Adventures with Jaap: bikes

Showing posts with label bikes. Show all posts

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Weekend in Terschelling

Adventures with Jaap has taken yet another hiatus. It's been long enough and it's time to get back to the blog. I miss this creative outlet even if Jaap is the only one who reads it. :) Love you babe. Our lives have been busy the past couple of months. Busy time of year at work, traveling to the U.S., and preparing for our biggest life change, Baby Jansen. In a few short (but feels very long) weeks, Jaap and I will soon become Adventures with Jaap +1! Our household is growing and if all goes smoothly, we'll be adding another little Jansen-Pardo baby to the mix. It's not necessarily an excuse for why the blog has been neglected (yet again) because I wonder how much I will blog once the baby comes. :) As I enjoy my maternity leave and the benefits of being a pregnant woman in the Netherlands, here's a little bit about one of our latest adventures up north to one of the West Frisian islands.

Making our way to the beach

My first trip to the North sea

The Jansen family gave us a weekend getaway to Terschelling as part of our wedding gift. We had the most relaxing weekend I can remember and I enjoyed my first trip to Friesland.

Terschelling via Wikipedia

Traveling by car and then ferry forced us to get around the island by bike. A healthy choice for my 7 month pregnant self. I felt a sense of accomplishment that weekend riding around on that bike in those chilly temps. It was quite beautiful though.

Enjoying a beer at the beach

And since there's really not much to do in Terschelling except visit the beach, ride bikes, and apparently eat cranberries, the greatest sense of calm and relaxation came over me. Our hotel had this very cozy lounge area with a bar and fireplace. We spent one evening drinking tea and playing games by the fire. Can you feel the gezelligheid?

Brandaris

navigating through the "forest"

With Jaap as our navigator we had a lovely bike ride from our hotel to West Terschelling on the other side of the island. Riding through sand dunes and the "forest" brought me into a sense of calm before the last few busy weeks of work before maternity leave. It was so peaceful and quiet there.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Terschelling, eat cranberries. We discovered the island is famous for their cranberry production. We found a "cranberry cafe" and enjoyed a hot cup of tea and some delicious desserts. This slice of cranberry cheesecake was lekker!

We ended our stay in Terschelling with a great concert on Saturday. Only my husband could find a brass ensemble concert in the middle of nowhere. The music was top notch.

Thank you to the Jansens for this gift and thank you to my husband for a great "babymoon" weekend together before our little one arrives. :)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Bike adventures

Now that my big musical at school (and major workload) is over I'm getting back into my normal routine again. What a great feeling! So even though Pinksteren was almost two weeks ago, I'm now getting around to blogging about it. Not to mention I'm still working on our post for Berlin!

Pinsterdag or Pentecost is a three day weekend here in the Netherlands. We had amazing weather and Jaap and I took full advantage of it. Three days of sunshine and the outdoors!

Drinks with Jenny & Arie on a terras

The Friday of our Pinkster weekend was warm and sunny. As much as we love our little balcony, we were in no mood to stay home for dinner. We met up with our American/Dutch friends Jenny and Arie at a little terras on the Maas. (I love how the Dutch have a specific name for an outdoor café.) It was a beautiful evening of snacks and drinks. Our romantic stroll home along the river reminds me how much I love Maastricht and its beauty.

Jaap took us for a scenic bike ride on Saturday. He's a good navigator with our bike maps of Zuid Limburg. We couldn't have asked for a better trip. (Well...we probably could have done without my whining over all the hills). Thankfully Jaap is used to my whining. It wasn't too bad though. I've toughened up since moving to the Netherlands. I would have never enjoyed this bike ride two years ago. Now it's actually fun!

Break time in a little secluded spot

Belgian biking

We rode through some tiny little Belgian towns, stopped for drink in the woods, and ended up back in St. Pieters, in Maastricht, for a drink at one of my favorite places, De Sjans. The perfect day. Minus the severe allergy attacks that we both had. Hay fever season is not fun!

Back in Maastricht in Biesland

I love this restaurant. The terras at De Sjans is so peaceful and tranquil. The perfect ending to our beautiful ride in the sun.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

R.I.P. Fiets

We've had a beautiful Sunday. A bike ride to nearby Eijsden, lunch with a river view on the Maas, and a viewing of an "antiques roadshow" with our friends. We stopped at one of my favorite little spots, Eijsden castle. I love this place.

In bike related news, I got my new fiets (bike) today. It's been a sad few weeks without my bike that I liked so much. I stupidly left my key in my bike during Dutch class and my bike was stolen. An easy steal for a bike thief. Jaap says I'm becoming more and more Dutch because having your bike stolen is a part of Dutch life. Well, you live and learn!

R.I.P. fiets...thanks for the good times

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Turning 30 at North Sea Jazz

I have officially left my 20s behind and have entered my 30s! Turning 30 at North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam was a great way to celebrate my birthday with Jaap, good friends, and great music. Thank you Jaap for a wonderful weekend of music and good times.

Jaap is a big jazz fan and thanks to him, I'm starting to become one too. He usually goes to North Sea Jazz with his friend Joost and now this year, I got to go. Once we saw the line-up I was anticipating this weekend for several months. Unfortunately, Joost could not attend on Friday, so Jaap decided we should go for two days. Friday night was important for us because Paul Simon was one of the headliners. Not exactly jazz, but who cares? We were so excited. We were only three rows away from Paul. Here's a picture of us waiting for the show to begin. That's Jaap's head on the bottom. Hee hee.

Paul Simon reminds me of my parents and how they made us listen to Graceland in pretty much every car ride when we were younger. I'm thankful though because now I'm a big fan. I wish my parents were there for this concert, they would have loved it. Here are some videos that Jaap made of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes. They're a little shaky because Jaap was dancing along. You can hear my ridiculous singing in the background accompanied by some girls next to us.

The great thing that I like about these jazz festivals is the ability to hear so many different types of music from so many great artists in one evening. It's perfect for someone with ADD tendencies like myself. If you don't like one performance, you just get up and walk to another room to hear someone else. Paul's performance was great and the venue was packed. After him came B.B. King and you pretty much couldn't room the place was so crowded. We saw bits and pieces of it from the outside while enjoying some drinks.

Later on we went to a big venue to hear Rubén Blades perform some salsa with famous salsa trombonist Jimmy Bosch. From Paul Simon to Latin jazz in one hour...good stuff!

Day two at Jazz Fest, started with a birthday breakfast and a nice long bike ride. Both Friday and Saturday we borrowed Joost's and his wife's bikes to get to the festival. It took us about 35 minutes each way by bike. (That's 140 minutes of bike riding for you math whizzes, something I would have never done before living in the Netherlands). Jaap complimented me on how my bike riding skills and tolerance level have improved. Tolerance level meaning, I don't complain as much as I used to on the bike. That's a huge compliment coming from a Dutchie. :)

Joost suggested we ride the bikes through Erasmus tunnel to see a different part of Rotterdam. To get into the tunnel you have to take your bikes down an escalator, a first for me. Dutch people do everything with their bikes.

Joost

Erasmus tunnel

Joost is a jazzer himself and a tenor sax player. He suggested that we see Joshua Redman perform on Saturday. We got there early and had good seats. The tone quality, technique, and control this guy has over the sax is incredible. What a great performance. During his last number something happened to one of his keys on the sax, so he didn't add an encore at the end. Joost said, "That's why you don't give your sax to a roadie." :) Despite that, we all agreed that it was greatest performance we heard all day.

Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau

Throughout the day we saw a lot more artists after Joshua Redman including: Chaka Khan, Seal, a bossa nova artist named Adriana Calcanhotto, and Kurt Elling 'Swinging Sinatra' with the Klüvers Big Band.

Here is a video of us enjoying one of the outdoor sections with DJs on the roof. My friend Erika from NYC and her boyfriend Kars met up with us as well. What a great evening! Thanks again to Joost, Marina, and family for hosting us and special thanks to Jaap for making my 30th special. :)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Vive La France!

Jardin du Luxembourg

Another amazing weekend getaway with Jaap and this time we returned to Paris. I had to pinch myself several times because I thought I was living in a dream world. I still can't get over how close we live to Paris and how close the Netherlands is to so many places and countries. I kept turning to Jaap saying, "Is this my life? Where am I? This is amazing!"

I LOVE France. I love French people, French food, the French way of life, the fact that everybody is running around the city with baguettes in their hand, the beautiful gardens, the architecture...everything! Paris is amazing.

The last time we went to Paris was with my parents, aunts, and uncles. 8 people and two nights. It was nuts, but fun. This time around we took the relaxed, "let's pretend we're Parisians" approach to the city. Long walks, bike riding, a museum, and of course amazing French cuisine.

Two weeks ago was another holiday in the Netherlands, so we planned a long weekend trip. Yay! It's so easy to get to Paris by train, since it's only 3 hours away. But, the tickets were ridiculously expensive, so we decided to drive instead. It's not much longer by car, only 4 hours, and since I can drive stick now I drove the first half. Yay for me! I feel like I'm 16 all over again learning to drive a car.

We spent Thursday afternoon at Jardin du Luxembourg. A beautiful park near the Sorbonne. Beautiful gardens, flowers, fountains, and statues. Lots of families and children playing in the various playgrounds. Tons of people sitting out and reading and lots of French people making out and showing ridiculous displays of public affection, everywhere. I love French people.

Since we were close by we walked over to the Pantheon. We were too late to go inside so we walked around the corner to another church and decided to go see the Eiffel Tower. It was still too early for dinner and the weather was beautiful, so we weren't ready to head indoors.

Pantheon

What a sight to see. It's like the Empire State or Chrysler building. You never get tired of looking at it. The architecture is stunning. This time we went to go see it up close along the water.

And of course, every long walk must come with a koffiepauze at some point. Although this time we went for a rosé wine instead. Lekker! We enjoyed a couple of glasses before heading out somewhere on the other side of the city for dinner.

Day two started on an adventurous note. We decided to rent bikes and see what Paris is like above ground, rather than traveling with the Metro all day. Paris has a public bike system where anyone can easily rent bikes from 30 minutes to hours at a time. Finding a bike stand with available bikes that weren't broken took us some time and included some confused phones calls with the customer service rep. In retrospect it's quite funny, but at the time Jaap and I were not laughing and trying hard not to get mad at each other. After everything was resolved, we were off. I felt so French!

I would have never done something like this before living in the Netherlands. Surprisingly, I felt comfortable cruising through the city with our bikes. I think it's because bike riding has become such a big part of my life now, so I'm really used to it. I was preparing myself for the worst since many of the streets have no bike lanes and in most places outside of the Netherlands people could care less about bike riders. But in the end, I thought it was quite nice and didn't feel nervous at all. The great thing is that scooters aren't allowed on bike lanes. (Something I wish the Dutch would pick up on). Jaap was such a great navigator. Reading a map and bike riding at the same time is not an easy feat, but since he's Dutch, I knew he could handle it.

I'm sure you have heard of Père Lachaise, one of the most famous cemeteries in Paris and probably the world. Most people go there to see Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and Oscar Wilde, among others. We planned to take the 'dead composers' tour through Père Lachaise. We liked to stop by a composer's grave and pay tribute by singing a few bars of one of their famous works. We sang a little William Tell and Carmen to honor Rossini and Bizet. We still saw Jim Morrison, but Edith was a little too far on the other side. Here are some photos of our walk through the cemetery. It's a beautiful place to visit in Paris.