Blogs from Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands, Europe
March 18th 2012
Yesterday went by in a blur of jetlag....but the solo flight/train trip to Nijmegen went well. I was really grateful that Sarah warned me that the train leaves the Arnhem station (ie, the station before Nijmegen) the same direction that it comes in - otherwise, I probably would have had heart failure. There's a public market in Nijmegen on Saturdays, so we explored the market and had lunch at a cafe. Sarah's been feeling a bit under the weather and i was exhausted, so we had an early night (ie, I fell asleep on the chair before 6:30 - oops). We did buy a bunch of delicious food at the market to eat for dinner - gouda, brie, focaccia bread, chocolate, macademia nuts/peanuts/cashews, and stroopwaffles (delicious waffle cookies with a syrupy goo in the middle). Today ... read more
February 15th 2012
Women have a more equalized role as men here, which I believe puts some truth in the "going Dutch" saying we have. Although they don't normally "go Dutch" it's not uncommon for couples that have been together for a while to split costs, but you see that in America too. The girls aren't necessarily more forward, but they seem to enjoy flirting. They do this thing called gifting, which basically means if any girl gives you something then she is showing her interest in you. And it doesn't just have to be a drink, it could be anything. A glow stick neclace, or her scarf or something like that. The people also are very friendly, and when you meet a new friend they like to buy you a drink as sort of a 'hello'. There is ... read more
February 13th 2012
How have I gone my whole life without realizing that I lovetomato soup?!? I woke up this morning with some sort of cold, I think a combination of the dry/cold air along with my still jetlagged body has caused this. I also have found out that I didn't bring enough pairs of boots. The working hours here are very short in comparison to the longer hours we work in the US, although they take a much shorter lunch. The colleagues here are very nice so far, and welcoming to me. All the stores closed today at 6pm and I didn't get back to the hotel until right before then, so I still wasn't able to go out and get a bicycle for travelling around. The hotel that NACCO booked for me is very nice - it ... read more
Continuing the history nerd kick: the Allied liberation of the Netherlands...
Published: May 10th 2010Europe » Netherlands » Gelderland » Nijmegen
May 10th 2010
Since I was still on my "World War II-kick," today I decided to visit the Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum (National Liberation Museum) in Groesbeek. I had originally thought it was an easy train ride an hour north of Maastricht; however, I was wayyyyyy off. It took me 2 hours to get to Nijmegen by train, & then I had to take a 20 minute bus to Groesbeek. Since it took me forever to get there, I decided I had better make the most of my experience there. The museum itself is pretty cool. It looks like an old bunker & one part of the building looks like a parachute. While it was a nice museum, it certainly wasn't what I had expected. The informational movies that were playing in some rooms were only in Dutch (without English subtitles) ... read more
Netherlands - Nijmegen, Groeesbek
Published: November 9th 2009Europe » Netherlands » Gelderland » Nijmegen
August 19th 2009
I made a two day trip to the Netherlands from Hannover. I visited the 2000 year old city of Nijmegen. I have to admit I was quite surprised to learn that this was a city - since it really is a very small place. It has a lot of young people around being a university town, but I got somewhat bored since I visited alone and there was not that much going on. However, its a pretty town - the old market place and the gardens make for some nice photographs. I also visited Grooesbek, which has a War Museum detailing Operation Market Garden ( a world war II operation, which took place in this part of the Netherlands). It is a well maintained and interesting museum - I recommend it. ... read more
August 1st 2009
The Netherlands It was wonderful to arrive at an airport and have a friendly face to great you. The flight from Gatwick was uneventful and going through Dutch passport control fast despite the queues. No questions asked and I was soon out the door and enjoying a coffee with Lovice. It was about an hour and a halfs drive to reach Lovice's home in Wijchen, toward the west of the Netherlands. It was wonderful to know that I could unpack and just be in one place for a while. To eat home cooked meals and just get to see how Lovice and family lived here in the Netherlands. The first week I visited the local lake with Jeromy and saw his and Natajsha's school; went supermarket shopping and clothes shopping and got my hair cut etc. ... read more
May 5th 2009
With Queensday festivities officially over last Friday morning, Koert and I took a day to rest before heading back onto the party scene again. We also engaged in a little healthful activity with a bike ride through Hoge Veluwe (pronounced ho-huh velu-wa) Park, the largest nature reserve in the country, and some brain-cell-rebuilding with a cultural visit to the Kroller-Muller Museum (which lies 5.5km beyond the park gate) on Saturday. With a few clouds keeping crowds to a minimum, Koert and I felt like intrepid explorers as we rolled, nearly alone, through an ever-changing series of landscapes - from green fields to lush forests, fine-sanded desert and two-toned savanna. We returned from our adventure with bellies full of the world's creamiest, meltiest, simplest vanilla ice cream and gave our bodies one more healthy boost of soup-and-salad ... read more
September 21st 2008
Terribly sorry to have put a hold on the blogging for the past couple days: we've been exploring our surrounding areas. I guess I'll start from the beginning. Oh jeez! The day before yesterday, the day started off much like any other, however Monty and Alysia had make-up classes. Because of this, we couldn't leave from Well to do anything until around 3 o'clock. However, we made up the time easily. We each bought dagkaarten (day passes): this time, the bus driver actually spoke English! We headed out to a little town we had passed by the day previous, called Arcen. We nicknamed it "Cute Town". Upon arriving, we realized how hungry we were. We popped into a Bakkerij, and purchased vlaai, coffee, and other such refreshments. As though we had built-in antennas, Gabe and I ... read more
July 28th 2008
Well this is it people the last blog from an awesome trip to europe. Even though I'm home already I figured I should still finish it, mainly because the last week in holland was awesome fun (as usual.) After the marathon train ride back to Nijmegen Melissa cooked up a feed while we got out stuff organised, then we went out for drinks with two of Melissa's mates Hans and Maria. Everyone was pretty knackered so after a kebab on the way home we hit the sack ready for an early morning train to Harderwijk where Melissa's parents have a holiday house. So regulation we were late to leave and didn't get to Harderwijk till a bit late but we went into town to try the local specialties of smoked eel and raw herring with raw ... read more
July 25th 2008
The Vierdaagse festival is a week and a bit long street party in Nijmegen, in celebration of the 4 day walking event held at the same time. All throughout town there are about 20-25 stages set up where they play all sorts of music from midday till midnight. After 12 everyone heads to the bars and the party generally kicks on till at least 5am. Reece and I were there from the Saturday night (first night) until Wednesday, Steve also met us in Nijmegen on Monday, right in time for Melissa’s birthday. The 4 nights partying were a lot of fun, although we were usually up a bit late to experience the best of the afternoon music we tried to get into town for the last act or two in the evenings. We went to a ... read more
