Spring is in the air!

I woke up the other morning to a bright blue Rotterdam sky. Not a cloud in the sky! It was gorgeous. My hyacinth also decided to really bloom as well. Have you smelled on of these things?! It's amazing and totally made my day. Our entire apartment smelled of sweet hyacinth.

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to take a bike ride in the city. Spring is really in the air! And on the ground for that matter as well. Small little tulips are starting to sprout out of the earth; it's a beautiful thing. There are no leaves on the trees yet, but people are happy! The big jackets are stashed away, cafes are moving their chairs outside, and you can feel the energy. I love the seasons! Here are a few pics from our bike ride...

The Laurenskerk near our old hood

Crooswijk, northern Rotterdam

Crooswijk

The Meent, one of our favorite streets in Rotterdam

The Meent

 Rotterdam Central Station, it's coming along!

Hotel Bazaar and restaurant in our new hood, on Witte de Withestraat

Well, the countdown is finally here...we have 18 days left in Holland. We leave April 3rd. Don't remind me, there's so much to do and I'm still in denial we're leaving. There's a chance we'll be back, but for now we are San Francisco-bound--with a 3-week layover in India. Who said you can't have a honeymoon before the wedding?! Besides, we have a wedding to attend there! 

And yes, some well-deserved beach time after this long, long winter. ;)

Carnival in the South, minus the beads!

Elliot and I had this trip planned to Maastricht, the southern most city in Holland that borders Germany and Belgium, and hadn't realized at first that our overnight would coincide with Carnival--of all festivals!



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It was a lovely 3-hour train ride and before we knew it, we were in Maastricht. This city is in the Dutch state of Limburg. It's known for its regional cuisine, many churches, and its quaint riverside city center.  The people also speak a very different Dutch than in Rotterdam, in fact a whole different dialect. I couldn't understand a word they said!

After checking in to our adorable 'bed & bike' (no breakfast, just bikes), we biked to the center to do a little site-seeing and scope out the start of Carnival. Actually, the official start time of the 3-day party was 11am the next morning, but the town was already packed with party-goers. Tons of people were out and about, making last minute purchases for their costumes and for stocking up their fridges. We biked around a bit, saw a few nice churches, the 13th century wall around the city, and then we found a really cozy bar called Zondag (Sunday) and enjoyed a few biertjes (small beers) of local brew. Ready for some food, we found a cute restaurant serving traditional Mestreech cuisine. Elliot had rabbit stew and I had salmon in a creamy sauce. Later that evening, we really enjoyed people watching on the Vrijtof, the main square. Super duper silly-looking people. The best part about Carnival, so far, was that it wasn't about beads, dressing super slutty, or getting completely wasted. Everyone, kids and grammas alike, were dressed up super silly and just out on the streets to have a good time. 

The next morning, we wandered back to the Vrijtof, the main square where Carnival was officially starting. The prince of Carnival spoke to the people and then his men fired off the cannon eleven times, once per minute for eleven minutes. Or something like that. All the meanwhile, people were (of course) dressed up super silly. It's not like people 'were something' - like in American halloween. They just found all the most random items and somehow attached every piece to their bodies. We explored the city more, until it started raining. And then the parade started! Oh geez. It was a mess. We finally made our back to the train station and just in time for the madness to begin. My favorite is a three-way tie between the drag ladies with curlers, the rangers on ostriches, and the viking family...

I can only begin to wonder what the next three nights did to that city...

Ice skating on the canals

When we got back from South Africa, the temp dipped down to about 5ºF and stayed there for a couple days. That's when the excitement started. The canals started to freeze!

For two weeks the people in this country had one thing on their minds: the elfstedentocht. That is, the 11-city tour. It only happens once every 20 years or so and the last one was in 1997. It's a huge freaking deal. Only certain people can actually skate the race--and only on certain years. You have to get on a list or something. I heard they were talking about moving ice from one canal to the other, too. Wow!

So a couple weekends ago, the entire Kralinge Lake in Rotterdam was frozen. My boss (I'm sure he'll love this) is very nice and often on Fridays will say, "Ok, Meredith, I have something for you do this weekend." Though I'm never quite sure if he's going to say something about work, he usually offers excellent recommendations for things to do in Rotterdam--he is, in fact, a true Rotterdamer. This time, here was the conversation...

JL: Ok, Meredith, I have something for you do this weekend.
MG: Oh, really?
JL: You must go ice-skating.
MG: Yes, I'd really like to! But where can I rent skates?
JL: You don't have ice skates?!?
MG: Who owns ice-skates?
JL: Everybody owns their own ice skates!
MG: Of course they do.

So, we had to find ice skates. It was easy enough for me to find a nice pair of well-worn, long-distance Norwegian ice skates from the 70s in size 40. But poor Elliot--size 47 is just impossible.

And so we went! Elliot on foot and me on the irons. It was awesome. Pretty epic, actually. I'm really glad we had the chance too, because the next day...the snow started to melt.