Howdy
Its been quite busy since the last time I posted and insanity has ensued.
Last week I went on my first big trip to a big city called Utrecht. I went to Eindhoven with Tom in the morning, as he works there. I then had to find out how their trains work and how to use my new travelling card. Once I finally got money on it and got it working I found the train and got on my way to Utrecht. The journey takes 50 minutes and is very comfortable and fast.
Once there I set off into the streets. Most of the inner city close to the train station are lined with shops and bars and snack shops, which is really cool. I then also went walking around the residential areas and found some cool places and land marks. The have the most amazing churches that are huge, each town has one in the centre (mostly). Also found a castle type tower that was aparently used to hold water and a nice big windmill. After about 3 hours of walking around I went back to the station, which is connected to a shopping centre. On the way back I found a square where they were selling different thing and found a nice big cheese stand that i couldnt resist. I bought a small piece of soft bree. I then went into the station and found a smll coffee shop and decided to go there. I had a coffee as it was a bit cold outside ;) and then looked for something to eat on the menu. As it is in Dutch and I was not sure of most things on it, I decided to have a pancake with banana in it. I was a really good pancake!! It had to be for that price lol... €8 Haha
I then took the train back to Einhoven where I continued to walk around and explore!! I again found a cool church and a funky looking building, but the weather was getting bad and it was drizzling so I went to rest in the Mc Donalds :P I had a burger and a limited edition Dutch milkshake, which was nice. Eventually it was time to go home and Tom fetched me from the station again. I had to rest the next few days as my feet and legs were nice and sore form all that walking lol!!
Then it was time for Carnival, which if celebrated fully lasts for 5 days!! It goes from Friday to Tuesday. Most businesses and shops are closed during this time as well as the schools. You already know that they dress up, but they also change outfit each day!! So after work on Friday, Tom came home with Durk and we had supper and got ready to hit the pub. I decided to go as a monk. They already had the outfit and I went to buy a wig and a moustache. It was lots of fun and crazy to see a whole town fully dressed up and partying in every place possible. They are also able to consume insane amounts of beer, making us look like children or newbies lol!! Saturday came and we went to get some grease food and around 4 started the process all over again. As I was not able to keep up with these crazy people I was ok... only with the once off nausea lol, unlike Tom for who it became a bit misty at the end of the night...
This followed 2 more days till Tuesday. It was insane but awesome to see all the different and funny outfits and with the crazy weird music come together to make this "Carnival". On Sunday we also went to watch the parade (which each town also has) of floats and all sorts of things, which was really cool to see. Some of them were really big! One good thing is that you get to eat a lot of junk food, which meant a lot of Frikendalen and Krokenten and French Fries for me!!! :)
Another thing of Carnival, which is tradition (And nobody knows much about) is the fact that each town also selects a Prince and/or Princess of Carnival. Their job is to keep the party going and to get everyone excited about it. They must also keep the house open so that anyone that wants to come visit is allowed to do so and during the evenings of Carnival he must make an appearance at like 5 or 6 places a night and dance and sing and stuff. He also has a procession of like 15 people that follow him around and act as his bodyguards. Then if thats not bad enough, he cant really drink that much because he has to be able to do all this every night... lol!!!
After all that I have survived... mostly!!;) But Tuesday it was time to leave Tom and come meet the crazy 2, Alma and Kevin!! 3 trains and 2h 30m later I made it to the city of Apeldoorn! They fetched me with Kevins parents car so we had to return it after dropping my things at the apartment, so my first bike ride in Apeldoorn was back to the apartment. Last night I went for supper at his parents. They wanted to have a Dutch braai but its a bit too cold lol! So instead we had a table grill, which was just as cool. You cook your own meat and whatever you want... lekker! For pudding was pancakes and stroopwafel flavoured ice cream!! :D Ate waaay too much, but atleast worked a bit off on the cycle back home... including the bit of rain lol ;)
Today just went shopping and going for some Zumba soon... at least gana try a bit as I have a bit of a tight chest... sigh!!
Next week or so Im going to Durk and a concert of Boo in the city of Arnhem, which should be good. Then to visit some more friends further north before returning to Tom!
Here is the link to the photos again!!
http://www.myalbum.com/Album=WFALSIZ7
Chat soon!
Enjoy
Michael
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