Days 19 and 20: Den Haag and Utrecht
Yesterday Linh and I spent late morning and early afternoon in Den Haag, mostly in the museum there. I can't really recall the name of that museum at the moment, but its the one which currently houses Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring. That may by favorite painting in that museum just because she's so engaging. There was also a portrait of a laughing boy by Hals which that I liked a lot. It was kind in unusual in that it shows a really natural looking, happy boy in "rougher," or at least far more visible brushwork.
When we got back to Utrecht we went on a bike ride passing the Rietveld Schroeder house. The short, modern building looks very out of place in this historic neighborhood full of tall brick houses. There's even a freaky skeletal looking tree out in front to make it stand out more. All the other houses are surrounded by this beautiful greenery and blossoming flowers. The bike ride continued out of the city into the countryside were we saw a lot of open green fields and the occasional gaggle of geese, cow, or sheep. The country is beautiful, and I am still so amazed that you can bike from city center to countryside in fifteen minutes or so.
For dinner we stopped at a pancake house on the canal. The pancakes there were so good. Linh and I split two, apple with cheese and apple-raisin-almond-grand marnier ones. They have this syrup (72% sugar, but somehow it manages to smell just like hoisin sauce) which goes well over the pancakes. I think its the first time I've been in a place where it's acceptable to eat dessert for dinner. This is a wonderful concept which should be imported into the US and dessimated as soon as possible. I guess the Dutch people really like their sweets.
On the bike ride back we passed by an old fort which went out of use and currently serves as a nature reserve. Apparently, the fort was to be used in a mode of defense which involved flooding a strip of land to thwart attack from the east. The invention of new weapons and mostly the invention of airplanes made that kind of defense pointless.
Today we helped Els paint her new door and then went to a Passar Malam, an Indonesian market. There was a jumble of stall offering everything from dreamcatchers to Chinese style clothing to loose dresses in colorful prints, and basically anything that looked exotic. While we were there, a martial arts demonstration was going on, and eventually the teacher, an 85 year old man, gave an amusing lesson in self defense for women. He pretended to be an unsuspecting woman waiting alone at a train station while a student pretended to be a big scary attacker. The hilight there was the food. They have these things called loompias which are basically giant fried spring rolls. We also had some fried banana to go with it. They have a drink which is this mixture of syrupy coffee flavored stuff, green jelly (pandan jelly perhaps?), and coconut milk. It's given to you initially in three layers, and you mix it as you go. It was a good drink.
When we got back to Utrecht we went on a bike ride passing the Rietveld Schroeder house. The short, modern building looks very out of place in this historic neighborhood full of tall brick houses. There's even a freaky skeletal looking tree out in front to make it stand out more. All the other houses are surrounded by this beautiful greenery and blossoming flowers. The bike ride continued out of the city into the countryside were we saw a lot of open green fields and the occasional gaggle of geese, cow, or sheep. The country is beautiful, and I am still so amazed that you can bike from city center to countryside in fifteen minutes or so.
For dinner we stopped at a pancake house on the canal. The pancakes there were so good. Linh and I split two, apple with cheese and apple-raisin-almond-grand marnier ones. They have this syrup (72% sugar, but somehow it manages to smell just like hoisin sauce) which goes well over the pancakes. I think its the first time I've been in a place where it's acceptable to eat dessert for dinner. This is a wonderful concept which should be imported into the US and dessimated as soon as possible. I guess the Dutch people really like their sweets.
On the bike ride back we passed by an old fort which went out of use and currently serves as a nature reserve. Apparently, the fort was to be used in a mode of defense which involved flooding a strip of land to thwart attack from the east. The invention of new weapons and mostly the invention of airplanes made that kind of defense pointless.
Today we helped Els paint her new door and then went to a Passar Malam, an Indonesian market. There was a jumble of stall offering everything from dreamcatchers to Chinese style clothing to loose dresses in colorful prints, and basically anything that looked exotic. While we were there, a martial arts demonstration was going on, and eventually the teacher, an 85 year old man, gave an amusing lesson in self defense for women. He pretended to be an unsuspecting woman waiting alone at a train station while a student pretended to be a big scary attacker. The hilight there was the food. They have these things called loompias which are basically giant fried spring rolls. We also had some fried banana to go with it. They have a drink which is this mixture of syrupy coffee flavored stuff, green jelly (pandan jelly perhaps?), and coconut milk. It's given to you initially in three layers, and you mix it as you go. It was a good drink.
posted by teabag | 8:38 AM
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