Blogs from Breda, North Brabant, Netherlands, Europe - page 5

Hands up who loves February? It's a strange old month, February. Shorter than the rest, with a leap year further confusing friends and relatives of anyone unfortunate (or fortunate) enough to be born on the 29th of the 2nd. Christians will recognise February as the period of Lent, the period of the liturgical year lasting 40 days before Palm Sunday. Other people know it as party time. Carnaval, Rio De Janeiro, February 13th-16th. Steamy city streets pulsating to the sounds of samba and rhythm-heavy drums. Barely dressed Latinos & Latinas gyrating seductively atop psychedelic floats to the cheers of thousands of onlookers. Mardi Gras, Sydney, February 19th-March 7th. City streets filled to capacity with performers and cheering onlookers. Sexually ambiguous and proud, Sydney celebrates one of the world's best known Gay Pride events. Mardi Gras, New ... read more

The room me and Laura are staying in at Sarojini's doubles up as Erik's "Snore room", if he is snoring to loudly he is relegated to another room to sleep in. This may seem a little extreme but believe me that man can make some serious noise if he wants to. One of the features the snore room boasts is a single shutter blind which conveniently blocks the sunshine in the morning from beaming onto Laura's little face. I however suffer with the full wrath of the unforgiving Dutch sun every morning, it's like an alarm clock to say "the time is now 5.30am" and a cue for me to say "aaarrgghhh!". Of course I'm joking, sort of, but this morning i managed to sleep through my wake up call and be reasonably refreshed and ready ... read more

10c, fine 22c, warm The last stop of the 'Matt road show' was Amsterdam. The mere mention of this city instantly conjures up sordid images of coffee shops, 'window shopping' and... windmills (okay that's not sordid.. but you get the idea). It's all true, you'll find whatever it is you're looking for in Amsterdam. I'd liken the parts of the city to a theme park - in your face, loud and noisy. Most people go to experience 'the atmosphere' (not the rides.. pardon the pun!) and not surprisingly nearly 95% of people in the red light district are tourists. This is not Holland but I never expected it to be. The first sight of a scantly clad teenager wearing lingerie behind a window was a bit a bit 'in your face', especially in broad daylight. ... read more

Beste Lezers Het is vandaag dinsdag. Femke en ikzelf zijn onszelf steeds fanatieker aan het voorbereiden op de trip. De meeste spullen zijn al ingekocht, zoals backpack-rugzak, malerone pillen (anti-malaria) etc. Het is wel een beetje raar om zo laat in het jaar op vakantie te gaan, maar ik moet zeggen dat het me ons tot nu toe goed bevalt! Veel mensen vinden het in eerste instantie vreemd dat we laat in het jaar nog op vakantie gaan. Als we dan vervolgens vertellen dat dit komt door het typhonen-seizoen (eindigd in november), dan begrijpt iedereen het natuurlijk wel. Pfff... nog maar 3 dagen werken en dan is het zover!!! We hebben er zin in!!!! Groeten Femke en Rob.... read more