As a farewell I wanted to do a trip to the south of the Netherlands, having seen the North and the main cities (Den Haag, Rotterdam and AMS) I felt like I was missing to see the south. Other people from Sarphati felt like that too; eventually we were 15 people, 5 in each car.

The first stop was the huge dikes in Zeeland, built to stop the floods after the North Sea flood of 1953. Unfortunately, the heavy rain didn’t allow us to enjoy much the trip. The same happened with Antwerpen (Belgium), we spent more time having lunch than wandering around the center.

Back in The Netherlands, specifically in Breda, the rain didn’t bothered us much, so we could ramble around for a while without getting wet. However, another thing annoyed us more: when getting back to the cars we realized that we got a 60€ parking fine for each car.

Those with still energies stop in the nice Utrecht before arriving to AMS at midnight.

Even though the bad weather, the fine and the many kilometers we did, it was nice thanks to the people I was traveling with.

Compártelo

- “Who’s coming to Den Haag? There’s a party tonight in the beach and my friend can host us”

It was Saturday afternoon when I heard that in the “Spanish room”; the weather was not bad, I didn’t have any plan besides studying and the idea sounded good… and I’m leaving in two weeks!

At 17:11h we took the train to Den Haag from Centraal Station, we’re seven Spanish ready to have fun, although we realized that the weather wouldn’t be as nice as we expected. Once there we met the guy who has been “Erasmusing” in Den Haag for the last five months and who offered to his friends to host us. After leaving our bags in his room, spending some time in his dorm and meeting his pet (a rabbit), we headed to Scheveningen; on the way we had fish and chips. Once in the beach we had a drink laying on the sand despite it was chilly, and after the first lightning we got into a kind of beach club where the Erasmus students were having a party.

I woke up and I had a shower while my three trip mates (the other three took the train back after the party) were still sleeping; at noon I had left the dorm and I was walking through the city center. When I was in Den Haag almost two months ago I missed something: a visit to the Mauritshuis. There I stand for a while in front the pictures I wanted to see: “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp“, the eye-catching “View of Delft” and the naive look of “The girl with a pearl earring“.

After that I waited for my trip mates at the train station; they turned up with an unexpected company: the rabbit, from now on named Albert “Manchas”.

Compártelo

Yesterday I went to Den Haag with four nice girls, two French and two Greeks.

We took the train but we carried the bikes in it, so we could easily reach the seacoast village of Scheveningen once in Den Haag. There we could walked along one of the most popular beaches in The Netherlands when, as it was written on the guide, the thermometer rises above 20ºC. However, yesterday it wasn’t that warm and it was windy, but we didn’t complaint at all because we expected to have a rainy day. So, despite the wind, we could enjoy the views from De Pier, a boulevard and a tower standing over the sea.

Afterwards we biked back to the center of Den Haag, where we saw the Vredespaleis (Peace Palace), which houses the International Court of Justice, and the Binnenhof, which houses the Dutch Staten-Generaal (Parliament) and the Dutch Government. Reading the guide we learned that the official name of Den Haag is: ’s-Gravenhage, which means something like “the count’s wood”.

In the way back to AMS we’re almost fined because we hadn’t payed the especial bike ticket you are supposed to pay when carrying bikes inside the train. If only they informed about it! This last minute fright just made the day more memorable.

Compártelo

Anar a veure jugar al Barça en algun dels partits de competició europea és quelcom que ja rondava pel cap de més d’un des de principis de temporada. La possibilitat de veure’l a terres neerlandeses (Ajax Amsterdam o PSV Eindhoven) es va anar esvaïnt al llarg de la temporada, però va sorgir de nou quan el Schalke 04 va quedar emparellat amb el Barça en el sorteig dels quarts de final de la Champions League: 2/04/08, Schalke 04 - FC Barcelona al Veltins Arena de Gelsenkirchen, Alemanya.

Era una oportunitat única, així que ens vam organitzar per d’aconseguir 7 entrades d’entre les 1.800 que el FC Barcelona disposava. Una vegada amb les entrades només va ser qüestió de llogar un parell de cotxes (llàstima que no vam arribar a temps de trobar un monovolum!) i dissenyar el pla de viatge: sortida d’AMS a les 17h i tornada després del partit, el fet d’estar en periode d’examens no ens permetia destinari més hores.

I així va ser com ahir a la tarda l’expedició d’Erasmus blaugranes formada per quatre catalans, dos francesos i un italià va sortir de Sarphatistraat amb l’objectiu d’arribar a Gelsenkirchen abans que l’àrbitre donés inici al partit (20:45h). Ni la innacabable cua per fer els primers 50km, ni la tempesta que ens va rebre al creuar la frontera, ni la cua per arribar a l’estadi, ni la dificultat de trobar aparcament i, ni tant sols, la granissada que ens va caure mentre corríem fins al (totalment cobert) Veltins Arena, ens van impedir gaudir del partit.

Des del seient 40 de la fila 11 del block V de la Erdgas-Tribüne, el que escriu va vibrar amb el gol de Bojan i va sofrir durant l’útlima mitja hora… al final 0-1. L’ambient durant el partit va ser molt maco, els 1.800 blaugranes estavem en clara minoria davant dels més de 50.000 seguidors del Schalke 04, però ens vam fer sentir.

Tota una experiència.

Compártelo

A bubble inside another bubble, that’s the image that came to my mind when flying back to AMS yesterday’s evening after having enjoyed the last 9 days between Wien and Slovenija…

Typing about these wonderful days spent abroad (I mean, abroad from AMS) would take a lot of time, there’s so much to be explained and I wouldn’t like to miss any detail!. In fact, now I regret not writing down in my notebook those thoughts and impressions that several times I came up with. Neither I took note of what I did each day. So it would take me quite a lot of time to put my memories in order and structure a narration of those that can be explained.

That’s why this time I won’t write a post explaining what I did and I’d rather prefer to have a conversation about my experience while having a drink with any who would like to know about them…

Compártelo

Knowing that I’m going to stay in Amsterdam until June and that I got a 7 in International Economics, I left Amsterdam for the weekend (10-11 Nov). Two Slovenians and me had planned to do a weekend trip, and two Italians joined it; our targets: to visit the north of the Netherlands and Hamburg (Germany), our wishes: to have a great time.

We left Amsterdam on Saturday morning by car (we had rented one for two days). The first stop was the Afsluitdijk, the 30km. dike that “closes” the IJsselmeer allowing the Dutch to keep dry their “low lands”. It was a quick stop since it was very windy!!!

After driving along the Afsluitdijk, so once we’re in Fryslân/Freisland, we visited a pair of places. First, we took a look at Harlingen, a fishermen’s village; I don’t think it has anything remarkable (especially if you aren’t taking a ferry to the nearby West Frisian Islands) although we bought some cheese pieces that turned out to be very good!.

In Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, our second stop, we rambled for a while and we had a “cheese lunch“: we had several sandwiches each one of them made of a different type of cheese (garlick cheese, spicy cheese, …) we had bought before. Personally, neither there my expectations were fulfilled, may be because I was expecting the north to be very different from what I had already seen (…I don’t know why I expected such a thing). Anyway, the trip was being nice because people was being nice.

The next town we visited was Groningen. There the day-light hours ended up while we had a drink at the most popular bar of the town (I had a hot chocolate that put me in the mood to drive 300km up to Hamburg). However, when trying to get out of Groningen we got lost, so it took us a while to take the proper way to Germany (in fact, it was so because there’s no sign pointing out Duitsland !!). We also had problems with the directions in Germany because there were road repairs.

But eventually, we got to Hamburg and, after asking for it several times and driving around the city for a while, to the hostel in St Pauli neighbourhood. Although we’re tired, we went to have a beer at a near bar; that night I enjoyed the tastiest beer I’ve ever had: a 0.5l. tap Franziskaner.

However, the next day we weren’t able to get up early, so we missed the popular environment that it’s said to be found every Sunday morning in the Fischmarkt. We only had time to enjoy the last songs of the weekly concert that takes place indoors; it was very nice and cosy, enough to be willing to come back to Hamburg and get up very early in order to enjoy the event!!.

After a walk along the surroundings of it, we went to the city center. There we admired the Rathaus of the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, an stunning building that gives evidence of the richness that the city had (and still has) thanks to its harbour.

We also climbed up (in an elevator) to the top of St Nikolai-Kirche, in ruins since the Bombing of Hamburg in 1943, in order to enjoy the views, but at the same time we got conscience of the tragedy.

We’re also touched, in another sense though, by the weather: fortunately it wasn’t rainy, but it was f***ing cold!!! ( 5ºC ).

I have to say that Hamburg left me an odd feeling, I mean, it would be difficult to say why it worths a visit…

It isn’t a city with astonishing buildings and monuments (although a quick dip in its history gives you reasons enough to come), but there’s something in its environment that gives it personality, and I guess it’s something related with what we experienced in the Fischmarkt…

And there is not much more to be told… the way back to Amsterdam was smoothly and quick despite the rain and the darkness…

We had had a nice time together… It was a nice road trip.

Road trip: the North of the Netherlands & Hamburg (slightly above 1.000km in 2 days)

Compártelo

On Saturday 20th, my roommate, our Brazilian neighbour and me visited Rotterdam and Delft (the first was my roommate’s suggestion and the latter mine, so we went to both because they’re close to each other).

So, we left from Amsterdam (”dam on the Amstel”) and, after an hour-train trip, we’re in Rotterdam ( “dam on the Rotte”), the second-most-crowded city of the Netherlands, the second-largest harbour in the World and the unfortunately bombed city by the Nazis on 14th May 1940.

Since the day was sunny (but too chilly!) the first we did, once we had grabbed a tourist-map, was walk up to Euromast (185m), take the lift up to the 150m height terrace and enjoy the views while taking many photos.

But the best had still to come: the rotatory glass-lift that raises for 30m more from the terrace!!. A nice way to enjoy the views!. I would say that’s the second best thing I found in Rotterdam.

After walking to the center and eating we found what I (modestly) think is the best one there: een Kubuswoning (the Cube Houses).

They’re amazing!! I don’t know how living there is like but the outside is really nice.

Moreover, when we walked around them we discovered that there’s a kind of pedestrian street that goes “under” them. Then, we realized that there many more cubes than simply those seen from the main street. For a moment it seems that you’re in the middle of a huge “cubic-shaped mushrooms’ forest“.

By the way, why are they so less known?? I mean, I don’t think the city has much worth to see that these amazing houses and the views from Euromast…

Anyway, we left Rotterdam in the begginning of the afternoon in order to spend a couple of day-light hours in Delft.

I wanted to go there because I remember that in the History of Art’s class book there was a painting called “Gezicht op Delft“ (View of Delft) painted by Vermeer.

The old town is nice to visit, specially its Grote Markt, almost as beautiful as Haarlem’s one.

Once it was dark we had a (delicious!) hot chocolate in a cosy bar. There ended our day trip, nice enough to forget for a while about what is coming: exams’ period.

Compártelo

Last week, the Italians I spent “la Nuit Blanche’07″ with and me devoted our Thursday to a nice bike trip.

It took us all the morning to get to Haarlem since we left Sarphatistraat later than we expected (around 11am) and we took photos to the landscape (a lake, the cows, the bike lane, …) and to us while we’re biking.

Once we got to Haarlem, we walked around for a while, had lunch and admired the beauty of the Grote Markt.

In the afternoon, we decided to get to the nearby sea coast… If only it hadn’t been so difficult!! But it was worth it…

But, since it took us such a long time to finally reach the beach, in an hour it got dark…

….however, it allowed us to enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Eventually, after biking through the darkness up to Haarlem, we came back to Amsterdam by train.

Compártelo

Last weekend, a crowd of almost 20 people from Sarphatistraat (me among them) spent their weekend in Belgium. We left Amsterdam by coach on Friday morning and, after taking a train in Bruxelles/Brussel, we got to Bruges/Brugge. We spent all the afternoon walking around the old city center and taking pictures of it; since we we’re tired and we wanted to save energies for the following night (la Nuit Blanche) we went to our beds early… well, not all did that, the two Peruvians had a Belgian beer drinking night and, after arriving to the hostel around 6am, one of them threw up… next morning, he had left the night before’s dinner in Brugge and he was bringing with him to Bruxelles/Brussel a big hangover…

In Bruxelles/Brussel the weather was not as nice as it was in Brugge, I mean, rather than being chilly and cloudy it rained… That’s why, after being at the Grand Place/Grote Markt and taking the typical photo in the Manneken Pis‘ corner, we decided to take a sightseeing tour in a bus… a common activity that many tourist do, but when you’re a 20 people’s group you’re willing to get a discounted fare since you know you have bargaining power… and when there’re two different companies’ empty buses parked in the same corner, your bargaining power increases even more!!… and usually happens (if not, they collude) that the two bus drivers get into a price war (starting to voicing lower ticket prices) … and it might happen (as it did) that the price war becomes a personal question and one of them gets into his competitor’s bus and tries to punch his face (a violent alternative of kicking your competitor out of the market)… But, besides that, the sightseeing tour was really nice (it even took us to the Atomium!), long (1h30′) and cheap (5€).

Afterwards, we went to have a beer at the Delirium Café, a pub awarded with a World Guiness Record because of its 2.004 different commercial beers you can find there (e.g.: a Cruzcampo… 6€!). After having dinner, we gathered at the Grand Place/Grote Markt, which at that time had become the “Botellón Place”… la Nuit Blanche’07 had begun!! However, at 1am Giulio, Teresa and me decided to go to see a concert held in a pub nearby… but, after getting lost for a while, when we reached the pub there was no concert there!! So, we decided to have a beer in a bar opposite to it. What a bar, man! It’s called “Booze’n'Blues” and once inside we realized we had got in a music temple: a “Frank Zappa plays Frank Zappa” poster hang it from the ceiling, a french chanson poster hang it behind the bar, a blues stars concert one in another wall… and an old jukebox full of vinyls ready to be played for 50 cents each; we’re chatting there until 3am. Then, we walked back to the Grand Place/Grote Markt but it was empty of people and full of garbage… and, after rambling around for a while we ended up in the same bar again. There it ended our Nuit Blanche, having a cup of tea while listening to some rock&roll classics coming from the old jukebox… It was not the kind of night I expected, but it was nice though.

But what I wouldn’t have never expected after such a night was meeting the guy we met in the bakery where we’re having breakfast. He was a vagrant who had slept that night in a street of Bruxelles/Brussel and, unusually (as he said), was having breakfast in a bakery; rather than asking us for money, as it may be expected, he just wanted to hold a conversation (he even tried to invite us for a coffe). He explained us that he had been living in several places of the world (he was able to speak Dutch, French and English); he had had several jobs, although nowadays he earns some money playing the saxo in the streets; and that he has been a “whisky drinker” for more than 20 years. He advised us to travel around the world and enjoy the present as much as we could. Personally, I had the impression he had come out of a de André’s song. Although he had been in many places he was still looking for a place where people would be warm and talkative; after my Italian colleagues suggested him to go to the South of Italy, he told us that they weren’t the first to suggest him that, so he’d move him to there as soon as he could gather enough money.

Touched by that unexpected meeting, we left him in the bakery since we had to meet the rest of the people before taking the coach back to Amsterdam. We met them at the lockers of the Gare Bruxelles-Central/Station Brussel-Centraal and, after getting to Bruxelles Nord/Brussel Noord, we took the coach back to Amsterdam at 12am.

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