Spring? Summer?

On Monday, Spring came quite suddenly. And it wasn't just the temperature, though for the first time (other than one freak day in February) one could indeed walk around in a T-shirt. I don't know if it was because of the weather or just some sort of coincidence, but every restaurant and cafe put out their terraces on exactly the same day. They fill the streets and squares and in turn are filled with people. It feels like there's a festival going on all the time (and there actually is a national party/holiday, "Queen's Day", next week). There are red lanterns strung over all the main streets, there seems to have been this surge of people...




Where did they all come from?


Don't they have jobs?


Or other places to be?

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Schiermonnikoog

Schiermonnikoog ('Island of the grey monks') is one of the Frisian islands, an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea that spreads along the coasts of the Netherlands and Germany. On these islands, and along the coasts of both countries, they speak Frisian as opposed to Dutch or German.

(it is the 5th one from the left, not counting the two small dots)


To get to Schiermonnikoog from Groningen, you take a bus to Lauwersoog, then a ferry. The bus arrived at 11:30 and the ferry didn't leave until 1:30. There is nothing in Lauwersoog except one restaurant. We decided that the restaurant was paying the bus company to strand people there.





I had been invited by my friend Zdenek and had in turn invited another friend, Wymer. But at the last minute Zdenek decided to take a later bus. I didn't hear from him until later on. Apparently, they had taken the wrong bus and had no idea where they were going. They never did make it is Schiermonnikoog.



I don't know about these ones, but I was sure I saw Canadian Geese in a field later. Apparently, they were introduced into Northern Europe and have established populations in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia.










this is a pheasant!


These are from the inside of an old Nazi bunker...the islands were captured during WWII and the Germans had fortification on all of them to defend the Nothern frontier of Europe. It was pitch black inside and really spooky.




(click to enlarge)

Belgium

Brussels: skyscrapers, modern, new vs. projects, run-down, old.

Jamie and I spent the afternoon in the botanical gardens in the North of Brussels waiting for Chrissy, who had gone to her father's birthplace Morlanwelz, for the day. Cut through the entire city of Brussels en Route to the South train-station from our hostel (apparently Van Gogh's old studio), which was also in the North. Completely missed any of the tourist areas, or anything lively at all really...the North is all fancy telecom buildings and hotels, while the South is kind of crumbling, lots of immigrants, and interesting juxtapositions like a skate-park right outside a church. At night we tried to find what was labeled as the 'hip' area (always be wary of that word!) but found only a two-block concentration of strange Asian restaurants (Shamrocks: a Smart Indian Restaurant), some pubs, and a few nice heated terasses. Had a few beers before trekking back up to our hostel...where someone had stolen my already-made bed.
While Brussels (and Brugge as well) is situated in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (the Flemish region), we got by with French which almost everyone seemed to speak. We did notice that, in contrary to the Netherlands, noone really seemed to speak English.









Brugge/Bruges (pronounced Bruche, Broogs, Bruje.....): old, quaint, chocolate, beer, tourists, umbrellas, canals, snacks.

Beautiful town, if a tad touristy. Unfortunately it rained quite constantly. Our hostel was a mighty cozy little place with a nice variety of games including Stratego, a favourite of Chrissy and mine, which we indulged in after a hot shower (where you had to continuously pull a handle for a flow of water). Visited the chocolate museum, an unremarkable journey through the history and production of chocolate (with some free samples), and dined at the local burger joint "Pickles", where the employee was kind enough to let us drink the cherry beer we had bought earlier. Went out a bit later for some mulled wine and cherry pie.








Michelangelo's Madonna with Child
This is the chocolate one


This is the real one