Winter 2008-09

We'd a very long winter last year, as a matter of fact, it was so cold that for the very first time in 12 years, the Netherlands's canals and lakes were frozen! With the global warming effect, this was a definitely a rare occasion.

With temperatures below zero for weeks, the skate mania broke out - locals went crazy, some dashed to find their tucked away ice-skates in the cellar and many rushed out to the nearest sport stores to buy new skates! However, people who wanted to buy new skates were in for a surprise as it was sold out throughout the country! It was also known that one has to queue up for hours to rent a pair of skates at the skating location!

Needless to say, hospitals in the Netherlands were also busy with their fair share of more enthusiastic skaters coming in with broken wrists, arm and legs :P

In the northern part of the Netherlands, preparation for 'Elfstedentocht' in Dutch or the Eleven Cities Tour will be in frenzy. Imagine, a combination of a marathon with skating in cold winter conditions race. The one-day tour is an obsession for its many thousands of participants and the millions more who follow it worldwide. The event is held in the province of Friesland but only in those years when the ice freezes over the 124-mile track of lakes and canals that makes up the route. The last tour took place in January 4, 1997. The tour always starts and ends in the Friesland capital of Leeuwarden and travels through the cities of Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum hence it is known as the eleven cities tour.

When the next race will be held is anybody's guess. And it's exactly that unpredictability that makes the Eleven Cities Tour so highly anticipated.

For me, I was also sucked into this whole skate mania feeling; getting all excited! You never know when is the next skate mania going to be ;)

Queen's Day 2009

All I can say, Queen's Days celebration rocks! A totally eye opener experience for me! For those whom have missed out Queen's Day all these years (like me), please do get yourself out there and try it! I promised you, it'll be fun!

The day started with sunny blue skies (perfect day for Queen's Day celebration), drove to a friend's place near Amsterdam, 'sardined' into a tram to the city centre and finally arrived at our destination... our first stop at Vondelpark (near the city centre). We wanted to start off real slow and easy.

Queen's Day wasn't all about adults. In this park, the celebration focused specifically on children. We had children selling their old toys, parents junk and making games up and do performances. Nevertheless, the park was filled up with families, party goers etc. It was really nice to see how some of the children were so creative in displaying and selling off their goods ;) Behind the scene, parents were chilling out while their children 'worked' ;)

After all the walk in the park (it was a huge park), we took a lunch pit stop of hamburgers and soft drinks before starting our journey to the city centre.

It was a shock to my system to see so many people crammed up in the little city for an excuse of partying. Everywhere we walked, we saw party goers in orange clothing and some even in funky costumes. Beer kiosks, drinks & food stalls were set up everywhere, mini concert stages were also set up in different parts of the city centre. People were boozing, dancing, eating & having a good time! Mind you, we only managed to cover 4 party areas. Even that, it has taken a toll on us. Some of the streets, you can just forget about even thinking of squeezing yourself in, it was impossible to walk thru! (our little city map of all the party areas)

However, the best part of all was coming across the canals. It was like the traffic jams on the road was transferred to the canals. All we saw were hundreds and hundreds of boats on the canals cruising by with party goers having a fantastic time on them. Speakers blasting away dance and house music, party goers dancing on board, boozing, it was almost like a competition of who has the biggest, loudest speakers and the most party goers on board.

However the Queen's Day celebration was shortened in Amsterdam and probably toned down while in other cities like Rotterdam and Apeldoorn, celebrations were cancelled. This was out of respect for those whom have died in the attempted attack on the Queen's family in Apeldoorn where the Dutch Royals were making an appearance. A great day turned out to be a tragic one, with 4 dead and 13 injured.

Despite the dampening news, the finale was absolutely fantastic! The world's number 1 DJ, DJ Tiesto (he is Dutch by the way) gave an 1-hour special appearance at Museumplein (our last stop for the day). When he appeared on stage, the crowd went wild!!! He kept the crowd pumping and screaming all the time.