There and Back Again

There and Back Again
A tale of going to see The Hobbit
by Courtney Ridout

Where to begin . . . ah yes. With the tickets.
I am glad I have a husband who researches things, because if not, we would have had a wasted and disappointing first trip to the theater. Because, if you would like to see a movie in Rotterdam, especially if it is a movie worth seeing, you must reserve your tickets ahead of time and preferably online.

So we did just that. A week in advance I was the anxious owner of two carefully chosen (assigned!) seats in the large movie theater not far from our home for an Imax 3D showing of The Hobbit (part 1).
Then the Friday before THE weekend I printed off the tickets.

A co-worker had also seen The Hobbit and enjoyed it so we got to talking about it, and thankfully he dropped the hint that the printed tickets aren't the actual tickets, you need to arrive at the theatre 30 minutes in advance so that you can scan your print-out on the ticket machine in the theater which will print the actual tickets.

Sounded fine to us. So we had to get to the theatre a little early? Should be no problem. Except that on the day of the actual showing we were running a little bit late due to slightly uncontrollable circumstances. And in a fateful moment we re-read the fine print on the ticket papers. It said something like "you must validate your tickets 90-30 minutes before the showing time or your tickets may be re-sold to another customer" (in Dutch).

WHAT?? It was 38 minutes before the showing when read about this tiny little detail. Plus we were a 10 minute walk from the movie theater! I'm poor at math, but a first grader could tell that that added up to trouble.

We had been planning to grab a nice bite to eat from the train stations cheap and quick meal options (which was right on our way) so that we could be sustained through the 3 hour film. After all it was about 12:45 pm and neither of us had eaten more than a small bowl of granola for the day. And by this time that was hours past. We began to feel Hobbit-like panic at the thought of having to go another 3 hours without food.

Although the panic was building up inside us, we realized that getting to the movie theater on time was top priority so we doubled the pace. You would have thought that we were being hunted by wargs.

Our speed saved us, we arrived at the ticket machine exactly 31 minutes before the showing and with elf-like dexterity I punched in the numbers of our barcode so that the ticket machine surrendered the two tickets assuring us a place to sit and watch the movie.

That left us about a crunched 10 minutes to find, buy and eat whatever we were going to have for lunch (when the 10 minute commute either way was factored in). Back to the train station we went, this time it was hunger that increased our speed. All the sandwiches in the cheapest and best store were sold out, so we split up and found our own replacements and tried to choose the fastest moving lines.

Then, chewing, swallowing, and drinking all along the way back to the movie theater, we somehow finished in time to give our empty lunch bags a synchronized throw into the waste basket as we whipped the freshly printed tickets out with our other hand and presented them to the ticket checker.

Feeling just a little bit proud of our efficiency we strode up to our theater door just in time to find our assigned seats, put on our 3D glasses, nestle into our chairs and the previews began. We watched a cute preview that would have been rated R for language if it had been in the States (different words have different 'force' here because they are not the native language, and British English doesn't necessarily view the same words as 'strong' words).

But the rustling, whispering, talking, munching, slurping, etc. of the viewers during the previews was pretty disturbing. And I remembered that rumor had it that the audiences in this theater were the worst of The Netherlands for making disturbing noises during the films so I began to despair that my first viewing of The Hobbit would be a tainted one.

However, my fears were needless. Whether it was my eyes and ears that tuned all else off once the title appeared on the screen or if it was that the audience finally settled and silenced, I'm not sure, but all that matters is that I was able to soak in the whole movie with quite a bit of delight.

The only detail, and it is a small one, that may have tainted my experience was that I could not understand almost any of the orcish/goblinish, or elvish that was spoken. Not because the movie was lacking subtitles, no, it had subtitles in Dutch all through out the movie, therefore when it came time to translating the non-English script it just continued into the flow of Dutch subtitles, so I found myself listening to the orcs talk and wondering why I had never had trouble understanding their speech before . . when it hit me-- if I happen to be in The Netherlands when the next movie is released I had better be more advanced in orcish/elvish or Dutch or I'll have the same problem again.

Since I don't live in Middle Earth Dutch is the most practical option . . . but I'm still considering the others an option.

And incase you're wondering how much of this tale is true, all I will say in answer is a quote from Gandalf, "All good stories deserve some embellishment." -- although it sounded to me like Peter Jackson defending himself against the many people who carefully track where the movie leaves the path of the book. Luckily for him, I understand that line.

Christmasy

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go . . ."

Rotterdam has its 'verlichting' up, and since it tends to get dark here at about 4:30 pm, we get to enjoy the winter lights for more hours than most people. 

We also have enjoyed the line of special Christmas gourmet 'ready to bake' dinner options. Our grocery store pulled out all the stops so for dinner all we had to do was pull open the oven. 

Pre- oven:

Post - oven: 

My pride would like me to point out that under normal circumstances I would never even consider    pre-prepared dishes a viable dinner option, and I tend to think them the opposite of gourmet. Especially in the U.S. of A. where the meat is over-processed and the bread has the shelf life of peanut butter. (As my wise Grandpa De Boer once said, "Makes you wonder what they put in that stuff.")

But over here things are different. For example, the egg shells are thick and usually brown, and they say no to GMO's. Not that everything is wholesome here but, we thought we would see if their packaged dinners tasted less like packaging and more like dinner. 

Plus we were pretty exhausted from our weeks of teaching and we didn't feel like cooking. 

And if your grocery store put out a whole new line of products just for the Christmas season along with  decorations including this poster . . .

Wouldn't you want to see what all the fuss was about and try some things for yourself as well?

(The man on the left is the gourmet chef/cook book writer Jamie Oliver and he has become quite a sensation in The Netherlands.)

The dish we tried was a turkey fillet with truffle sauce and sliced almonds on top. 

We also topped it with some cranberry compote (another word for preserved fruit) and baked a side of sweet potatoes and carrots to round out the meal. 

So what's our conclusion on Jamie Oliver pre-made meals? 

Pretty good! 

The spices were well balanced, it was not all salt, and the truffle sauce was great.

But the texture of the turkey was completely foreign to us.

We're still debating whether the unfamiliarity of the meat texture was due to the fact that we had never actually had a turkey fillet before and therefore it was a strange cut of meat for us, or if they really did do something to preserve it, but since it is such real meat, it changed up the texture a bit.

We'll probably never know, but it doesn't much matter because we enjoyed it, and now Jamie Oliver's gourmet dishes have left the shelves. 

More importantly, the dessert was unquestionable. 

We had never had creme brulee before, so we had no expectations and there was nothing disappointing about this pre-made gourmet dessert. Sure a real chef would probably cry to hear me say it, but my first creme brulee experience came from the refrigerator section of the grocery store and I'm not sad about it. 

We opened up the package, sprinkled some sugar on top, put it in the oven for a literal 3 minutes, pulled it out to cool, and then ate some warm, silky smooth creme brulee. 

I now just have to figure out something creative to do with the wonderful little glass bowls. 

Not all of the goodies we enjoyed in the Christmas season came from our grocery store . . . 

a package from Iowa came our way and gave us some wonderful bits of home for our holidays. 

I never thought there would come a day when I was actually excited to see cheddar cheese. Strange the things you take for granted. 

We had some good old - fashioned American snacks to accompany our present opening on Christmas Eve. 

And finally, here is the first dangerous and illegal item (in the U.S.) that the liberal Netherlands allows that I went crazy and took advantage of:  I ate my first Christmas Kinder egg. 

(Only my parents could say whether or not it was my first Kinder egg ever . . . it is certainly the first one in my memory.)

(The tiny stockings were a gift for our last Christmas and traveled with us here and now they look great on our wall.) 

Tourist Capital

The Netherlands technically has two capitals: The Hague is for the serious business and Amsterdam is for the crazy business. At least that is my summary, do your own research to see if you agree. But for those of you who don't already know, Den Hag is the headquarters for the Parliament and the Embassies, where as Amsterdam is crawling with the tourists who come to gawk (at more racy things than brick) and smoke (things that are illegal elsewhere). That isn't to say that you shouldn't take Amsterdam seriously, you should, it has some outstanding museums, restaurants, and stores, but tourism has a tight grip on it.

Unlike the 70% of the people on the streets we weren't tourists when we went to Amsterdam, we had an important reason:  repair/prevention of screen burn on our Mac computer. So we headed straight for the largest Mac store in continental Europe (at least that is what we were told).
And if you're interested you can also read a little about the Apple Store here.

(Not my photo, thanks goes to Wikipedia. I took a photo and it's far from impressive, so I thought this would leave a better impression.) 

But we had a little time to kill while waiting for our 'appointment' at the Apple Store so we walked around the city with the tourists and took some pictures like the rest of the multitude. 

And then, because it was raining and we were wet and cold we took refuge in this elegant shopping plaza/mall/building: 

I will need a few more zeros added to the end of my salary before I go back there for clothing, but it was warm and pretty inside and that's all we wanted. 

After our Mac appointment we walked in the cold some more, and after all that wet and walking we thought that some refreshment was well deserved. We found a nice cafe and had some delicious hot chocolate topped with plenty of whipped cream. 

Glimpse Gouda

Everyone has heard of Gouda Cheese, but have you heard of Gouda the city? 

If not, this post is for you! 

If so, good for you!

Hopefully this post will have a little something for everyone-- the Gouda educated and the Gouda ignorant. 

Gouda (in Dutch pronounced: gutteral 'h'a-ow-dah) is more than cheese, 

but let's get the cheese out of the way first. 

This superbly creamy solid dairy may have the name of Gouda, but it might as well be called "Netherlands Cheese" because it is the cheese of choice and in reality it is made and sold all over The Netherlands. 

Gouda can be found in many varieties, but the basics are: young = soft & white, middle aged = yellow & firm (see picture), aged = very hard & darker yellow. (For those interested our daily cheese is the middle aged.)

So why is it called Gouda (or in Dutch goudse) cheese? 

Quick history lesson: The farmers around the city of Gouda developed and perfected the making of this creamy, smooth tasting cheese and then brought it to the big market in Gouda to sell it, and have been doing that for 300 years so the name Gouda kind of stuck. 

The town hall. This is another of Gouda's claims to fame, but we didn't get any spectacular pictures of it due to the Saturday market that was crowding the town square. 

Side view of the town hall. In The Netherlands it is customary to have your wedding in 2 places, you start out in the town hall for the legal proceedings and then move under a steeple for a blessing. 

I thought that would be extremely bothersome until I got to see some of the city/town halls -- they're usually one of the best looking buildings in the city . . . now that idea doesn't sound so bad. 

Standing tall and proud, this Gouda windmill brought to life the Dutch icon. In the picture it looks nice, in real life it was rather impressive, more of a historic beacon than historic icon. 

Canals always make for lovely pictures. 

Just a nice quiet little Dutch lane. 

Me, in Gouda, with flowers because we were going to visit a co-worker for dinner and it's polite to bring flowers for the host. 

Saab! It's Luke's old car in it's European context. 

We don't miss driving or caring for a car, but it was fun to see this.

Quick Trip: Germany

Aachen, Germany

Playing the tourist in Aachen. We weren't the only ones though, it seems to be a hot spot for Dutch day trips, we heard almost as much Dutch as German in the main areas. 

What did Germany look like? Where we were, this is what it looked like. 

It's not actually historic, it's representative of history. Inside the pillared room you can feel the warm mineral water that has been valued in Aachen since before Roman times. 

Here is the jewel of Aachen. Maybe the geod. . . the inside is the best part. 

Inside the "Kaiserdom" or "Royal Church of St. Mary at Aachen". 

There's a good reason that this church was the coronation church for about 42 kings/queens. It is gorgeous. 

The pictures are pathetic in comparison to experiencing the cathedral in real life. The gold mosaics glint, the blue sparkles and all of the pictures and artwork in the mosaics are incredibly clear. 

What's more, this covers all of the upper part of the dome arches for two levels. 

The ceiling of the main dome. It's way up there, but it is no less impressive at this distance. It looks like a window into heaven . . . and maybe that is what it is supposed to represent. 

The bust of Charlemagne. In gold. 

Again, made a few hundred years after he actually lived, so they made the face fit his legendary self rather than his actual self, and man did he have legend on his side. Although he conquered and pillaged, he was considered by many to be the ideal of a Medieval king. 

More amazing than the bust of Charlemagne-- his hunting horn and hunting knife! 

He was riding through the woods with these some time between 768 - 814 A.D. 

Forget the bust, this made my eyes nearly pop out. 

Coronation cope, so-called Cappa Leonis

This so-called plaque was just like all of the other so-called plaques and used so-called words in ways that made us so-called amused. 

But perhaps the German majors could shed light on our so-called lack of German language knowledge?

Aachen has a famous town hall, and this also has been used for coronations and has a great bit of history involved with it, but it was closed so we just admired from the outside. 

Old city gate of Aachen. 

Now it just sort of stands beside a busy road as a reminder of different time. The Middle Ages seem so much more recent here (in Europe and especially Germany). 

Looking at all those buildings made us hungry, and the store fronts looked so lovely, so we went in to figure out what in the world 'printen' was. 

I was really lured in by the cute hedgehog, but he didn't include chocolate

so I didn't end up buying one.

As it turns out, 'printen' is gingerbread, complete with crystalized ginger and they dress it up with chocolate and nuts, with anise sugar coating, or just an almond. The chocolate ones are by far the best. 

It takes real food to keep you on your feet and German bakery is good at providing that. Aside from fresh baked goods they had pre-made cold cut sandwiches that were perfect for the hungry traveler. Made with the famous German roll-- hard on the outside, soft on the inside. 

A quick peek at our hotel room. The most peculiar part was our pillows, I've never slept on so much pillow, it nearly took up a quarter of the bed. 

The bathroom. The rubber duckies on the curtain gave us a smile. 

The door handle to the bathroom = my favorite part of the room. I was never expecting to see a door handle like this in real life, to my imaginative mind it looked like it was designed from a fairy tale. 

Amazing Maastricht part 2

Some more Maastricht . . .

You were expecting to see more buildings? Well they weren't the only pleasant things to look at in Maastricht, the trees were quite beautiful as well. 

Have we stepped into France? Historically speaking, yes, Maastricht took part in the French Revolution and was home to some important Napoleon supporters so it got more than a little bit of French flare added to its architecture.  I'm not educated enough to comment on all the architecture of Maastricht, but we're pretty sure that this photograph is a picture of France, as it should be. 

This was nice, so we took a picture of it. 

It's hard to tell, but when you walk by this you can tell that it is clearly connected to the Catholic Church because of the statues in the nooks of the wall. We saw a little old lady go up to the wooden door, ring the bell and then disappear inside, it made me wonder what sort of secrets are inside. 

Statues are not very bountiful in Northern Netherlands, but here they were prevalent. 

Those cobble stones are lovely, but after 2 solid days of walking on them for hours on end I started to develop some (very minor) joint pain from the unforgiving ground that jarred 

my asphalt-accustomed gait. 

Note to tourist, I think Europeans are very serious about their coffe breaks because that is how they save their feet and joints, so while touring, set times to sip something delicious 

and just enjoy the scenery. 

Another "don't see that up North" photo. 

9:20 am on a Tuesday may not seem early to most people, but this city was barely rousing which gave me an opportunity to capture some street views. 

A street sign. Feeling like a linguistic detective? 

Take a good guess why I have a picture of this sign and see the next caption for the answer. 

These street signs give us 2 clues about Maastricht. The first clue is that Maastricht 

is bilingual/bi-dialectal (we'll let people with a Ph.D. decide which it is) because the sign has the same thing written twice on it. Dutch on top, Limburgish on bottom. 

The second clue pertains to the first sign. The sign says "Our Beloved Lady Square/Plaza" 

which means that we are in Catholic country. 

Step inside the art museum of Maastricht and this will greet you. The entire building was designed by one architect and apparently that is rare because they were proud of it. 

Instead of a ticket, the art museum gave us tin buttons that clip on your shirt. You were supposed to display them so that the security could see you had paid for your entrance. 

I was proud to model mine for the camera.

Modern magnificence. 

It was an interesting exhibit. I'm not art/ist/studies/history/major/critic but I enjoyed it. 

I also kind of wish I could know what the art history professors of 3012 will be saying about today's period of art.