Queen'sNight

I was absolutely distraught when I realised that I was going to miss ‘Queens Day’ which is arguably the most celebrated day in the Netherlands because I had booked my flight to England on the same day. I tried to move my flight but it cost a small fortune to do it so I let it be. But all hope was not lost!

Luckily some friends of my ‘exchange’ came to my rescue and invited me to ‘Queens Night’ which happened the night before the Queens Day. It turned out to be a great success! I got dressed up in as much orange as I could find and went into the centre of Hilversum which had been transformed into a carnival. I got to ride the flying swings which take you up about 50m in the air unlike any South African version which only takes you about 10m off the ground. There was a big tent with a DJ and later some Dutch singer who was pretty bad in my opinion but the DJ music was good. It all took place along the street where all the clubs are which was ideal. I had myself a lekker jol till late in the morning! Was a good night with a even better vibe and I got a feel for some Dutch patriotism. Hup Holland!     

Barcelona, Spain

If the length of this post is putting you off reading it my three word summary is: Barcelona is FANTASTIC! But having said that it will only take a few minutes to read on...

I suppose the old saying ‘good things take time’ and in this case 20 hours of time, sums up quite poetically what I learned on the 20^th and 21^st of April. In the end, if I count the return trip as well, 40 hours on a bus was a small price to pay in order to see such a spectacular city on such a great trip with even better people on it! If there is one thing I have learnt is that travelling to a great place is like a perfectly made waffle. The people you travel with are the toppings for the waffle and in the bigger picture they help you enjoy the waffle, or the city depending if you are eating a waffle in a great city with great people. Basically travel in groups.

I’m not going to bore you with the aches and pains my neck, back and buttocks endured on the bus trip so I will skip to our arrival in Calella which is just north of Barcelona along the coast. We stayed in Calella for various reasons but mainly I think it was a lot cheaper for the quality of the hotel which was right in front of the beach which is a plus in my book. I think I was the only one who braved the Mediterranean on that first day and after 1 minute of freezing my go-nads off I realised why. Calella was not very big and we easily could walk around the city and get to know the place. We were blessed with some sun which was something I had only been experiencing in my dreams since my arrival in Europe. So shorts and t-shirt it was, another thing from my past. Another plus for the hotel was the buffet which I quite greedily took advantage of in stuffing my face.

Our first day into Barcelona was once again typical European weather but that didn’t take away any of my excitement. Our first stop was the Famous Park Guell and if you don’t recognise the name you should recognise the picture of the mosaic benches and the giant lizard squirting water out its mouth.  We then made our way for a vantage point on one of the many hills surrounding Barcelona to look at the city before going on to the Olympic stadium. It was another marvel and one close to the hearts of South Africans as it was our first time back in the Olympics in 1992 and we received 2 silver medals from Elana Meyer in Women’s 10 000m and Wayne Ferreira and Piet Norval in men’s doubles tennis. I’m not going to dwell on this for any longer seeing I wasn’t even born yet but on to our trip to Mr Columbus. We got out our bus next to the column with the statue of Christopher Columbus on top and made our way up a very busy pedestrian walkway that seemed to be the centre for all tourists. We got our lunch in that area before making our way towards Baja bikes for our bike tour of the city. Everyone enjoyed this as we owned the streets of Barcelona as well as the back streets! We made it along the waterfront boulevard and all the way to the Sagrada Familia and back again. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our first day in Barcelona was not just over as we still had to watch the Al Clasico or for those unsporting types FC Barcelona v FC Real Madrid, the biggest derby game in world football and pretty much world sport. By the end of the night there weren’t any happy Barcelona fans and the fact that there were some Dutch guys shouting their allegiance to Real Madrid in the streets of Barcelona only made it worse.

Day two saw us arrive at FC Barcelona and their mighty stadium ‘The Camp Nou’ the very place they had lost the night before. For me, this was a small slice of heaven. The stadium was simply pudding and I ate it all and left completely satisfied. I must add that they are running out of space for all their trophies which is amazing due to the size of the stadium. We then split our group in to two and my half went to the Casa Mila or the Gaudi house and I don’t know where the others went. Antonio Gaudi was an architectural genius but a complete nutter. The things he must have smoked in order to think up what he designed. But I can’t help but marvel at his work especially when you hear exactly what everything was meant for. More about Gaudi later in the week though, after our cultural spice for the day we got free time and I had loads of fun walking around the city aimlessly with a few of our very own nutters in the group. As you can imagine it wasn’t hard for me to fit in.       

The morning of day three the students were split into groups or three to four and had a task in which they had to walk around Barcelona and take creative photo’s of specific places and things with a member of the group in the photo. I joined a group of three guys and together we had a great time taking photos of things we had to and things we didn’t have to. We got to go to some really cool places that we might not have done on our own like the St Joseph market where we found out that some type of giant rat is a delicacy. I steered away from it seeing that on most of the rodents still had their heads on. I got the freshest and tastiest pineapple, kiwifruit and strawberries at the market that I have had for a long time. It was nice to get to know those three guys that morning and if I had to sum them up in a slogan it would be: Smoking and Joking! And jeepers do they do a lot of both. That afternoon the whole group split in to two and one half went to an art museum while the other half went to the Olympic sports museum. I’m sure you can guess which one I went to. One exhibit in the museum ruined it for me; the rugby, as it only talked about the stinky All Blacks. After that we went to Pueblo Espanol which is near the Olympic stadium. It is a small enclosed old Spanish village with different buildings depicting the different styles across Spain. It was extremely beautiful and I almost felt like a 1500 Spaniard while walking through the town. There was a glass blower which you could watch as he works which was fascinating. After a great three course meal in Espanol we got a Flamenco show with the slightly gypsy Spaniards shouting, clapping and stomping to an acoustic guitar. I could appreciate it as much as you can appreciate someone putting a spoon on a pedestal and calling it a master piece. Something which I could appreciate though was the fantastic Champions league semi-final with Barcelona v Chelsea. Once again we left the pub with some very unhappy Barceló ions around.  

Wednesday our fourth day we did not go into Barcelona but instead went north to a place I can’t remember to see the Salvador Dali Museum. There must be something in the air their as this guy was just as mad as Gaudi. Though with some of his work I can’t help but lower my jaw despite the bizarreness of it all. From his art I noticed that he had an obsession with spoons, boobs, clocks and... thin moustaches(though I know what you were thinking). After that we returned to Calella to spend the incredibly windy afternoon on the beach where we would go banana boating. Although the water was icy and rough most of the group had a turn and it was enormous fun. I enjoyed it so much I was the only one to fall off three times while most only once. Once again it was Champions league football at the pub with a cracking match that ended in a penalty shoot-out between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. For once the team that I supported won! After that we went across the street to the Hans and Grietje club for our ‘night out’.

On our last day we had to take the Train into Barcelona as our bus driver had to rest for his journey that evening. We headed straight for the Sagrada Familia which is the church designed by Gaudi which started construction 130 years ago and is expected to finish before the year 2030. The outside is far too busy with hundreds of different sculptures all around it and I see it as a bit of an eyesore when you look at it as a whole. But on our audio tour it explains the meaning behind all the statues and all of a sudden it’s the most beautiful piece of architecture I have seen. It wasn’t the outside that blew my mind out of the ocean but the inside. So hard to explain in words something that was designed to take your breath away. So the pictures will have to do but the only way to properly value this is to see it for yourself. After the Sagrada we had our last few hours in Barcelona to look around and buy souvenirs.

After such a incredible week in a city with so much to give I feel like the journey has hit a high but as I write this now, I know that is absolute rubbish.  As the best is still to come! The year is only partly done and I have plenty of plans. I’m just glad that those long bus trips are behind me, though I must admit I really enjoyed singing the moose song to the entire bus. I suppose the best way to finish this is to confess my love of nuts and everything nutty.          

Haarlem, Amsterdam's little brother

What a refreshing visit I had today to Haarlem which is just outside of Amsterdam. A beautiful combination of narrow streets and the fantastic building style of the Dutch and you get a wonderful city.

 

I was on a field trip with a group from Laar en Berg and we were going to the Frans Hals museum which is in Haarlem. I’m not a art nut but I was able to appreciate some of the art and some of the things our guide told us, as yes the tour was in Dutch. I find it hard enough to understand a friendly chat in Dutch but when the person is going on about the aspects of a painting my concentration was as far off as van Gogh’s right ear. But on the whole it was interesting, especially when we go to dress up like some olden time Dutch people like from one of the paintings.

We then got a walking tour of Haarlem which was my favourite part of the day even though it was by the same guide and in the same language as the tour in the art museum. I really thought it was an attractive city. We went into small courtyards in between some of the houses and where greeted by very good-looking gardens and lots of cats.

This city means something to me, not just because of its great layout and looks but because my Opa and Oma got married in the enormous church which lies in the city centre. Although sadly this was a bit before my time, it still means a lot to have visited a place that has so much family value.

Haarlem is a wonderful city and is just like Amsterdam except without the many canals, foreigners and prostitutes.      

The 'Kitchen Garden'

Today I was lucky enough to be taken by my host family to Keukenhof, the tulip garden of the Netherlands. If you have ever seen a postcard from Holland it is bound to have a shot with the huge fields with rows and rows of different colours of tulips from orange to purple. That is just a part of Keukenhof. Inside the actual garden is a magical exhibit of all kinds of flowers with all kinds of shapes, sizes and shades and they were all displayed in well laid out patterns. It was a feast for the eyes!

For those of you who don’t know Dutch, ‘Keuken’ means kitchen and a ‘hof’ a garden. Hence my title for this post but why it’s called this only the Pope knows. I can only guess that just as a top chef can make a meal that people consider art.  So can the arrangements made in this garden. The owners of the garden make meals for your eyes and they satisfy them completely, making you feel completely stuffed and eager to return.

I had fun taking photos with my host family as there are so many pleasant places in which to take a photo with you in it. I got some really great shots and even better memories!

Xanten, Germany

It’s going to be hard for me not to give you a History lecture on today’s travels as most of what I saw was a reconstruction of what the city looked like 2000 years ago. Xanten City or back in Roman times, Castra Vetera was the Romans biggest city in now modern Germany and housed ten thousand legionaries. From the reconstruction, all I can say is that it was fascinating and unbelievably impressive for its time.

The school trip was with ATC 1^st years and we took a one and a half hour bus trip to get to Xanten. The teachers knew the place back to front as they had done this trip only 20 times before.  Sadly they did most of their talking to the kids in Dutch which seemed a bit ironic as the only person listening didn’t understand.  We got to see a Roman Inn which was brilliant. They tried to make it as close to how it would have looked like back in its day though they also use it as a restaurant. The temple or what little they re-made of it was still a sight to see. I wish I could go back in time to see this city when it was in its prime.  Then we got to see the colosseum which was my favourite. Although only partly reconstructed it was exceptionally impressive and gave my imagination a great time as soon I was Russell Crowe fighting half a dozen lions and a fat Gaul on a elephant while bench-pressing a chariot. Lastly we went to a museum which was built over the old bath house. Once again I struggled to understand a Dutch speaking guide but I was able to learn a lot, like how heavy a Roman shield was. The important stuff.

I must add that the behaviour of the children on the trip especially toward the guide from the museum was not good as it seemed all they cared about was how to impress their friends. Not one kid thanked the guide. I thank Wynberg for teaching me manners, which can get you so much yet they cost you nothing.