notes from the lowlands: June 2007

Noviomagus

If anyone is interested in the history of Nijmegen (or Noviomagus as the Romans called it!), check this website out. It does have some pages in English and HEAPS of photos of Nijmegen so you can all get a better visual impression of "our" city :-)

http://www.noviomagus.nl/home1.html

BTW the photo you see here is exactly the same style as the building I work in!

Alli xxx

Netherlands 4-1 Serbia

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/index.html

Alli xxx

Foppe, Foppe and more Foppe

He is the sweetheart of the country here at the moment - Foppe de Haan that is. And who is that strangely named man you may ask?! He is the coach of Jong Oranje (the under 21 national football team). For the past two weeks it has been "football central" here in NL, with the staging of the UEFA Under 21 European Championship AND Nijmegen being one of the 4 cities to host matches!!

I think Jeroen has managed to watch just about every game, either at the actual venue or on television! He went with a friend (who is originally from Serbia) to see Serbia beat Czech Republic 1-0 during the group phase at the Goffertstadion here in Nijmegen (see photo at top). We both went together with another friend last Thursday evening to the Goffert to see the play off between Italy and Portugal for the last Olympic Games spot in Beijing next year. Italy won the game on penalties (grrr). And last but not least, Jeroen managed to get free tickets for the semi final, and went with his dad to witness the longest penalty shoot out in European football history when Jong Oranje beat England in Heerenveen last Wednesday evening. After extra time the scores were still tied at 1-1 and it took 32 (!!!) penalties to determine the winner, with NL standing strong and eventually winning the penalty shoot out 13-12. I watched it on television here at home, and even I was jumping up out of my seat when they finally won! They now play Serbia in the final tonight. Score update to follow tomorrow ;-)

Now, back to Foppe :-) During the tournament much has been made in the media, and on just about every football-related talkshow, of Foppe's coaching style and the fact that he is from Friesland! Before coaching Jong Oranje, he spent 20 years at SC Heerenveen in Friesland and seems VERY happy to stay in that part of the country. Apparently this is THE major obstacle to him becoming coach of the senior football team - he lives too far away!! Foppe comes across as a pretty down to earth, fatherly and somewhat cuddly figure :-) When asked questions during an interview he gives extremely direct, intelligent, sometimes funny, and always no nonsense replies. No Johan Cruijff-style philosophical waffling from him!! The young players seem to really warm to him, and if they win tonight the whole country will probably vote him in as honorary Prime Minister. My favourite thing about Foppe is his wry sense of humour and the fact that he has appeared every evening on a particular football talkshow wearing track pants and sports sandals with white socks - so cute!

Anyway, the tournament has been a nice way to warm up for the forthcoming Asia Cup - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie oi, oi, oi :-)))

Alli xxx

An afternoon in Amsterdam

Today I spent a lovely afternoon in Amsterdam with two women from my expat womens' online forum - yep, a blind date!! I met up with Sarah and Helen in a funky little cafe close to the Jordaan area at about 1.00pm for a coffee or two, before heading off to visit the many "secret gardens" of the canal houses.

Once a year, during the third weekend of June, the public has the unique opportunity to discover Amsterdam’s hidden green side. Some thirty gardens of various private homes and institutions are open for a period of three days, for viewing by gardening enthusiasts and other interested people.

Behind the stately, imposing facades of the canal houses, the gardens usually form an indivisible link between the architecture of the house and the appearance of it’s interior, so the inhabitants often commissioned well known (at least here in NL!) garden designers who transformed the plots into true pleasure grounds. Most of the gardens we saw were very zen like and quite formal, yet very beautiful. Lots of water features, sculptures, and little paved paths weaving their way through masses of hydrangeas, lavender, foxgloves, herbs etc etc It's a side I never imagined existed in the sometimes tacky, touristy heart of Amsterdam. Well worth the walk in the drizzling rain!

Hope you enjoy the photos :-))

Alli xxx

Amsterdam's hidden greenery

Lightning, a new fridge & the Rolling Stones

Yep, it's all happening in little old Nijmegen!! Yesterday, to "celebrate" surviving my first week at work, we became the proud owners of a brand new sexy fridge (see right). It's soooo nice to have a fridge that we can actually fit food in AND a freezer that is not frozen over with the iceberg that sunk the Titanic :-D

And yesterday evening, after our first BBQ of the season, we headed off to the Goffertpark to "see" the Rolling Stones. Yep, they were here, actually here, in Nijmegen! We didn't have tickets for the show, but that never seems to be a problem here. The city tradition is to head on down to the park with kids, dogs, footballs, a comfy seat, a few beers and hang out outside the perimeter fence and watch/listen to the gig. We had a pretty good view of the massive stage and video wall, and the sound was great. Very weird to hear Rolling Stones hits actually performed by THE Rolling Stones and not some dodgy Saturday night pub cover band! Mick Jagger was in fine form, performing all their big hits with his usual crazy energy levels. He even mentioned, in his best Dutch nonetheless, how nice it was to be back in Nijmegen for the third time! He arrived with his private helicopter yesterday afternoon, and landed on the NEC football field; and during their lightning visit, the band also "unveiled" a new street sign (see below).

Speaking of lightning, we had a crazy, intense tropical storm late yesterday afternoon. It was all over just in time for the Stones to come on stage though! At one point during the storm there were 500 lightning strikes in a 50 x 50 km area in the space of just 5 minutes!! Coupled with the biggest raindrops I have seen in a long time bucketing out of the sky, we were very happy to be under the safety of our own roof. Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones support act, did have to cut his act short after just two songs due to lightning striking his equipment; and some enterprising "business" guy with vision made an absolute fortune selling plastic rain ponchos at 5.00 euros a pop!

So, like I said, it's all happening here in Nijmegen :-)

Alli xxx

Real, live fairytales!

Yesterday Jeroen and I spent a lovely day in the wonderful world that is The Efteling. I am soooooo NOT into rollercoasters, so this is the perfect amusement park for me! The Efteling dates back to 1952, when the Fairy Forest was officially opened. The Fairy Forest is like walking into every single fairytale you have ever read as a child - Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb etc etc They have all been bought to "life" in the forest, and reminded me a bit of the Myer Xmas windows.

We did go on some "rides" too - a flight through the magical fairy forest, a boat ride through 1001 Arabian Nights, a crazy spin in Monsieur Cannibale's cooking pots (modelled on Disneyland's spinning teacups!), a magical monorail ride through the village of the Laaf people, and a somersault through the haunted Villa Volta where the whole room spins around you as you sit on a bench (the optical "illusion" and the slight movement of the bench makes it feel like YOU are spinning 360 degrees!).

Everything is "different" in the world of the Efteling. We managed to spot pink, blue, and green doves; a parade of waddling geese following a drummer & a flute player; a miniature train that choofed its way over water; ATM's in the shape of giant treasure chests & couches; rubbish bins that thanked you for your rubbish; and giant mushrooms that played music :-D Even the drink and junkfood vending machines are magical!

All in all, a very fun day out in the sunshine. I enjoyed it soooo much more than Disneyland Paris! The Efteling is way bigger and is set in beautiful parklands and forest, so even if you don't visit any of the attractions at all, it is still a nice day out.

See here for yourself:

http://www.efteling.nl/home.aspx?LanguageId=2

Oh, and see below for some photos!

Alli xxx

ATM's at The Efteling