Posted in Uncategorized, tagged holidays, NaBloPoMo, photos, Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet on November 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands from Spain today. We headed over to see his arrival, along with seemingly half the population of Utrecht. He’s a popular man with screaming fans.
Zwarte Piet was also in attendance, seemingly in record numbers. There were boatloads of them! Maybe Spain’s unemployment numbers will drop after this month!
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged dog, man, NaBloPoMo, photo friday, photos, sculpture, Spoetnikkijker, Sputnik Watcher, Utrecht on November 13, 2009 | 4 Comments »
This is a detail from one of my favorite sculptures here in town. It’s such a quiet, solitary setting and the sculpture fits the environment so perfectly. I saw the man quietly contemplating the trees when I first came upon him, during a walk with Pippo. I thought it was lovely. Then I saw the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged birthday, food, G, photos on November 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today is Giovanni’s birthday. He decided to go for a low-key celebration, so we’re staying home and I’m making a wine-based beef stew, as he requested. Tomorrow, though, is a different story. We’re going to see Eddie Izzard perform in Amsterdam. Not too shabby a way to celebrate!
Posted in cultural, tagged cultural sunday, NaBloPoMo, oudegracht, photos, stadhuis, weather, winkel van sinkel on November 8, 2009 | 5 Comments »
For the first time in days, we had sunshine today. A nice break from the rain we’ve been having for the past week, and the rain it looks like we’re expecting next week. Today also happens to be the monthly Cultural Sunday, which has a changing theme each month. This month the focus is on [...]
Posted in neighborhood, tagged flamingo, Griftpark, NaBloPoMo, Orlando, photo friday, photos, sculpture, Utrecht on November 6, 2009 | 7 Comments »
This is a partial shot of a series of three sculptural figures over at the nearby Griftpark. The sculptures — Drei Grosse Figuren (Three Large Figures) — are by German artist Thomas Schütte. They’re one of the many bits of sculpture that seem to pop up in random places throughout the [...]
Posted in entertainment, neighborhood, tagged Dutch, headache, language, music, NaBloPoMo, photos, potdeksel, Quiz Night, trivia on November 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Last night was Quiz Night again at the Potdeksel. As I’ve mentioned before, the quiz is in Dutch, unlike some of the other quiz night’s in town, although we’re fortunate that René is the quiz master, so he’s kind enough to translate when we don’t quite understand some of the questions. We can sometimes get [...]
Posted in neighborhood, tagged autumn, NaBloPoMo, orange, photos, weather on November 3, 2009 | 4 Comments »
It may be rainy today, but it still manages to be absolutely gorgeous. I loved the contrast of the orange leaves — both on the tree and the sea of leaves on the ground — against the grey cloudy sky.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Belgium, jail, NaBloPoMo, Netherlands, news, photos, prisons, trade on November 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s made the BBC news website, as well, so I figured I’d mention it again. Plus, it never fails to amuse me. The Netherlands has a shortage of criminals — or at least a shortage of ones who are caught and sent to prison — so we’re [...]
Posted in holidays, tagged customs, holidays, Koninginnedag, orange, oranje, photos, Queen's Day, traditions, World Blog Surf Day on October 30, 2009 | 19 Comments »
The theme of this third annual World Blog Surf Day is Holidays and Celebrations, in which expats from around the world write on the same theme, exploring some of the new holidays and traditions they (we) have been exposed to in our new countries. At first I was a bit lost on what to write [...]
|
