A Birthday Weekend

Apologies for the long delay since the previous post!! As a consequence we have a lot to tell you! Enjoy =)

Firstly, yay! The Eurocup is over!! And as many speculated, the Netherlands didn't make it past the first round. For those who do not know yet, Spain beat Italy 4-0. Quite a hiding for a final of a tournament. Spain has now won two Eurocups in a row and a World Cup in-between.

Live shows broadcast at the movies is quite popular here. They often have ballets or opera's broadcast 'live' at the local Pathe cinema. When booking movie tickets online we stumbled onto the annual Andre Rieu concert at his home town in Maastricht that would be broadcast live at the movies! What a good find! After booking the tickets and wondering why there were still so many available, we found out that most Dutch people think Andre Rieu is a bit cheesy! Lol. We were also the youngest people watching the concert at our cinema! After the concert being advertised as 'broadcast live from Maastricht', we were more than a little disappointed to discover that that was not exactly true. The show was still really enjoyable but it was definitely not live. It was also a bit weird watching such a concert at the movies as the atmosphere in the movie theatre is not the same as what you can see it is at the actual show. After watching this concert we also agree that Andre Rieu is a bit cheesy and over the top but he is still a good performer and a good musician. We also really enjoyed seeing a South African, Kimmy somebody, performing as a soloist in his show and doing a sterling job at it too. Also, his accent, a real Southern Netherlands accent, is so different from what we are used to! At the beginning we really struggled to understand what he was saying, lol. All in all it was quite fun and much easier than missioning to Maastricht for a concert!

An impromptu picnic in the park! 

An inquisitive park resident!

We recently had our friends Geoff and Lucy du Toit from Cape Town staying with us. They have taken a 6 month sabbatical and are travelling around England, Europe and Australia. Too much of jealous guys!! Geoff and Lucy spent two nights with us. The first evening we did a walking tour of Rotterdam city and the old harbour areas. The next day we all went to explore the Neeltje Jans theme park centred around the Delta Works.

Geoff, Lucy and Bron on the boat to see the Oosterscheldekerring

The Delta Works is the plan to protect the low lying delta's from floods caused by abnormally high water levels and came into being after the catastrophic floods of 1953. Most of the Delta region in the neighboring province of Zeeland was cut off from the sea during this project. Huge dams were formed which removed the tidal influence of the ocean and also made the dams fresh water (or sweet water in Dutch English, lol). However, there were huge protests not to dam the Oosterschelde area cutting it off from the ocean as this is a highly diverse ecological area. Work on building a dam wall had already started when protests broke out. The Oosterschelde area quickly became a political minefield which took some years to resolve. The final outcome was the building of an artificial island flanked by two massive storm water barriers. Thus allowing the Oosterchelde to be open to the ocean and remain tidal, but also to protect the low lying lands when water levels become too high. This was the best compromise between the need to protect the environment and the need to protect the land. This is the first case ever where impact on the environment became such an important issue and preserving the natural ecosystems determined the approach taken.

We have previously visited the Maeslantkerring which also forms part of the Delta Works and is the storm surge barrier that protects the Port of Rotterdam and surrounding areas.  In contrast to the Maeslantkerring which has two arms that swing into the river when required and are then lowered, the Oosterscheldekerring consists of a series of gates that are always in the water and are only lowered when required. They are two very different solutions which work well in their respective scenarios.

Neeltje Jans is the artificial island that was built to accommodate all the building infrastructure required for building the Oosterscheldekerring. Since the completion of the barrier, the island has been converted into a theme park where one can view the barrier and walk inside part of it.  There is also an exhibition that covers the events of 1953 flood, through the planning and execution of the Delta Works and the final chapter of building the storm surge barrier. One can also watch a movie on the building of the barrier, take a boat ride to view the barrier from the water, and there are a number of other activities such as a small aquarium, a hurricane generator and a blue whale exhibit to explore. However, the park is a bit difficult to get to by public transport and is the reason we haven't been there yet!

We really enjoyed our day out adventuring with Geoff and Lucy! We were really glad when you suggested going to the Delta Works area as this is somewhere we have wanted to visit and it was great to be able to explore it together =) Tavel safe and enjoy the rest of your epic travel adventures! We were super stoked that you were able to stay with us for a few days =)

View of the Oosterscheldekeering from the water

Trying out the activities at Neeltje Jans

Exploring the Oosterscheldekerring

The road above the Storm Surge Barrier

Geoff and Lucy left us on the morning of Justin's birthday. After waving goodbye, it was present opening time! Justin was suitably spoilt with a starter pack of Lego, a Crumpler travel wallet, a fietscomputer, two DVD box sets of the 2011-2012 season of Top Gear, and a Sony Surround Sound Home Theatre System. Spoilt!! As it was finally a nice day, we decided to go to the beach, yay!

So far we have only been to Scheveningen beach near the Hague and Bron has been to Kjikduin. We decided to try Hoek van Holland beach to see what it is all about. It is probably the  easiest beach for us to reach with only a 30 min train ride straight to the beach. Hoek van Holland Strand is a deep, very long beach that is still relatively wild. There is no commercial promenade running the length of the beach as in Scheveningen. We had a really nice two hour walk on the beach and then settled on the sand to watch some of the beach volley ball tournament on the go and read a book. We even had an ice-cream and managed to catch some colour! The only part we didn't enjoy was accidentally walking through a non-sign posted nudist beach in the middle of the family beach!! All in all we had a great day and will definitely be back for more long walks on the beach, something we miss very much.

Hoek van Holland Strand

Beginner surfers making the most of the tiny waves! 

On the Sunday Justin set up his surround sound system that was not as quick or easy as the quick set-up guide would have you believe. But now that it is working we will probably never be able to go back to watching TV or movies any other way!

Then in the evening it was time to head to the Madonna concert! Having booked the tickets some time ago, we were really excited and looking forward to the concert. Unfortunately, we were more than a little disappointed in the end. The show was pretty good and I appreciate that it was well oiled and ran so smoothly. However, it was exactly that. A show. From the beginning to the end, all the songs well entirely choreographed. This didn't leave a lot of room for improvisation or last minute changes. She didn't really interact with the crowd and when she did, it felt very rehearsed and not spontaneous at all. She played mostly new songs with a few of the old classics. However, all the good old dance numbers had been given a modern overhaul and were almost unrecognizable. She was also off stage for entire songs to change outfits for the next number and was definitely not singing all the while. And at the end she didn't even do an encore or come back for an extra bow. I would much rather have paid to see her do a normal concert and sing her old, and new, songs the way we know and love.

The show was advertised to start at 19:30 but the back-up act, consisting of a DJ mixing mostly Madonna songs, only started at 20:30. When he finally finished at 21:30, the crew cleared the stage of his gear pretty quickly but we had to wait a further 30 min for the MDNA show to start. When it finally started at 22:00, the show was very in your face with lots of violence and raunchy touching in racy outfits. What else would you expect from Madonna some might say. But I just thought, she is 53 with two kids, when is she going to stop selling her body and feeling like she has to prove herself all the time? She re-invented herself and her music after the birth of her first child, Lourdes, from Material Girl to Girl Next Door with the album Ray of Light which did so well. Why did she feel she had to go back to her Vogue days? Her son with Guy Ritchie, Rocco (11), also appeared on stage for two of the songs. I am not sure I would want my impressionable 11 year old exposed to that kind of environment. But hey, each to their own I guess.

At the 24:00 end, it was time to find a train back to Rotterdam. Normally it would only take about an hour to get back home, but due to incorrectly advertised trains and the late hour, it took almost three hours to finally get home at 3am. Monday was a loooong day at work!!

In other news, Justin spent a night on Dunkerque in France for work this week. His company, and maybe himself, may be involved in a project there. This past weekend was spent camping in Texel with a work colleague of Bron. But more of that in the next post! And on Monday Bron goes for her US visa application appointment in Amsterdam. Wish her luck!

Hope you are all well!

x

The beach at Dunkerque 

Where all the ollieballenkraamen go during the Summer! lol. 

Allied Memorial on Dunkerque beach