The Low Lands

Snowy days in the south of Holland. The moment we arrived in Roosendaal it started snowing - lightly, at first, but then more insistently until cold flakes flew into our increasingly cold faces and made us glad to be in the hotel, a 20-minute walk away from the historic Roosendaal railway station.

After a short pit stop we continued to my mum´s house, and she was very glad to see us. Not having seen Tess and Yarrow, in person, for more than six years, she was overjoyed to see them again (and, at the same time, saddened that my dad was no longer able to see them). Personally, even though I missed him acutely at some stage, clearly felt his presence and happiness that they had finally made it ´home´.

The linguistic barrier was one we gingerly overcame, with some translation and some gesturing. After a while we found that, in fact, Tess and Yarrow could perfectly understand everything that was said in Dutch, and my mum could perfectly understand what they said in English, as long as they didn´t get carried away by their usual juvenile verbal enthusiasm, i.e. talked at the speed of lightning.

My sisters and brother-in-law Jos were there, too. They left after a while and we had dinner with Oma, after which I noticed she was (physically and emotionally) tired and we strolled back through the snow to the hotel. There we spent the evening having showers, reading, chatting, mobile phoning, raiding the mini bar and watching inane programmes on TV. Just before turning in we realised it had started snowing again, but when we woke up to the sounds of the Church bells and carillion we saw that during the night the Big Freeze had turned into the A Definite Attempt At The Big Melt.

Even though there is still a lot of snow around us as we train back through Dutch countryside to Amsterdam it´s definitely started thawing. This morning we went for a walk with Oma, who met us at the hotel, and we ambled through old haunts and neighbourhoods to where we lived until I was 20 or so (see a post below with photos). Tess and Yarrow thought it was very interesting to see the old house, where my room was and where I played. We walked back to Oma´s, had lunch and then, after a teary farewell, went to pick up our bags from the hotel and on to the railway station. Tess had just invested in a packet of real Stroopwafels... multi-tasking, combining the Eating Of It with MSN-ing with her friends in Australia and reading a book (Stephanie Meyer´s Breathing Dawn). Yarrow, too, has delved into a book (Diana Wynne Jones´ House of Many Ways)

Off to Oma

For the next two days we will be at Oma´s in Roosendaal where there is no Internet, so no posts until Thursday evening we get back, I´m afraid. Tess and Yarrow haven´t seen Oma, and my sisters, for many years so that should be an exciting event for them!

Sliding down quarter pipes is just as much fun as going up and down a skateboard ramp with skates on, but it does give you a wet bum and sore limbs...

Holland

On Monday afternoon we left Portugal to go to Holland, sadly leaving Niki behind. Tess and Yarrow had had an absolute ball in Portugal and expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Niki before they left. They were much looking forward to catching up with their friends and family Holland, so yet another flight took us over snow-covered countries to the Lowlands Up North. A busy week ahead of us, we started off well by being picked up by Leigh and Eve, and Martina. Leigh dropped us off at Bertie´s who had prepared another sumptuous meal (pumpkin soup and pancakes). Outside, all was white and slippery although the canals were not frozen really. Today temperatures hovered around freezing point but some snow melted. Nevertheless, thanks to one of Holland´s Big Banks we managed to have another skate at the Museumplein (no visit to Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh Museum included this time...). Cees joined us in the morning and Big Sister Lisa also came along to the Museumplein and together we skated to our hearts´content. Yes, OK, most of us fell over at some point or other but it needs to be said I was much impressed by everybody´s skating skills - they seem to be the kind of skill you learn once and never forget. Tess and Yarrow swirled across the ice effortlessly.

So cold ....

Just an example of how cold it was on our Mountain Trip: a frozen road side tap. Just before we left we allowed Tess and Yarrow the building of a Snow Gnome (it was finished in about 23.5 seconds, as it was simply too, too cold to stay out anymore). And just now on the radio news we heard that the Torre, which was easy to get to yesterday, has this morning been blocked for all traffic because of heavy snowfall!

Tess and Yarrow are looking forward to our Amsterdam sojourn, which will start tomorrow, as the north of Europe, is covered in a thick layer of The White Stuff, and it doesn´t look like letting up...

Silly Hat Parade

We managed to get enough Winter Clothes together over time to embark on our Snow Trip, but it must be said it was a bit of a Silly Hat Parade. Well, Tess´hat was anyway ....

A window of oppurtunity

For those who have been following the development of the Sarzedo house, the photos show the recent inclusion of The New Windows (and doors). So, so far, there´s a new roof, new floors, and new windows. Next stop - rendering the outside walls and putting in the inside wall cladding, after which it´s time to Think Kitchen and Bathroom. It´ll be a long process to get it all in and one, but hopefully by the end of the year it will be at least minimally habitable.

White wonderland

On Saturday we woke early (too early, according to some...) to venture towards the mountains and Sarzedo. It was dark when we left... Recently ´Niki´s Windows´ had been put in, in the house-which-no-longer-looks-like-a-ruin-anymore and Niki was dying to see them ´in situ´. Also, there was a promise of snow in the mountains and the girls were overexcited at the prospect. Just to be sure we had hedged our bets: if the roads were too bad or insurpassable, we would not go up to the Torre, which is the highest point of Portugal (see far below in the early posts) and visible from the Sarzedo house.

As the images below will witness, we did get to the Winter Wonderland, much to the exhilarated happiness of Tess and Yarrow (and Niki, who screamed as loud as anyway when sliding down the slopes on special Tyres). It was freezing cold! A cold neither Tess, Yarrow or myself had felt in a long, long time. For the males among us - and those who´ve had mustaches in the past: remember the feeling when your mustache ices over and your breath freezes onto it. Well, I have no mustache but even the minor stubble on my face transported me to mustachian days and brought that feeling of sticky, icicly cold back on the cold mountain winds.

Expo'98 (in full, 1998 Lisbon World Exposition) was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from May 22 to September 30, 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future," chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries. This fountain, one of a series, fascinated Tess - the water slowly built up and then ejected from the top. A lovely idea.

Ocenarium

Sea aquariums have always fascinated me, and Tess and Yarrow, too, were eager to visit Lisbon´s Ocenarium. It was fascinating - despite the immediate realisation that these hundreds of fish, some of which were absolutely fascinating and alien, would be better off living outside the steel and glass walls of this Expo building, we enjoyed the wondrous variety of marine life on display.

Make a Smilebox photobook

School´s out ...?

On two nights this week Tess and Yarrow joined Niki and four of her female pupils in one of her classes at Language Project, Niki´s school. The Portuguese girls attend English classes at Niki´s school, as so many Portuguese kids do a few nights every week. Tess and Yarrow have been writing with (well, emailing with) the girls in this class over the past two months or so, so excitement and expectation levels were high and the Portuguese girls couldn´t wait to meet the misses from Down Under. During the second lesson they did an activity where they had to find out information about each other - they had to think of questions to ask, then interview each other and, finally, report back on their findings. In the photos are some of their notes. One can understand, at a pinch, on the subject of ´Friends´, why they´d want to know whether the other person also had ´enemies´... but one may wonder why one of the answers was ´not officially´... Ah! those teenage years ...

Monastery

Today we embarked on an excursion to the Mafra Palace and Monastery. This huge building overlooks the town of Mafra outside Lisbon and sports one of the most beautiful libraries I have ever seen. Unfortunately we couldn´t get too close to the 36,000 or so beautiful volumes lining its red and white marble walls. Mafra is a huge Monastery and a Palace in one. Walking through it we got endless vistas of long corridors with endless numbers of rooms.

For those of you who read Portuguese ....

O maior tesouro de Mafra é a sua biblioteca, com chão em mármore, estantes em estilo rococó e uma coleção de mais de 40.000 livros com encadernações em couro gravadas a ouro, incluindo uma segunda edição de Os Lusíadas de Luís de Camões. Situada ao fundo do segundo piso é a estrela do palácio, rivalizando em grandiosidade com a Biblioteca da Abadia de Melk, na Áustria. Construida por Manuel Caetano de Sousa, tem 88 m de comprimento, 9.5 de largura e 13 de altura. O magnífico pavimento é revestido de mármore rosa, cinzento e branco. As estantes de madeira estilo rococó, situadas em duas filas laterais, separadas por um varandim contêm milhares de volumes encadernados em couro, testemunhando a extensão do conhecimento ocidental dos séculos XIV ao XIX. Entre eles muitas jóias bibliográficas, como incunábulos. Estes volumes magníficos foram encadernados na oficina local, também por Manuel Caetano de Sousa.

Zoovenirs

A day at the Zoo was just what Tess and Yarrow wanted, so off we trundled to the Lisbon Zoo, which proved to be a very pleasant animal garden with lots to see - and Tess and Yarrow communicated with Tiger cubs and a Gorilla! See the slide show below. After that we metro-ed to the centre of Lisbon (Marquise de Pombal) and enjoyed one of the most beautiful views of Lisbon and the River Tejo. The day ended with a visit to the dentist (yes, a Portuguese one), who decided to extract one of Yarrow´s baby teeth which had been bothering her for a while ... new tooth coming up!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Rain...

It´s a rainy, gloomy day today. The girls are ensconced in front of the Friends Channel, Niki has gone back to work and I, unfortunately, have had to interrupt my holiday for part of today to get a few documents off to a publisher. Tomorrow we will continue our excursion-laden programme with a vengeance...

Movies

This morning we drove Anjes to the airport. It was lovely having her here, and we´re going to see her again soon when we go to Amsterdam! In the afternoon, Tess, Yarrow and I enjoyed a sitting of the Avatar movie ... in 3D, hence the silly glasses. What a great movie! No doubt it will be awarded with many an Oscar this year. Avatar is taking 3D animation to new heights, in terms of image as well as sound, the story is riveting and relevant for societies of today, esp. the American political arena and the war on terrorism and the boy and girl (or are they?) do get each other at the end but, as Yarrow pointed out, ´there are many heroes in this movie, and not all the heroes live´.

Sintra Slides

Make a Smilebox photobook

Not lonely in the clouds...

Saturday was spent in the countryside outside Lisboa, in a town called Sintra. Sitting in beautiful natural surroundings of mountains and green hills, Sintra is a noble town surrounded by many estates, pleasant woods with plentiful springs of excellent water and has of old been a drawing card for the more fortunate among the Portuguese who have built palaces, summer residences, castles and other means of fortification and seasonal entertainment there. It´s a landscape of giant boulders, pine trees, ferns and foxgloves and very heavily wooded.

The weather started out nice enough (cloudy but dry) at the Moorish Fort, but soon changed as we climbed up to the Palácio da Pena where we got rather soaked and wandered not lonely as a cloud, but lost in cloud. We were certainly not lonely in the cloud(s) as hundreds of other locals and tourists had chosen this day, completely against the expectation of the people managing the estates, to come and view the architectural and historical treasures. The movie below shows how we were actually in cloud; see the clouds move from right to left. From the Moorish Castle on the other side of the valley we had already seen such clouds descend on the Palácio earlier ...

A great description of Sintra can also be found here: ´Sintra is an amazing place both for its natural landscape and for the varied and exotic buildings that have been erected there since the 9th century when the Moors started the trend with their crenelated fortress, its walls striding the hilltops, right through to the 20th century with several remarkable palaces of great architectural acclaim. Sintra and its immediate environs are justifiably included on the Unesco World Heritage list.´

Reading

So who says cats can´t read? Astrid is certainly making a valiant attempt at a mind-meld (cue: Star Trek jingle) and vicariously reads along with Niki who´s engrossed in Dan Brown´s The Lost Symbol.

Beach-combing...

The things one finds on Costa da Caparica, just southwest of Lisbon: we think a ship with vegetables must have been sunk in some winter storm as, apart from the legumes in the photo (which were not found in this neat Rembrandt-eat-your-heart-out Still Life composition) we also found an apple, another mango and bamboo shoots ...

Also prevalent on this beautiful sandy beach were these rather horrible-looking jellyfish. I´ve been told they´re not venomous but had the cold not put me off swimming then these beauties would certainly have.

The girls (and I include Niki in this as she giggles as much as the other three) ran havoc on the beach, raced each other to catch a ball (not belonging to the dog they met, as taking that off it would have been heartless, but another piece of flotsam - or was it jetsam ) and Hans threatened to carry Niki into the waves and dump, sorry, place her there. (softly) He did in fact throw her over his shoulder, walked decidedly towards the surf and thus scared the living daylights out of her - but we kept it dry ...

In short, a lovely morning at the beach, followed by lounging in a beach-side cafe on huge beanbags in the sun (which almost made Niki fall asleep but then who wouldn´t have...?)

More celebration

Perhaps you didn´t know but it´s also a very well-known aspect of and tradition in the Dutch-Portuguese-Australian cultural heritage to make a fool of oneself. With Bertie´s help that was made very easy, thank you Bertie. And yes, you do indeed see flashing red lights in the Antlers... erm, need I say more or could I leave it to your imagination and cultural inventiveness to make up your own mind...?