Saints Almighty!

I pulled out some of my old Mardi Gras beads — the gold ones, of course — to wear during the game.

As some of you may know, I went to Tulane University in New Orleans, and I fell in love with the city. I also became a Saints fan as I embraced everything New Orleans-related. Of course, I’ve also been a long-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan, so I was used to supporting a non-winning team. It’s now been 20 years since I first became a Saints fan. In all that time, I never really expected us to do that well; certainly not to make it to the Super Bowl! I mean, I’ve had my hopes raised in the past; I was there in the early ’90s when Coach Jim Mora had some success with the team, success that lead to the whole Cha-Ching chants and bumper stickers calling for Mora for Governor (which might not have been a bad idea considering David Duke and Edwin Edwards were the actual candidates).

So this season, as the Saints began their 13-game winning streak, I was thrilled, but still very cautious. It was the Saints, after all. Something would invariably go wrong. When they lost the last three games of the season, I thought it was the Saints as usual. Don’t forget, they used to be called the Ain’ts. I knew we were going to playoffs, but still thought that would be the end of it. Oh, I was thrilled we’d done as well as we had, but I didn’t want to get too excited. History was certainly not in the team’s favor. But they kept winning. They even beat the mighty Brett Favre and the Vikings to finally, FINALLY go to the Super Bowl for the very first time in the team’s 43-year history.

I still couldn’t bring myself to be too cocky about the Saints actually managing to win the Super Bowl. I figured I’d be happy just that we’d finally made it that far. The first half of the Super Bowl made me think that line of thinking was appropriate. But then the second half of the Super Bowl started and things turned around. Boy did they turn around! Touchdowns, interceptions, more field goals! I still couldn’t believe it and it wasn’t until the Colts’ last play, with only 40 seconds left that I finally allowed myself to believe that the Saints really were going to win the Super Bowl! They did it! They won! The New Orleans Saints are NFL Champions!

Did I mention that the game didn’t start here until 12:30 a.m. and that the end of the game wasn’t until almost 4 a.m.? Oh yeah. We watched. I wasn’t the only displaced Southerner/New Orleans Saints fan who stayed up and watched. This morning when I got up a few measly hours later, I was afraid it was just a dream. But no; it was all real! So if you’ll excuse me, I have some gloating to do.

Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

WHO DAT?!

Foto Vrijdag 2.5

I just realized that I never posted about the geese who came for a visit last week. We see the usual array of ducks in the canal by the Stadsschouwburg, but last week while coming home from grocery shopping, I noticed a lot of white down by the theater. At first, I thought it was a herd of swans, but no, it was a gaggle of geese. With their brilliant white feathers and the snow that remained on the ground, it was quite a beautiful winter image. As they paddled and played in the glossy water, it was hard not to become captivated.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I’ve recently been the recipient of the Beautiful Blogger Award from both Isabella over at A Touch of Dutch and Dave at Random Walks in the Low Countries, both of which are regular reads for me. It’s always nice to realize others are reading and actually enjoying my pictorial ramblings.

There are a few vague rules associated with this award; rules which are quite open to interpretation. Here are the original rules and requirements:

Beautiful Blogger rules (change to fit your mood)

Recognize and link to the person who nominated you.

Paste the award on your blog.

Share 7 interesting things about yourself.

Nominate (or note) 7 bloggers who you like.

As many have done, I figured I’d change the “7 interesting things about me” to something a bit different. In this case, I’m going to go with seven interesting things about Utrecht.

1. The Domtoren. An obvious choice, but it really is pretty fantastic. It’s the tallest church tower in the Netherlands, standing at 112.5 meters/368 feet. I love that almost anywhere I go in town, I can see it rising up over the rooftops. I find it impossible not to get at least one shot of it whenever I take my camera out on the town. I’ve got a whole set devoted to it over on Flickr.
2. Binnenstad. I love that the city center of Utrecht is relatively small. It’s easy to walk from one side of town to the other. Every time I look up a location on Google Maps, I find myself thinking, “Oh, that looks kind of far.” Then I actually walk it and it’s incredibly close! I like a walkable city!
3. Cultural Sunday. Every month, there’s a Cultural Sunday event here in the city center. The theme changes every month, so you’re bound to find a topic that will interest you throughout the year. Music is a frequent theme, but done in all sorts of styles and presentations. This Sunday the theme is jazz. Past events have included the musical boat parade, the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the annual Uitfeest, just to name a few.
4. The Post Office. Really! It’s interesting from the outside, but it’s unbelievable on the inside! I keep forgetting to take my camera with me when I go, which isn’t all that often, so I need to plan to go specifically just to take photos. It’s a fantastic interior that anyone visiting the city should see.
5. The History. This one’s a bit esoteric, but I truly do love living in a city that had its start around 47 CE (AD). That was when the Romans arrived and set up shop where the Domtoren and cathedral now stand. As I’ve mentioned before, there are markers in some of the roads, showing the outlines of that first Roman fortress. One of the other great things about so many of the historic buildings in town is that they are still used and not just turned into sterile museums. They’re living history, still a vital part of everyday life here.
6. Maliebaan. A beautiful, tree-lined street, with statue-lined walkways. Even with traffic going past, it’s surprisingly calm and peaceful. I love strolling down the path with Pippo at my side, enjoying the combination of nature and art. Interestingly, it seems that Louis XIV, the Sun King himself, was quite taken with the Maliebaan when he was here in 1672.
7. The Cathedral. It’s kind of hard not to love the only cathedral in the Netherlands closest to the French Gothic style. It’s even harder not to love it when you realize that more than half of the cathedral is no more. The nave of the cathedral collapsed during a hurricane in 1674, and it was never rebuilt. It’s still an impressive structure with its buttressed apse and the area where the nave once stood is now a charming square where all sorts of events and festivals take place throughout the year.
8. I figured I’d throw in one last, extra tidbit. Utrecht is trying to start a new campaign promoting the city and province. The official campaign begins 1 March, I believe. In the lead-up to the campaign, there’s a song written by Utrecht’s own Colin Benders, more famously known as Kyteman of the Kyteman Hip Hop Orkest. Here’s a video of Kyteman conducting an orchestra performing his composition Ode aan Utrecht.

And now for something completely different (from what I’ve been writing about) … Here are a few blogs I enjoy and recommend — and nominate if they’re so inclined. Since many of the ones I read have been nominated by others already, I thought I’d go with a cooking/food theme for my recommendations.

• Kayotic Kitchen: I’ve mentioned her quite often, but I truly do love her recipes and have never been disappointed with any of them. She also takes beautiful photos.
• The Misadventures of Mub: She tries out lots of different recipes each week and then posts her reactions to them and suggestions for making them better, if necessary. I love that kind of real-world approach.
• Lizzy Goes Dutch: If you’re one of the people who think vegetarian food is nothing more than leaves and twigs, Lizzy will make you think twice. She makes all sorts of vegetarian recipes that are appealing, satisfying and downright tasty!
• Home Cooking with Sonya: This is one of the newest blogs I’ve started reading. As an American expat, it’s handy to see what she comes up with for substitutions or variations on American recipes that require ingredients that aren’t so easy to find here in the Netherlands.

Trivial Pursuits

Last night was Quiz Night once again at the Potdeksel. G and I managed to maintain our track record of coming in second to last, always beating at least one all-Dutch team (usually made up of more people than our lonely two). The fact that we can beat an all-Dutch team is a big deal, because the quiz is done in Dutch (although we can get translations) and more importantly, many of the questions are about Dutch topics (tv hosts, radio DJs, athletes).

Still, we do learn things on occasion. Here are two facts we learned last night, which might come in handy if you’re ever playing a Dutch-themed game of trivia.

• The capital of Aruba is Oranjestad, which basically translates to Orange City. Did you know that Aruba, along with the Netherlands Antilles, is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands? (I knew the last part; it was the capital of Aruba that we didn’t know.)
• We also learned that the first castle that Queen Beatrix purchased when she moved out on her own was Drakesteijn. It’s actually here in the province of Utrecht! She purchased it in 1959 and took up residence in 1963, a few years before her marriage. There’s some renovation work being done on it, I gather, so there’s speculation she may move back there when she eventually abdicates the throne to Prince Willem-Alexander. It’s really quite an interesting castle; octagonally shaped with its own moat. It’s like a very tiny island.

Party Posters

I figure this photo goes well with the post I made yesterday about how a few politicians were saying that it’s too cold to campaign. Look! There’s snow on the ground! Doesn’t it just look cold and miserable?

This plywood billboard went up a week or so ago at the corner of Lucasbolwerk and Nobelstraat. It’s right there in front of the Stadsschouwburg (city theater) and one of the bus stops. A good a place as any for the display of political posters. It’s certainly neater than all the millions of individual campaign posters stuck all over the place as they are in the US.

As I try to get a better understanding of Dutch politics, I find myself referring back to this listing and general description of the various Dutch political parties currently operating. Amusingly, or perhaps intentionally, the more right-wing parties (CDA, VVD) are on the right hand side of the billboard, while the more left-wing parties (GroenLinks, D66, PvdA) are on the left-hand side.

If I understand correctly, non-Dutch nationals can vote in regional and municipal elections once they’ve lived here for five years. Have any of you who have been here long enough, but not become Dutch citizens, voted?

Delicate Flowers

File this under “bless their hearts“. Politicians are stupid all over the world!

Too cold to campaign, say Labour MPs

Monday 01 February 2010

Junior home affairs minister Ank Bijleveld has rejected a call from two Labour MPs for the forthcoming local elections to be postponed because it is too cold.

According to website nu.nl, MPs Pierre Heijnen and Paul Kalma wrote to the minister, saying it is too cold to campaign.

The local elections traditionally take place in March and the MPs also asked the minister to commission research into the likely effect of a switch to a warmer month.

Labour’s youth wing described the MPs request as stupid. ‘As far as we are concerned, they can go and campaign among Dutch holiday makers in Benidorm,’ said youth wing chairman Mohammed Mohandis. ‘We’ve got the tickets ready and the return flight is March 4.’ The local elections take place on March 3.

The Socialist Party has offered Labour campaigners 500 hats to help them cope with the cold.

Source © DutchNews.nl

Moon and Mars

Despite being in the city center, we were able to get a glimpse of Mars Friday night. The fact that it was snowing was the bigger problem in getting a clear view, since the clouds were being a bit obstructive. As you can see, I got a few shots after we came home from the Potdeksel. The blurriness has more to do with my lack of a tripod than how much I drank. Promise. I have a few other shots that are a bit crisper, but I liked the glow in the clouds on this one. There was a nice ring of red in the clouds around the moon, and if you look closely (or look at the bigger versions of the photos, you can see Mars making an appearance on the upper left side of the moon. In one article I read about Mars’ appearance, they said that it should be about the distance of an outstretched fist, and sure enough, even in my photos, that’s pretty much spot on!

The Sonnenborgh Observatory here in town does viewings on Friday and Saturday nights. That was probably the place to be on Friday. Too bad I only remembered this now.

Foto Vrijdag 2.4

After posting about the futuristic house earlier in the week, I figured I’d post a return to the more traditional style of Dutch architecture today. Plus, the early evening light (another springtime picture) is so warm and golden and appealing on a cold, grey day like today, where we’re getting rain and may get some snow.

Fun With Hema

I admit that I enjoy going to Hema and just wandering around, looking at everything. It’s a tiny bit like Target in the US, with colorful, inexpensive odds and ends. It seems now that the website for Hema can be quite a bit of fun, too. Click the link and then don’t do anything. Just wait. You’ll see for yourself.

Location, Location, Location

I’ve been meaning to write about this house for a few weeks now, but the spirit just hasn’t moved me. I think my writing muse is hibernating. I’m not sure she’s awake now, either, but since I’ve been writing up stuff for Trippist today, I figure I’ll just keep going and finally get this piece written so I can close out a few tabs!

The house seen here at dusk last spring (so 9 or 10 p.m.) is located on Kromme Nieuwegracht, just off the Janskerkhof by the Drift canal. It’s a fairly new structure (obviously), having been built in 2002, by the architectural firm Sluijmer en Van Leeuwen. They have a reputation for building modern, eye-catching structures, such as restaurant Divinatio here in Utrecht. The house is currently for sale, and can be yours if you’ve got €629,000 to spare on 150 square meters. It’s got some small rooms, but it does have two bathrooms, which makes me slightly envious. (Although the bathrooms may be as small as ours, so they may not be that enviable.) Ultimately, of course, what you’re paying for is bragging rights and the all-important location.

The house is known as the smallest modern house in Utrecht; not to be confused with the smallest house in Utrecht, which is quite a bit older. On the surface, it does seem quite small. What you see is what you get, in terms of the above ground living area. However, the house has hidden square footage. There’s an underground level that runs under the street, directly over to the canal, with a view onto the canal itself. The house is an interesting mixture of modernism and cave dwelling. Chrome and glass up above and brick down below.

It’s interesting to compare the photos from when the house was first built (and featured on the architect’s website) and the photos from the current real estate website. A few changes along the way; perhaps not quite as chic and sleek as it used to be, at least in terms of decorating. Life invariable intrudes. Even our own modern yellow sofa isn’t quite as sharp as it was when we bought it, but that probably has something to do with the sharpness of our cats’ claws.

Despite the small size of the house, the inclusion of the larger living area does make it seem much more livable, at least for a childless/free couple. The house certainly has a wonderful views from the kitchen and upper deck level: the Domtoren, Janskerk, St. Willibrord, the Drift canal …

And hey, on those nights you don’t feel like cooking, you’re just a few steps away from one of the Irish pubs in town. Fish and chips! I told you it’s all about location.