It's over!!

My time in Amsterdam is over!! We successfully wrapped up the project today and I said goodbye to my friends here. This is my 52nd and final blog post for "Emily in Amsterdam"

But the fun doesn't end!!! Guess what??? I'm headed to Sydney, Australia tomorrow to start another project there on Monday!

I'll be continuing my old "Emily in Australia" blog while I'm there - you can find it / subscribe at www.em-in-aust.blogspot.com  I can't promise a post a day, but I will update you with stories and pictures whenever I can!

Bye for now!

Emily

More flowers!

Well, it doesn't quite feel like spring here, and from what I've heard it isn't quite there yet in Toronto either....so I thought some more flowers from my Keukenhof visit might be nice!

These are some from inside the greenhouses. I had no idea there were so many types of tulips - some of them are covered in hairs!

Bikes (again!)

I've been collecting a few pictures of bikes over the past 2 months. It took Adele's visit for me to see the city with fresh eyes and realize how INSANE all of the biking is. (Mostly insane in a good way, however it constantly feels like the city was built for bikes and not cars and people.) On Saturday we saw a girl get hit by a bike (she was okay); I'm sure this happens often because unlike cars bikes are silent and can really sneak up on you....if you take one step backwards without looking or veer slightly off a straight line SMACK! On Thursday we saw a man biking along like normal and all of a sudden he was on the ground. His frame just snapped on him, and he had to carry his bike all the way home (he was also okay).

Here are some favourites:

Four kids! That is efficiency!

This is the bike parking garage at Centraal station. Can't remember if I already posted it. The "XXX" means "Amsterdam" - nothing to do with anything associated with red light districts apparently, something far more historic and important

These are the bikes in the garage!

 This one is for grandpa. I've seen it more than once. Maybe there is more than one

Surprise!!

Van Gogh Flowers

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to the best mother in the world!! So sorry I'm not there to celebrate you, but you know I love you!!

Here are some flowers to share! Adele got them for me before she headed back to Barcelona. She also sneakily got me this very cool collapse-able vase from the Van Gogh museum so I will always have somewhere to put flowers when I'm travelling. They really cheer up the hotel room!!! I will be sure to send my hotel address to everyone on my next trip in case anyone wants to send flowers to show appreciate for my stimulating blog posts, haha  :-)

Very, very wonderful days with a very, very wonderful and old friend!! Thanks so much for the visit Adele!

Bitterballen by the Amstel and Magere Brug

Yesterday was a holiday here and Adele and I had a fantastic time walking around the city. We walked and shopped from 11am until 7pm. It was tons of fun.

We stopped at a bar on the Amstel river, had some Amstel beer, and bitterballen which is a typical Dutch food. Here is how they are described by Wikepedia:

Bitterballen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɪtərbɑlə(n)]) (plural of bitterbal) are a savoury Dutch meat-based snack, typically containing a mixture of beef or veal (minced or chopped), beef broth, butter, flour for thickening, parsley, salt and pepper, resulting in a thick ragout. Most recipes include nutmeg and there are also variations utilising curry powder or that add in finely chopped vegetables such as carrot. The ingredients are combined and cooked, then refrigerated for the mixture to firm up. Once firm, the filling is rolled into balls roughly 3 to 4 cm in diameter, then battered in a breadcrumb and egg mixture and deep-fried. They are typically served with a ramekin or small bowl of mustard for dipping.

The bridge in front of us is also quite famous, called the Magere Brug ("Skinny bridge"):

The Magere Brug ("Skinny Bridge") is a bridge over the river Amstel in the city centre of Amsterdam. It connects the banks of the river at Kerkstraat (Church Street), betweenKeizersgracht (Emperors' Canal) and Prinsengracht (Princes' Canal).

Use of the bridge has been limited to pedestrians and cyclists since 2003. It is however opened many times a day in order to let through river traffic. The boats used for sightseeing tours are low enough to pass underneath the bridge when closed. The bridge is decorated with 1200 light bulbs that are turned on in the evening.

A story told to tourists about the origins of the 1691 version of the bridge is that it was built by two wealthy sisters who lived on opposite sides of the Amstel river and wanted to be able to visit one another every day (and were presumably too busy, or not in good enough health, to go the long way round via another bridge, of which there must surely have been at least one). In one variant of the story the sisters, although wealthy, were not quite wealthy enough to afford a bridge of adequate width for general use and so built a very narrow bridge, hence its name. In another variant of the story the sisters' last name was Mager, hence the bridge's name (rather than from its narrowness).

The bridge can be seen in a number of films, such as the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever from 1971.

More pictures from Den Haag

Here are a few more pictures from Den Haag! Very busy at work this week - Thursday is another public holiday here and a lot to get done before that. Also - great news - my friend Adele is coming to visit from Barcelona tomorrow, so want to get as much done before she arrives as possible!! Therefore, only a very short post today!

(apparently these "tall" buildings are not a common site in Germany....)

Scheveningen Strand

On Saturday we took the bike (singular!!) to a very nearby suburb of Den Haag called Scheveningen to the beach. We got a fantastic couch at a restaurant right at the edge of the beach and spent the better part of two hours in the sun, shielded from the wind. 

Fun fact!! In the Second World War they used the word "Scheveningen" to test if people were German or Dutch to weed out the German spies ... because apparently Germans are unable to pronounce the word properly. Philip just told me this so I didn't have a chance to test it with Jan last weekend! 

Party Boats! (I'm not on one!)

I have many more wonderful pictures from The Hague .... well I don't really have them, Jan has them because I forgot my camera. So, until I get them from him, we must go back to Queen's Day for some excitement!

Here are some of the "party boats" cruising the canals. I couldn't believe that people weren't falling in all over the place!

Den Haag

Today Jan and I took the train to Den Haag for some sight-seeing. He wanted to go to the sea which is 5 km from the city center, so we rented a bike. He suggested a tandem!! It was super fun but a bit difficult at first. He drove almost all the time....in front of the Peace Palace we decided to try switching but I couldn't even drive us 5 meters without thinking I was going to fall. The back was much better - I could even read the map while he drove.

He thinks we can work on improving my pedalling, but I think I was very good.

I think we look very good on this bike! He might have to buy one for Goettingen when I come visit (but he already has three normal bikes....)

Queen's Day - my favourite

The best 50 cents I spent on Queen's Day was given to a boy who was selling compliments & hugs. He gave me a wonderful compliment that his father translated for me. The hug was only average but I'm not complaining! 

He said that my make-up looked really nice on my face and that the colour of my sweater looked very nice on me and that I had a great energy about me.

Here we are:

More Queen's Day!

Yesterday morning we started the day by going to Vondelpark, one of the main parks in downtown Amsterdam. Here children sell things of all sorts - old books, toys, and clothes, but also set up games and play music and dance. It was really fun. Andras and Daniel, two colleagues also came with us. Here are some pictures of what we did:

Andras (a guy I work with) seems to have some pent-up frustration. The only thing (other than beer) he spent his money on were these two things:

1) Throwing eggs at people

2) Smashing a tomato when it comes out of a tube:

We also played a game where we catapulted presents to a picture of the new King and try to make them land in his basket:

As you can see, a very fun day!!!!