Amsterdam Day 276: Squirrel Bridge

I have two things to say about Squirrels in the Netherlands. First, the Dutch word for squirrel is really cool. It is eekhoorn. Sound it out. Sound it out a little faster this time. It sounds an awfully lot like the English word acorn. Which is hilarious because that is what squirrels always collect. Well I thought it was funny. 

The other thing I found out I discovered while in church. I have no idea what the point of the lesson was (something about working hard without actually accomplishing anything), but I remember this story. Apparently, The Haugue spent a lot of money in a squirrel bridge to help protect squirrels from getting run over on the highway. And up till now, there have been 5 squirrels saved in two years. This also struck me as hilarious. 

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way and maybe there is a lesson to be learned. This reminds me of another story. 

One day an old man was walking along the beach. It was low tide, and the sand was littered with thousands of stranded starfish that the water had carried in and then left behind. 

The man began walking very carefully so as not to step on any of the beautiful creatures. Since the animals still seemed to be alive, he considered picking some of them up and putting them back in the water, where they could resume their lives. 

The man knew the starfish would die if left on the beach's dry sand but he reasoned that he could not possibly help them all, so he chose to do nothing and continued walking. 

Soon afterward, the man came upon a small child on the beach who was frantically throwing one starfish after another back into the sea. The old man stopped and asked the child, "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving the starfish," the child replied

"Why waste your time?... There are so many you can't save them all so what does is matter?" argued the man

Without hesitation, the child picked up another starfish and tossed the starfish back into the water... "It matters to this one," the child explained

So next time I have a need to tell this story about the starfish, I will use the example of the Dutch building a squirrel bridge instead. 

Here's the article about it if you want to know more. 

Netherlands bridge built especially for squirrels costing £120,000 has been used five times

‘In 2014 three squirrels, and in 2015 two squirrels, were spotted on the bridge'

A bridge built especially for squirrels to be able to cross a busy motorway in the Netherlands – which cost €150,000 (£120,000) to construct – has been used five times since its erection, according to officials.

The bridge was built in 2012 to give squirrels safe passage between the Haagse Bos forest and Oosterbeen, and Clingedel park, and spans the N44 motorway by the Benoordenhoutseweg.

According to The Hague online, the country’s Animal Protection Agency said the bridge would stop squirrels from being run over on the motorway, which had been a problem, and would help their declining population grow by expanding the rodents’ habitat. 

But the bridge has only been used by five red squirrels since it was built, The Times reports.

The number was discovered after a local councillor enquired about the efficiency of the bridge.

The Mayor’s office responded with the statement: “In 2014 three squirrels, and in 2015 two squirrels, were spotted on the bridge.

“This is evidenced by monitoring using CCTV cameras on the bridge.” 

The Mayor added that the bridge had been funded by government using environmental compensation money relating to the relocation of the US embassy to Clingendael when asked whether the €150,000 had been wasted on the roden

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/netherlands-bridge-built-especially-for-squirrels-costing-120000-has-been-used-five-times-a6892856.html

Amsterdam Day 274: King's Day

Today we celebrated Koningsdag or King's Day, a giant party in honor of the King's birthday. To start off the celebration, the city sets aside huge areas for Free Markets. They are basically the largest neighborhood garage sales that you have ever seen in your life. It is the one time of the year where taxes are suspended on the sales of goods for non commercial entities. But it is so much more. 

For as far as the eyes could see, there were booths set up selling clothes, toys, books, and other crap. But there were also people selling handcrafted items, baked goods, french fries, cotton candy, etc..  In addition to selling stuff, children were showing off their musical skills on the violin, trumpet, and drums. If there was not music from the children, there was music from speakers. There were also carnival type games set up everywhere, but done in an organic way by the people instead of a company. The whole things is so industrious and entrepreneurial like. 

For a feel of the atmposphere, think of the energy and excitement of the crowd before a 4th of July parade, and put everyone in orange instead of red, white, and blue. Although people did also have red white and blue since those are the colors of the Dutch flag. People were wearing so much orange and the most rediculous hats. The tackier the better. And at 10am the beer booth was going strong. It was amazing to see how many people were already drinking, or still drinking from the night before. 

After going around and finding so many wonderful "treasures," Ryan stated that this was the best King's Day ever. And this was even with occasional light rain, 41 degree temperature, and cancelled fireworks because of strong winds.

Later in the afternoon, I took the kids up to Vondelpark, the large central park in Amsterdam. By the time we arrived, most of the sellers had gone home, but there were two that were particularly interesting for the kids. 

First, this lady set up a bubble booth. For two Euro you got 10 minutes of blowing large bubbles. The better part was that for free, you could run around and pop the bubbles. After about 45 minutes of bubbles, we moved on to the next booth, but not before we were soaked and covered with soap scum.  

Ryan found a guy that was packing up all the rest of his "treasures" and he told Ryan he could take anything she wanted for free. And so she took many things. And most importantly, she did not forget about her little brother. She made sure to take a Mickey Mouse coloring book because Charlie loves Mickey Mouse. Again Ryan exclaimed that this was the best King's Day ever. And I had to agree, Best King's Day ever. 

Amsterdam Day 271: Day Night to the Tulip Fields

Jaimee and I were able to find a sitter for date night (and when I say we I really mean Jaimee). We had a couple of options: Dinner in the city, a movie, or a comedy club. I thought it would be fun to go check out the tulip fields again, but this time with no children. Just the two of us. No distractions. No bathroom breaks. No fights in the back of the car. And no one to look at me with a disgusted face when I kissed my honey. 

So we took off around 7 at night to go find some new fields. It didn't take long before we found some perfect places to pull off the side of the road and tip toe through the tulips. 

We were able to hold hands and walk through the fields joyfully, like before we had kids. Don't get me wrong, I love the kids, but they are whiny and ruin romantic moments like this. 

We took a little advantage of our time together. Such a romantic place for getting a little action. 

I love this wonderful woman in my life and can't imagine this adventure with anyone else. 

As Jaimee put it as she was taking a picture of me amidst all the flowers, "If you die soon, I'm going to use this picture of you for your funeral."

Amsterdam Day 270: Keukenhof Gardens

Today was our day to explore the Keukenhof Gardens and the tulip fields around Holland. 

We started off at the front of the park looking at flower after flower after flower. Charlie was stopping at every tulip and calling it a rose. I would then say, "No, that is a tulip." And then he responded acknowledging that it was a tulip, just to start the process over at the next rose, I mean tulip. 

The Keukenhof Gardens are surrounded by beautiful tulip fields in various stages of blooming. We of course had to stop and take tons of pictures. 

The best part for the kids was the playground and petting zoo. Nothing like a selfie with a goat. 

And there was a fun maze that the kids ran through over and over again. 

We did manage to get a family picture right after Charlie jumped into the canal. He was hopping from one pad to another when he unexpectedly (although we really knew that it would happen), he jumped straight into the water. 

And here are a few more pictures of the gardens. 

It was a beautiful day filled with beautiful flowers, and we loved it. Or at least the adults did. 

Amsterdam Day 269: Grand Canary Island, Black Sand Beach

We went to this beautiful black sandy beach just down the hill from the resort that we are staying at. The sand is so soft and beautiful. The black rocks surrounding the beach were stunning also. Ryan and I were walking down the beach to the cool rocks when a topless lady walked by. Upon passing, Ryan said, well that was awkward. Cameron ran up to us a minute later. I wanted to know what he had seen so I bluntly asked him if he saw the topless lady. He responded, "There is a lady without a head or is it a lady without arms?"  I just took that as a no that he had not seen her. 

Welcome to the beaches in Spain. 

Amsterdam Day 265: Everton @ Crystal Palace

The second night in London, I was lucky enough to be able to attend my first premier league football game. Actually, this is my first professional soccer game ever. I was very excited because Everton has a player that I actually know off, Tim Howard. He plays goalkeeper for the US National Team and had an amazing game in the last World Cup. But alas, he didn't play this game. 

Still, the energy and excitement in the stadium was amazing. I have no idea what they were singing, since I don't speak English English, but it was exciting. The match was not exciting enough to make me a Crystal Palace or Everton fan, but it did make me start wanting to go watch some professional games in The Netherlands. And ultimately it ended in a 0-0 draw so there was never the excitement of a goal.

Amsterdam Day 264: London

This week I had to go to London for work. The first night I had about three hours to wander the city, so I decided that I would go recreate some of the pictures from my first trip to London with Amber, Joy, and Grandma Taylor. I had it planned in my mind that I would even ask random strangers to stand in the pictures for them. That was such an amazing trip and I'm so glad I was able to share it with my cousins and Grandma.

So once I got to the Big Ben, I realized that I did not know what any of the pictures looked like. 

Here is the best match. It is not me though. It is my cousin Joy. 

Here is Big Ben from another view that has me in it with Amber and Joy. 

I wandered past Buckingham Palace and it reminded me of watching the changing of the guards. 

Here is Amber, Grandma, and Joy sitting on the grass with Buckingham Palace behind them. 

And finally, this one I did not recreate, but I just thought it was cute so I decided to add it now. 

Amsterdam Day 263: Middle School Choir Boys Visit

A while back, Disney High asked for some volunteers to take in a few middle school choir students from other Disney Highs around the world for a choir festival. Thinking that we have room enough to let a kid or two spend the night for a few days, we volunteered. A few months later, we were given out assignment. Four 13 year old boys. Three from the American School of Vienna and one from 30 minutes away in The Hauge. The first thing that we thought of is why are we watching a kid that only lives 30 minutes away. Well maybe they have some really late rehearsals and some really early starts. We were told that we just needed to provide a place for them to stay. When we got the packet on timings, we found out that we are picking them up at 330pm every day and keeping and entertaining them for the rest of the night. That is a long time to entertain four boys that I don't know. 

It turns out that the kids do seem like some good kids. I took them into Amsterdam after work one day. The only thing they wanted to do was go to Kalverstraat, the posh shopping road, and go to the Nike store. But first we had to meet up at the I AMsterdam sign with two girls from their schools. The boys immediately jumped up on top of the letters, as would be expected from the boys. It took a little convincing for the girls to climb up. But once they did, they were happy they did. And then on to Kalverstraat we went. We stopped at one shoe store. Then another shoe store. And then another shoe store. I finally had to start telling them that the shoe stores were closed. And we finally ended up at Snipes at the end of Kalverstraat, another shoe store. I never would have thought that had we could entertain 13 year old boys with window shopping at shoe stores. And the girls were not interested in any form of shopping. 

In the way back, we stopped at a gift shop that one if the boys wanted to go into. So while he shopped the rest of us waited across the street. It took me a minute before I realized we had stopped just outside a coffee shop. So after some selfies with the coffee shop in the background, we were on our way. I'm sure their parents will love those pictures. I guess at least it was not a selfie in the red light district, which we were never close to. For anyone that is not aware of what coffee shops are, they do not serve coffee. It is basically a bar for marijuana. 

The next evening, the boys went to the football pitch and took Bev and Cam along. They were very nice to them and made sure to play very well with them. Bev and Cam felt like they were on top of the world. That was until Cam blocked a hard shot on goal. That ended it for him. 

Four nights later, the boys were back in their way to Vienna and The Hague, thank goodness. They did each bring a gift from their country for us. They were very polite and it was a good experience. 

Amsterdam Day 256: Rome

I had to go to Rome for work this week. I had dinner on the first night and then an all day meeting the next day. But, I was able to get three hours to walk around the city before dinner. 

Since I did not have plans, I got off the hotel shuttle in the middle of town. And I just started walking towards the river. Not knowing where I was going or what I was going to see was quite fun. 

I admit that I did cheat a little and followed some street signs. I wandered over the river into the Trastevere area. It was charming with little winding roads, cafes everywhere, and little squares and churches. A little further north, I wandered into St Peter's square in Vatican City. I took a quick tour of the basilica and headed out towards the next big sight in the sky, which was the St. Angelo Castle. 

After walking by and crossing the river again, I stopped to watch a couple seriously making out on the river bank. After not stopping for very long, I wandered into the Piazza Navona. This was about 630pm, the weather was perfect, and the atmosphere was magical. The street performers were pretty good. That was until I saw the Michael Jackson impersonator. That was horrible. He was trying hard but he was also failing very hard. 

And finally, I wandered over to the Pantheon, the temple to all gods. When I was last here about 15 years ago, I took a picture of the building over to the right. It had a big advertisement that I felt was very out of place for this historic sight. I was glad to see that it was gone. 

I couldn't find that picture, but I did find this picture of me in 2000 at the Trevi Fountain with my old traveling buddies. And for those that did not believe it, I did have hair at one time. 

Amsterdam Day 252: Holi Color Festival

Holi is a spring festival in India and Nepal, also known as the festival of colors or the festival of sharing love. 

It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and other regions of the world with significant populations of Hindus or people of Indian origin and Nepalese diaspora. In recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colours.

Here in Amstelveen, there is a significant population from India and we had this festival this weekend. Instead of the traditional form of attacking anyone and everyone that is outside their homes, this was contained to a very large tent by the mall. 

Anyone that entered the tent was viciously attacked with color. I was a specific target because I have a beautiful blank canvas on all of my head. Immediately on entering the tent, some lady slapped color on top of my head. And another guy came up to me and cupped my cheeks smearing more color. 

We probably spend 30 minutes in the tent with color flying everywhere. 

And we had an amazing time and it was just minutes from our home. When we got home, we took off our clothes outside and then went inside to take a shower. We did not get all of the color off of our bodies with just the one shower though. Jaimee had extra color in her ear. And it will probably never come out of Bevs hair. 

Amsterdam Day 251: Spring Gardens

First day of spring means Jaimee is planting a garden. Living in Amsterdam means she is planting it in the house.

Bev's garden begins. FYI she will be selling her produce "fow money." If it grows......

Cam has been devising a plant contest. On the left it says "how mene poyns fore (and then a pic of cherry tomato, tomato and broccoli)." On the right are the categories of 1. tolist (tallest) 2. Frst to groe and 3. Frst one fore me to see. Love him!

Amsterdam Day 254: Speeding Tickets

Jaimee and I are both having a hard time adjusting to the speed limit laws here in the Netherlands. In Georgia, unless you are going more than 15 over in the freeway, and usually more than 20 over, the police rarely look at you. It feels like 10 over on other roads will keep you pretty safe too. 

We are now at the point when we receive these letters in the mail we start blaming the other person for driving too fast. We open the letter and then debate who the person was, since it only lists the address where we got caught. We have never been pulled over. It is traffic cameras that have picked us up every time. 

There first ticket was Jaimee for going 120 in a 100 zone. Kilometers remember. The second one was also Jaimee, but I think that one was 114 in a 100. Well yesterday, I got mine. It was 76 in a 70. And I feel very mad about this. That is equivalent of going 48/49 in a 45 zone. Doesn't that make you mad also?  Well after having paid the three tickets, because we were guilty, we are €241 poorer.  

Amsterdam Day 253: Time for More Random Statues

This beauty comes to us from Valencia, Spain. It's not really that strange but I thought it looked cool. 

These two statues guard a bridge crossing the old river bed in Valencia. 

This one is a twofer (is that spelled right?).  Notice the weird red curly worm statue in the background. This is also in Valencia. 

This statue comes to us from back in the Netherlands. It appears to be 7 people climbing on each other to get higher and higher. I think it is 7 people. 

This is over by the shopping area right close to our house. 

This little guy comes to us from Aachen, Germany. 

This one is also from Aachen. You can't quite see it well, but it appears that the chicken is coming out of the back of his pants. I'm not sure why one would keep a chicken in their pants. 

This beautiful statue is just on a random road in Aachen also.