Lille, France

Last weekend it was time for the yearly weekend break with my mother. It has become a tradition that the two of us take a city trip sometime in November/December every year. We've already visited some very interesting cities, like Prague, Vienna, Chicago, Copenhagen, London etc. This year we planned to stay in The Netherlands and book a wellness weekend, when all of the sudden Lille caught our eye.

Lille was a city we had both heard of, but never really been to. It was also a city we didn't really know much about. So we decided to change that and spend our yearly weekend break there.

The drive to Lille went very smooth. It's surprisingly close to the Belgium border in the North West of France. We found our hotel quickly and were pleasantly surprised by our room which was spacious with a nice bathroom. We didn't get the view on the square we requested, but oh well. Grand Hotel Bellevue is a 3 star hotel in the middle of the city, walking distance from the tourist office, shops, cinemas and restaurants. We can thoroughly recommend it!

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after checking into the hotel we went to the tourist office to book a bus-tour of the city. We were the only 2 passengers in the mini van so had pretty much a private tour. There was a lot more to Lille than we were aware of! After the bus tour we walked to the cinema to book tickets for the movie "the imaginarium of Dr Parnassus". For movies in the original language with French subtitles, make sure you check for the acronym VO (version originale) in the movie listing. We then had dinner in one of the restaurants close to our hotel before going back to the cinema to watch the movie with Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law. Weird movie, but entertaining nevertheless!

The next day was spent with shopping. We walked over to the Centre Commerciale Euralille, a huge mall with several interesting shops! In the evening after our dinner we went to see another movie, The Box. This one (with Cameron Diaz) was also interesting and based on a scary concept...

In short, we truly enjoyed our trip to Lille. It is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture and a rich history. Definitely worth a visit!

What do Ice Age 3 and Andre Rieu have in common?

What we originally planned as a quiet and relaxing Sunday, turned out quite different! Last evening on Twitter somebody asked if anyone was interested in 2 tickets for the show of Andre Rieu. The tickets belonged to somebody else and he would have to get them first before he was able to give them to me. But... they were offered for free! The person who got them originally had won them in a lottery and didn't want any money for them. So this morning I got a message containing a picture of where the tickets were hidden (he wasn't home when we picked them up).

Due to a misunderstanding (we thought the show would start at 11:30am, but it started at 2:30pm) we were at the location way too early. But no problem, there was a movie theatre there, so we decided to go and watch a movie. Not that there is a lot of choice that early in the day... We ended up watching Ice Age 3, in 3D wearing funny glasses. What a fabulous movie! I really admire the makers for making the 3rd instalment of Ice Age still interesting and entertaining, and maybe even better than the 2 previous ones...

After the movie and a quick lunch, it was time for the show! The Amsterdam Arena was packed! There were about 30.000 people! Our seat was really high up, close to the roof of the arena. The stage is amazing, a replica of Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. During the show, Andre Rieu was accompanied by several solo singers, all with amazing voices. A well known Dutch comedian (Andre van Duin) also had a couple of acts in between. During the waltzes there were both ballroom dancers and ice dancers performing above and to the two sides of the stage. The well known choir, Mastreechter Staar, accompanied Andre Rieu for several acts in the second half of the show. They are in the picture at the bottom of this blog, bearing the torches while walking to the stage. And in between all that Andre Rieu and his musicians did an amazing job as well. This is a show I can truly recommend to anyone!

Oh and do stay until the very end... it's absolutely hilarious!!!

Neverland - and no, this is not about Michael Jackson!

One of the things I enjoy doing is taking part in surveys. All kinds of surveys, about business, food, politics, you name it! Most of these surveys start of with a few basic questions about yourself. Things like: your age, level of education, whether you're employed or not... And that's where I get stuck these days.

I am in a bit of a funny situation right now:
- I am not working for a company, yet I'm also not unemployed
- I don't get paid my salary, nor am I on unemployment benefits, but I do get paid what my salary used to be

The reason for this is the following: my most recent employer went bankrupt last month. Since they had already told me in April that they wouldn't be able to renew my yearly contract due to the crisis I had already searched for and found a new job. This new job has a start date of September 1st. The (old) company went bankrupt mid-July and all employees were fired by the lawyer handling the bankruptcy. So there I was, being fired after I had already quit! Weird situation... What was lucky for the employees is that the institution which handles the unemployment benefits in The Netherlands also continues to pay out salaries for 4 - 6 weeks after a bankruptcy - the notice period. And in our case it was 6 weeks, which means for me that I only have a gap of 1 week before I start my new job.

So in between the bankruptcy and my new job I am in a kind of Neverland. I've decided to call it my 'in-between-jobs' period, but if you can think of a better name, let me know! I count myself lucky that I already have a new job waiting for me, and I hope with all my heart that my former colleagues will also find something new soon!

SportSchloss Velen / Sport Castle Velen

Both my boyfriend and I have had a few stressful months work wise so several weeks ago I suggested we take a weekend break. One that should focus on rest and relaxation and spending quality time together. After a short search we decided that SportShloss Hotel Velen fit those requirements perfectly.

It's an original German castle, now in use as a hotel. They had an 'Entspanning und Erholung' relaxation offering which consisted of 2 nights in the hotel, an exclusive facial, hand treatment and aromatic massage. It also included the 2 evening meals to be taken at the hotel restaurant and the Orangerie.

When we arrived - a day later than originally planned due to my aunt's funeral - around noon our room was already available. It was a beautiful and spacious room in the main building, with the traditional high ceilings and also furbished in a traditional-looking style. The only downside of the room was really that it was quite warm, or even hot and it had no air conditioning. Even with the windows open it wouldn't cool down much as the weather outside was quite warm.

We started our break with a stroll through the village. It's a small village, with only a handful of shops and a few small supermarkets. We had lunch in the local biergarten (food was good but service could have been friendlier), bought some snacks for in the room and walked back to the castle as our first treatment was due.

Unfortunately when you go as a couple you cannot have your treatments together at the same time, as they have only one treatment cabin. So while one of us had the treatment, the other stayed at the indoor pool. The pool was nice and the water had a pleasant temperature. There are a few deck chairs with cushions to relax poolside. On the first day we had the facial and hand treatment. The facial was very nice, especially the massage aspect! The hand treatment wasn't anything special really, other than - again - the massage.

The first evening we had dinner in the Castle restaurant. For people who had booked an arrangement they had a set dinner which you couldn't change. The wine was included, which was great for me but not so great for my boyfriend who doesn't drink alcohol at all. Especially since any additional drinks were extra. But the food (and wine) was excellent! During dinner they played a game with scents. We were given 5 small vials which we had to sniff. We then had to guess the scent and write it down. We ended up with guessing 3 out of 5 correctly!

They also offer activities in and around the castle for all guests, and an activity calendar is always on display in the reception area. We got a big chuckle out of the calendar that was posted on Saturday evening. Look at the picture below and guess why!



The second day we enjoyed a walk in the area. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we bought ice cream at a local bakery which was open on Sunday's. Then it was time for our aroma massage. This too was excellent and we both really enjoyed it. Dinner that evening was in the Orangerie which was housed in one of the outbuildings on the site. This time there was some choice as it was a small buffet dinner and the food was once more excellent.

The next day we checked out of the hotel and drove up to Münster, a city about 50km away from the hotel. We walked down the old town and browsed through the stores. After lunch we decided to drive back home. All in all we had a wonderful weekend break and definitely fulfilled our need for quality time together, rest, and relaxation!

The Dalai Lama in Amsterdam

It seems ages ago since I ordered the tickets, but yesterday the day finally arrived on which I would see the Dalai Lama again, for the 2nd time in my life. The last time was in Brussels a few years ago, and I remember praising myself lucky then to have the opportunity to see him life. After all he's not the youngest person and he has suffered from several health issues. So I was very happy indeed with this 2nd opportunity to see him and listen and learn from him.

The day started early, as we (my boyfriend and I) wanted to be in Amsterdam on time to secure a good seat. We arrived well on time and after initially going to the wrong entrance (for Tibetans only) we passed the security checks and entered the main hall. The security was meant to be really tight, but we found a big problem with it which I won't elaborate on in detail here. I don't want to give the wrong people tips!

Luckily we managed to get a really good seat with an excellent view on the stage. First we started with the lesson on patience. His Holiness the Dalai Lama guided us through chapter six of Shantideva's text "A guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life".

In the afternoon we attended the public lecture about 'The power of compassion in turbulent times'. It was quite funny that the Dalai Lama had to ask the translator what the title of the lecture was. He explained this by saying that no matter what the title of any of his lecture is, the content is always pretty much the same. The difference between the lesson in the morning and the public lecture in the afternoon was huge! The morning was more complex and really did require (some) background knowledge in Buddhist beliefs. The afternoon session was much lighter. It also included a question and answer session. One of the biggest learnings I got out of the afternoon session was that forgiveness doesn't mean that you should not help the person you're forgiving to correct the actions that led to the need to forgive them to start with. In other words, forgive, but don't forget and help the other person so (s)he won't make the same mistake again.

We also attended the evening lecture by Sogyal Rinpoche. It was the first time I met this very impressive Buddhist teacher. His lecture was also very interesting, but unfortunately by this time I was so tired that I had trouble concentrating on what he was saying. But I will definitely attend his lectures again in the future!

All in all it was a very intensive day, a great experience, and a day I will remember and cherish for a long time!

The picture below was taken when the Dalai Lama accepted an Amsterdam baseball cap and sunglasses as a gift from somebody and put them on immediately :-)

Ups and downs in these tough times

The last few days have been pretty tough... The continuing stories about how bad the crisis is and how the recession is worse than expected combined with my own current extremely uncertain job situation have really gotten to me lately.

Yes, there are still jobs to be had, but not a lot and there's a lot of competition for each interesting looking job. On top of that the pay for all of the jobs I've applied for so far is a lot less then what I've been used to and what my mortgage is based on. Selling the house is not an option either, as I would have to sell with a big loss at the moment due to the lower house prices. So not a lot to be cheerful about. Normally I'm not really prone to depression or pessimism, but the past few days have been really, really tough.

It took me 10 years to build up my life to where I am now, after returning back from the UK with next to nothing other than a huge debt, some books, CDs and my clothes. So I know I'm capable of crawling out of a shit hole and fighting for a better life. Thing is though... I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN. So there. I had to get that off my chest.

So today I was looking at the dreary weather outside, with rain resembling the interior of a car wash, and that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. After having a brainstorming session with my boyfriend on what we could do that would take us out of the house for a bit we decided to drive to the coast and walk on the beach for a bit. My boyfriend decided on the location: Egmond aan Zee - a town neither of us had ever been to before. When we got there, the sun came out, and even though it was windy, the wind wasn't cold. So we had a nice long walk on the beach, which we ended with drinks in a beach bar. The wind, sun, sea, beach & company really cheered me up and made me feel better. This was topped of with a good meal in one of the local restaurants, after which we had a huge ice cream before driving back home. So now I feel a whole lot better again, and ready to start the new week, with hopefully a really good job coming my way. Or a good lottery win, that would be quite allright too! :-)

Successful attack on the Dutch royal family on Queen's Day 2009

As most of you probably know, a lunatic in a Suzuki Swift killed 8 people including himself in an attack on the Dutch royal family during the Queen's Day celebrations on the 30th of April in Apeldoorn. I haven't blogged about this before, because it took some time for it all to sink in after seeing this happen live on television.

I also needed some time to think about the implications of what happened for the Dutch royals. Sure, they didn't suffer any injuries and none of them died, but I strongly believe that this has impacted them in an irrecoverable way. Just compare the pictures of Queen Beatrix at the beginning of the day - beaming, happy, glowing almost - to the pictures of her during her speech at the end of the day after the horrible event - grieving, shocked, visibly aged. I am sure that something inside her died that day. Look at the expressions of utter shock on the faces of Willem Alexander and Maxima right after the attack.

I cannot imagine that Karst Tates thought he would really kill or injure any member of the royal family by hitting the royal bus with a Suzuki Swift. If he had wanted to do real damage he would have taken a bigger car, or filled his small car with explosives. Nobody will ever know what went on in that man's sick head that made him do what he did. And even though right now royals and politicians are saying that Queen's Day will continue as it always has, I don't think it will ever be the same again. It's a day that has lost its innocence and its smile.

So was the attack on the Dutch royal family successful? Sadly... I think it was.