Closer to the end

The end is creeping ever closer, and I'm all discombobulated by it and other things.  I'm in a weird mind set where everything is going along as normal but isn't at the same time.  There's an inner clock ticking away and the end isn't clear.  I'm missing people who've already left, or people I haven't seen yet but will before I leave.  I look out the window of the train at scenes that have become so familiar I take them for granted and realise I won't see them for much longer.  And while I may see them again, it might not be for years.  I'm trying to memorise specific views and vistas, wondering if routes I know through the centre of cities will have remained and what will have changed along them.  That feel in the air after it's rained, and just how incredibly damp it is here.  Oh, and the sound of hoofs and waggon wheels on cobblestones.  I won't hear that again.  And most, most most, of all.  Trying to absorb and inhale the feeling of Amsterdam.  To remember how it feels, it's own particular pulse, beat, rhythm, which no other city has.  Trying to make it part of my skin.

 One thing I'm very grateful for from this past year was the opportunity to learn the pulses of Rome, Venice, Munich, Brussels.  Some of those have grabbed me with such a fascination I know I'll be back to learn them properly and more in depth.  But because of where I've lived the most familiar now is Amsterdam.  It's comfortable for me now, and still fascinating because there's all sorts of things I haven't found in it yet.  Not so well known streets, little parks, funny little houses.  So most of all.  Memorising Amsterdam.  Which things to remember to tell people "I wish I could show you!"  Lots of those.  Trying to explain the personality, which way to go to get to the old town, which streets have the parties, or are just more fun.  I know I'll miss things, and I won't realise I miss them for a few months in some cases.  But that's good in some ways.  Less to miss now.  Gives me time to process.

Be well

Hints of endings

Endings are interesting.  Some are sad, some are if not happy at least not sad.  Others are temporary, some are permanent.  They're all different, and all of them will teach you something even if it's that you should have ended something sooner.

Anyway, this all leaps to mind because my last day of work is Monday.  I spent the last week going around seeing things that have become familiar almost like new, as it was if not the last time I'd see them, it was likely the next to last time.  It's a bit sad, and not at the same time.  I'll miss some things, like hanging out with the kids, and the walks with the dog when I did all my thinking.  I'll even miss the biking.  I notice things, and remember things.  Like last time was the last time I put M to bed.  I'm not going to have to do that again.  Monday's going to be chock full of "last times".  Should be interesting.

Another odd/interesting experience for me is feeling lonely.  In fact I didn't even quite know what I was feeling until today.  I just knew I was slightly unhappy, there was something off, and I couldn't figure out what.  And then I was sitting reading today and it struck me that I was feeling lonely.  The friends I made who I saw regularly and was close to went home months ago.  There's a couple more who are still here and I need to make sure I see them before I leave, but I see them infrequently.  I realised I haven't had a conversation about things that make me happy with someone I actively enjoy hanging out with for about a month.  Bar one day.  One of the friends who left came back for a day and I hung out with her all day, which, now I think about it probably set this off.  I was happier that one day than I have been in weeks.  It's also just occurred to me that this likely isn't good for me as an extrovert, but I also don't think hanging out with people I don't like much is going to help.  Hopefully I'll last for another two or three weeks without going too bonkers.

Mildly confused

My brain is in a complete muddle.  It's like part of it is still with me for the day to day, remembering to remind the kids to take their lunch bag or tennis racket or what have you, and the other part is waaay too busy with other things to be present at all.  It's a little bit like slogging through mud in my brain.  I was told it could be because while I'm still working, part of me has already moved on and is thinking about/planning what comes next.  And for the past three weeks or so I've been halfway between desperate to be finished and freaking out because I'm running out of time.  A totally random state of mind that isn't particularly comfortable.  Missing things from home with impatience mixed in one moment, worrying about not having access to certain things in Holland the next.

The other thing that's thrown me for a bit of a loop is I've only got one week of work left when up until Tuesday I thought I had four.  My host family's plans changed and now I'm done on the first of next month.  It was very odd, 'cause I thought I'd be happy or sad but I was...  Kind of ambivalent.  It's because life chucked a curve ball at my host family, so not the nicest of reasons anyway and I'm sad about that so that's probably part of it.  The other part is probably because I had a count down in my head to keep me slightly saner and to plan outings around and it's just gone poof!!!  Which, again, under normal circumstances isn't a bad thing but it got me completely muddled for a couple of days.  Strange business, brains.

So yeah, where I'm at now is 1: Desperate for some geeking out, 2: in need of some serious hugs, and 3: in a state of mild confusion.  And I'm still trying to figure that last part out.

Shade and Sweet Water y'all

Some recap

So on Friday I went in to Amsterdam (as per my usual) with two particular things on the to do list.  First was to got to the World Press Photo exhibit at the Nieuwe Kerk, and the second was to go to the House of Bols.

The World Press photo exhibit was well worth it.  There are some truly amazing shots included and I almost cried a few times.  You know the pictures are good when that happens.

And the House of Bols.  Well.  The tour part itself was pretty interesting.  It involved the history of the distillery and Genever itself, a room where you could smell all of their liquors and try to identify the flavour and pick your favourite (I liked the Blue Curacao and the Parfait Amour) and another where they walked you through all the basic ingredients without, of course, giving specific quantities or mixes.  And because they've been making spirits since 1575 there's old account books or sales notices tucked away in the odd corner, not to mention the piece by one of Rembrandt's students that was given to the family to pay off a debt.  

And then, of course, we come to the part where they give you booze.  The price of admission covers one cocktail and two shots.  I got a Mai Tai 'cause I know I like those.  The cocktail glass was big, which normally I love.  But the first sip?  WHOOOOO!!!!  The first thing that went through my head was "Well this is a kick you inna teef cocktail!"  I finished most of it.  And then I had two shots!  I tried the Jonge Genever and the Blue Curacao.  The next thing I noticed, of course, was the fact that I was most definitely tipsy, probably close to barely drunk if not juuuust over the line.  This was mainly noticeable because while not actively weaving or stumbling, my brain could tell that my balance was not entirely up to usual standards.  The other contributing factor was the fact that I was babbling at myself in my head.  And I was reminded yet again why I dislike being anywhere near drunk.  I don't like it when most of my brain works except for one or two parts which just got cold cocked.  The working parts get incredible frustrated with myself, and in this case most of it was working.  I'm just very very glad that I wasn't drunk enough to get the headache that usually comes five minutes after the alcohol kicks in. 

I ended up rambling at myself most of the way back to the train station.  The first thing that wandered through my head was "Kick you inna teef.  That's a Pratchettism.  I wonder how many other people wander through life with Terry Pratchett quotes as part of their everyday thought process and their daily language?"  Then I started to analyse the Genever.  It's got a crisp, clear flavour which would probably mix very well with most other alcohols.  Reminds me a bit of Vodka, but not as harsh.  When I was telling my mum about it I said "Think of it like this.  Vodka, as a spirit, is very Russian.  Genever is very Dutch."  That's a bit simplified but basically what it boils down to.  The next thing I noticed was what always happens when I'm drunk or tipsy, same as the headache.  I started getting draggingly tired.  Like, sleepy while walking to the point of not seeing clearly tired.  So I went to Starbucks.  Thank God for coffee.  At that point I'd picked up my dinner so I finally got on the tram and headed back to the train station.

The day ended with a very nice chat with a fellow at the Hilversum station about Dutch history and the fact that I didn't have a rich Dutch boyfriend or girlfriend yet.  It was highly entertaining and a good end to the day.

Oh, and I got a new camera. 

Ttfn

Things I think I'll miss

I was walking back from the Museumplein on the weekend, and thinking about where I was, and realised that there were several things I'm gonna miss when I'm back in North America so I started making a list.  I'm going to miss Amsterdam, quite a bit.  It's the major European city that I've come to know the best at this point, and I enjoy it.  It's old, it's got a fun vibe, it's easy to wander around in, and there's awesome museums.  I'm going to miss M.  He's quite the character, and he's fun.  The rest has to do with being in Europe specifically.  I'm going to miss the knowledge that if I have enough time and money I could just pop over to visit my cousins in Germany for a few days, or spend a week in Italy.  I'm going to miss the sheer number of cultures within easy travel distance, and wealth of history and ideas you can stumble across.  I'm going to miss my morning dose of NPR, 'cause I have a feeling I'm not going to listen to it as frequently as I do now once I get home.  And I'm going to miss having the BBC on my television.

On another note, I spent most of last weekend in the van Gogh museum.  I've seen pictures of his paintings before but I didn't really like the ones that get shown most frequently.  A weekend surrounded by his work has changed my opinion quite a bit.  You don't get the full impact of the colours and brushwork from a copy, especially if it's not actual size.  And in many of the prints I've seen it hasn't shown the separation of the colours properly.  His early work is good, but all the works I love are from after he went to Paris.  The colours explode, and the subjects get more varied.  I particularly like his Asian phase.  Two of my favourites are from that period, and a couple from the last few months of his life.  All in all, a very well spent weekend.

And this weekend was much slower, though I did manage to fit two museum/exhibitions in one day.  The EYE film institutes current exhibit and the Rembrandthuis.  That was pretty cool.

 Seven weeks to go.  Bye.

Counting down

So I'm in the final two months now.  Still feeling in a state of limbo.  And all my lovely plans for day trips took a hit over this weekend due to Amsterdam.  Just Amsterdam.  I went to the Van Gogh museum on Friday and discovered it was definitely a two day thing.  I've been wandering around the city often enough over the last year, so now I've got a few areas where I pay less attention to the route and more to what's around me.  The route to Museumplein is one of those.  And because it's the Museumplein there's a bunch of museums and similar things in the area.  So I kept seeing something else I hadn't visited yet but wanted to check out.  And it's looking like a pretty long list, so now I have to figure out what to do with my remaining weekends.

On another note, I've found the absolute best burgers in Amsterdam.  Better than a bunch of places in Vancouver too.  Not quiet as good as Red Mill, but that's to be expected.  It's a tiny little place called Lombardo's, and they have burgers, sandwiches, salads, and fresh juices.  The burgers are cooked to your specification, and the flavour combos of the meat and toppings is a mouthwatering thing.  Tasty, tasty burgers......

And I think I must be allergic to something.  Either a plant that grows here but not at home, or a mold that could be anywhere in the cottage.  I'm fine when I'm out for the day, but as soon as I get back my nose stuffs right up, and my head starts hurting.  It's annoying as heck and very uncomfortable.

That's all form me.  Ttfn.

So, Kingsday

Was interesting.  We ended up wandering around at least a quarter of the central part of Amsterdam, and one of the funniest things (for me) was that Dam square was probably one of the places that it was easiest to move and the least crowded.

Kingsday is a Dutch national holiday generally held on the birthday of the current monarch, but held the day before this year as his birthday falls on a Sunday and they don't do big national parties on Sundays here.  Every city, town, and village holds their own massive party with lots of loud music, food, and alcohol and the occasional mini playland.  The Royals make an appearance in two towns every year.  I don't remember which ones they were in this year.  

The biggest party that everyone says you need to check out is, of course, in Amsterdam.  There's extra trains running in and out Centraal Station all day, and they're all full.  Not sardine like full, but all seats taken full.  We walked through the North end of the Jordaan to Westerpark, then back down through the Centruum to Dam, and finally across in to the Red Light district and Chinatown.

In the North part of Jordaan it's pretty darn quiet on the side streets, but you can only move at a crawl on the main streets.  It's a free for all when it comes to booths on the street.  Most of the food joints have an outside stall, there's random beer bars, and as near as I can tell Kingsday is when everyone and his dog has a garage sale.  So some of the stores have stalls, but most of what I saw was the result of Spring cleaning.  Makes sense, actually.  Amsterdam is not set up in such a way that would make it easy to have garage sales normally.  Then, of course, back down to Dam.  The giant fair from Halloween was back in the centre of everything with associated wurst, poffertjes, oliebollen, friete, and waffles stands.  Oh, and cotton candy.  Dam is where everyone ends up when they want to sit down for a minute or two, so there was the usual crowd around the national monument and (because Kingsday) an absolutely staggering amount of beer detritus including way too much broken glass.

Next is Red Lights and dim sum.  The Red Light district was much as it usually is, only they were all aloud to be drunk and high on the streets instead of in the bars and coffeeshops.  So it was more crowded and a heck of a lot louder.  In the Red Light district, Kingsday is pretty much and excuse to start partying earlier and on the street.  The ladies of the area seemed like they might be doing a fair trade (again, makes sense) so there were more lights on in the windows than I usually see in the middle of the afternoon.  Several of the bars had outside music stands and were basting it loud enough to make peoples ears bleed.  And it was so bloody crowded around those places that you had to fight to get through which means your stuck having your pounded longer than you'd like.  It was at this point that my headache started.

Chinatown should perhaps be re-named.  It isn't Chinese specific, as a district.  I think Asian Quarter might be more accurate.  Walking along the street (singular, so quarter might not work as a name change) there were at least five different styles of Asian cuisine.  I saw Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean for sure.  Oh, and Dutch, but that's hardly Asian.

At this point the sun was making my headache worse and we were getting hungry and tired so we decided to get food and go home.  The train was very empty, so we got our pick of seats, and blessed quiet.

We split up when we got to Hilversum, so I decided to try a new route back by following the bus route on the bike.  It's quite nice.  Quiet as in no traffic and very pretty.  it makes the uphill part longer, windy, and more annoying so I'd likely only take that route home and never on the way in.  Is topped in Laren to pick up some stuff at the Albert Hijn, and a friendly older gentleman stopped me and asked if I'd enjoyed Kingsday and where I was from, which was nice.

And after that?  After that I just crashed.  TTfN y'all.

Familiarity and other things

I had an odd experience a few days ago.  I went out for a walk because I felt my mind had been to noisy for several weeks and wanted to see if I could still get to the quiet space I used to be able to find more frequently.  I found one of the woodsy areas, walked to the middle and stopped.  I can get to a meditative state much easier in a forested area or someplace slightly more wild.  I also use that to familiarise myself with the land, or the feel of a new country.  So I closed my eyes and just listened, for a while, to the sound of wind in the trees and birds squalling at each other, and did in fact find my centre.  Faster than I thought I would, actually.  The weird thing happened when I opened my eyes.  I'd been thinking about the similarity in sound in different forests and the feel in some of the others I've been in, and when I opened my eyes I had a moment of complete confusion as to where I was.  The thought process went something like "Where the hell am I?  Why the hell does everything look like it does?  Where is here?"  And then the rest of my brain caught up and I thought "Oh right.  Blaricum, the Netherlands."  It was very very strange.  But it made me think about my reaction or interest in some places/countries versus others.  Home is Canada, specifically Vancouver.  It feels like home, and I fit there.  However, another country that could quite easily become home is the United Kingdom.  I haven't been to enough places in it to be able to tell you which area in particular fits best, but the first time I went there I remember stepping off the bus and thinking "This place feels right"  It was familiar in a way that I hadn't encountered before, and felt almost but not quite like home.  For Taiwan and Italy it wasn't familiarity but complete and utter fascination.  Particularly with the cities of Venice and Taipei.  In both cases I was completely caught up in the cities.  The feel of them, the sounds, sights, and smells, and the people and culture.  And in both cases I left feeling absolutely certain I'd go back to both of them and with a hunger to learn more, as much as I could about them in the meantime.  I think about both countries frequently and miss them in a different way from missing home.  Belgium was the same but to a lesser extent.  Not as captivating but still intriguing.  And then there's the absolute non-reaction.  The completely unfamiliar that just doesn't become familiar even if you try.  Germany might be one of these.  I wasn't there long enough to be able to tell.  I'd started becoming familiar with Munich, but in the way you can familiarise yourself with new places, not in the deeper sense of feeling like this was a place you could put down roots.  So I'm not sure about Germany.  But I've been in the Netherlands long enough to tell.  And it is one of the completely unfamiliar that isn't becoming familiar and probably won't.  It's been an interesting place to visit, (and I'm glad I came) but it isn't going to be home.  I've familiarised myself with both Amsterdam and Utrecht, and I enjoy hanging out in both cities quite a lot, but even now I don't feel as though I'd make the choice to move here.  And it's not for lack of trying.  I generally end up in a part way meditative state when I walk and that's how I learn a place, and I walk with the dog a lot.  And I've actively tried to get the feel of the area, and the cities.  It's worked to an extent.  I can halfway zen my way through central Amsterdam and Utrecht, and do the same in Blaricum.  But it still doesn't feel right.

It's been interesting, and a good life experience.  I'm glad I came.

Shade and Sweet Water to you all.

Venice

Alright, here's the much belated Venice recap.

I started out from the Rome Termini station at what I thought was a reasonable hour of the morning, but it turns out if you don't have a credit card than your gonna be waiting for hours to talk to a person.  Mostly because the station is so crowded.  I actually don't remember when I got on the train, but the whole trip took a few hours and the Italian scenery is lovely no biggy.  I had a B&B booked already but of course no map.  So the first thing I did when I arrived was find the information centre to find one and ask for directions.  The first thing that should have warned me was when the info person looked at the address and went "Huh?" and had to look it up.  The second was when she didn't explain what had made her confused.  Anyway, I got my map, got on the vaporetto, and headed for the Rialto bridge.

I love Venice.  I've been twice now.  The first when I was stumbling from lack of sleep and jet lag I just thought I'd been in Italy long enough to start to wake up and that was why I remembered it so well when I got home, but after this time I realised it wasn't that I was more awake.  It was Venice.  The feeling of entrancement started on the canals on the way to the Rialto.  It got stronger at the stop, where the gondoliers were hanging around and the first of many Venetian mask stands were, up over the lit up bridge where I finally came to the realisation that Carnival was in full swing, and I fell in love with the city all over again.

My mood took a a bit of a damper when I couldn't find my B&B.  I was on the right street according to the tourist info lady, but the numbers made veeeery confusing  jumps and it wasn't the same street name (or what I thought was a street name) as it was on the address I had.  I eventually went in to a drug store just as they were about to close and asked for help, and the fellow behind the counter said "Oh.  Well, it's very close, in the next intersection.  It's very hard to explain, but you're close."  So I headed back out.  Bearing in mind his mention of cross streets I went to the one that seemed to skip over about a hundred numbers, including the one I was looking for, and turned right.  Whereupon I discovered that the numbers didn't skip they just made detours.  Also what I though was a street name wasn't.  It was the name of the district.  I finally found the B&B, called the host who was very patient and friendly, and he came to let me in and give me a key.  It's the B&B Santa Sofia, by the way, and I would highly recommend it to any one looking for somewhere to stay in Venice that's centrally located.

Having dumped my bags and thawed out a bit I discovered I was quite hungry, and I'd noticed a pizza place on the corner so out I went.  Oh.  My.  God.  Best pizza EVER!!!!  I can't even remember the name of the place anymore, but I know exactly how to find it.  The crust was good,  the amount of sauce to toppings to cheese was perfect, and add to that the fact that every pizza I had in Italy had better quality, fresher, and more flavour full toppings then I've had anywhere else and I was hooked.

The next day I sallied forth after a lovely breakfast with freshly made coffee.  The tourist market near the Rialto was in full swing and there were tour groups aplenty wandering by.  I decided to dive right in, bought a two day vaporetto ticket, and headed to St. Mark's square and Ducal palace.  The vaporettos are definitely the way to go.  The views you get from them are beautiful.  I'd got a feel for a part of the cities personality the day before and I got a slightly different view of it that morning.

As soon as I got off the boat I started seeing the costumes.  They were incredible.  Single, pairs, sometimes full sets, they were all absolutely incredible.  There was usually a theme of some sort if there was more than one person.  One of my favourites was a couple dressed in absinthe green with fey designs and pictures.  The century that the costume was based in changed too.  Most were 18th century (pick your decade) but a few were earlier or later, though there were probably more 17th and 16th century than 19th.

I spent most of the day just wandering around.  Looking, feeling.  Taking pictures.  I took a vaporetto to the university district at one point and then ended up walking back to St. Marks square.  I found one of the many little cafe restaurants on a side street and had a very good spaghetti vongole for lunch, had an absolutely stupidly expensive latte at one of the cafes directly on the square, and then went in to the Basilica di San Marco for a bit.  Wow.  I mean Wow.  the walls, ceiling and floor are completely covered in mosaics.  Gorgeous, ostentatious, sparkling mosaics.  The floor is uneven everywhere and I'm not sure if it's from the shifting of time or people wearing it down.  And the feeling inside.  Despite the sheer numbers of tourists wandering through at all times it has a very contemplative feel to it.  And It was so cool to stand there and try and picture what it would look like during Mass at the height of the Renaissance!

I decided that I wanted Pizza for dinner so I headed back to my neighbourhood and wandered around San Polo a bit more before getting the last slices of pizza I was going to have in Italy (NNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!) for a while and going back to the B&B.

My flight was and early one, so I had to get around 6 am which I was less then pleased about, but it meant I got to see the city wake up.  The boats arriving loaded up with the morning deliveries for the various restaurants, cafes, and other stores, the people who start early going to work, the tourists catching buses, trains, or like me a flight.  The general feeling of muzzyness when nothings quite woken up completely.  I loved it.

I don't think I can adequately express or explain what I feel when I'm in Venice.  It captures the mind in a way no other city really has.  I knew when I left Rome that I'd probably be back.  After going to Venice I could say without a shadow of a doubt that I would be back again.  In both cities I found myself thinking poetically about both of them.  Venice as "The Queen of Water" and Rome as "The Sprawling, Ancient Lady" those being the short versions, and hardly the only ones I came up with.

Italy itself holds a special place in my mind and heart, but Venice, she holds the centre of that place.  I keep trying to come with ways to explain why I'm so entranced by Venice, why she inspires so much poetry in me.  Why I could spend hours just sitting, floating in the heady sea that is her personality.  The movement of the people, the smells, sights, sounds that are her soul.  And I can't.  Not properly.  I just know I'm going back.

A bit of catch up

I'm still considering doing a separate post about Venice but for now I'll just give an update.

I've levelled up on the bike.  It is now at the point where it's easy no matter which route I've gone on, and considering what it was like when I got here, that's a massive improvement.  And the first of this crew of au pairs has just gone home.  Over the next three months I'm going to get to watch them all leave.  It'll be interesting and sad.

Spring has most definitely sprung, and it's getting damn hot.  I'm not best pleased as I was hoping for another month or so of temperatures in the teens before we hit the twenties.  And I really need to buy some Summer pants.  My old ones keep trying to fall off.  I'm also starting to get the creeping time feeling.  I've got about three and a half months left of work, and then another month, month and a half before I go home and beginning to wonder what I'll be able to fit in to the time I've got left.  And my foot is hurting again.  I'm not sure if I did something special to aggravate it or if it just got worse.  Either way it's annoying.

Ttfn y'all

A bit about Rome

I loved Italy.  Completely.  In fact, I've already started making plans for a return trip sometime in the future (who knows when) because it's so cool.  And I now know the perfect time of year for it too!  Having been in Rome in July I don't really want to repeat the experience, but Rome in February was lovely.  Anywhere between February and May would be fine I'm guessing.

I've been in Europe for about seven months now.  All the cities I've been to are old.  Rome was the first ancient city.  or at least the first that looked it and practically slapped you in the face with it every time you left your room.  She also sprawls.  She's big.  All the other places I've been have fairly compact (except maybe London) and you can get most places in the city centre if you like walking and don't mind exploring.  You can do that in Rome as well, but the distances are farther and everything seems to meander through the city because it knows it's got the space and is quite happy to take it.  I loved it.  The ancient places are interesting, and it's almost like there's a delayed reaction when seeing them.  When I was walking through I was like "Yeah this is pretty cool.  Oooh, nice angle for a picture" and every now and again you'd stop and go "Wow.  That is so old.  Awesome!!" and then I got back to my room at the B&B and was looking through the pictures and I'd start thinking "Holy shit.  I was there.  I actually saw these.  These are thousands of years old!  Coooooooll!!!!!!!" And most of the guides I had all mentioned the fact that the only reason some of the ancient buildings are at the point of ruin they are is because the materials in them were recycled by later building projects in the slightly more recent centuries.  That's not to say they'd be in perfect condition now, just a bit bigger.  The feel of the city is, I suppose, very Italian.  Smooth, half relaxed, perhaps mildly amused.  And I suppose I'd be amused at the antics of all the tourists (myself included) as well.  The sheer number was astounding, and it's the "low season".  Heh.

I also did a day trip to Naples and Pompeii, which was totally worth it. Naples was (literally) a drive by, but what I saw of it was lovely, a beautiful Italian seaside city.  But my reason for the trip was Pompeii.  One of the other ladies on the tour said she'd been to Pompeii before, but close to fifteen years ago and she said there's been a significant mount of excavation and preservation done so there was quite a bit more to see.  We only had two hours, so were taken through to see the highlights, but oh lord.  It was amazing.  Wheel ruts in the stone blocks of the road, from all the carts, carriages, and chariots from centuries ago.  All the wine shops on the main streets with the holes cut out to hold the jugs.  The holes in the blocks of the footpaths to tie the horses reins to.  The bath house and the remains of the heating systems you can still see.  The red light district and all the stone penises  carved in the walls and streets in the surrounding are pointing you in it's direction.  The fountains and carved water spouts.  And oh, dear heaven, the wall murals and mosaics.  The colours and the vibrancy they still have, the pictures you can still see.  It was so incredible to me I can't think of words that will properly describe what I was thinking and feeling.  It was humbling in some ways, awe inspiring in others.  I was dancing inside most of the time I was there, just from sheer joy that I was getting to see these things, and excitement for what had been uncovered and all the possibilities still remaining.

One thing that both my stay in Rome and my visit to Pompeii did was confirm to me that Archaeology and Anthropology are subjects that I would love to find out more about, especially given how excited I was getting seeing the things I did.  One week in Italy barely scratches the surface.

Next on the blog agenda, talk about Venice!

A week off

So I'm in Rome at the moment.  I arrived yesterday and I'm staying in a lovely little B&B about ten minutes walk from the Colosseum, so guess where I went today.

There was much personal drama before I left due in no small part to wacky hormones, but I didn't figure that out until this morning.  There's still a bit of personal drama happening, but I think I can probably deal.  Though possibly not before I drive my family to distraction from all the pestering.

The original plan was to stay in Rome for three days then head to Florence, then Venice, but I'm thinking the stay in Rome might be extended a day or two so Florence might get cut.

Oh, and I flew over the Alps on the way here and have decided I have to take a train through them before I leave Europe.

From a tired and dull brain, goodbye.

I got nothin.

So there hasn't been too much going on recently.  Business as usual.  I had holding patterns at home and I'm discovering the new ones I've created for m'self here I suppose.

I got to see The desolation of Smaug for the second time last weekend, which was awesome!  The Dutch subtitles were fun, particularly for the lines spoken in Orcish or Elven, 'cause you had to guess what they were saying.  Highly entertaining actually.  I also got to try out the bagel and coffee shop.  It's a Dutch cafe chain called Bagels & Beans and it's not bad.  The coffee is good and there's a good selection of bagel sandwiches including (of course!) tostis.

I'm at the five month point now with five and a half more months of work and then about a month, month and a half to travel around before going home.  It's kind a weird place to be.  It feels like a long time and not much time at the same time, so it's almost like a sensation of limbo at the moment.  The other thing that's odd for me right now is watching the kids.  I've felt old before seeing some of my sibs friends back home when they hit their growth spurts.  The oldest boy in my host family is twelve, almost thirteen, and I swear the top of his head has gone up a fair bit since the last time I looked.  Bah!

The next trip on the agenda (that I need to start planning) is Italy at the end of February.  I've got a week, and it's still Wintry so I figured Italy was a good choice.

Oh, my special frustration this week is books.  I'm heading in to a reading phase and I've been trying to find some fantasy or historical fiction and non-fiction books that I haven't read, and the lack of a library I can haunt is getting to me.  My usual pattern is head to the library, browse the sections I'm interested in at the time and take out a fair sized pile to sample.  When they're due, return and repeat.  But I can't do that here.  It's a different country so the books are all in a different language in the library (duh!) and I don't have that much disposable income so I'm not buying books.  Not that I'd want to anyway.  I read just about anything, but I'm more picky about which books I own.  I only buy books if I've already read them at least twice as that's a good indication I'll keep re-reading them which makes them (in my mind) a good investment.  And when I'm on these reading stints I generally go for things I haven't read before so I don't want to buy those.  So yeah.  It's making me antsy.  Very antsy.

Done for now.  Peace out

After Christmas

I went to Munich for two weeks over the Christmas and New Years holidays to stay with family.  I am very glad I did so.  Firstly because I got to hang out and reconnect with cousins I only get to see occasionally which was awesome!  Secondly because I got to meet a bunch of their friends who were all a lot of fun.  Thirdly because, y'know, Munich.  One thing I'm missing already is the company of other geeks.  As far as I can tell, I'm the only geek in the circle of people I hang out with in the Netherlands, and living with a couple of fellow geeks for two weeks really brought home how lonely I'd been feeling and how much I'd missed geeking out with people.

The first several days after I arrived were devoted to exploring Munich proper and seeing the Christmas markets.  It's very interesting to see the differences in some of them.  There's the generic, I suppose, and then the themed, like the medieval market and the artisan market.  It was pretty cool.  Then it was Christmas, so we had to get everything put up properly.  Cy had made everyone personalised Tardis stockings, and Alel mad a cardboard fireplace outline for the tv so we hung the stockings off that.  At least until we filled them.

Christmas Eve was a pork roast that one of the aforementioned friends came over and made, with lava cakes for desert.  And the Christmas Eve tradition of new pjs.  Christmas day was what Cy called the "big breakfast" so toast, bacon, eggs, potatoes, and loads of toppings for the toast.  Dinner was turkey with all the appropriate additions, and very good vegetables with pumpkin pie and a cheese pie for after followed by the Doctor Who Christmas special.  Boxing day we stayed in, if I remember rightly.  Friday I went to Dachau concentration camp.  It was a very intense experience.  Two places I would recommend people visit if they think they're up for it are the Roman catacombs and Dachau.  Those are the two places where I have walked in and immediately  had all the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  Saturday we made  day trip to Salzburg.  Sachertorte is reeeeally good!  Sunday Cy and I spent the whole day in the Munich residenz and treasury, and ran out of time.  It is spectacular.  Highly recommended if you find yourself in Munich someday.  And on Monday I got to go entirely game geek for a day 'cause Alel arranged a rpg session i could join in on!  Yay!  Oh, and we went for dinner to another of Cy's friends places where I met a cat who plays fetch and had really good chicken curry.  Then it was New years and we went over to the friend who made the pork roast's place (from now on he's M) for dinner and to watch fireworks 'cause he has a great view.  Dinner was, as usual, really good but the clouds dropped and we were completely fogged in for the fireworks.  We could hear them though.  Pretty much all of Munich was setting of fireworks from about 11:50 to 1:30 or so.  It sounded like popcorn in the microwave when it's at it's fastest pop rate.  Constantly.  For close to two hours straight.  It was pretty cool.  New year's day was yummy chicken day and Sherlock!  Sherlock is baaaaack!!!!  Oh, and Cy cut my hair for me, which was awesome!  It looks great!  The 2nd Alel and I went to the Pompeii exhibit, we went to a medieval style restaurant for dinner, and then it was time to go home.  That made me sad.  All in all a fun, tasty, and friendly two weeks. 

Oh, and me being me I managed to gimp my left foot when I got off the bus with my bag.            It still hurts.  Oh well.  Be well y'all, and hope you had a good holiday!   Rock on.