight), which had a looooooong line,

but it moved pretty quickly. The dream flight takes you on a ride through several imaginary kingdoms, with fairies, wood elves, floating castles and more.

Next stop Villa Volta, where everything spins around, till you think you've been upside down, but have you really?

On we went to the half moon pirate ship, where Boyfriend claimed there were no "seat belts", which was one of the reasons I didn't get on it with him. Turns out you are quite securely fastened, and it didn't actually look as scary as I had imagined, which is of course easy to say having never been on it. Here is boyfriend waving nicely for the camera:

So, to one of the rides I'd been anticipating the most, and one of the newer attractions: The Flying Dutchman. This ride of course is built around the legend of the cursed ship. You enter it through an old fortress-looking building with a tower, and the ride itself starts off from the shores of the Dutch golden age, which is where you get on board your boat. Your boat then takes you on a roller coaster ride, before it all ends with a big splash into the lake. We actually didn't get very wet though, but the ride was definitely one of the most entertaining ones (and I found it quite scary for a while). But be warned - the line was ridiculously long, and most of it goes on inside the building. So once you get in the doors, don't expect to be getting on the ride immediately.

Another watery ride I wanted to try was the Pirana, which has its moments, and the potential to absolutely drench you in water, but all in all this is probably a ride best suited for the younger children. As is the ghost house, which couldn't even scare me a tiny little bit (and anyone who knows me will tell you that scaring me is a pretty easy job).

The last "ride" we got around to was actually one of the best ones. It was a 3-D animated movie of animals around our planet, located inside something called the Pandadroom. Now, if you have actually seen 3-D film before, like I have, and you're thinking "so what's the big deal about this then?", well I don't want to spoil it for potential visitors, but trust me - once those glasses come on, everything seems to become quite real. Lots of fun here!

The pagoda that lifts you 45 metres above the ground and provides you with a view of the whole park (which for the most part means looking at the tops of trees), is also nice to get an overview.

Boyfriend was disappointed that he couldn't convince me to go on the Python roller coaster which you can see parts of here next to the Flying Dutchman,

but I think it might be a little too scary for me... I don't like going upside down. But maaaaybe next time I will work up the courage. Because there must be a next time, there's still stuff we haven't seen or done.

For instance we never got around to seeing what was inside this building. It sure looks pretty though.

TIPS:

* The park is BIG. So don't expect to be able to have time to do everything in one day. If you want to get the most out of it you might want to do some planning beforehand, and you should arrive early. You can also buy tickets in advance, so you avoid some of the lines you may get at the entrance. Tickets can be bought via the Efteling web page, or at a AH store, as well as a few other places.

* Like mentioned, this park is primarily for children, even though there are rides that can be scary, where you have to be over 120 cm tall. But this is a nice day out with kids (both big and small..), as you're sure to find something here they'll like. Several times throughout the day I thought that this would be a nice place to visit with my 6 year old little sister.

* Be prepared to stand in line a lot. We waited for The Flying Dutchman for at least 45 minutes. I don't know if that is a lot, as amusement parks go, since I've never really been in a big one before, but it seemed like a small eternity to me. The fact that we stood right behind a group of noisy drunken lads probably didn't add to my enjoyment (I'm sensitive to loud noises). Once you get there the rides are usually good though. If you are bringing children, you might want to bring something for them to keep themselves busy with while waiting. You may also do well to avoid the busiest days if your schedule allows. You can find a list of which days are the busiest on the Efteling web page.

* The food leaves something to be desired (though still perfectly edible), so you might want to bring some nibbles yourself if you have the opportunity.

Of course, most importantly: have fun!

I'll leave you with this picture of a real live peacock (that didn't bite us).

Peace, Love & Icecream

2008-06-06T08:21:00.001-07:00

A Ben & Jerry's boat.

Though I suspect they don't sell ice cream. But hey, there's an idea... With all these canals, wouldn't it be a good idea to have an ice cream boat? I'd definitely run out to get some ice cream from the Ben & Jerry's boat if it came by.... But why, WHY have they decided to cancel my favourite flavour?? I need my Chocolate Therapy! I went by the Ben & Jerry's store on the Leidsestraat earlier today, and to my horror the man behind the counter told me that Chocolate Therapy had been canceled. He also seemed somewhat unsympathetic to my sorrows. When I exclaimed "Oh no, what will I do now?", he just shrugged his shoulders... *sigh*

Lunch with kitty

2008-06-06T08:05:00.001-07:00

While some people might find it unsanitary, it's not unusual to walk into a café in Amsterdam and find a cat in the dining room. I myself find it charming.. So today I had lunch with a kitty. He (or possibly she) was actually the main reason I went in in the first place, but the cheese and pesto sandwich was nice too!

Kitty's spot in the sun

Kitty came over to get some cuddles (or possibly some of my lunch..)

A fake kitty on the wall of a house on the Leidsegracht.

Well, as you can probably tell, I am a great cat lover. Unfortunately we are not allowed to have a cat in our apartment, and it's not a nice place for a kitty anyway. Some day perhaps... Until then I'll have to get my kitty fix where I can.

For fellow feline lovers visiting Amsterdam I recommend a visit to the cat boat. It's a floating shelter for abandoned and neglected cats, with visiting hours daily except for Wednesdays. It's located on the Singel canal. I went once and fell in love with a black 3 month old kitten, and I plan to go again one of these days.

For Edith

2008-06-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

I met one of your friends at the DVD store the other day......

And how would you like to dress up your man in this fabulous sparkly skull 'n' bones swimwear? Arr......

Mouthwatering menu

2008-06-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Anyone up for a delicious meal of sweat water? Mmmmmmm..

Moving in: snapshots

2008-06-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

We went to IKEA the weekend before last, and boy was it fun! And I'm not even kidding. We got some shelves and stuff that we proceeded to put together, hammering into the night till the neighbours complained, while drinking cocktails and having Eurovision on in the background (which boyfriend begrudgingly granted me, as I've been watching it since I was about 8-9 years old). We put the first shelf together wrong 3 times, but I think we may now safely call ourselves shelf-putting-together experts (or whatever it is people who are experts at putting together shelves call themselves). Here are some images for your (hopefully) enjoyment:

Trolley riding in the IKEA warehouse is at least as fun as it looks, if not even more!

Sarah is being handy and putting together nightstand all by herself.

The end result. Isn't it just the prettiest nightstand you've ever seen in all your life? And it's only missing one screw!...

Boyfriend is ever so handy with a hammer.

Now if only I had something to put in all these shelves.....

Hello, world!

2008-06-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

To my friends: I'm happy to see you here. To anyone else who might happen upon this page: I hope that my ramblings may be of some interest to you as well. But before I go any further, let me introduce myself. My name is Sarah. I'm Norwegian, 26 years old, and I completed my masters degree in comparative literature little over a month ago. It already seems like a small lifetime has passed. One of the reasons for this is that in some ways my life is very different already than it was only a few short weeks ago. Obviously the change from being a student to not being a student is a big one, when you've spent most of your life in school. But even bigger than that is the change from living in Trondheim, Norway, to living in the Netherlands (Amsterdam). How did I get here you ask? Are you sitting comfortably? Well, I'll tell you. This story begins, like so many modern stories, with the internet. It also begins with a man. Some 33 odd months ago, while sitting in front of my computer in my little apartment overlooking Trondheim in all it's glory, trying to write a home exam, I stumbled into an internet forum on IMDb for the American sitcom Friends. I am a huge fan of this show, and those who know me also know that I will quote it and refer to it ad nauseam. Which brings me to a small digression: if you read a joke of some sort on my blog that you don't get, there's a 50/50 chance I'm trying to be funny and am not being successful, or that I'm quoting some movie or television show that you may not have seen (Friends, more often than not). This is also the case when it comes to the title of this blog, Sarah in Neverland. It is of course a play on Alice in Wonderland, but also a reference to a Dutch-heavy Friends episode (TOW the Football), where Joey claims that the Netherlands is a make believe place where Peter Pan and Tinkerbell live.

Anyway, back to my story. On this forum was a man. He was witty, he was clever, he was eloquent, and I decided I had to know him. So I sent him a message. I'm a lot more of a wuss when it comes to approaching someone in real life, since it's much more unpleasant to be shot down face to face. But on the internet, with someone who is still a stranger, what have you really got to lose? Looking back, I feel almost as if some sort of divine intervention led me to contact this man (even though I'm not really sure about God and all that). We got along really well, and our e-mails got longer and longer (particularly mine). He had a way with words (still has for that matter), and a way of seemingly knowing exactly what to say to me (but not in a creepy psychopath serial killer kinda way). Before long I was swooning for this man, in some ways still a stranger to me, but in other ways familiar and easy to talk with. It would be almost a year since our first mail correspondence before we actually met. I had decided to go and visit him. To me he was a friend with the potential for something more, someone I had trusted with my innermost thoughts and feelings, who I shared a bond with. To my friends and family he was some guy I'd been e-mailing with that I couldn't really know, whose picture I'd never seen, whose voice I'd never heard, who lived in a different country and who was 15 years older than me. And here I was ready to go down and visit him, and live in his house for 10 days, with no plan B. Madness, surely? But for me it was something I just had to do.

I remember being so nervous coming out from baggage claim at Schiphol that my legs could hardly carry me. Outside those sliding doors, only a few meters away was the man who could potentially change my whole life. At least that's what I thought. And you know what? I was right. After 10 days in Amsterdam I was completely enchanted, head over heels in love, and I think he kinda liked me too. :) When he kissed me, it felt as if I'd never been kissed before, because I'd never experienced anything like it. Maybe that sounds like a cliché, but it's nevertheless true. The rest, as they say, is history.

I've been flying back and forth to Amsterdam every other month or so while finishing my degree, and now that I'm done with my studies I am here to stay, and ready to start a life here with my wonderful boyfriend. I still think he's too good to be true, but we'll see if I still feel the same way after having lived with him for a year in our tiny apartment here in the center of Amsterdam..

So basically what I want to do in this blog is to write about what it's like for me to live here in Amsterdam, mostly as a way to keep old and new friends up to date, and for me to remember what I've been up to lately.. And maybe there will be some useful information for anyone wanting to visit Amsterdam, we'll see how things progress.

Currently I'm having a nice long summer holiday, while still waiting to sort out all the bureaucratic stuff that will hopefully in the end result in the releasing of my boxes with all my stuff in that are currently held hostage on the docks somewhere, a BSN number, bank account, and anything else I might need in order to actively start looking for some kind of job here. But enough about that boring stuff. This weekend we are planning a trip to the Efteling theme park, and I'm very excited about it. :)

If you've stayed with me this far, please come again. I'll try to post somewhat regularly, and I'll try to be somewhat interesting.

Tot ziens!