Viva La France!!!

What an amazing trip!!! I left for Paris right after work on Friday and got into my favorite city in the world (except of course for Stillwater, OK) at about 8:30 and hopped into a cab. You have to ride in a cab in Paris-nothing like putting your life on the line in the city of lights. I got to my little bitty 2** hotel that has never heard of air conditioning. I dropped my bags and headed out for a crepe...and a walk around. Saturday I got up and stopped at a Cafe and had breakfast (are you beginning to sense a theme to my trips....). I felt very chic sitting at outside at a French Cafe having breakfast. I ordered an omelet and the waitress looked very confused so I guess one does not have omelets for breakfast in Paris! I then starting strolling through Paris. I hopped on the hop on/hop off taxi boat and took it to the Latin Quarter. I came across an open air market which sold everything from bras and underwear to live fish. I then went to the Cluny museum which had amazing tapestries and stained glass windows in a fantastic old building. I then walked over to Notre Dame and then over to Ile St. Louis and walked down the main drag there. Of course I had to stop for the best gelato I have ever had (I was so enamored I forgot to take a picture!!). I then hopped back on the boat and headed to the Louvre but the line was to long to go in so I just wandered....and started to recon where I was going to watch the race. I found an English bookstore and browsed for a while. I then wandered up the Champs de Elysses. As I was crossing the "street" I held up my camera and tried to get a good shot of the Arc De Truimphe. It's not easy trying to get a pictures as you are dodging scooters, cars and busses! But I am willing to sacrifice for the sake of my blog. I then sauntered back towards my hotel and found myself.....at a Cafe for dinner. So I stopped for a salad and a glass of wine. I stopped myself at dessert (mainly because sitting next to me on the seat were pastries from Laudree.) I had to have a lemon tart and an eclair. I had sauntered quite a bit and felt they were well deserved!
When planning for the trip I made a rookie mistake and planned on coming home on Sunday. I won't make that mistake next year. Since I was leaving I decided to take a cab over to the train station and drop off my bag. I couldn't get a taxi to take me anywhere near the Champs de Elysee and it was only 10:00 in the morning so I finally just said take me as close as possible. I ended up near the Louvre and it was impossible to get around! They were already blocking off different streets. I finally took the back way and ended up at "my spot" I had decided I wanted to be on the "uphill" side of the CdE (Champs de Elysee) because the bikers would be going slower as they past me! I bought lunch and 2 bottles of water (no bathrooms=no wine) and scoped out my spot. I wanted to be on right against the railing. It made for fantastic people watching!!! I plopped down and ate my lunch, read my book and watched people. I ended up between a very happy group of Norwegians and on the other side some Dutch folks. The riders were scheduled to arrive at about 3:45...but before the riders arrived there was the strangest parade I had ever seen. All of the sponsers of the Tour had cars and 18 wheelers, some of the cars were made up into strange floats. Then they would swerve up and down the street honking!!!! It was the loudest parade I have ever seen-since when are 18 wheelers parade floats? I was wearing an OSU ball cap and sure enough I ran into an OSU person. She graduated a couple of years ago and is working in an architect firm. It is amazing how much you can find in common with another Cowgirl! The riders finally arrived at about 4:45. It was so exciting!! They just whoosh by. The yellow jersey rides with his team in the front and then all of the team cars drive by. Every time the Dutch car would drive by the Dutch couple and I would yell "Hup Hup Holland!" Everyone goes crazy as they ride by and then they go around the Arc De Truimph and then down the other side of the CdE. We all laughed because you wait for about 5 hours for 20 seconds of whooping and cheering, then you wait again while they circle around and another exciting 20 seconds!!! Since I hadn't plan well I had to leave after the 6th round!! I never dreamed they would be so late. But it was so much fun to see them drive by, see all of the cars with all of the bikes, tv cameras etc. drive by. I will try to go again next year, after they finish the race the riders come out and sign autographs etc!!

Well I had better start cleaning up. I am actually having company this week (I made the plans because I knew it would make me get organized!

Au Revoir

Rain Rain Go Away

I don't think I remember the last time I saw the sun. It feels like a dreary spring. I can't imagine what spring will really be like. I am thinking a trip to Portugual or Italy is in my future. Of course this is after my weekend adventure to the Tour De France!! I am so excited. I am taking the high speed train on Friday after work and will come back Sunday evening. I wonder how many lemon tarts I can eat in a 48 hour period?
Life is very interesting in Holland. I went to Amsterdam on a business trip on Friday (In all my years I never dreamed those words would come out of my mouth!)I have a musuem pass and it is so nice being able to walk into the museums for just a few minutes and see Rembrandt's and Van Gogh's. Of course this is as long as the fumes don't get you on the way in. I was worried we would have a drug test this week-just walking around A'dam (as the cool people call it) is enough to give you the munchies. As much as I enjoy living here there are some frustrations. Most stores close at 18:00 except for Thursday night where they stay open until 20:00-which is happy hour night so not much shopping gets done on Thursdays. Stores are closed on Sunday and most of Monday. I do wonder how stores make money and stay in business but I guess it has worked for years without me throwing in my 2 cents.
Work is good-very busy. We are getting ready for the Ambassador's arrival. He will get here end of the month which will be interesting. Chances are I will get to "break in" another Ambassador before I leave post. I must say Foreign Service folks are very social. Alot of activites revolve around the Marine House. We have a group of Marines that work at the Embassy-but they have a very distinct job. They are here to protect the documents and not the people! We heard that 100's of times during training. What it means is that if the need to evacuate post (in Holland that might be due to a cheese shortage) the Marines are responsible for any documents or materials disposal. Anyway the Marine House is where all of the Marines live-for this duty they must all be single (I am old enough to be their mother) but they have a bar and an event once or twice a month. Those events are usually supplemented by Happy Hours so I keep pretty busy.

That's all from here-more after the Tour!

You know you are in Holland when.....

I finally got my cable hooked up tonight so I was scanning through my 60 someodd channels and low and behold about 6 of those are "adult" viewing! You know you are in Holland when roughly 10% of your cable is adult viewing.....I didn't even order the premium channels! I just wanted to have the North American Sports channel.

I returned from Dublin safe and sound. I had a great time. On Friday I went to the old castle and had a tour, then I went to one of the old churches (everything in Dublin is old) and was able to sit in on an evening prayer service (it was an Anglican church). The next day I got up and went to Trinity college where there was another guided tour. The tour guide was a college student which made it alot of fun. Along with the tour you get to see the book of Kells which are.....old books in what kind of library??? OLD! But the books were fascinating. I then went for lunch at a little place called the Queen of Tarts-I would have gone there just for the name but the food was actually quite good. I then went on a hop on and off tour bus so I could see more parts of Dublin. I decided to skip the Guiness Brewery it was 14 Euros to get in and I didn't have time to do everything I wanted to do. So I stayed on the bus and went to a very old jail! Actually the jail was my favorite part of the trip. We had a guided tour and I learned alot of the history. For being such an old place (I don't know if I mentioned that Dublin is old or not) there is also a very recent history with an uprising in the early 1900's in which about 15 people were executed (at the jail). After I finished the tour I took the light rail about 20 minutes out and went to a fishing village and walked around. It was beautiful-of course it was cold and rainy but I felt very Irish with my wind swept hair! I saw an old abbey and climbed up a hill to look out over the ocean. I should have stuck my toe in to say I had been in the Irish sea!
The next morning I got up and went for a typical Irish breakfast (of which I took a picture). A typical Irish breakfast consists of: bacon, an egg, sausage, blood sausage and something else I wasn't quite sure about. I only ate food I recognized-I'm not that adventurous! I spent the rest of the day walking around, I found a bookstore and of course was in there for hours! All in all it was a great trip. The hotel was typical European hotel, I had to walk up 3 flights of stairs, around a corner up more stairs and down a hallway (I kept hoping to run into Harry Potter!). The room had a heated towel rack-that is when you know you have arrived!

I am off to Paris in two weeks. I was watching the Tour de France Sunday and decided I needed to be in Paris to watch it end! So I booked a ticket and made a room reservation! I am very excited. I am proctoring the Foreign Service Exam tomorrow so I had better get a good nights sleep!

Jamie

Happy 4th of July from Dublin!!!

Good morning!

I just arrived in Dublin and have already created the ultimate tourist faux pas....I took a picture of my lunch! I went to a "typical" Irish restaurant (full of American tourists!!) and ordered Irish stew and it was very good and very picturesque. It was also beef, probably the first time I have had beef since I have been overseas. Not much beef to be found in the Netherlands, I also can't find cheddar cheese! There is EVERY kind of Gouda and Edam but not a bit of cheddar!

I now have my first official 4th of July function under my belt. On Tuesday we had the official party, Dutch Parliament is out today and there was concern that the attendance would be way down if we had it today-which was great for me! It was held at the official residence-of course I had already been there to have tea with the staff....I didn't realize official functions would be such hard work! Being gracious for 3 hours is hard work! I met two of my "contacts" so it was well worth it. The day dawned bright and blue and I remember thinking, it is just as well we didn't bother with the giant tent in the back yard this year it isn't going to rain! Everyone stood around and drank beer and wine for an hour until it was time for the Marines to raise the flag. As soon as the Marines started across the lawn there was a deluge of rain! Everyone started to run towards the house, as we were going up the stairs my heel caught on the steps and I lost my shoe! I had visions of being trampled as if I was at Woodstock...luckily I made it under cover with both of my shoes and my dignity! During the afternoon I must have been asked 10 times who I thought would win the election and I responded "according to CNN it is a statistical dead heat, we will all find our in November" talk about being diplomatic! (I guess my 6 months in DC weren't wasted!) With my luck if I had given an opinion the headline the next day would read "American official predicts November election! Our Ambassador arrives on August 1st which is going to be very interesting as all Ambassador's political appointees or career appointees will turn in a resignation on the day of the inauguration.

I had better get back on to the streets of Dublin. I am hoping my internet is on when I get home. My phone isn't working here so I am not able to call my neighbor to see if they came to install it today.

Have a happy 4th!

Cheese Cheese Everywhere

Good morning-I am at a little bagel place called Bagel & Beans down the street from me since I STILL don't have internet access at home!! Holland is the land of Monopolies (and I don't mean Park Place Monopolies!). There is only one cable/internet/phone company and they were scheduled to make an appearance last Tuesday but they had "overbooked" and would be more than happy to come over on July 5th (a Saturday, a Saturday of my first 3 day weekend in Europe!). Luckily my neighbor-who is having the same problem will let the cable company in. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that when I return from Dublin I will have internet. Luckily the apartment still has cable so I can get my daily dose of Dr. Phil at night with Dutch subtitles.

All is well here, we are preparing for the July 4th festivities(from my understanding no turtle racing or seed spitting contests) actually they are July 2nd this year because Dutch parliment will be out and no one would be here on the 4th (yeah us!). It is at the Ambassador's residence-which I got a tour of last week by the Residence Manager. I will have to attend because I need to meet my contacts-I didn't even knew I had contacts! It is very small this year because we currently do not have an Ambassador in residence. Then early on Friday I am headed out to Dublin!!! I am very excited. I found out last week that I don't have to go to the consulates 4th of July celebration (no contacts there I guess) on the actual 4th of July so I am free to travel. I found what I thought was a good fair to Dublin on Aer Lingus. THEN I started the process of filling out all of the necessary information.......will you be checking a bag? 15 Euro (the answer is no-15 Euro will buy some Guiness)...would you like a seat!!!!!!! I had to pay 5 Euro each way to have a seat! Of course I could have paid 10 Euro to sit closer to the front of the plane or if I was feeling flush, as all government employees do, I could have paid 15 Euro for a bulk head seat!!!! So by the time I paid for everything-I am sure I will have to pay to check in, pay to use the bathroom and might even have to pay to pedal the plane! I am still very excited about the trip.

I am taking this weekend very easy-you almost feel guilty if you are living in Europe and you aren't out and about touristing. But this is the first weekend I have had a chance to revel in the fact that my household goods came last week. I was very lucky in that my parents were here when my household goods came. I went in to work for a few hours and by the time I got home at 9:00am most of the truck was unloaded and a number of boxes unpacked. The movers were gone by 10:30! It was quite a luxury for me to come home every afternoon and see the progress being made by my helpers! Don't worry it was not all work and no play. We went to Gouda-which is about 30 minutes by train and walked around the town and saw an amazing church with 70% of the stained glass in the Netherlands. We then watched with great disappointment as Holland lost to Russia in the EuroCup. Sunday was almost a national day of mourning after the loss.

I had forgotten how stressful moving is. I still don't remember my address: I feel like I am six again and need to have it pinned to my shirt. But could you remember Schenevingsweg (which I am sure I have misspelled)? That is the name of my street-Schenevingen is the name of the beach which is about a mile away. During the war the Dutch would ask anyone they felt might be a German spy posing as a Dutch citizen to pronounce Scheneveingen-if they could they new they were Dutch if they couldn't they were caught!

I am about out of battery and I may have worn out my welcome so I will close. I will try to write next week from Dublin!

Hallo from Amsterdam

Greetings-

I decided to pop into Amsterdam for the day before picking my parents up from the airport. I won't have internet connection until June 24th so when I saw the opportunity to post a quick blog I took advantage. I do want to make it clear that any errors in typing or spelling come from a European style of keyboard not from anything that is offered in Amsterdam!!

All is orange in Holland so I feel very much at home! The Euro Cup is on and Holland is shocking the world! They won the first match against Italy in convincing fashion on Monday. I had the tv on in one room and was doing something elsewhere in the apartment when I start hearing all sorts of loud noise from outside-I thought I was going to have to duck and cover and start preparing to evacuate when I realized Holland had just scored a goal! If you look out on the streets during a game there is not a soul in site. Last night they beat France (and Who doesn't like to beat France!) so they are automatically in the quarterfinals-very exciting stuff! I made alot of friends when I wore some of my orange this week to work! (Orange is the national color).

I must say I felt very civilized last week when I rode the tram home from work, got off with my reusable shopping back, stopped in to at the local Cheese monger, purchased my cheese for the week, moved on to the bakery and bought some bread and finally stopped in at the local grocery store to finish my shopping. I then loaded up my reusable bag and started walking home. I felt so very Dutch. I have decided this should be the newest diet rage: you only eat what you can carry! It does make a difference in what you buy when you realize you must carry it home. (Thank goodness chocolate doesn't weigh very much!) I could have also stopped at the Herring stand for my freshly gutted herring covered in onions and eaten in one bite but I decided that there is not enough Heineken in Holland for me to take a chance on Herring!

I haven't ridden my bike yet BUT I have unlocked it and walked it around the parking lot. I haven't had a chance to register for local health care so I figure I had better wait until I do that before I begin biking.....I will be a pro before this is all over.

Well my 15 minutes on the internet are up. I am looking forward to having company for a week and hopefully my household goods will arrive while I have an extra pair of hands.

More later....

3 days and counting until the Herring Festival

I have to say I am counting down the hours until the Herring Festival on Saturday. I am not exactly sure what it entails but I do know that lots raw herrings, onions and brown bread. It will be this weekend at the Harbor (did I mention that I live 1 mile from the beach?). I haven't decided if I am brave enough to see what it is all about.

Work has been crazy busy. I have told myself that I leave at 6:00, I could stay all night long but everything will still be there in the morning. Tomorrow there is an awards ceremony and guess who gets to MC? I have spent the entire day practicing my Dutch pronunciation.

I have my bicycle, I feel like I am 6 years old again-I plan to practice by riding around the apartment building, then up and down the street and then maybe over to the next street and back-maybe by the time I leave I will have worked my up to riding to work. The big big accessory are the saddle bags on the back of the bike-they come in bright flowery patterns (I think that is the only way you can pick your bike out of the hundreds that are lined up on the street).

I am starting to get used to Dutch food, my sponser was nice enough to provide me with groceries at the apartment. I remember looking at some cookies the first day and they word Rom in the title so I thought-I think those look really good but I don't want to eat anything with Rum in it when I am so jetlagged. I finally found out that Rom meant cream and they were cream cookies! My restaurant dictionary is my most important accessory.

Dutch tv is very interesting. I have 34 channels-some are in French, some are in German we have one or two in Dutch (to include Hannah Montana), CNN and BBC sometimes I will be watching something for a few minutes and I finally realize it isn't in English (especially Hannah Montana!) I had a great weekend I didn't hear the words Obama, Clinton and McCain for a whole weekend and it was fantastic (I don't think it will last).

We have a three day weekend coming up for the 4th of July-hhhmmm what should I do? Am I in the mood to head to Barcelona? Maybe Ireland or Lake Cuomo in Italy?? Life is rough!