Naughty, naughty!

Posted on October 20, 2013 by janstu

In the 1970’s I have been collecting postcards during my visits to England. Naughty postcards! They were popular in those days and actually quite innocent according to modern standards…:-) Here are two examples.

What to do with those postcards? After I had collected a lot, I decided to create a kind of collage with them on a piece of cardboard. And what better place to hang it than in the toilet ..:-) From that time on my guests often stayed a bit longer in the toilet and came out with a big smile. When I moved to my new apartment, I forgot more or less about this “work of art” until I found it back recently and put it again in the toilet.

During my last stay I decided to take pictures of the individual postcards. Here is the rest of my collection. The quality is not perfect, but they have stood the test of time (~40 years) reasonably well. Enjoy…:-)

For those of you interested in some background information, you may notice that many of the cards are signed “Pedro”. it was one of the nicknames of their creator David Philip Millar (1909-1988), master of the double entendre

Journal 17-10-2013

Posted on October 18, 2013 by janstu

The last three weeks, after Aric went back to Malaysia, I have been busy with many social and cultural activities. I started with visits to my GP, my cardiologist, my diabetician, my ophthalmologist and my dentist….:-) Everything is under control.

My dentist used a new torture contraption, which made me look like a breedbekkikker (wide-mouthed frog, rana ore lato, can only be found in the Netherlands, lol).

I visited two more musea and went to two concerts. In the Concertgebouw I listened to Maria Pires, playing Beethoven. She got an ovational applause which she rightly deserved. With a friend I went to the Gauguin, Bonnard & Denis exhibition in the Amsterdam Hermitage museum. A bit disappointing, although the museum itself is worth a visit. Another concert was given in the impressive Neo-Gothic Dominicus church in Amsterdam. My friend Yolanda sings in a choir, they performed works by Bach and Mozart. Beautiful music, especially the Bach cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir . With another friend I went to an exhibition of Hundertwasser in the Cobra museum in Amstelveen.

: Maria Pires playing Beethoven

: The Amsterdam Hermitage museum

: Bach and Mozart in the Dominicus Church

: Hundertwasser in the Cobra Museum

The Hundertwasser exhibition was a pleasant surprise. I knew him only as an architect (here is is picture I took of the Hundertwasserhaus in Vienna, 6 years ago), but first he became famous as a painter, in the 1950’s. Here are some of his paintings. Both from these paintings and his buildings it is clear that he did not like straight lines, he called them devil’s tools..:-)

When I am back in the Netherlands, it has become a tradition to have dinner with Yolanda in a ‘fine dining’ restaurant. This time we went to restaurant Vandemarkt and had a delicious dinner there. The presentation of the food makes it almost a work of art.The reason that in the picture the main course looks messy, is that I could not control myself, I started eating before I thought about taking a picture…:-)

Another tradition during my stay in the Netherlands is a reunion with my siblings. This time it took place at my sisters place. My brother Ruud could not be there because he just had had a hip replacement operation, but in these days, with webcams and skype, he still was able to join virtually…:-)

: Meeting in the garden

: I have only one sister!

: Modern way of taking pictures

: The dinner table

: Ruud is also present

: Ruud and Jur watching from Cyberspace

: Good luck with your new hip!

: Dinnertime

Just before coming back to Malaysia I went to Groningen to meet Ruud and his loved ones. He was already able to walk in the garden with his crutches and could point out to Jur where the walnuts were hanging. I stayed overnight and met his two sons, my favourite nephews.

I also met many friends, former students, ex-colleagues etc. Often for a drink and food, so not surprisingly I gained weight again, will have to work hard to slim down. The weather remained nice and warm with often spectacular sunsets.

It was only during the last few days of my stay in the Netherlands that the weather became autumn-like, with some heavy rain and lower temperatures. But altogether I have been very fortunate, the weather gods must love me. On my way to Schiphol airport I finally could take a picture of the trees near my apartment in autumn colors.

I will end this post with a picture of my new watch. It is a Pebble watch, synchronised with my iPhone. It gives a warning when a SMS or email has arrived and you can choose between many different displays of the time.

Europe trip 2013 Barcelona & Amsterdam

Posted on October 3, 2013 by janstu

After our two-week trip through Europe we needed some time to relax and do our laundry. Only a few days because we had one more destination on our program: Barcelona in Spain. The town of Gaudi, the country of paella and sangria!

It was a short visit of three nights only. Instead of looking for a hotel we found a nice apartment, a loft on the fourth floor of an old building, near to the Ramblas and in the middle of the Red Light district…:-) The dimensions must have been something like 30 x 5 meter!

: 76 steps up!

: Living room

: Kitchen area

: Bedroom

Of course we spent most of our time in Barcelona visiting and admiring the wonderful works of art created by Gaudi.. A pity that we were not the only ones! I have created a separate album about Barcelona on my Stuif’s Adventures site. Here only four pictures of the places we visited

: Casa Mila

: Casa Batllo

: Sagrada Familia

: Park Güell

We had lots of tapas and sangria. Not always top quality. One night we had really a wonderful meal in a local tapas bar suggested to us by the hostess of our apartment. Spanish style, We started our dinner at about 10 pm..:-). Delicious food. The name of the restaurant is Cañete and you should not miss it when you visit Barcelona!

: Scallops

: Mussels

: Squids

: Veal & Sweatbread

: Dessert

Back in Amsterdam, we had a few days left before Aric went back to Malaysia. The weather was still ok, so we looked for some more of the KLM houses. And we visited the Rijksmuseum, opened last year after an extensive renovation. With a spectacular result, I will post a separate blog later about it. We had a look at the Night Watch by Rembrandt, one of the most famous paintings in the world. Also here we were not the only ones…:-)

Here are a few more pictures of these last few days in Amsterdam

: Begijnhof

: Can it be more Amsterdam?

: Crowd in the Rijksmuseum

: Traditional Dutch pancake

Europe trip 2013 part 4

Posted on September 28, 2013 by janstu

My idea was to travel back from Switzerland to Amsterdam via France. Last year I had visited a few Loire castles with my brother Pim, and I wanted to show their beauty to Aric, so I booked two nights in Blois. However, planning in more detail, I found that the distance between Grindelwald and Blois was almost 700 km, a bit too long for a comfortable drive. Therefore I looked for a suitable stopover halfway. Beaune! To be honest, the name did not ring a bell. Now I know better.

Wine lover friends will scold me, because Beaune is the Wine Capital of the Burgundy region. The most important wine auction of France is held here yearly, but we were too early for that. Besides, Burgundy wines are too expensive for me.

It is a medieval town with a famous tourist attraction: the Hospices de Beaune, a hospital for the poor, founded in 1443 (!)

Well worth a visit, here are some pictures.

: Seen from the courtyard

: The main hall of the hospital

: Ward for the poor

: More luxury for the rich..:-)

The hospices also possess a very famous medieval work of art, The Last Judgment (1445-1450) by Rogier van der Weyden. Impressive.

After a nice dinner and a good night sleep we continued the next day to Blois, situated on the banks of the Loire river. The weather had changed, it drizzled when we arrived. We did a short walk in the town

: The river Loire

: Blois is a nice old town

: The cathedral

: Interior

After our walk we had a delicious dinner

Haute Cuisine in les Banquettes Rouges, Blois

The next day it was raining cats and dogs! Still we decided to visit the two castles. And we were not the only ones. It was the National Heritage weekend, there were special activities everywhere and the admission was at a reduced rate or even free. Resulting in crowds of people. First we visited Chenonceau, my favourite.

Because of the rain we skipped the beautiful gardens and spent more time inside the castle. In its present state it dates back to the 16th century. The castle was acquired by king François I and later given by his son, Henry II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. She commissioned the building of the famous arched bridge across the river Cher.

: The famous ballroom across the river

: Bedroom of Diane de Poitiers

: The salamander, icon of Francois I

: Another bedroom

Next destination was Chambord, the largest of the Loire castles. If Chenonceau is androgynous, Chambord is alpha-male…:-).Built by the same king François I and possibly designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

The rain had become heavy now, we were soaked already, so we spent only a short time on the roof with its many chimneys. Pity for all the people who took part in the activities. The castle was never inhabited continuously, the kings of France just moved in a for a couple of weeks. Lous XIV, the Roi-Soleil had a ceremonial bedchamber here, where VIPs could watch how he woke up and was dressed..:-)

: Felt sorry for these people

: The famous double spiral staircase, attributed to da Vinci

: The roof with its many chimneys

: Louis XIV’s ceremonial bedroom

Wet and cold we came back to our hotel, bought some food in the supermarket and had a simple meal in our room. This was the only day during our trip that we had bad weather, so we consider ourselves lucky…:-)

The next morning there was sun and blue sky again! But we had to be back in Amsterdam that evening, so we could only make a hurried visit of the castle of Blois. The Chateau de Blois is located in the center of the town, from our hotel room we could see the backside of the François I wing. Here is the entrance from the square:

There is a lot to see in the castle, the famous octagonal staircase in the courtyard, the François I wing, the Salle des États Généraux and much more. But we had not much time. Here are some pictures

: Entrance with statue of Louis XII

: Courtyard with octogonal staircase

: Detail

: the Salle des États Généraux

: Te present king of France is Chinese

: One of the 100 bedrooms

: Another one

: Beautiful ceiling

Are you interested in philosophy? Then you may think about the caption with Aric above: “The present king of France is Chinese” True or false?

We arrived in Amsterdam just in time to return our car. About 3500 km in two weeks time.

Europe trip 2013 part 3

Posted on September 25, 2013 by janstu

When I was discussing my travel plans with my Malaysian friends, one of them mentioned Liechtenstein. It is a tiny country (160 square km, population less than 40.000) between Austria and Switzerland. We decided to have a look and spend a night there.

On our way from Hall we had lunch in Feldkirch, another medieval gem in Austria. It would be easy to spend a full holidays in Austria!

Liechtenstein is not part of the European Union, but belongs to the Schengen zone, therefore no border control or passport formalities. It is rich and expensive, has nice countryside, but nothing special. In the (characterless) main street of the capital Vaduz we met a VIP (the prince of Liechtenstein?) with his security guards. We found a supermarket, and bought food for an alfresco dinner…:-)

The next morning we had a look at the castle of Vaduz, where the Prince is still living. Then we crossed the border with Switzerland. It was the first time we visited this country and probably it will also be the last time.

Our destination in Switzerland was Grindelwald. This mountain village is situated at the feet of the mighty Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains. With a special train you can reach the Jungfraujoch, at an altitude of ~ 3500 meter. This was the main target of our trip, to see the snow and walk on it. But would the weather be favorable? We arrived in the rain and the next morning we could see fresh show on the mountain slopes. The pictures show a lake on our way to Grindelwald, the view from our hotel room and the fresh snow the next morning.

We decided to try our luck and bought tickets for the trip. Expensive, ~ 145 Euro pp. The train is a rack train and the ride consists of two parts. First you go from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg. It was quite cloudy but sometimes we could see the mountains, which gave us hope.

The second part goes through a tunnel in the Eiger mountain. The train stops at two locations in the tunnel where windows have been made, so you can look out. The first stop showed only mist and fog, but at the second one, Eismeer (Ice Sea), the clouds were breaking and we had a good view of the glacier. Impressive!

When we reached the Jungfraujoch station, this is what we saw.

Difficult to describe our feelings. Exhilarated, almost emotional. You just could go out and walk on the glacier. Yes, it was very cold…:-)

You can easily spend hours here. But go slowly, or you can get dizzy because of the high altitude. The highest point we reached is at the Sphinx observatory. It is possible to walk to the Mönch hut, but we were not equipped well enough for that hike. There is also the Ice Palace, dug out in the glacier with ice statues, freezingly cold but interesting.

: The Sphinx Observatory (3571 m)

: The Mönch mountain (4107 m)

: The Aletsch glacier, the longest one in the Alps

: Mountain landscape

: glacier crevasses

: Walking in snow

: Cold!

: In the Ice Palace

: Polar bears

: Penguins

: Sherlock Holmes

: The Ice Bar

The Jungfraujoch is called the Top of Europe and it certainly was the Top of our Europe trip. Worth every Euro. We have been very lucky, both one day earlier and one day later the weather conditions were bad!

Europe Trip 2013 part 2

Posted on September 23, 2013 by janstu

From Salzburg it is not far to the romantic small town of Hallstatt, situated on the shore of a lake.We stayed there three nights, to explore the region. Besides enjoying the atmosphere of the place, we visited a few popular tourist attractions.

On our first day we took the cable car to the Ice Cave and the Five Fingers. The Ice Cave fills up completely with snow and ice during winter, even in summer this ice remains there.

We also visited the nearby Mammoth Cave (not that interesting) and then took a second cable car higher up. Fabulous views of the Hoher Dachstein massif (2995 m). Nice flowers. And a mountain hut, with food and beer, reminding me of my younger days as a mountaineer..:-)

After our lunch we walked to the famous Five Fingers. A metal construction, resembling a hand with a beautiful view of Hallstatt deep down. Not suitable for people with fear of heights…:-) A popular place for paragliders

The next day we visited the salt mine. Hallstatt has a glorious past because of this mine. In the past miners mined the rock salt and to take it out they used slides. These slides are now a tourist attraction. Big fun!

An “attraction” of a very different kind can be found in one of the churches. Because of its location, Hallstatt had only a limited space for a cemetery. Therefore after not so many years old graves were emptied to make space for new burials. The skulls of the deceased were treated with respect, painted with names etc, and kept in a chapel. Very impressive.

After Hallstatt we continued our trip in the direction of Switzerland, passing on our way the Krimml waterfalls. Impressive falls, the highest in Austria and, according to the website, the 5th-highest in the world. That however is cheating, as the falls consist of three separate tiers!

We had planned to spend one night in Innsbruck, but instead decided to stay in the small, medieval town of Hall in Tirol, not far from Innsbruck. An unexpected, pleasant surprise.

Europe trip 2013 part 1

Posted on September 17, 2013 by janstu

I will split this post in a few parts, because it covers a two-week trip through Europe, visiting Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein (!), Switzerland and France. I took more than 1000 pictures. Don’t worry, I will publish here only a few..:-)

We started with a long (750 km) drive from Amsterdam to Regensburg in Bavaria. This is a very old town and a Unesco World Heritage site.

It is located on the Danube river, has many beautiful buildings and is famous food-wise for its sausages. Less touristic than its neigbours Nürnberg and Salzburg, it was a nice surprise for us.

: The 12th-century Stone Bridge

: The Wurstkuchl, 900 year old, famous for its Bratwurst

: Regensburg is prone to flooding, even recently

: The Iron Bridge

: Famous for its hundreds of love locks

: Shop window with traditional Bavarian dress

: The town hall at night

: Next morning, one of the city gates

: Nice houses

: Ten Lutheran New Pfarr church

: Characteristic shop signage

: The St Emmeran church

: Baroque interior

: War memorial for the first world war

: The Regensburg Cathedral

: Interior

The next day we crossed the border with Austria on our way to a tiny hamlet with a funny name: Fucking. There is nothing to see, there is not even a shop, but every year thousands of tourists come here to have their picture taken with the signboard for the village. And so did we …:-)

Salzburg was our next destination, the town where Mozart was born. We stayed in Hotel Mozart, had dinner in Cafe Mozart, visited the house where he lived and went to a concert where his music was played. The Salzburger Festspiele had just finished, but there were still many tourists. A beautiful town with the castle Hohensalzburg high above the town.

We stayed two nights in Salzburg, the weather was splendid. We really enjoyed the Hohensalzburg castle, spent almost a full day there. The Hellbrun Palace, just outside the town, was fun, with its trick fountains. Unbelievable that an archbishop was responsible for it. Here is a collection of Salzburg pictures.

: Bridge over Salzach river

: Again with love locks

: Mirabell Palace

: Mirabell gardens

: Nice shop signs

: Mozart Kugel. He loved sweets

: Art all over the town

: Traditional transport

: The Cathedral

: Interior

: Castle Hohensalzburg

: With the Austrian flag

: View from the castle

: Another work of art

: Castle images

: Lunch in the castle

: Details of the interior

: Castle chapel

: Interior

: Concert in Mirabell Palace

: Hellbrun Palace

: Famous for the trick fountains

: With this as result

: Fun for adults too

: Goodbye Salzburg!!

From Salzburg we continued our trip to Hallstatt, that will be part two of this report. Here already two galleries about the whole trip. First some pictures of the places where we stayed overnight. We like Guesthouses, Pensions, Bed en Breakfast places better than the big hotels.

: Apartment Goldener Kranich, Regensburg

: Hotel Mozart, Salzburg

: Gasthof Pension Grüner Anger, Hallstatt

: Gasthaus Badl, Hall in Tirol

: Privatpension Büchel, Liechtenstein

: Gasthaus Guggenhubel, Grindelwald

: Hotel Beaune, Beaune

: Hotel de France, Blois

And of course we had lots of food…:-) The German and Austrian cuisine are not very refined, but they serve in general huge portions. With lots of beer.In France we had a few times really fine dining.

: Regensburg Bratwurst

: Regensburg Dunkel Bier

: Dinner with white sausage, Regensburg

: Hell Bier, Salzburg

: Dinner in Cafe Mozart, Salzburg

: Breakfast at Fingerlos Cafe, Salzburg

: Pork Ribs in Alter Fuchs, Salzburg

: Lunch in the Lodge, Hallstatt

: Dinner with Cordon Blue, Hallstatt

: Too much food, Hallstatt

: Lunch at Krimml waterfalls

: Mammoth Wiener Schnitzel, Krimml

: Lunch at Jungfraujoch

: Dinner in le Fleuri, Beaune

: Aperitif in les Banquettes Rouges, Blois

: Haute Cuisine in les Banquettes Rouges, Blois

Flower Corso Zundert 1-9

Posted on September 2, 2013 by janstu

A few months ago one of my Malaysian(!) friends forwarded an email to me with pictures of a spectacular flower parade in the Netherlands. In Zundert. Had I heard about it or even visited it? No, I had not, hardly knew the location of this village near the Belgian border.

But the pictures were really spectacular, so I decided to visit this corso during my next visit to the Netherlands. It has been held already 72 times, on the first Sunday in September.

We were not the only visitors…:-) Luckily I had booked seats on one of the stands, so we had a good view and could take many pictures.

Here is a collection of pictures. No captions for the time being. Mind you, almost everything is made of flowers. Detailed report later

Amsterdam, Alkmaar, Schagen (28-30)-8

Posted on August 31, 2013 by janstu

The next two weeks we will be traveling across Europe. Preparing for the trip today, so not much time for blogging..:-) Just a short resume of the last few days, detailed posts will follow later.

After enjoying the beach, it was time for Amsterdam again. First we had a look at the iconic film museum, located at the opposite side of the IJ. Then we continued our mission, looking for the originals of the Delft Blue miniature houses.

We took pictures of thirteen houses this time and had apple pie in cafe Winkel, reputedly the best apple pie you can buy in Amsterdam. We walked a lot again, would have been easier if we had used a horse-drawn chart..:-)

The next morning we had to wait first for the courier service to deliver the International Driving License that Aric had forgotten to take with him. After that we took the train to Alkmaar, where a big fun fair was taking place.

We found a few more houses, before we continued our trip to Schagen, where my sister is living. Beautiful weather, lots of brambles in the garden, delicious.

We had a barbecue in the garden. The next morning we walked in the countryside, we saw many cows, sheep and horses.

After a light lunch we visited one of the many windmills. Although they are not needed anymore to pump the water out of the polders, they are still in mint condition, and very impressive. The main event for this day was to make a boat trip in one of the polders. Holland is really water-land, so many small canals and waterways.

We ended the day with a dinner, prepared by my sister, in the smallest house of the village Schermerhorn. In bygone days ten(!) people were living in this house. Now it is a nice museum

In the next days I will try to write short updates about what we are doing.

The beach and Haarlem 27-8

Posted on August 29, 2013 by janstu

As the weather was still perfect, we decided to go to the beach. In Zandvoort, half an hour by train from Amsterdam Central. It is a popular beach resort. A few weeks ago there has been a Sand Sculpture Festival.

Although the main season is over, there were still many tourists. After enjoying a plate of “Kibbeling” (fried cod pieces) we started our walk.

And a long walk irt was, because our destination was the nudist beach. They are common in the Netherlands, but often some distance away from the madding crowd…:-)