Foto’s

Dutch theaters (Or: Staring at the ondertitels)

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Niki

In a previous post, there was some talk about Dutch movie theaters. Here is what I have learned about them:

1. Most importantly, the major English movies are still in spoken English. Generally a movie is shown in its original language.

2. Most (or all?) of the movies I saw had Dutch subtitles (ondertitels) at the bottom of the screen. For me, this was distracting – in a good way. At times I found it more fun to stare at those then to actually look at the movie itself.

3. There is assigned seating. When you purchase your ticket at the ticket machine, you pick the exact seats you want. This is nice since it lets you see what seats have already been taken. Of course with movies which have been out for a while this isn’t as big a deal, but it’s good to stake a claim.

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Categories: The Hague | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Chandeliers (Or: It eclipses even the art)

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Niki

I have a weakness for chandeliers. I love how beautiful they look – and how they come in all shapes and sizes. I had mentioned the chandeliers in a previous post about the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. The ironic thing is that I recall those chandeliers with more fondness than the actual art itself, though that of course was beautiful too.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the chandeliers…

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Renovation (Or: Outside the Royal Palace of Amsterdam)

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Niki

As mentioned in one of my previous posts earlier this month, the royal palace of Amsterdam had been undergoing renovations to its exterior when I visited. Roger was kind enough to take a picture of the outside for me recently (taking time out of his sprint-from-the-train-to-the-ferry commute!):

Amsterdam Royal Palace, 2012

As you can see there is a lot of people walking through the courtyard — and a lot of birds who have no fear of humans anymore.

In other news, het is vrijdag! It’s Friday! But I have to work tomorrow afternoon, so any weekend exhilaration I might have is dulled by this fact — for now. Tomorrow at 5PM, I might be singing a different tune…

The next thing I am doing for my Dutch language learning is viewing episodes of Het Klokhuis — an informational program aimed at kids which still manages to have interesting content for adults. I’ll admit that part of the reason I chose this program is because most of the episodes have ondertitels (subtitles) in Dutch. It makes it a bit easier to follow along, though it’s still not that easy.

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Trains (Or: Riding the rails)

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Niki

Today’s first two pictures come from Roger, Amsterdam’s #1 train commuter! It’s a long commute too: first biking to the Hague bike station, dropping off his bike, getting on the train, praying it’s not 15 minutes late again, and then sprinting from Amsterdam Centraal Station to catch is ferry to get across the river IJs. Crazy times.

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Categories: Amsterdam, Transportation | Tags: | 2 Comments

Night lights (Or: In front of the filmhuis)

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Niki

Take a walk around Den Haag and you will find yourself in front of the filmhuis (film house). They show a lot of foreign movies from around the world in the film’s native language, though I personally have not viewed one there yet. Maybe if the film was Spanish and had subtitles…

Filmhuis in the Hague

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Categories: Culture, The Hague | 3 Comments

Prinsenhof (Or: A beautiful courtyard)

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Niki

Another place that we visited in Delft was Prinsenhof, where William the Silent was assassinated. They turned his place of assassination into a museum, but I’ll leave that post for another day. For now, let’s just look at the beauty that awaits outside.

Statue within the Prinsenhof courtyard

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Oude Kerk (Or: Walking amongst the dead)

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Niki

Before I get into the subject of Oude Kerk in Delft, I would just like to take a moment to say that I hate colds. I am in day 7 of mine. I don’t get sick very often (last memorable time was October 2009), but I knew something was up when a student overheard me talking to someone else; he joined the conversation and was able to describe my symptoms down to a T. Ugh. Lots of hot tea for me. Why did I agree to an 11 hour shift tomorrow again?

As you might have realized from my previous posts about Delft, I like Vermeer. I didn’t really know anything about him until I met Marco of course. When I started to fall in love with the Netherlands, I visited my public library and tried to find all the material I could about the country. Even though this is New York, there is not a lot. There is some material I could get from other libraries in the system, I just prefer to have it right at my fingertips without sending for it and waiting a week.

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Ancient maps (Or: Inside the Royal Palace of Amsterdam)

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Niki

Marco and I visited the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. It is sometimes used by Queen Beatrix during state affairs.

Prior to my visit, they had been renovating the interior of the palace, from 2005 to 2009.  When I visited, they were working on the outside of the palace. They have since finished (last month).

Royal palace of Amsterdam, the facade hidden from view during renovations

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Pasta (Or: Pasta pasta pasta)

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Niki

I’ve never been a good cook. Heck, I’ve never been a cook. I have been known to believe the microwave was about to blow up, or the oven, or… So when I moved to the East coast to get my Masters at Rutgers University, I wasn’t too worried about not having anything but a fridge, freezer, and microwave.

I’ll admit it was an interesting arrangement, but the apartment was cheap enough. I lived off sandwiches most of my time there, generally PB&J or turkey with…LOTS of mustard. Most of my food and groceries came from the deli up the street. There really wasn’t a proper grocery store in New Brunswick. I could either walk a mile to K-Mart (a department store with some food) or Rite Aid in a completely different direction. Still far away.

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Categories: Food, Marco&Niki, The Hague | 6 Comments

Amsterdam canals (Or: Living on the waves)

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Niki

During the first summer that I spent in the Netherlands, we did the expected canal ride in Amsterdam. It’s sort of like being a first time tourist in NYC and visiting the Statue of Liberty. I’ve managed to avoid going up to the top of Rockefeller and the Empire State building… somehow.

But I was definitely looking forward to the 1 hour canal ride. I went with Marco, his mother, and our friend Roger (the die hard NY Rangers fan… Let’s go Rangers!). Luckily we managed to be one of the first ones on the boat, so we had the pick of what seats we wanted.

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