Blogs from Netherlands, Europe - page 390

Quiz night in Delft Last night I joined the guys in Delft for 'Quiz Night' (they insist on 'quiz' and not 'trivia', by the way) at a quaint little pub off the town's main square. This was my first time to Delft, so I got there a little early to soak up the Great Market square, which is a football sized field of cobblestone with ancient ornate churches at each endzone. I plan on going back sometime to tour the churches and the pottery factories, so I'll have pics then. I could go on and on about how Vermeer was from Delft, and about the church with the broken back, but then if you really wanted to know, you could just go here: http://www.delft.com/ As I'm sure these touristy little adventures of mine are getting old ... read more

The weather was great, so I finally got the chance to head out towards the beach resort/fishing village of Scheveningen (pronounced Skay-ven-ay-gun, I think). At first I thought I would walk the whole way (maybe a little over an hour hike) but then realized it was hot and I was lazy. I caught a tram and stopped off in Madurodam, which is this uber-touristy place where you can see 1/25 scale models of some of the most interesting sites in the Netherlands. If you're the kind of person who likes model trains, this would be your heaven. All the little buildings and sites were incredibly detailed, and most of them were automated or played music, etc. The planes at the mini Schipol airport taxied around, a little guy pulled up and down to ring a town ... read more

today is the last full day of contiki :( i can't believe it's over and i also can't believe it's only been 2 weeks. i feel like i've known all the people on the tour for so much longer, but no. from munich sightseeing afternoon we wen't to the beerhall for dinner. it was lots of fun, they had 5 german girls doing folk dancing and ringing bells of some sort. the boys loved it of course. after dinner we decided to go out on the town, rather than just to a bar as usual, with only our group to socialise with. interesting trip in there!!! some people got a bit stuck into the beer and there were about 35 of us going in on the train to the city. we didn't all have time to ... read more

Today Dale and I took a quick 15 min trip north (towards Amsterdam) and visited the city of Leiden. The weather was total crap...about 45 and raining, but what the heck, it's my first weekend and I gotta make the most of it right? We picked up a walking tour map and with Dale as navigator, I took up to providing tour-guide style info about each of the attractions we hit. Along the way in we saw our first windmill, which we later found was the town windmill museum. Pics of the De Valk windmill and other Leiden stuff is here: url=http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/briansiy/album?.dir=f5cb&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photosBrian's Netherlands trip photos Along the way we saw the first university established in the Netherlands, visited the area where Rembrandt was born, and also saw the church of St. Peter. Because of the church ... read more

Instead of telling the same story to everybody and thereby imperiling myself to the dire consequenses of carpal tunnel syndrome, I've decided to sell out and join the blog world. Plus, this way you guys all get to see pictures and what not, which is totally bodacious. So, let me begin: I'm currently sitting at the office for my first day on the job here in Rijswijk as the EPSS Service Take On Manager. This momentus occasion, consisting of me, a blank desk, and this laptop means several things have already happened: 1) I survived a trip 'across the pond', which of course was not entirely uneventful. My first flight was cancelled, and so I had to take an alternative trip consisting of a layover in Minneapolis and a second international flight which put me next ... read more