Skating Weather

Temperatures have been freezing for more than a week and that means it's skating weather!

Because Holland is such a flat country, most naturally occurring water (as well as the human-made polders and canals) is not very deep. So when temperatures drop, lakes and ponds everywhere freeze over. Skating is very popular here, and it's therefore no surprise that many world-class speed skaters are Dutch. Americans like me may be familiar with the sport through children's literature: Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates first made its appearance in 1865. I always assumed it was a Dutch story translated into English but learned today this is not the case. Its author, Mary Mapes Dodge, is an American who only visited Holland after the book was published.

So when I found out this morning that there is a large natural ice area just five minutes by bike from our home, I had to check it out. Unfortunately I have no skates (yet!) but I did have a camera and got some pictures of the action.

Today is a sunny Sunday and the road leading to this area, the Zwart (Black) Water, was jammed with cars trying to find a place to park. Approaching the ice through the trees I saw many skaters and children being towed on sleds, and also many omas and opas (grandmothers and grandfathers) and other spectators.

It's possible to find ice right in town. Wherever there is water, it's an opportunity for skating and sledding. These children were having some frosty fun in a park near the center of Venlo.

We had our own little skating experience yesterday while on a geocaching adventure. One of our destinations was Juliana Park, with a solidly frozen fountain. Hanna and I did a couple of laps, just because we could. Note to self: get some skates soon!

Koninginnedag

According to Wikipedia, Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) was originally celebrated on the queen's birthday. But that's in February and since the weather is so much nicer in late April, it's now celebrated on April 30th. Although the big celebration is in Amsterdam, every town has their own festivities. So we stayed home this year for Queen's Day and enjoyed the local offerings.

April 30 fell on Saturday this year, so our Queen's Day started at the weekly Saturday market. The market includes produce, clothing and textiles, as well as flowers, sausage, fish (fresh, smoked and fried) and of course cheese. This week our purchases included a scarf, some sausages, 2 kilos of grape tomatoes and a 5 kilo bag of assorted fruit. We love these bags of fruit - for €5 (about US$7) we got a pineapple, a coconut, a bunch of bananas, and about a kilo each of apples, pears and oranges.

In the afternoon there was a fun fair for families in the park adjacent to the Saturday market. There were inflatable bounce houses for young children, as well as crown making and other crafts. Beer was on sale for the parents, and fruit was on sale for everyone. It looked like great family fun.

In the evening, there were two separate public celebrations in downtown Venlo. For the older generation, there was a tattoo featuring the Joeks-Jagers ("Joke Hunters") in the same square I mentioned in Thursday's post. In addition to the tables that fill one side of the square, there was a bandstand set up in front the the old city hall, and next to that were several WWII-era trucks brought out for the big day. Crowds of spectators (including us) lined up along both open sides of the square. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of room for the performers!

Just before 8 o'clock, we heard a drum corps approaching. Spectators at one corner of the square parted like the Red Sea, and a drum major marched in, followed by about eight drummers. They drummed and precision marched their way around the square a couple times, and then marched out again. It sounded great but our kids weren't impressed - they took off for the other celebration immediately.

The crowd of mostly older folks continued to wait so Tim and I waited too, and our patience was rewarded. Within 5 minutes, the drum major was back, followed this time by a full marching band with reinforced drum corps of at least 15. They made an impressive noise in the cobblestone square surrounded on all sides by stone and brick buildings! Even more impressive was the way they were able to march in various formations around the square - which was about the size of a baseball diamond's infield. We enjoyed more than an hour of music before they marched out of the square. I recognized just one tune - Sentimental Journey - but enjoyed them all.

Heading home, we stopped by the other celebration, in the same park as the family celebration earlier in the day. The crowd was much younger than the tattoo audience, and security guards were searching bags on the way in. We listened to a few minutes of techno-pop while we watched the light show, but were happy to head home to watch a movie as our Queen's Day finale.

Enjoy a taste of the tattoo on YouTube:

Donderdag

Photo credit: Joop Ankerman

Thursday (Donderdag) is late shopping night in Venlo. On other days, most shops in the downtown area shut at 6 pm; on Thursday they stay open until 8 or even 9 pm.

This makes Thursday a good night to head downtown, have a drink or an early dinner, and do some shopping. There are many places to choose from for a drink or dinner. At this time of the year, the days are long and the weather warm enough to sit outside on one of the squares. Each restaurant has its own tables, many under the cover of umbrellas in case of showers. The photo above shows the historic city hall which graces the main square in town.

We had planned to go out for dinner and shopping this week, but wet weather during the day added some uncertainty to our plans. Fortunately the clouds blew away and the weather was fine. We chose a restaurant on the main square which has a seasonal asparagus menu. White asparagus is the special food at this time of year, and the traditional way to eat it is with ham, boiled potatoes, a hard boiled egg and melted butter for dipping. The white asparagus has a subtle flavor compared to green, and is slightly sweet. It goes well with the local pilsner beer.

A bonus was the 16-man brass band that appeared on the square to play popular tunes, including a few we recognized. Saturday is Koninginnedag, Queen's Day, and we figured the performance was a warm up for the festivities, which begin Friday night. Regardless of the reason for the band, it did create a festive atmosphere.

We did end up doing a bit of shopping, but for me, Donderdag is about enjoying life ... whether the shops are open or not.

Pasen

photo credit: Lars

Our Easter celebration started the Thursday before Easter with the local orchestra's performance of the Saint Matthew's Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. Performances of this masterpiece at Pasen (Easter) is traditional all over the Netherlands. It was wonderful, and thanks to Dutch friend Pieter, we had a German-English libretto so we could follow along.

Chocolate bunnies and colored eggs are also traditional here. We also tried Passtolen, a sweet yeast bread with raisins and almond paste filling. The favorite treat around our house seemed to be chocolate eggs with hazelnut filling. Another treat: the kids enjoyed having two days off school - Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Easter worship is always jubilant, and this year was exceptionally so. We attended Easter Mass at Sint Martinus parish church, pictured above. The church is beautiful, the choir and organ music likewise, and the rousing Halleluia Chorus finale (in Dutch) was stirring.


Gelukkig Pasen!

The Adventure Begins

Photo credit (caribb)

After months of preparation, we are finally on our way. A friend dropped us at the airport, we checked a bunch of bags, then through security (third time in three days for Lizzie and me), and a short hop to Seattle. We wanted to say goodbye to Allison and Laura so we rented a car at the airport (no time for public transportation) and drove up to meet them for brunch at Portage Bay Cafe in the University District. Yum! It was great to see them, and although I was sad to say goodbye for now, I hope to see them in Venlo this summer.

Tim arrived the same day from Washington DC where he was getting his visa. He waited for us in the airport (see Schiphol) so we could go through passport control together, just in case. That was easy, as was finding our driver. We piled our gear and ourselves into the van and slept most of the way to Venlo.

Since we arrived in Venlo at about noon local time we decided to have a look around to try to stay awake. We walked downtown for lunch, got passport photos for our resident visas, stopped at Hema for some basic necessities, and did some grocery shopping at 2 Bruder. We dropped Tim at work for a meeting and went home to get started on dinner.

One of our neighbors stopped by with a big bouquet of flowers delivered earlier in the day. The florist had dropped a card in our letterbox but I hadn't had time to translate it. The neighbor, whose name is Jan, is an older gentleman, and very pleasant and friendly. The flowers were from Tim's colleagues and quite lovely. We also met our next door neighbors, a family from Taiwan with two kids in primary school. They were also very friendly and welcoming.

After being awake for most of the last 24 hours, we decided to call it a day. A goede dag.