On the Road Again.. Or at Least the Train
May. 20th, 2004 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
affrecaWell, I'm in Amsterdam, staying at a hostel on the edge of the red light district, above a bar, called the White Tulip. Not sure if I am going to be able to sleep tonight. But it is in the center of everything. Unfortunately, I'm in a laid back mood, and not ready to go exploring much. Have walked past plenty of "coffeeshops" and sex shops. Yep, they do tolerate it here, and it seems to be a big tourist attraction. Those crazy leftist Dutch.
So I spend the last week in Sittard hanging out with Miguel. Very glad I finally got to meet him in person after 3.5 years of emailing back and forth. Thankfully, despite what he says, he speaks very good English, because I found Dutch was not that easy to understand. I can pick out some words that are straight out borrow, but most I understood because of my old high school German. It is even more gutteral than German, and I am scared to attempt most of it for fear of hacking out my throat.
It is absolutely beautiful countryside. Sittard is in Limburg provience, affectionately called the appendix of the Netherlands. That stickydown part. I managed to bike to Germany on Monday, then Belgium on Tuesday. Wee! I have biked across an entire country! It helps that it a flat country with lots of bike lanes and everyone bikes. I was passed by little old ladies, though in my defense it has been two years since I was on a bike for more than two passes in the parking lot, and four years since I biked regularly. Oh, and they don't believe in bike helmets, unless you are racing, and then mostly for aerodynamics.
Also, the Dutch seem to be quite proud of how leftist they are. Maybe because I mostly talked to younger people, but Bush is not a liked man here. And I got pumped about what we do if we get sick and don't have health insurance. Or retirement. This shocks them terribly. But then again, they pay around 50% in income taxes. Yipes. Somewhere there is a good balance.
There are some comparisons to the Dutch part of Iowa. There is no rule about what color your house can be, or what color trim you have. The lawns are amazingly neat, and often have ponds or sculptures. Impressive, and would win neighborhood awards in most places I've lived (not that college towns are known for their nice lawns). Nobody does anything on Sundays. Well, we did, but the town streets were empty. Not necessarily going to church, but not active.
Valkenburg was a very neat town. Touristy, yes.. but they had caves. I'd call them more old mines (Marlstone/limestone). Walked around in one and had the guide to ourselves. He did a good job in English, though his specialty was German (the locals are quite multilingual). Paintings and carvings. And the guide searched for a piece of flint for me to take home. Quite different from most places that don't want to you take souvenirs. Though I was helping make it a larger cave.
Like Bruges, lots of neat old buildings. Churches, houses.. what have you. Quite overwhelming. Well, off to wander more.
So I spend the last week in Sittard hanging out with Miguel. Very glad I finally got to meet him in person after 3.5 years of emailing back and forth. Thankfully, despite what he says, he speaks very good English, because I found Dutch was not that easy to understand. I can pick out some words that are straight out borrow, but most I understood because of my old high school German. It is even more gutteral than German, and I am scared to attempt most of it for fear of hacking out my throat.
It is absolutely beautiful countryside. Sittard is in Limburg provience, affectionately called the appendix of the Netherlands. That stickydown part. I managed to bike to Germany on Monday, then Belgium on Tuesday. Wee! I have biked across an entire country! It helps that it a flat country with lots of bike lanes and everyone bikes. I was passed by little old ladies, though in my defense it has been two years since I was on a bike for more than two passes in the parking lot, and four years since I biked regularly. Oh, and they don't believe in bike helmets, unless you are racing, and then mostly for aerodynamics.
Also, the Dutch seem to be quite proud of how leftist they are. Maybe because I mostly talked to younger people, but Bush is not a liked man here. And I got pumped about what we do if we get sick and don't have health insurance. Or retirement. This shocks them terribly. But then again, they pay around 50% in income taxes. Yipes. Somewhere there is a good balance.
There are some comparisons to the Dutch part of Iowa. There is no rule about what color your house can be, or what color trim you have. The lawns are amazingly neat, and often have ponds or sculptures. Impressive, and would win neighborhood awards in most places I've lived (not that college towns are known for their nice lawns). Nobody does anything on Sundays. Well, we did, but the town streets were empty. Not necessarily going to church, but not active.
Valkenburg was a very neat town. Touristy, yes.. but they had caves. I'd call them more old mines (Marlstone/limestone). Walked around in one and had the guide to ourselves. He did a good job in English, though his specialty was German (the locals are quite multilingual). Paintings and carvings. And the guide searched for a piece of flint for me to take home. Quite different from most places that don't want to you take souvenirs. Though I was helping make it a larger cave.
Like Bruges, lots of neat old buildings. Churches, houses.. what have you. Quite overwhelming. Well, off to wander more.
