April 30, 2012

Chapter 4: Holland & Coats

The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 4: Holland & Coats

On a cold Easter weekend, two young Americans journeyed to the Netherlands in search of...


Day 1: Our Hotel.

Or somewhere, anyway. Our entire trip was a constant reminder as to why I do not drive in Europe. Tanya made an excellent effort throughout the weekend, and improved tremendously in her manual driving skills; but the extra stress and concentration necessary for successful driving in Europe is just not a part of what my life needs.

We definitely got to know our hotel's city very personally as we drove in and around it for about 30 minutes before even finding our destined street. But as time and process of elimination factors eventually coincide in most cases, we were finally able to settle into our room and plan our attack.

Day 2: Insanely Bright and Beautiful Flowers.

This was my unrealized day from last year. We went through the Keukenhof Garden again, but afterwards we were able to scour the countryside and find many a painted field to stop and admire.

(Author's note: what you are about to read is a healthy run-on sentence.)

Our finds of the day included Tanya's Asian clones...


...then the tulips that matched my dress...


...and that happened more than once...


...and we made it to the center of the hedge maze...


...then we found Keukenhof Castle...


...with the crazy aggressive horse...


...and after we ate our Swirls..
.

...we found our fields of pinks...


...and the brightest red we had ever seen...

...and some oranges and yellows...


...and Tanya floated over a field.


Day 3: Our (Tanya's) Dutch Heritage.


We started the day off somewhere you should never go: Madurodam.

It cost us way too much money to basically dodge blonde children for an hour.

So we invested in our modeling careers.



After the Maduro-disaster, we followed a canal in both directions before choosing the right one toward Tanya's grandfather's city of: Niewerkierk.



Upon the discovery of a local windmill in the rain, we saw the city sign just as we retreated back to the shelter of the car and had to go out in the soggy skies all over again.

We were thankful for the car at this point because it was not a bike.

We finished the long, long rainy day of driving all over the place with the stormy windmills of: Kinderdijk.



Day 4: The Softer Side of Amsterdam.


My experience in Amsterdam last year was not even worth talking about in my first Holland blog. I learned quite a few things, but mostly I just found that it wasn't my scene. But with Tanya's and my powers combined, we were able to counter the culture and find our own beautiful version of Amsterdam.

(The only thing we couldn't combat was the ever-present "scent" of the "coffee shops," so we just chose not to breathe here and there.)

Hidden door to the "Secret Annex"
The Anne Frank house is an absolute must if you ever get to Amsterdam. The line to get in takes about an hour, but the entire experience is irreplaceable. I thought it was much more effective in communicating a vision of purpose and compassion than the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. (which tends to communicate horror and depression without much hope in the end). I believe for every girl (or person) who has ever read The Diary of Anne Frank, it is especially poignant. It is the opportunity to live inside of her hopes, dreams, and fears. I found her home to be inspiring, and the credit for this goes to her father. The only family member to survive the war, Otto Frank wanted their former hiding place to serve as a place of hope; a place to remember those fallen and learn better for the future. He was the one with the vision of forgiveness and understanding, and it is beautifully communicated in the entire museum.

We wandered through some of the city center before heading over to the Waterlooplein Flea Market, where we rounded out Tanya's souvenir collection. I found something I had been keeping an eye out for - in France. At an old books and records stall, we really had to dig for treasures, and I pulled up a 3 Euro Bible - in French! It is my first "real" French book purchase, and I have a few English translations already to help me with the vocabulary.


We found the corner "Bagels & Beans" clean coffee shop, and enjoyed the incredibly delicious meal pictured here. The atmosphere was delightful and we were able to relax at our corner table next to the awesome coat rack that may have been intended just for decoration until we showed up.


There is another preciously preserved area of Amsterdam called the Begijnhof. You walk through a heavy gate and step from the gritty streets into a serene paradise. For hundreds of years, the homes surrounding the courtyard have only ever been for single women. In its earliest days (1600s), Catholic women lived here and quietly worshiped in their tradition while Protestant Amsterdam raged their anti-Catholicism sentiments all around the city. The residences are still reserved only for single women, and the tranquil setting provides a much needed escape from the brash vibe on the outside.

Along the outer walls of the enclave, medieval address plaques rest in their picturesque glory. The Dutch (like most people groups) did not use last names or number their houses. Instead, their homes were marked with these creative tell-all moldings. Close-ups show castles, trees, windows, children, occupations, inventions, years, and Bible stories.



Amsterdam was a wonderful way to finish our weekend, and that had a lot to do with the facts that it had stopped raining, we had dropped off our bags in the station luggage lockers, and Tanya didn't have to drive anymore! But we also saw Amsterdam the way we wanted to, and by the time we fell exhausted into our train seats, all we cared about was laughing through each and every photo and re-living the moments all over again.

Last year, when I had made this trip solo, I could only keep thinking about how I had to bring my Dutch best friend here someday. So, Tanya, thanks for making those dreams come true (do-do, do, do).



The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 1: The Beautiful and Free
Chapter 2: To Mob, Or Not To Mob
Chapter 3 VLOG: Le Printemps en France
Chapter 5: The Color of Monet

Continue »

April 25, 2012

Chapter 3 VLOG: Le Printemps en France

The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 3 VLOG: Le Printemps en France

Just hit play, sit back, and join us as we explore France together.


Author's Note:
Photos credits to Kia Gibson and Tanya Bekendam.
Setting credits to L'Opera Garnier, Notre Dame, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Musee Carnavalet, Chateau de Caen, Gare de L'Est, Sacré-Coeur, Seine River, Angelina, Jardins des Tuileries, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and so forth.

Which scene appeals to you the most?


The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 1: The Beautiful and Free
Chapter 2: To Mob, Or Not To Mob
Chapter 4: Holland & Coats
Chapter 5: The Color of Monet

Lou Messugo
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April 23, 2012

Chapter 2: To Mob, Or Not To Mob

It was the question we grappled with as soon as the day dawned...

The Tales of Ki-Tan continue...
Chapter 2: To Mob, Or Not To Mob

The half-effort practice times (all two of them) we had devoted to learning the choreography for the flash mob gave us more doubt than confidence in our lackluster abilities. But we already had train tickets, and we knew we were going to spend the whole day in Caen (Normandy), regardless of whether we danced or not.

"There's a cat on the tram!" I half-hushed, half-laughed to Tanya and Kia, as we boarded the public transport system into the center. A legitimate crazy cat lady had her pet on her lap and was having a full conversation...with the cat. At each stop, she reminded her friend that "Ce n'est pas la!" (It's not here!) When she finally got off the tram (after informing the cat-who-must-know-everything that it was, indeed, their stop), we erupted into hysterics.

This was going to be a great day.

Very efficient flash mob training.
As I have moonlighted as a high school student during Halloween these past years, I now masquerade as an under-25, which is a much more reasonable act that also saves me a lot of money. We managed to get free student tickets to all parts of the Chateau de Caen, which is better understood as one of William the Conqueror's hang outs.

In fact, William had made his stamp all over this city. Architecture reminded me of my time in England back in 2001, and multiple monuments with English inscriptions dotted the city center. William the Conqueror is hailed as a hero here, as are the British and Americans for their efforts in World Wars I and II.

Abbey of Men with our very own Stars & Stripes!
We even happened upon the great King William's grave inside the Abbey of Men. This Abbey was so old, it had Middle English on some of its recognition plaques. It was really strange to look at a paragraph etched in stone and be able to understand it - but then be confused because it wasn't quite French and it wasn't quite English.

"William the Conqueror"
We also learned from many lovely English placards about how dominant the Scandinavians were around the 11th through 13th centuries. (Living in Europe regularly proves how many gaps exist in my history education.) Just observe how the words evolved: the "Norsemen" (Vikings) became the "Northmen" who became the "Normans" who settled and named the area known today as Normandy.

Run away!
But we were going to make a little bit of history of our own...and then we backed out. Tanya and I completely de-committed from even continuing to practice the flash mob choreography, but Kia was still on board. We definitely all still wanted to watch it, but as the minutes crept closer and closer to the deadline, one thing was obvious: we were not prepared!

Then this is what happened (after two minutes of hesitation):


Basically we were inspired by how bad everyone was, and a surge of courage bolted us from being wallflowers to enhancing the mob with even more bad dancers. The lady in white with khakis was especially talented/inspiring. (Check out the back view here.)

From the front view version, notice Kia in red appear in the distant background at 0:32 between the two couples dancing. I am a few feet in front of her with a beige bag, and Tanya is following behind. With your spy vision you can see us doing some of the moves before running haphazardly into the mix at 2:45 and 2:53 (after the spinning Mamma-Mia portion was over, we felt much more worthy).

Kia had to leave us the very next day, but you can read up on her entire 2-week trip (which also included Denmark and Germany) on her blog. It may be called "Things you thought you'd never want to know", but trust me, you want to know all about her European vagabond adventures!


The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 1: The Beautiful and Free
Chapter 3 VLOG: Le Printemps en France
Chapter 4: Holland & Coats
Chapter 5: The Color of Monet

Continue »

April 22, 2012

Chapter 1: The Beautiful and Free

The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 1: The Beautiful and Free

(Author's note: "Ki-Tan" is short for Kia and Tanya, my wonderful best friends who prohibited me from blogging - er, I mean, who made my days even more fun this past month. This is Chapter 1 of a five-chapter saga. Welcome.)

I'm not a museum fanatic. To be sure, I visited Paris 4 times last spring, and have now lived 30 minutes outside of it for 8 months, and I haven't even gone inside the Louvre yet. I think I'm saving it for a special occasion, like when some visitor of ours will offer to buy my entry ticket. I can wait.

But in the past week I've been digesting Rick Steves' Paris 2008 (thank you, Kia Gibson) tour book, and I am warming to the idea of viewing the art that is all around me.

Look, I'm reading!
Especially warming are the FREE museums. They are not always easy to find, but when we found the Museum Carnavalet, we struck gold.

This 16th century "hotel" (read: big house) is full of everything you could possibly want in a Paris museum: it's the one dedicated solely to the history of Paris.

So rich and so famous.
So while we sauntered throughout, pretending to be a part of the elite hotel crowd from bygone days, we also continually exclaimed, "Look at THAT!"

The whole place is an experience in time travel, with signs from forgotten store fronts, marble staircases, jewelry displays, musical instruments, archaeological finds, and antique furniture galore.


The museum is massive, and actually spans two hotels around a courtyard with more discoveries. We just couldn't get enough of this place, and we really couldn't get over the fact that we were privy to all of these beautiful things for free.

A grand late 19th century Parisian party.
The icing on the cake our first time through (yes, we went twice, we had to show Kia!) was walking into one of the Revolution rooms, and, HELLO!

ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME.
Marc's doppelganger is Napoleon-freaking-Bonaparte? My new idea is to have him work period piece tours at Chateau de Fontainebleau dressed as Napoleon. Just more proof that there really are jobs out there to be found.

We had an absolutely smashing time with both Kia and Tanya while they were here. You will continue to see this truth in The Tales of Ki-Tan blog series.

The Tales of Ki-Tan
Chapter 2: To Mob, Or Not To Mob
Chapter 3 VLOG:  Le Printemps en France
Chapter 4: Holland & Coats
Chapter 5: The Color of Monet

Continue »

VLOG: Men's Coupe de France

Very late news from MARCH 10, 2012:

Rennes beat Ajaccio in the Men's Coupe de France semi-finals. Rennes also went on to win the championship, so we have a few highlights from the best men's team in France. Rennes' opposite player was a force to be reckoned with, and he set the tone for most of the match with his aggressive serving and attacking from both front and back row. 

We were kind of cheering for Ajaccio because they had the one American on their team and we love Corsica, but we quickly jumped on the Rennes bandwagon as they clearly dominated the match.


Marc and I had a great time this one night we were able to see the playoffs. But the best part of the night was when we spotted my teammate, Marlene, and her boyfriend, Alex, sitting across from us on the other level. After finally getting their attention (screaming and waving crazy American style), we enjoyed a fun car ride home together!

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