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Sunday was the Children’s Carnival parade (Kinderoptocht) in Sittard in the Netherlands.
During Carnival season, a parade is held for and by children—usually the day before the big parade on Carnival Monday/Rosenmontag. The kinder parades are more “kid friendly” (read: less pushing…slightly) with various school groups participating. Children of all ages dress in costume and march in the parade.
Sittard’s 2013 children’s parade was February 3. This was one we’ve heard about since we moved here and watched once on their web cam. And it gets a nice write up on a local (living GK) blog. It was, however, in Jacob’s words, “horrible.”
Our expectations weren’t high, but one thing we were expecting: CANDY. No candy was handed/thrown out. Very, very, very different than Cologne last year where Nicholas (even being younger and slower than the other kids) came home with a sizable bag of candy.
Jacob was sick and missed Cologne. In Sittard, he was expecting candy. Lots of it. So were we all. Imagine him in his blue bunny ears, angry face, holding an empty bag as the parade marched by. I felt so bad. So afterward we went to the store and bought candy. Poor guy.
Lesson learned: Parades in the Netherlands are “horrible.” At least that lesson only cost us 2.20€ in parking (and considerably more in candy).
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I did go back and check that blog. They did say “treats” were handed out. I knew I read that! Of course they also said parking was difficult, which it’s not.
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Now to find another parade for the kids (in Germany, with candy). We’ve planned to go to the Shrove Tuesday Carnival in Binche, Belgium, but don’t think they give candy either.
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From Sittard Children's Carnival Parade. Shot Feb 3, 2013 in Sittard, NL
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The day after Borefts Beer Fest we went to Amsterdam since it was only 30 mins from our hotel in Leiden.
Nice to finally see the Royal Palace. (It was being reno’d and covered in scaffolding when we were there last year.) Love the new entrance. Modern architecture next to old world structures is so striking. Like this at the castle in Gent.
Here are few pics, mostly from the flower market on the Singel canal. The flower market stores are actually barges (see the pic from the canal side above or below). You wouldn’t know it from looking at them or walking thru. They sell all sorts of bulbs,marijuana seeds,plants and cut flowers. It’s touristy and some of the prices are high, but they don’t mind you taking pictures. I tucked into a group of camera-happy Italian tourists, who apparently were really into the calla lilies.
I’d like to go to the flower auction outside Amsterdam sometime. Even tho it means getting up at an insane hour to be there when it starts. Maybe when Grandma gets here, and we’ll go to Keukenhof afterward.
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From Amsterdam Sept 2011. Shot September 24, 2011. Amsterdam, Netherlands
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As a whole, we’ve gotten a little fast and loose with the word art. I’m not talking about the great masters or 75% of what’s in museums. I’m talking about contemporary art. The self-proclaimed “artists” and the multitudes of “art” that has no business being called that.
Sure, there is no objectivity in the art world. Sometimes things become art solely for being a reflection of the sociopolitical climate of the time or being such a dramatic departure from the status quo that it becomes culturally important. Other times it’s just some ugly drawings.
Like this from the train station in Lieden, NL. Scary smashed up, deformed faces. The sort of “art” you don’t want to run into in a dark alley. Or a dark train station.
I believe that art’s purpose is to elicit an emotional response, a visceral reaction. When I look at this, all I can think is “WTF?”
Maybe it IS art and not “art.”
If you want to judge for yourself, it’s outside on the walls of the bike park.
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From Train station "art". Shot September 23, 2011. Lieden, Netherlands
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The weekend of Sept 23, we were in Bodegraven, NL at Brouwerij de Molen for the Borefts Beer Festival.
De Molen (in English “the mill”) has a brewery and restaurant inside a windmill that was built in 1697. When we arrived since the sails were unfurled and the blades were turning. I should have gotten a pic. But we were starving, I forgot I brought my camera and was in a hurry to get inside and get something to eat. We had pizza, beer sausages, chocolate tart made with imperial stout (Jacob had at least 3 pieces) and later chicken saté and some other sausage. The food was excellent. We will go back sometime to eat, without kids.
Very nice festival. Tents set up outside the restaurant and at the new brewery a block away. Nice crowd. And a lot of fantastic beer: Mikkeller, Nøgne Ø, Struise, Närke, etc. and of course De Molen.
Personal highlights:
Mikkeller Rhubarb Lambic (why don’t they bottle this stuff?!)
Alliance 2007, a collaboration between Thornbridge (UK) and Brooklyn Brewing. Not expecting much from this one, but wow. Awesome. More, please.
Everything De Molen. Categorically Europeans can’t make a good stout. Belgian stout is mostly awful; here in Germany, they don’t even know what stout is. But De Molen is the exception. I’ve never actually had a bad beer from De Molen, but their stouts are truly excellent. BA Rasputin, Wild Esra on Cherries, by far the best was the Hel & Verdoemenis aged on MacAllen whiskey barrels.
And then there was Struise. Ah, Struise. The only booth with beers that cost more than one token. Absolutely unjustified considering the quality of the one-token offerings at (just about) every other booth. The biggest disappointment: Struise Messy, a 39% abv stout. While it did hide the alcohol well, it also tasted like ass. Pardon me, Band-Aids. Burt rubber and Band-Aids. I wouldn’t go so far as to say undrinkable because I did drink most of it. Mostly because it was 3 tokens (4.50€)
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From Borefts Beer Festival. Shot September 23, 2011. Bodegraven, Netherlands
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So we went to Thorn Aug 24. One of our last little adventures before Jacob started school. I swear he was there. You wouldn’t know it from the photos. Apart from running around in the outdoor amphitheater, he sat on the stroller the whole time. And whined when I tried to get him to walk or stand next to Nicholas for a picture. So no pictures.
Thorn is one of the places I’ve heard of, driven by a million times but in the 2+ years we’ve lived here, never bothered to visit. And it’s 2 exits up the autobahn, maybe 20 minutes away.
Thorn is known as “little white town” because most of the buildings are painted white. Why exactly I don’t know. It’s a cute little town centered around an old church (originally an abbey dating from the 10th century). The streets are cobble stone from the nearby Meuse (Maas) River. Some arranged in large-scale mosaic patterns. Nicholas is standing on the “N” on a compass near the church.
This history goes: In the 10th century, Thorn was a sovereign state of the German empire. The town was run by a woman—the abbess or mother superior of the abbey. (Originally the abbey was a convent, but then changed to a secular state.) Only unmarried daughters of nobility were permitted to live in Thorn. These women had servants, owned property and lived a very luxurious life…until they were married. When a woman was married, she had to leave. Life, like this, lasted until 1797, when the French invaded.
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From Thorn, NL. Shot August 24, 2011. Thorn, Netherlands
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Yesterday Matt and I went to Bierbrouwerij de Koningshoeven (La Trappe). It’s the only Dutch trappist brewery, just outside Tilburg, NL, a little over an hour from our house. It’s in a beautiful wooded area. Like the others, you can’t go in the abbey—you can only see it from the road approaching, not once you get there—but there is a shop, tasting room/restaurant, nice grassy area and tree-lined path to a chapel. And great American-style hamburgers. So much better than the German facsimile, even if it did have cucumbers (strange in a good way). They do brewery tours, but we didn’t take one. They are given in Dutch, but it appeared that they have an English transcript you can read and follow along.
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From La Trappe. Shot August 13, 2011. Berkel-Enschot, Netherlands
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It’s spring, and that means tulips. (And two-for-one specials at the grocery store—18 for 1.99€ today!) Here are some pics I took last year at Keukenhof.
Keukenhof is a 32-hectare park in Holland. It’s only open two months a year (mid-March to mid-May) when the flowers are in bloom. They plant 7 million (!) bulbs every year. There’s a big playground, petting zoo and a series of events (music, Easter Bunny, etc) and indoor flower shows throughout the season. When we were there, the special exhibits where orchids and kalanchoe (eh, not impressed with that one).
One pavilion housed every type of tulip imaginable. I never realized how hideously tacky open tulips are en masse. One is beautiful and interesting, especially close up. But a bundle…ick. They look like gaudy, cheap funeral flowers. Take a walk down the artificial flower aisle at Wal-Mart. That’s what I’m talking about. Except these are real. Page thru the gallery below to the end.
We went as a family beginning of last April; then I went by myself two weeks later. What a difference a couple weeks makes. It was better tulip-wise the second time. That’s not to say it wasn’t beautiful the first visit—it was less tulips, more other flowers in bloom. In an ideal world, where I live in Holland and don’t have kids, I’d get a season pass and jog thru the park early every morning.
How to know when to go? Plant some tulips. Seriously. If your in the same zone, like we are, when your tulips are in bloom, theirs will be too.
I doubt we’ll go this year with so many other things planned. But, man, looking at these really makes me want to.
Note: I did not color correct any of these. The tulips really are that retina-searingly vibrant and the grass really is that green. The morning light streaming thru the trees was fantastic. Sorry there are so many pics; I had a hard time picking my favorites.
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From Keukenhof. Shot April 5 & 17, 2010. Lisse, Netherlands
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