I got up pretty late, almost noon! You’re supposed to sleep in on vacation right?? I spent the afternoon in the coffee shop catching up on my blog (your welcome!). they have big comfy couches and lots of hot chocolate with whipped cream. Real whipped cream too. Yummmmm.
Friday morning i got up super early, headed up to Schipol to pick up the enigma that is RJ. i got there right on time and i see him through the glass as he's waiting for his bags at the carousel. he comes over and holds his hand up to the glass like they do in prison movies. how dramatic. he finally comes out and there is a problem with one of his bags so we hang out at the airport for another hour drinking juice and having a muffin. its not looking good. they will deliver the bag sometime tonight. bummer. at least they know where the bag is!
we got back to delft, hit up the grocery store, and agree.... its nap time. he's been up since 4am and i've been up since 6:45, which is really killing me right now hahah. 0645!! i must be on vacation!! so after a fantastic nap we head over to Madurodam, the second coolest place on earth after De uithof. the light show is cancelled due to frost, but we still have some good daylight left so its ok. its not too crowded. Madurodam is a place in Den Haag, about 15 minutes from my apartment, that is a minature replica of all the major cities and attractions in Holland. its brilliant. all the major judicial and government buidlings, the royal palace, canals, bridge replicas, metro and trains including the TGV, canals, schipol complete with airplanes, famous buildings, even the new church in delft. speaking of delft, the entire exhibit (except the church) was under construction and none of the buildings were there. what are the odds!! the storm surge barrier was there, the list is endless. the attention to detail is phenomenal. RJ says its kind of like lego land. i've never been to legoland but i'll take his word for it. theres about 175 miniature exhibits, all perfectly to scale. god i love this place. i think the most clever thing i saw there was a replica of a building designed by a famous architect and built entirely out of 'futuristic sustainable building materials'. parked out front of the house was a delorian. (from back to the future). how brilliant is that?? i loved that little detail. i think i'd like to go back when 1)it was a bit warmer, and 2) i had a bit more daylight. here's a pic of me in a big shoe at madurodam.
on the way home we stopped at a coffee shop in delft for RJ, then i cooked this really good chicken and fococcia bread and green beans. yummy dinner. we talked alot about jannice and what he's thinking etc. he seems so conflicted. i tell him i he's going to drive himself crazy. we went to the coffee company where the have big leather couches and excellent hot chocolate. we stopped at the bookstore on the way. RJ picked up some book about sweden and i got the Vanity Fair magazine. there was an insightful article about the events leading up to the current economic crisis. the article smartly summarized alan greenspan's "guidance" of the country's financial situation, the quiet repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, corporate accounting scandals and Sarbanes-Oxley, irresponsible lending practices, greed, and the complete mismanagement of the bailout funds. this is the dark side of capitalism. the entire situation infuriates me. i should start a whole new blog on that. the magazine also had a great article about a mid-air plane crash over Brazil in 2006. the article included significant portions of the pilots' conversations transcribed from the on-board recorder. the pilots are disgraceful. while the article strives to remain objective (the case is currently in litigation), it comes across thatthese two pilots were careless, reckless, thinking that they can do and fly wherever they want in thier brand new shiny airplane because they are americans and are annoyed with the brazilian air traffic controllers and thier heavy portugese accents. thier little private liesure jet with all its bells and whistles loses a wing tip during the collision but they are able to safely land nearby. and the 737 they hit, carrying 154 people, crashes in the middle of the forest. no survivors. all innocent lives lost becuase these two can't fly thier new airplane and bottom line they just didn't care. the recording show most of the fligth as occupied by idle banter, lengthy trips to the cabin to socialize with passengers, plenty of swearing, an overall it showed how unprofessional they were. so, go get the january vanity fair. read it.
saturday we went to the #1 coolest place on earth... de uithof!!! we rented speed skates, which was actually really really hard for me. i didnt think it would be so hard. you have to keep them really really straight and balance your weight just perfectly. the ice rink is huge so even though there's lots of people and families, there's still plenty of room. there's three lanes on the ice. the inside lane is for the really fast people wearing head-to-toe spandex and clap-skates who probably have subscriptions to speed skating magazine and dream about apollo. the middle lane is for still fast people, but maybe they aren't all decked out and no clap skates. the outside lane is for everyone else. there's a hockey/figure skating rink inside of the big loop for the speed skating, but other skaters are still allowed in the outside loop. i'm doing pretty bad. the first few laps were really a struggle for me to stay upright. after an hour or so i was scooting right along, but still i didnt attempt any crossovers with these planks on my feet. at 13.00 we went to the other part of the complex to do some go-karting!!! you put on a full coverall with a big racing helmet and off you go. i thought for sure i was going to lap RJ. my go-karting skills are quite good for a girl i think. the karts are really really fast too. ones where you actually have to use the break. frequently. or you would defintely wreck yourself. its hard to tell who won. i tried to slow down to wait for him to catch up so we could race, and he was doing the same, so we couldnt sync up. it was fun nonetheless. i still think i won though.
after go-karting we both traded our skates for hockey skates and went back out for more. even on the hockey skates i wasnt nearly and steady as i thought i would be. i'm pretty disappointed in myself actually. rj is just zipping all over that place. i'm jealous. part of it was the crappy rental skates that needed to have the edges re-done. the other part was just me. oh well!! it was fun anyways!! oh yeah... on the way out there are several sports apparel and gear shops inside de uithof. so i was poking around one and i fell in love with this bright blue burton zip-up jacket. its made of this really unique material, and has little convertible sleeves that are gloves too. i wore it for 2 days straight. i love it!! its my new favorite thing to wear.
we went back to delft, relaxed for a little, then went out for dinner and some drinks. we stopped by the infamous donner place. RJ is super paranoid and things the owner is being threatening towards him or something. i tell him he's crazy. i think he really is crazy. and paranoid. about alot of things. i tell him its all in his head. after the donner we went to the "v" bar a few blocks away. had a couple beers. cheap too. about 5 or 6 beers for 14 euro. not bad! its a cold walk home at night. i wish i had another bike for him. it sucks walking everywhere. its cool, my new blue zip-up jacket is keeping me nice and warm :)
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