Retrospective #10 - Ooooh la la

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I went to Paris with my sister and brother in November when they came to visit. I loooooved it. I'm not sure anyone could hate Paris. How the hell could you?

I was getting so ridiculously french while I was there. I had a glass of champagne before every meal as an apertif, bought red lipstick and wore high heels every day.

I accompanied my sister shopping, and in turn took them to the European photography museum and went to a cool little tea house. We also ate some kickass Vietnamese and Japanese food, and had a totally luxe 3 Michelin star lunch at Hotel Le Bristol where the pre G20 summit meetings were being held and we saw Gordon Brown. I sat up straight, wore a skirt and ate 9 courses for lunch.

I also had a sneaky lunch of escargots and french onion soup by myself!

These are some highlights from the mobile phone. I took my Fish eye camera but most of the photos are real duds.

The Chosen one - street art in Paris

OMG. Macarons and other assorted cavity inducing perfections at Pierre Herme.
I had a citrus tart for breakfast and I was not ashamed.


Escargots

The 11 Commandments of living in Paris

Garden of Luxembourg

Garden of Luxembourg

Garden of Luxembourg

Playing peekaboo with the Eiffel Tower

Dream come true

Little document, massive importance

Aaaaaah, the passport.

I keep mine in the same place in my apartment, regardless of how disorganised I may be with the rest of my life.

Last night I went to dinner at my friend Adam's place, and after about five minutes of sitting at his dining room table I noticed his passport on the ground. When I handed it to him he kind of casually tossed it aside somewhere.

I alway remember when I lived in Australia, I always booked travel and thought of my passport as an after thought. Usually it was expired, and I had to pay the exorbitant rush fee to have to reinstated within the time frame of which I needed it to go travel. I could probably name about 3 people I know that have had to do the same thing.

Day to day life just didn't require having to know where it is, how old it is, and how full it is.

Here, in Europe, I am always reaching for the thing to prove my identity - in fact, I know the number off by heart and all the issuing details.

It's much for the same for everyone I know here. I am pretty sure everyone I know would know exactly where theirs was if I rang them right now.

It's just another way life differs here - with intercountry travel being so easy and at for some people, a daily thing (my old boss commutes from Amsterdam to Brussels 2-3 times a week), toting that little booklet is just like carrying a bank card or packet of cigarettes.

I could probably safely say I could let mine gather dust as soon as I went back home.

don't be afraid - I came to make party

Köln ...

Love it.

It loves me.

My body, on the other hand, does not.

On the right track? Wrong track? Frozen tracks? Making tracks!!

“Hi, Boss?Yeah, um, I’m going to be a bit late this morning – I’m on an express train to Enkhuizen and it won’t let me off until I get to Hoorn. Yes, I realise that this is the opposite direction to the office, but not sure how long I’ll be…..Oh. Really? An hour North from the office? Riiiight. Ok. See you before lunch.”


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Apparently every December 14th/15th, the train schedules get a complete overhaul. So when a train that looks like yours, leaves the same platform you usually get your train from every morning, at the same time as your usual train, you would think that it's YOUR train. But, it wasn't.

APPARENTLY it's something that every dutch person knows about, inherent information that just gets passed on through the generations, just like when the seasons start, or you know, how to ride a bike.

BUT I wasn't the only one at the office caught out... another girl I had never seen before in my life, hops on the train to Amsterdam, and I look at her and she looks at me, and I said " you thought you were going to Schipol too right?"

and she said "Yeah, what is WITH that? I have a 9 o'clock meeting at Hoofddorp and now I'm late!"

"Hoofddorp? Where do you work?"

"(insert name of my company here)."

"Me too! What area?"

"Finance."

"Building 2, level 2?!"

"Yeah! Funny, I've never seen you there before!"

Glad I wasn't the only one stuck in the same situation. She was nice, from New York, but she had been living in Australia for 6 years.

I arrived at work at 10.30 (when i left my house at 7.45), to see my boss and 2 colleagues, with highly amused faces, as I walked into the room.

All day long I was ridiculed with:

"Oh, that's a nice scarf you're wearing - did you pick it up while you were in Hoorn this morning?"

"I left a visitor's guide for Hoorn on your desk, just in case you are planning a repeat day trip tomorrow."

"What time are you leaving tonight? Need me to print out the train schedule for you, and highlight the most direct train routes for you, or are you planning an overnighter in Hoorn?"

Ha. Ha. Soooo funny. Forever will be known as the crazy Australian girl that went 1 hour in the wrong direction on a train to work. Or just, the crazy Australian girl.

Winter doesn't officially start here til 21st December but it just TURNED on Saturday morning. A beautiful sunny day when you look out the window and then BAM! - cold as ice! Then Saturday night, and Sunday...COLD COLD COLD. Like, my feet are cold in boots. Somebody pass me the gluhwein.

Lucky I got a special, awesome, fantastic survival package in the mail on Saturday consisting of Toobs, Vegemite,Burger rings, Haighs chocolates galore, a Violet Crumble Rasberry bullets, a wool hat, a wool scarf, and Merino wool gloves... SO SPECIAL!! Thanks Pam, Tom, and Andrei! xxxxx

Today??? Minus 2 degrees. All day. No wind, no rain ( Oh! A bonus!) but no snow either.

A great day to be standing at the train station of a F***ing Dutch Village, waiting for a train to take you back to the city... then getting on the UNHEATED train and it stops in the middle of the tracks for 20 minutes, waiting for the confusion to pass because apparently noone that drives a train in this country KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

The other day I got on the my train and the driver took us down the wrong tracks, and had to reverse the train, to get on the right ones. 45 minutes later... I was back on track to get to work. Can you imagine?? The driver became absent minded for a minute and thought he was taking us to Belgium or something, instead of the little village/office park outside of Schipol.

Reee-dee-coo-lous. Freaking ridiculous.

So, the weekend that was;

Saturday night, I went to the markets in the Jordaan area with Laura, and we drank Gluwein, and ate ham and saurkraut rolls, and then went to Laura's house where she made more gluhwein, then to a party on my friend Pia's houseboat (which I move into on Wednesday for a week of housesitting!! Yipppeee!! Then back there for 3 weeks in January!), then out with Karl the Irish chef to see a funk/jazz band in Spui, a funky little street in the centre of the city where Laura and I danced the night away til 5 in the morning. Upon the cycle back to my place, I tried to jump the curb on my bike. It didn't work. Bike fall number# 3. I think i hurt my wrist internally.

All Laura could do when she saw me sprawled on the pavement was cover her mouth in shock. I laughed and picked myself up and dusted myself off and kept cycling again. She stood there for about 3 minutes staring after me, and then finally she just repeatedly said "are you ok? no seriously, are you ok? Rani, you know that was never going to work!" She just couldn't believe it didn't hurt that much because she said it looked terrible. I was surprised it didn't hurt as much.

Sunday, we woke up at 1pm, and made our way to some Christmas markets in Westerpark, where we drank more Gluhwein into the evening. Great weekend!

Another awesome weekend + 2 more to come (I hope)

My weekend started with welcoming my Tante Pien ( Aunt Brigitta) in town, along with my little cousin, Dita, to town.

It was really nice to see them. We went walking around to the nine canal district, had dinner in Dam Sqaure, and then on Saturday we went shopping in Leidsestraat, and then went for a day trip to Valderdam, a tiny fishing/resort village about 20 minutes by bus from Amsterdam.

My auntie was a young and up coming hot lawyer in Indo in her early thirties (she's now a hot, in demand commercial lawyer in Indo) where she was secondered to Amsterdam and New York City for six months at a time. Wow. Seriously cool achievements under her belt.

She lived here in the Old South, and ate Febo (vending machine fried food) and knows the city pretty well. It's amazing the stories that people never tell you until you get some one on one time with them.

My auntie took me to this shop called Pauw, which is a classic dutch brand, everything is handmade, hand sewn, and beautifully classic in design.

I fell in love with a coat and a dress.

The coat was 715 Euros. The dress was 450 Euros. I left the store heartbroken that neither were making it to my wardrobe.

In Volderdam, we had our photo taken in traditional dutch costumes. Hilarious. I loved every tacky minute of it. Undecided if I will post the photos on facebook or if I will just save it for my christmas card this year....

It was so nice to see them, and hang out with some family.

Saturday night, Laura and I went to this amazing restaurant in Amsterdam North (can't remember the name...) I had leg of duck with potatoes, cabbage and a truffle jus, and she had a vegetable bake thingy. Yummmmmm. Then we went for drinks in our favourite bar called Soundgarden in the West, where we ran into friends, Sam and Timur. After a few wines there, we went to a birthday party at a bar near the Anne Frank house in the West, called Werck (Work).

Couldn't find the birthday girl, but the music was pumping and Laura and I were ecstatic to find somewhere to dance to, because we had been hanging out to go dancing for ages! It reminded me of the Lion on a Sunday night, or the Regatta pub in Brisbane on a Sunday night, which is a VERY rare atmosphere here. It's usually cosy little brown bars, or just large superclubs....

After a while, the music went downhill into bad club music, so I left to meet the Chefs from my old restaurant, at a night bar called Buurvrouw in the Centre, where we hung and drank and Laura met us later. We cycled home to my house together at some ungodly hour.

On Sunday, Laura and I slept in and hung out at my place, and at 4pm dragged our asses out of bed to cycle to a cafe called Cafe Thijssen in Jordaan, for Gluhwein, and tea and Pea and Ham Soup! ( yes, I like something with peas in it - mind you they are split peas, not real peas! Mmmmmmm Gezellig AND Lekker!!!!) Not before we checked out the big fair complete with Ferris Wheel, and Double Ranger ride, Fairy Floss and Waffles in the middle of Dam Square. This city never ceases to amaze me - overnight a carnival just appears in the middle of the city.

In a fortnight, I'm meeting my sister in London, and then the next weekend, I am off to Berlin...
Phew. I don't know if I am going to be able to cope not being in Amsterdam for 2 whole weekends.... I might suffer from separation anxiety....

A few stats about my travels..

I have been away from Australia for 94 days

Of those 94 days I spent

1.5 days in Singapore
27.5 days in Indonesia
17 days in the UK
12 days in Finland
2.5 days in Denmark
1/2 a day in Sweden
10 days in Spain
AND
I have been in Netherlands for 23 days.

I have spent 25 nights in a hostel
2 nights in a hotel
10 nights in a Villa
27 nights in my parents house
2 nights with family friends
and 29 nights with friends

and tonight, house sitting!

Stepping out into the real world

I check out of the hostel today and move into a friend's apartment in the Old West area for around about a week.

It feels weird, even though I was dying to get out of living in a hostel, this actually means that I will be living IN AMSTERDAM, and technically, not a traveller based in a hostel anymore. (Even though I haven't travelled in a couple of weeks, being surrounded by travellers sort of made me feel like one.)

Living in this hostel has taught me so many things about people, and a little bit about myself. I have run into so many oddballs living here - staff AND guests, but also some really fantastic people.

I am having a coffee with one of the girls that works here tonight, after she finishes work. I wrote about her in one of my first posts when I arrived in Amsterdam. Her name is Hailey. It will be nice to extend my network of friends - I have been hanging out a lot with my Swiss friend Laura, and my Norwegian friend Sverre. Not that there's a problem with that (in fact, we'e had some pretty random and crazy times), but it's always nice to get to know new people.

I am also having a coffee with a guy called Bastiaan on Friday, who lived in France with a friend of mine, Lauren from Adelaide (for a year I think). New people, new opportunities, new perspectives, new friends!

Today is the 9th day of the 9th Month of the 2009th year (by the Christian/Roman Calender anyway..) I wonder what it means???

it might signify good news on the job hunting front!! JOB JOB JOB JOB JOB is my mantra for today!

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened...

Like I said in a previous post, every Spanish town has it's own festival to celebrate their patron saint. ("Festa Major" - meaning "Major Festival".) Sitges is a little seaside town, about 20 minutes drive from Barcelona, who's patron saint is Bartholomew. Technically you could travel Spain for a month and get amongst a festival nearly every day for every little town you may happen to stop at.

August 23rd is the day of annual festival. The reason that we came to Sitges is because our friends, Sarah and Georgina met two Spanish guys from Sitges about 6 years ago, when they first travelled Europe. These two little ladies lived with Miguel and Alex in Dublin and have forever been BFF.

A posse of 11 of us rented a villa for a week in the town centre, and lazed by the pool, drank a lot, and relaxed. We were all in various stages of travel - some coming from London on their way to do some backpacking, some on their way back to Sydney, some arriving in Europe to start new lives, some en route back to London from New York, some just from Sydney and London to be with us. We were a mixed bunch of friends, some of us had known each other a while, or only met once or twice, some for the first time. We left firm friends after such an awesome week. On Saturday, we bought matching dark blue tee shirts, as is the custom for friends attending the festival together that read; "Diables de Sitges " - literally, the Devils of Sitges.

Miguel and Alex and their girlfriends and friends all had tee shirts made, as they do every year. Their's said : "FM09 - Be lost" - designed around the Sitges town flag in white and red. So everybody, young and old, families, and friends, walk around the main street together in matching tee shirts - for bonding reasons and reasons of practicality. When there are thousands of people in a small street, it makes it easy to spot lost little souls. Also, some groups of friends get their names printed on the back of their tee shirts.

Alex and Miguel have a longstanding tradition with their BFFs, breakfast in the morning together before making their way to the main street of the city to watch the parade and carry on. Then, once the parade is all over, everybody goes home for a siesta, and then meets for the fireworks on the beach and more party times.

Everything about this day was amazing, there was nothing but love, joy and pride in the air; pride for city and culture, love for new friends and old friends and general togertherness, joy for being gifted with such an awesome day, and most of all - crazy fun times.

When everybody left the Villa on Wednesday, George, Tim, and Steph and I stayed, as we got one night free in the Villa. The feeling of emptiness and sadness that washed over me was something I had never felt before - I couldn't believe one incredible week had passed with such a big gang of us, and it was all over - it felt like a mega bad hangover was just setting in. So we... I mean.. I... tried to drink away the emptiness. Needless to say, that didn't quite work.

I left Sitges yesterday, and came back to Amsterdam, with hope that an experience like that wouldn't be isolated, that it would happen again some day soon, and in the meantime, soldiering on and focusing on making my own way, with a new sense of vigour and spirit.

Just arrived - eager to create some chaos, but waiting quietly to get to our Villa

Sitges, palm trees, beaches, sunshine, friends ... a recipe for bliss

Pretty much where we were all week... poolside

Casa Lola

The lifeblood of the holiday


Hanging outside the Villa

George: Feel my Chin!
Me: No! Gross!
George: Cmon Rani, I was going to pluck a splinter out of your infected foot - NOW FEEL MY CHIN!!
Me: Ewwww.... ok.... EWWWWWWW

Ridiculously good time - Ridiculous.

Drinks by the pool on the second night before dinner

The best bar by the beach- "Picnic" - obviously Life is a picnic in Sitges

Paella

Sangria

Breakfast of champions - beer, toasted turkish bread, rubbed with tomatoes and then topped with cured meats .... aaaaah!

Doing what I do best, I suppose...

Team photo - Toros and Kangaroos

Ezequiel: If I ever see any of you Kangaroos drinking water today - I will be angry!

Basil is the plant of happiness

The girls that started it all - Sar and George

Gucci and Tim

The main square

"Wave your hats in the air - wave 'em like you just don't care!"

Luke and Ezequiel rock on...

George, Kate and Gucci getting psyched

Me, Sergio and Gucci


Tim and Kate give Sitges the thumbs up...

Luke, Kate, George, Tim, and Sar and me

A few of the Sitges Toros - Sergio, Pepe, Alex, Jorje, Oscar

Get amongst it!!!

Me, Sar, Lauren, and George - Diables De Sitges... WOOOHOOO

The Parade starts - stick dancing



Ezequiel and me vamp it up...



Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks...



More fireworks - watch your head!



The little street gets hectic







The gorgeous girls of Sitges - it was hard to spot any locals that weren't beautiful


The stunning Gemma





Kate and I feel the love


Ezequiel and Alex


Miguel and Jorje







All photos are courtesy of Ezequiel, Kate, and Sergio's facebook photos.