Paris!

I took the train from Arnhem to Paris. The ride was 4 hours with 2 train changes. When I arrived in Paris I was quickly reminded how beautiful the streets and buildings were. The first day I found myself just wandering the streets, no map to see what I stumble upon. One place I came across was the Canadian Pub called The Moose. My brother Darryl and I were here years ago (2004) when we made a trip to Paris. I had a 6.50 euro Coors Light and free wifi….the perfect spot to take a break! 

Here are some photos of the Paris streets and me at The Moose.

Open Air Museum, Arnhem

The last day of my visit in Holland we went to the Open Air Museum in Arnhem. The grounds are a replica of a typical Dutch village from the 1800’s. It was really cool the way it was set up like and old town with traditional houses, barns, bakery, bar, church etc. In fact this is where Dirk & Jiska got married. Lots of areas for the kids to play and for me as well! 

Dirk dared me to go into this sheep barn below and “herd” all the sheep out. I of course called him on the dare and went to chase the sheep. Below is a video clip, hope it works on your computers or it could take a while to load. When I went in all the sheep were eating from their troughs. The way I got them to move out was just by clapping….I learned from this that I may have a future in sheep herding when I get to New Zealand. The sheep co-operated except for this lone black sheep that was staring me down and breathing heavily through its nostrils. I avoided eye contact and moved gracefully to the door opening. When I got out I was startled by another sheep “ba-ba-ba-ba’ing” at me.

 Ya had to be there, it was a good laugh.

Good times in Holland

My friends kept me entertained through my visit. They have a wine merchant and storage facilitator (I am so so jealous!). We went to visit the merchant, Hank, had a tour of the cellars, their museum and some tastings:) I was in heaven. I have not come across a facility like this before. What a wonderful service to have a place to store your wine, they sell you select bottles and hold catered events.

Di, Dirk & Jiska at the wine storage facility

Dutch Girl on a Bike

Part of the Dutch culture, I couldn't resist the chance to join Jiska and Jasper for a bike 
ride to the local bakery:)

Look at all the bikes out side of the train station!!!

My Dutch Friends

It is time I introduce you to my Dutch friends that I have been visiting. They live 1.5 hours east of Amsterdam in a town called Arnhem.

 Meet Dirk, Jiska, Bart and Jasper.  The Kortekaas family moved to Canada on a work transfer when Bart was only 7 months old. The family stayed in Waterloo for 18 months and in that time we became very good friends. Dirk and Jiska have a love of travel, food and wine.......so, how can we not get along???

Jasper (age 5) 

 Those are chocolate sprinkles on Jasper's bread, which is a normal breakfast garnish! The boys were jealous when I was eating yogurt, since they only eat that for dessert. They also have mini gingerbread cookies that they put on bread with butter (I noticed Dirk eating this). 

Its a little backwards but I'm here to take in the Dutch culture afterall!

Bart (age 8)

Holland - Day 1

I got to Amsterdam with no troubles, checked into a hotel in the centre of the city and slept off what was left of my sickness. 

Jiska and I met at the Rijksmuseum in the morning to view the works of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Metsu and others. Its interesting that Jiska, who has lived in Holland most of her life, has never visited the museum before. So she was just as much of a tourist as me:)

One of the skinny houses on an
Amsterdam canal

Houseboats along a canal

Rijksmuseum

After the museum we made the drive south to the town of Delft. The town is know for their university of architecture and Delft china. We walked around the city center a little before it started to pour rain. We then headed for an indoor activity, a tour of the Royal Delft museum. 

We found it very worthwhile that we viewed the works of Rembrandt and Vermeer in the morning as we saw a some of their works replicated into Delft tile art. 

The official Royal Delft stamp

Different stages of making the china

Large version of the Night Watch all in Delft tiles

Rembrandt's "The Night Watch" in Delft tile

After our tour of the Delft factory (and a couple of purchases) Jiska and I took in a libation in the city center then headed to her home in Arnhem. At her home I was able to meet her boys again, Bart and Jasper before they went to bed. Then she and her husband Dirk and I stayed up to catch up....with some more libations;)

Update, January 14th

Katarini & Di at Uetliberg Mountain.
You can just make out the Alps in the background.

I returned back to my home base, Zurich, for 4 days to get caught up with my friends and to do laundry.... The highlights of this time was brunch up on Uetliberg mountain, a visit to the Picasso exhibit at the Kunsthaus museum and we entertained a work colleague of Chris' for dinner one night. The colleague is from Spain and gave me lots of great tips on where to visit and eat. I will be visiting Spain in a couple of weeks:)

Then not so much of a highlight of the 4 days was the, lets call it a 'GI infection/virus', that went through the entire house! Between last Friday and Wednesday we ALL got sick!! Luckily it was all at different times so we could all pitch in and look after each other and the kids.

What was not so good for me was I got my 'not so lady like' symptoms Wednesday night, the night before I was flying to Amsterdam:( I wanted to delay my flight for a day, but couldn't make it happen. I made it to Amsterdam, checked into a hotel and slept it off.

While in Holland I am visiting with friends who I will introduce later. Jiska is meeting me today at the Rijks Museum. We will tour around there then head to her house, 1.5 hours east of Amsterdam.

Bye for now, and stay healthy!