To Italy and back again. Imagining the apocalypse, as an off-season tourist

So I'm back from a week in the Italian provinces of Puglia and Basilicata. The main reason for Italy was a work meeting for my research project in Policoro, but the first stop after we arrived in Bari and rented a car, was the beach. Naturally.

Bari was warm and sunny. It was so nice to take off my shoes, and let my feet finally breathe after being covered up in socks all this time... and to feel the welcoming sea wash over my skin, wave after wave... I was in a bit of a trance for a while, watching my bare feet in the sand....

The beach was quite empty for such a warm and sunny day. I couldn't believe it really. Where were all the people? In the Netherlands, the beach would be absolutely packed on a Sunday like this.

We walked along the coast for a while and met our couchsurfing host, on a patio in the center. Of course a pitstop for gelato was mandatory: I had a taste of the heavenly tiramisu flavour in my mouth while sitting on a bench by the sea. Our host was very kind, and took us to the old center where we ate a delicious pizza, and drank some local beer. He also invited us to stay again on our last night in Bari before our flight home the following Sunday.

Monday was already the start of the work meeting, and we ventured with our rented Lancia into Basilicata, to near-coastal town Policoro.

One side note about driving in (or out) of Bari: get insurance. There are no rules, or at least very few followed any from what I could tell... No mind for stop lights, road markings or even direction of traffic; from my perspective, rules are: Just don't hit anyone. Driving there was very stressful. Anyway, we made it to Policoro without hitting anyone, and walked around in a very sleepy town. Very few shops or restaurants were open, and even then, were not ready to much at all. We were clearly not around in the tourist season.

Near the end of the meeting, we were taken to Tursi for a meal together, through a route with many fruit farms. We saw oranges, pears, peaches... and then ended up in this gorgeous spot, at the top of the old town, overlooking a valley and beautiful rugged country.

After the meeting, Joost and I took off to Matera, of which the old town "Sassi di Matera" is famed for being a prehistoric settlement, some 9000 years old... Where people dwell (still do!) in these caves dug out from calcareous rocks. Mostly they are restaurants and bed and breakfasts now... It was very damp inside these caves, it started raining in the evening and I noticed a slight itch in my throat the next day....

Well worth the amazing view though. Here you can see how the city perches on the edge of a canyon, where the ravine "la Gravina" runs through...

We also visited Lecce, a relatively big town in the heal of the Italian boot, which hosts a couple beautifully preserved roman Amphitheatres. 

We ended up in Gallipoli however, a very cute fishing village on a little island off the ionian coast. There is a bridge leading cars onto the old island, onto a one-way route around the old town. 

We had a really hard time finding any open campsites anywhere in Puglia- apparently we were really too early to camp in Southern Italy, to our surprise, even in the 25 degree sunny weather... So we ended up the only guests (REALLY, the ONLY ONES!) at a hotel in Rivabella, on the beachside north of Gallipoli.

The beach was a two minute walk from the hotel. And it was nearly empty too. We walked for a while in the warm sun, barefoot on the soft sand, letting the waves wash over our footsteps as we wandered on. It was beautiful... but became slightly eerie when we walked into a village after walking 45 minutes along the empty beach. We were looking for some lunch, and every shop and restaurant we saw was closed! Never thought I would say it, but I really missed the tourists. It seemed like we were in the apocalypse! 

Luckily, there we found culinary relief at the Maruzzella restaurant (apparently the only open public establishment around). We were so hungry, most of our food was gone before I managed to snap a picture. But the seafood was fresh, and delicious and mixed with garlicky olive-oily pasta. I had spagetti with mussels, but they were eaten too fast, so here's the remains of Joost's dish, with a blurred moving fork seen attacking the perfectly cooked penne...

On the way back we found a sanctuary in the shade to have a nap. It was gorgeous, just to lay there, in the warm. We swam in the salty sea, and dried off in the sun.

The sea was perfect for swimming. Water might have been 18 or 19 degrees. No critters or jellyfish or anything in sight. Except for this one cute little guy, or lady, I'm not sure how to tell. Anyway it was so cute, about the diameter of an espresso cup (we're in italy, gotta stay relative).

The blue was everywhere.

In the evening we drove into Gallipoli old town for some more seafood, and snapped a photo of the sunset on the way.

The next day we spent some more time on the beach, came back to that little shade sanctuary and read and napped and same and baked a while in the sun.

We returned to Bari on Saturday night and walked around the old town again with our host and his friends. It was "open-doors" night in Bari. We took a tour of the medieval castle (cause of cause every old-town has one of those!), enjoyed a photo exhibit at a cloister while listening to a string concerto, ate gelato, and observed the amazing night-life culture of Bari. One notable cultural difference, which stood out above the rest was that, even late at night, everyone was out on their street with their whole family! Babies in strollers, toddlers and pre-teens, everyone was out and about, even past 11pm! I was getting very sleepy, but the children were chasing each other around on the cobblestones, and little girls were still devouring their panzarotti!

Somehow in the center of Bari on Saturday night, it there was definitely no apocalypse. What a huge leap from a day ago on the other coast!

Before we knew it, the holiday was over and we were back in the Netherlands.

We landed in Maastricht-Aachen airport, and what a relief to pick up and drive again in a country which has observed traffic regulations....

However, we returned on Pentecost Sunday, meaning the grocery stores in Utrecht were all closed, and would be all day Monday as well...

That is, all except one....
Which we escaped with groceries in hand just before the bouncer (YES, the Albert Heijn Bouncer) started controlling the massive inflow of traffic into the supermarket.

Felt like we escaped the tourist "apocalypse" just as the Netherlands was stocking up for it!

Spring Skiing, Stressing and Sitting

I once again have to blather on about not having posted for 3 months... It was a long winter, and as usual I kept busy doing experiments and getting stressed out, and making excuses and complaining... But now, it's finally Spring! No more excuses! No complaining! I can bike to work from the train station without feeling like I'm going to get a ear infection from the wet whistling wind. In fact, there are is so much pretty chirping on the ride to work, I wish it was a slightly longer journey!

Spring is late this year in Europe, or at least that's what they say. It started slowly too. We started celebrating it's arrival by going skiing in Austria!

In March, the snow still covered the Austrian Alps, and the sun shined like it was spring! Was much warmer up there than in the Dutchy-lowlands. It was a great road-trip with friends who came down from England and Finland and Germany! A Canadians-and-Europeans-in-Europe-reunion! Or just a bunch of friends enjoying the snow. I ended up skiing and snowboarding, since the rental place was very relaxed about me switching all the time. 

Then, when it was supposed to be spring early in April, my mom came to visit! And somehow, so did the fluffy snowflakes, leftover from winter... But we had fun anyway!!! We did many touristy things one never has time for when living here. We cycled (there's always time for that though..), we ate dutch pancakes (that too), we saw the windmills, we went to the Hague and saw Scheveningen beach, went to the Stadelijk museum in Amsterdam... It was a very full week:)

The windmills were very impressive.

My mum took lots of pictures:)

At least it was a sunny day on the beach, still winter-coat temperatures though

The sun was shining in Rhijnauwen as well

And then Spring was really peeking through the cold

On the first day we could walk around without big coats, Joost and me walked in the place of my old field site near Oud Loosdrecht, it was beautiful.

And then we walked some more, up in the hills, on one weekend in Sauerland, Germany

And the bright greens were busy coming out...

And then the yellow crocuses in the keukenhof too...

Even a few tulips were up!

But these blossoms are by far the prettiest, most magnificent of all: Magnolia

Then there was a Medieval festival in April as well! At this amazing castle called Kasteel de Haar... We were definitely the odd ones out, since we were not dressed as elves or fairies or witches or wizards. It was an great day! Not a cloud in sight, and it was a really pleasant bike ride too.

We sat on the banks by the castle and watched the fiddleheads.

All in All, april was a pretty hectic month. We had visitors from Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, England, Czech Republic... We went to Germany... I had a course, gave a talk and continued experiments... and the excitement got jumbled up and mixed with a bit of stress. 

I notice I felt a lot more frazzled than usual. It all got a bit too overwhelming, until I decided it really must stop. Life is too good to waste on stress! I was not enjoying all the beauty around me as much as I wanted, as much as I should. Even the fun things, were less fun than they should be. I started trying to say no to things- thinking that I was piling too much in. And this week, I started waking up earlier, in order to sit on my yoga mat for 20 minutes, and try to meditate. Or at least just try not to think. Mostly I find myself wondering if the 20 minutes is up yet, and if my alarm is on silent and actually the time is up.... Maybe once I get over the hurdle of not thinking about time, I'll feel even better! Not quite sure why, but just trying to sit and be still for 20 minutes, makes me feel much more efficient after. Time isn't racing like it does when I stumble out of bed and rush around til I run out the door. I'm not running out the door at all anymore, but actually doing things more smoothly, slowly, but more efficiently, with my lunch in hand, having even eaten breakfast! .... SO the moral is... that taking time, saves time. and makes me feel less frazzled. So I will keep doing it! I was amazed that it seems to "work" even after the first try! It's like this:

Anyway, it's May, and spring is finally all around, and I'm really lucky! Birds are chirping, flowers are blossoming and there's a meeting for my project coming up in Southern Italy!!! 

Hope to write more about that soon,

-Euromouse

Euromouse's Neder-transformatie

Late summer seemed to last for a very long time... We sat under trees, and cycled in the rain, visited the ocean not far away. Sometimes it was sunny in Utrecht, and then it was nice to take a walk.

A child at Schevegingen beach. This was taken when Laurie came to visit, and we had an adventure on the Dutch west-coast.

Fall came and went, and I was lucky to crunch many leaves in many lands. In October I managed to be in Ottawa, Bad Bentheim, Madrid and Utrecht... Can you guess which is which in the photos?

The oaky front step on Deerwood Dr.

Here is a beautiful prickly treasure found under the chestnut tree

Autumn, on our front step.

Guests came from far and wide to our new comfy home, for a warming...

And the warmth in our new place came just in time, since not so long after, we woke up to a wintery blanket covering our neighbourhood.

Suddenly, the country was "vol verwachting" (full of anticipation) for the famous Sinterklaas. And again I was lucky enough to be in Amsterdam for the coming of the REAL DEAL. Sinterklaas arrived on his white horse... and he cantered away so quick, before I managed to snap a pic of his front side! The anticipation and excitement was hard to miss in the streets of the main square. The black Peter's were being silly and the children were all dressed up just like them, and holding their hands out and ready to receive goodies. They were throwing out gingersnaps and wintery candies all over the streets. The whole place was buzzing with excitement.

I even had the pleasure to see Sinterklaas up close, in the company of my research group in Wageningen! Bit of a coincidence though, that my boss and two colleagues disappeared during the visit of the special guest, and his two excited black Piets. The two Piets are meant to be Sinterklaas' helpers, and they handed him the presents from his big bag to hand out to a few special people. One of the presents out of the sac was for my supervisor- too bad he was momentarily missing! The special gift was a chair, in honour of his inauguration as full professor. We all signed it, and Sinterklaas tested it out in his place.

And so, the exciting days in November and December continued the typical Dutch way. We did a gift exchange at work for Sinterklaas, and poems with each gift were read aloud in the coffee-break room. We did a gift exchange with friends at our place too, and I cried while trying to concoct poetry in Dutch. I managed with some help, and somehow, the recipients were not able to guess it was me!

Later, after the Sint-hype was over (and ONLY then!) did the Christmas-hype begin. At least that pushes it back to after December 5th... A couple weeks before Christmas, Joost hauled a tree from the store, on a bicycle. It was very impressive. We got the biggest one they had- which was about 2 meters. Not bad, but nothing compared to the giant beauties which decorated my parent's place in Canada! Christmas time is lovely, but I found that I missed Ottawa more than usual. This year was my first Christmas away from my family, and although I had a wonderful time, I felt homesick. Not a feeling I'm used to at all!

 Joost fun with the lights

And finally our masterpiece was complete. It made our place look really cozy. It smelled great and was nice to curl up on the couch with some tea or mulled wine. 

For Christmas, we migrated for a week or so, south of the Netherlands, to Limburg. We walked around the hilly landscape in the rain, enjoyed some days just sitting and reading... I started my first Dutch epic adventure novel called "De Brief voor de Koning". At first there were many words I didn't understand, but I quickly got into the rhythm. Later we discovered that it's being made into a movie, but I'd like to finish the book first...

This is the Maastricht Christmas Market. It a was quintessential German-style, and even the people manning the booths spoke German. 

Road tripping to the Czech Republic has become a bit of a New Year's thing- well at least we did this in December 2010 as well. This time we stayed in a house close to Janov nad Nissou, close to the ski hill Bedrichov. It was a cozy time, and New Years Eve was full of fireworks all over the little town. On the day after, we went to Mlada Boleslav, the place which is famous for bring home to the Skoda factory. Most people living around here work for the auto industry in some way.

Mlada Boleslav old city centre

Park cafe in Mlada Boleslav

 On the way back to the Netherlands, we took a few days to visit Berlin. There are so many things to see and do, and three days is definitely not enough... But we did take a tour in the Reichstag, now the meeting place of the German parliament. It was really nice to have the headphones describing the view from the modern glass dome, and also about the history of the Reichstag itself. 

Inside the Reichstag Dome

We visited the Jewish memorial in the centre, as well as Checkpoint Charlie, and the Stasi museum. We ate delicious food, including the infamous "Mustafas Gemüsekebab", aka the "best kebab in Berlin", which seems to have a pretty hilarious website too... Berlin is amazing, and it was a very busy visit. Full of sightseeing, good food and and merriment. It was great to meet people at the hostel, and explore such a dynamic city.

Road trips tend to leave me exhausted somehow, and I felt relieved that I had a couple days at home before starting work again. The transition back to work was not the smoothest, but now I'm busier than ever, working on several experiments at once. The days go by really quickly, and weekends are cut down to one day. Hopefully the load will let up a bit before spring....

Overall the last few months in the Netherlands have been really good. Our new place makes me happy to come home, and it's spacious kitchen makes it easy to embark on all kinds of culinary adventures. Below are some foodie photos from the last few months. At the top left is a picture perfect example of a very famous dutch staple: Boerenkool, its smoked sausage, with mashed potatoes, kale and bacon (the bacon is optional, but delicious). I also love to add some cubed Gouda, for that extra dash of Dutchness. The top right is and example of how one must consume herring in the Netherlands.

Joost and I have attempted making sushi several times, but the last time (results shown in the bottom left of the above collage) was by far the tastiest. Earlier that day we got the tuna and salmon at the market, and we even had Ikura (salmon roe) which we found at the Russian shop. Delicious. To the right of the sushi is our Italian salad- a staple side to any balanced Italian meal.

Eating is wonderful, but many Dutchies are just as serious about keeping fit. After the rains of Christmas, it got colder. Canals, ponds, lakes froze, and a new kind of hype came over the land. The ice-skating hype. The signs on hardware stores, sports and department stores all read "get your skates here!". The weather-report and news included a review on ice-thickness and where to go for natural outdoor ice. The news mentioned that one school even made their own skating rink! To which I replied, "don't all schools have skating rinks?" Apparently there's another way my Canadian upbringing  became apparent... However skating in the Netherlands is surprisingly not all about hockey. Speed-skating is the name of the game, and everybody has a pair speedskates, or "Noren". I was worried at first. What if i trip over the long blade? what if the shorter boot messes me up? In the end, I only found one pair of skates that I could feel comfortable in (even just standing in them in the shop), and they happened to be Noren. Felt like I was fated to conform to the norm, and get Noren.

Like riding a bike! Getting used to these long skates was pretty ok, though I have yet to attempt the cross-over turn... I'm afraid the blades will catch on my leg if i try to cross one over the other.... But it's a work in progress... Too bad it sounds like tomorrow's warmer temperatures will melt all the ice-hype away... But at least I got a couple of days to fit right in with all the long-skated people on the Utrecht ice.

Though it's getting cozy in my new surroundings and our new place, getting used to a new life in a new country takes a lot of time... It's a slow and wonderful process, every once in a while learning a new idiom or piece of history which makes me better understand the Dutch mentality, or just learning a new expression or word, or getting a better handle on grammar. Generally I feel lucky. Everyday I learn so much. Both at home in Utrecht as well as at work. I feel constantly challenged in a moving forward kinda way; like I'm finding clues to a buried treasure, or bushwhacking through the thick woods.... 

Changes take time, and with time everything changes...