Eindhov-eh

Today I'd like to share a few fun things I've come across recently related to the city we've been inhabiting for the past 10 months.  As we've chronicled in multiple posts, biking is a huge part of life in the Netherlands.  And we've always marveled at the infrastructure created for biking in this country.  Now we have proof of this country's cycling greatness.  The Copenhagenize Index released their 2013 list of most bike friendly cities.  Eindhoven places at #6!  I must say I'm pretty proud that our city made it so high on the list.  Amsterdam and Utrecht did rank higher than us, which means that 3 of the top 10 cities are Dutch.

The other item I thought I'd share is a video created to market the city of Eindhoven.  This will give you a nice glimpse of some of the hot spots.  At 18 minutes, it's not exactly a short video, so here's a few highlights you may want to skip to if you can't watch the whole thing:

• The first two minutes or so gives a nice intro.
• 3:10 - the old Philips factory, bottom floor is Usine, one of our favorite restaurants and places to grab a coffee or a beer
• 4:41 - Kleine Berg, a favorite street of ours for restaurants and bars
• 5:05 - the Piazza, an indoor/outdoor mall where I do a lot of shopping
• 11:30 - Strijp-S, this area has an industrial feel, and is a design hub, we spent time here during Dutch Design Week
• 12:25 - Van Abbe Museum, the main museum in Eindhoven
• 13:34 - Het Spiegelbeeld, a restaurant on Dommelstraat, a street full of restaurants that we often visit

Also take note how the actors in the film say "Eindhoven".  It sounds much more like Eindhov-eh, without the "N".

Hopefully you enjoyed learning a bit more about our current home!  Tonight we are leaving on a jet plane for London. We'll be visiting friends who live there and of course spending lots of time being tourists.  See you next week!

Best Kept Secret

This past weekend, we searched for our inner hipsters, and just may have found them by attending an outdoor music festival in Tilburg, which is a 20-minute drive from Eindhoven.  The festival was called Best Kept Secret and featured some bands that we knew and more that we didn't.  But let me start at the beginning - I enjoy keeping things in chronological order.

On Saturday, our friends Brad and Mindy came down from Den Haag to Eindhoven to hang with us for the day.  We took them to La Trappe for lunch, since they hadn't been there yet.  Then we chilled at our place for a bit before heading out to dinner at one of our favorite establishments.  We squeezed in a short walking tour of Eindhoven in between as well.  A highlight of the evening was our bike ride home.  It started out with a slow drizzle of rain and then devolved into an all out downpour.   We kept it all in stride though, and promptly changed into drier clothing once we got home.  For some reason, I actually enjoy biking in the rain if I know I'm on my way home to dry clothes.

Sunday afternoon we headed to the festival together.  We had day passes for Sunday, but lots of the crowd had been camping since Friday night and attending all three days of the festival.  Not knowing what to expect, I think we were all impressed with the venue.  There were 3 large stages spread out throughout the site and probably around 30 different food vendors.  The venue is actually a Safari Park, geared toward children, but they had lots of space for hosting this festival.  Unfortunately, there were no giraffe or elephant sightings.  Here's some of the photos from our day:

Still dry at this point.

Why are mustaches so hot right now?

Stage One, the largest.

And the rain begins...

Lovin' it.

Mikhael Paskalev

Fresh falafel wrap.

Delicious homemade mini donuts.

Local Natives.

Refreshing.

Palma Violets.

The downer of the day was definitely the weather.  It was very odd and would go from bright sun one minute to full on rain the next.  This happened on and off for the entire day.  You should have seen the puddles forming!  Donning my rain boots was an excellent choice.  But the rain didn't stop us from seeing the bands we wanted to.  Our favorites during the day were Mikhael Paskalev and Local Natives.  We think Mikhael's music video is pretty funny...

Brad and Mindy had a longer drive back to Den Haag so they didn't stay for the final act that went on at 9:45pm, which was Sigur Ros.  This group put on an impressive show, and although I may have complained a little beforehand, I'm glad we stayed to see them:

It was fun to do something different, and it was also great that it was local.  The inaugural Best Kept Secret Festival was a success!

Appropriate Summer Attire

As the weather starts to get warmer here, I thought I'd begin this post with a quick commentary on the fashion choices I see being made around me.  Weather in the Netherlands (especially this year) is not known for being particularly warm.  However, we've had a decent number of days as of late where it's hit at least 65 degrees.  To me, that sort of weather calls for jeans or a skirt and a t-shirt.  If I'm hopping on my bike in the morning before the sun has its time to shine, I'll probably throw on a light jacket. Seems reasonable, right?  Well, what would you think if you saw someone wearing this in that same weather?:

No joke, I have witnessed multiple people wearing winter coats while riding their bikes this summer.  How are they not overheating?  I haven't as of yet been quick enough to snap a shot of someone sporting this rad fashion idea, but don't worry, I'll keep trying.  Can anyone explain this phenomenon to me?  It's supposed to hit 90 tomorrow, and if I see a fur-lined hoodie I think I will have to ask that person if they are right in the head.

I also thought I'd share some photos from a recent Culture Club outing.  You may remember that last time I went to Keukenhof with this group.  This time around, we headed to Mondo Verde, which is basically a bunch of country-themed gardens and a zoo all rolled into one.  The place was fun to walk around, and it was very easy to tell when you were entering a new "country".  Here's some of my favorite photos and animals from the visit:

Lovers.

These guys didn't budge an inch, how do they do that?

Italy.

Japan.

Albino kangaroo!

Hard to see because of my awesome photography skills, but this is one giant dude.

Morocco.

Portugal.

This little guy reached through the bars and snatched a lady's sunglasses off of her head.

We went to "Spain" for lunch, and we were all looking forward to some tapas. Unfortunately, they didn't carry over the Spanish theme to the food, only to the architecture, so I ate a pasteitje.  Pasteitje is a typically Dutch dish that consists of a pastry with chicken and mushroom gravy.  It looks something like this:

It was another fun outing, and I look forward to joining the group on more excursions in the fall.

Scandinavian Escapades

Another weekend, another adventure.  This time, Todd and I struck out on our own to uncharted (to us) territory. We spent the weekend in Stockhom, Sweden!  A long weekend spent with the Swedes was just perfect for getting a real feel for the city.  And for most of the weekend we were blessed with some amazing weather.

We hopped on another flight out of Eindhoven last Friday afternoon, and headed up north to a country that has a lot more space than the Netherlands.  Once landed, we took a bus into Stockholm, and it was amazing to see miles and miles of completely untouched countryside.  Forests and meadows and lakes, oh my!  It truly is a beautiful country.  And then, once you hit Stockholm, it suddenly feels very metropolitan.  

Our first evening began on a boat.  How very fitting for city where water plays such a large role. We saw signs describing Stockholm as the Venice of the north, which is also the way that Amsterdam is sometimes described.   Why can't they all just be waterlogged cities in their own right?  But back to the boat, it's actually a restaurant and bar and a great place to enjoy a drink with a view.

Across the river later.

After touching land again, we went in search of dinner, stopping along the way to admire the water and architecture.

We made our way into Gamla Stan, which is the old, historic section of the city. Gamla Stan is situated on a small island that is connected to the rest of Stockholm to the north and south by bridges.

Stockholm Cathedral.

We found dinner on a nice square in the old town, and we got adventurous in our menu choices.  The dish below consists of reindeer mousse, local salmon roe, prawn salad, and pickled herring with cheese.  The reindeer mousse was the one that threw me.  A bit odd, but not altogether bad.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering the city, and delighting in the fact that it didn't get fully dark until around 11pm.

The next morning, we went on a guided tour of the more modern parts of the city.  The first highlight was seeing H&M's headquarters...

Along with the Academy of Music, where the Nobel Prizes are awarded each December...

Here's the fancy shopping street, along with our tour guide, Nina...

This building is the bank where the term "Stockholm Syndrome" originated.  Hostages were held by bank robbers in this bank in 1973 for 5 days.  The hostages developed sympathetic feelings for the robbers and even defended them once they all made it out.

The Parliament Building.

The Royal Palace.

The tour was a great way to see a lot of the city and learn some of the history while doing it.

Another activity that day was checking out the Vasa Museum.  The Vasa was a Viking warship that set sail in 1628, sailed for about 1 hour before tipping over and sinking to the bottom of the Stockholm Harbor.  She stayed underwater for 333 years until the Swedes pulled her up.  She is held in the Vasa Museum, and is 99% original.  This ship was super cool to see, and is amazingly well preserved.

Replica, how the Vasa would have looked originally, with full decorative paint.

After getting our Viking on, we went on a walking spree through the city.  The Vasa was located out on one of the islands, and we were planning to take the metro back.  That is until we discovered how much it would cost to ride the metro.  Any guesses?  Well, how's $20 sound to you?  For one ride!  That actually was the cost for a 24 hour pass, but we only needed to ride it once, so this was not a viable option.  Therefore, we mentally prepared for the long walk, stopping for nourishment first in the form of fish and chips.

The park where we sat for lunch.

Fish and chips from a street vendor.

I had forgotten sunscreen, so this was my attempt to protect my poor Dutch skin.

We walked an estimated 9 miles this day.  I mapped it later that night when we got back to the hotel.  But it was a beautiful day, and a pretty great way to see the city.

Our next stop was for coffee in Sodermalm, a island south of the old town.  And for those of you familiar with the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, this is the area where Mikael and Lisbeth both lived in Stockholm.  We went to a place called Hermans Tradgardscafe, which had excellent views.

Todd's version - no sugar, no cream.

Panorama near our coffee spot.

The coffee was delicious and strong.  We then continued to mosey through Sodermalm, to another place with great views.  This time it was a beer garden in Mosebacke.  And continuing with the Dragon Tattoo hotspots, this is the neighborhood where Lisbeth bought her new, big home after (spoiler alert) scoring the loads of cash. 

Riksentelefon.

After enjoying the garden with a view, we headed to dinner.  I had researched this place ahead of time, called the Pelikan.  It is known for traditional Swedish food, so we figured we'd be able to find some meatballs there.  And we did.  The food was delicious and in a fun laid back atmosphere.

3 types of herring as an appetizer.

Authentic Swedish meatballs.

My choice was potato dumplings.

Again the crazy-out-of-control prices in Stockhom reared their ugly head.  Our meal cost over $100...for meatballs.  Good meatballs, but still meatballs.  This left Todd and I reenacting the SNL Weekend Update shtick "Really?!?!".  Youtube it if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Really, Sweden, $100 for a meal of meatballs? Really?!

Our last day in Scandinavia was spent drinking more coffee and seeing more of the city....

Then getting drenched in my first thunderstorm in 10 months.  Did you know we don't get thunderstorms in the Netherlands?

Because of the rain, we left Stockholm a bit earlier than expected and headed south to our hotel by the airport.  It worked out because this gave us time to explore the city near the airport named Nykoping.  It was a small city, and things were pretty dead since it was a Sunday night, but we did manage to see the castle and grab dinner.

The castle was more impressive back in the day, or so the little sign near it said.

A river runs through it.

This restaurant played Mariah Carey's Greatest Hits for the entire time we were there.  We suffered through "Hero" three times.

It was fun to have a bit of time to see another Swedish city.  And I must say that the Swedes certainly lived up to their reputation of being friendly.  All of our service was excellent and people on the street in Nykoping were even helping us to get around and find an open place for dinner.

This morning, we flew back home nice and early.  Thankfully, the sun was already shining bright at 3:30am!

This is a photo outside our window at 4am, no joke.

We made it back to Eindhoven before Todd even needed to start work today, which was pretty impressive.   All in all a great time in Stockholm, even if they did try to take us for all we're worth. It is a beautiful city!

And now I'll leave you with a picture of, uh, pastel coloured fish.

I thought these were called something else...