Thursday, April 2, 2009
the price of living in copenhagen
i took one of those hop on/hope off bus tours today. upon paying the driver we started up a little chat so i asked him how people survive in this expensive city. his reply was 'have you been to norway? go there and see how good we have it here. cigarettes cost 10 euros per pack!'. then he continued, 'people visit and think we have it really good here but really it's only the really rich that do. everybody else has their coffee and beer at home – we just cannot afford to eat out'.
european road trip #2
so picture us with 2 heavy and cumbersome cases for mike's 20 work laptops, a huge suitcase with a weeks worth of clothes for the family, a very large backpack filled with computer equipment, 2 smaller bags that we hand carry and 2 kids. we are chilling in the train station with plenty of time to kill, watching the departure board for our train information. time ticks away and trains numbers that depart after ours start appearing on the board. suddenly mike says 'why don't i see more night trains here? where are the trains to paris, rome, and amsterdam?” i take our tickets and go seek out a train station official. i find a help desk and ask her about our train and she informs me WE ARE AT THE WRONG EFFING TRAIN STATION... she tells us to go down 2 flights of escalators and catch a subway train to frankfurt south station – the next one departs in 8 minutes. i run back to mike and within seconds we grab all of our stuff and negotiate said escalators and children (who still don't like getting on an escalator without holding somebody's hand...). we find the track and 3 minutes later the subway arrives. we have to go 6 stops before frankfurt south, then find our track for our train and we have about 17 minutes to do it...
once on the subway i thought i was going to throw up. i could not believe that we didnt verify we were in the right place. with all that time we killed in the station we could have made a simple inquiry and saved ourselves this problem. what would happen if we missed out train?? i didn't want to think about it. we just took it minute by minute and prepped the kids for the sprint out of the subway and up to find our departure track. 2 strangers helped us with our stuff up the stairs and we located our track to find all of the train personnel still having a smoke on the platform. we made it! we get on with maybe 3-4 minutes to spare.
when we booked this trip we reserved first class sleeper cabins to and from copenhagen. but something happenedwith the reservation and it never went through – mike found out that there were no more first class cabins to copenhagen so we had to take a second class cabin. they have 6 bunks in them so it was a gamble - would be have one to ourselves or would we have 1 or 2 other people in it? we find our cabin which has 2 men and a shitload of luggage already in it. but at that point, having just barely made it on to the train, i didn't care. we were there and we would make the best of it. upon entering the train david says quite loudly 'mom, these bedrooms are small'. i heard couple of passengers laugh.
in our cabin was a german man who was off to buy a new car in denmark to save 7000 euros that he would have paid in germany and a chinese man that spoke no english and just a small bit of german. the kids practiced the words they learned on Ni-hao Kai-lan and he was quite impressed with david's pronunciation of 'happy chinese new year' in mandarin.
we found a locked room to put most of our stuff in and settled in for the evening. the kids thought it was pretty cool to pull the beds down and climb in. despite having an ongoing, yet silent, argument about how much the window should be open, it was really like taking a long plane journey and having other passengers around you. the kids feel asleep pretty quickly but mike and i had difficulty falling asleep and barely got more than a few cat naps in the whole night. the other guys had no problem sleeping... we were roused pre-dawn for a passport check at the danish border. i think i had actually been sleeping at that moment, too. david, who slept in a bed and not a crib his entire life, fell out of the upper bunk. how he was unscathed by that we will never know. then i pulled naomi out of her bed and brought her into mine. i didn't need 2 kids falling out of bed and i was continually worried about the train stopping short and bodies flying.
morning came and we arrived around 10am, got in a cab, and went to our hotel to start our time in denmark. our hotel had changed ownership that day from a starwood to a scandic hotel (thanks for the notification starwood...) and there was some big shin dig in our lobby with lots of men in skinny pants.
my initial impressions of copenhagen: everything costs a bloody fortune and everybody smokes. seriously, things are double and triple the cost i am used to paying. a latte that would cost me $2.50 in wisconsin and $4.50 in chicago, costs $7 here. a bowl of soup in our hotel is $20. an order of fries with our falafel was $7. how do people afford living here?? i inquired about cigarettes and they were not as expensive as i thought – about $6.50 a pack. i guess it is a relatively cheap addiction to have. i can't wait to get back to amsterdam where things are relatively cheap!
once on the subway i thought i was going to throw up. i could not believe that we didnt verify we were in the right place. with all that time we killed in the station we could have made a simple inquiry and saved ourselves this problem. what would happen if we missed out train?? i didn't want to think about it. we just took it minute by minute and prepped the kids for the sprint out of the subway and up to find our departure track. 2 strangers helped us with our stuff up the stairs and we located our track to find all of the train personnel still having a smoke on the platform. we made it! we get on with maybe 3-4 minutes to spare.
when we booked this trip we reserved first class sleeper cabins to and from copenhagen. but something happenedwith the reservation and it never went through – mike found out that there were no more first class cabins to copenhagen so we had to take a second class cabin. they have 6 bunks in them so it was a gamble - would be have one to ourselves or would we have 1 or 2 other people in it? we find our cabin which has 2 men and a shitload of luggage already in it. but at that point, having just barely made it on to the train, i didn't care. we were there and we would make the best of it. upon entering the train david says quite loudly 'mom, these bedrooms are small'. i heard couple of passengers laugh.
in our cabin was a german man who was off to buy a new car in denmark to save 7000 euros that he would have paid in germany and a chinese man that spoke no english and just a small bit of german. the kids practiced the words they learned on Ni-hao Kai-lan and he was quite impressed with david's pronunciation of 'happy chinese new year' in mandarin.
we found a locked room to put most of our stuff in and settled in for the evening. the kids thought it was pretty cool to pull the beds down and climb in. despite having an ongoing, yet silent, argument about how much the window should be open, it was really like taking a long plane journey and having other passengers around you. the kids feel asleep pretty quickly but mike and i had difficulty falling asleep and barely got more than a few cat naps in the whole night. the other guys had no problem sleeping... we were roused pre-dawn for a passport check at the danish border. i think i had actually been sleeping at that moment, too. david, who slept in a bed and not a crib his entire life, fell out of the upper bunk. how he was unscathed by that we will never know. then i pulled naomi out of her bed and brought her into mine. i didn't need 2 kids falling out of bed and i was continually worried about the train stopping short and bodies flying.
morning came and we arrived around 10am, got in a cab, and went to our hotel to start our time in denmark. our hotel had changed ownership that day from a starwood to a scandic hotel (thanks for the notification starwood...) and there was some big shin dig in our lobby with lots of men in skinny pants.
my initial impressions of copenhagen: everything costs a bloody fortune and everybody smokes. seriously, things are double and triple the cost i am used to paying. a latte that would cost me $2.50 in wisconsin and $4.50 in chicago, costs $7 here. a bowl of soup in our hotel is $20. an order of fries with our falafel was $7. how do people afford living here?? i inquired about cigarettes and they were not as expensive as i thought – about $6.50 a pack. i guess it is a relatively cheap addiction to have. i can't wait to get back to amsterdam where things are relatively cheap!
european road trip #1
we rented a car in amsterdam and hit the road for heidelberg. despite a small snafu at the start – the local rental car office that we could get to by bicycle opened at 10am but closed from noon-5 so mike had to trek out to the airport to get our car – all was well. however, instead of a nice minivan we had to take a large VW eurovan type thing. luckily mike was driving bc it was stick shift!
driving through the netherlands can be described in one word – flat. speed bumps are about the largest thing out there. lots of canals, a glimpse of a few dutch style windmills, and huge greenhouses dotted the landscape. as we entered germany we started to see many massively large wind turbines, which can look pretty ominous when you get up close to them.
driving on the autobahn was, uh, interesting. luckily there was close to zero traffic and our lumbering giant VW got up to about 145 km/hour and of course people were still passing us by a lot. we had no car seats for the kids (we had planned on getting them at the car rental place but at the last moment were told it was not possible on a one way car rental). not our finest parenting moment...
we had a great stay in heidelberg – the kids and i spent 5 hours at the castle. despite having been there on a trip i made with my german class in high school (1985 or 86) i had ZERO recollection of the place. the castle was great and the kids were highly entertained but completely exhausted by the end of the day. we also took city buses and streetcars which are always a hit.
day 2 of heidelberg was bit more low key – just some walking around the city taking in the sites, eating local food, and having the kids frolic in large town squares. the weather was clear and warm.
after mike's workday we packed up the car and drove to frankfurt for our night train to copenhagen. we ate dinner in a beautiful square and the kids ran around like crazy while we enjoyed some german beers and schnitzel. we had to find a gas station and return our car by 9pm, which we did with 10 minutes to spare. we got to the train station with plenty of time for our 10:18pm departure and hung out in the train station taking pictures and reading harry potter to the kids. we were just so proud of ourselves for timing everything so perfectly (and without any stress-induced arguments!). but that would come back to haunt us... more on that in my next post.......
driving through the netherlands can be described in one word – flat. speed bumps are about the largest thing out there. lots of canals, a glimpse of a few dutch style windmills, and huge greenhouses dotted the landscape. as we entered germany we started to see many massively large wind turbines, which can look pretty ominous when you get up close to them.
driving on the autobahn was, uh, interesting. luckily there was close to zero traffic and our lumbering giant VW got up to about 145 km/hour and of course people were still passing us by a lot. we had no car seats for the kids (we had planned on getting them at the car rental place but at the last moment were told it was not possible on a one way car rental). not our finest parenting moment...
we had a great stay in heidelberg – the kids and i spent 5 hours at the castle. despite having been there on a trip i made with my german class in high school (1985 or 86) i had ZERO recollection of the place. the castle was great and the kids were highly entertained but completely exhausted by the end of the day. we also took city buses and streetcars which are always a hit.
day 2 of heidelberg was bit more low key – just some walking around the city taking in the sites, eating local food, and having the kids frolic in large town squares. the weather was clear and warm.
after mike's workday we packed up the car and drove to frankfurt for our night train to copenhagen. we ate dinner in a beautiful square and the kids ran around like crazy while we enjoyed some german beers and schnitzel. we had to find a gas station and return our car by 9pm, which we did with 10 minutes to spare. we got to the train station with plenty of time for our 10:18pm departure and hung out in the train station taking pictures and reading harry potter to the kids. we were just so proud of ourselves for timing everything so perfectly (and without any stress-induced arguments!). but that would come back to haunt us... more on that in my next post.......
Saturday, March 28, 2009
the dutch attitude toward children
having been here in amsterdam for about 6 weeks i feel like i can talk about the dutch attitude toward children. of course, these are only my observations from the varied, albeit limited, interactions with dutch children. they seem to be much more laid back with their children than mainstream america (of which i am not a member)
take child safety for instance - it is much more like when i was growing up than the current american attitude. although almost all children are transported by bicycle, i would have to estimate that no more than 5% of them wear helmets, and even that might be generous. i have seen infants in car seat buckets clipped onto bikes. i have seen slumped over sleeping infants being propped up in their bike seat by their mothers, leaving them with only 1 hand to bike with. lots of children ride on the backs of bikes, my own included, without bike seats. toddlers ride their own bikes amongst traffic.
i am pretty certain that water wings are nonexistant here. playground equipment is much more 'dangerous' than at home.
they are also less closely monitored here. i am not sure if that is just a function of city life - playgrounds being more crowded than i am used to, and therefore, less supervision? maybe i have just become adjusted to small town midwestern playground rules since hanging up my city slicker badge? for instance, i was in a crowded playgrount at Artis, the amsterdam zoo. a toddler boy climbes up on a platform where my 2 kids are and pushes them both off and into the sand below. the child's mother was not obvious to me - certainly not hovering over him like i see so frequently at home. i told the child not to do that but i am sure he didn't understand a word i said.
they are also very fond of children being children. they don't seem overly scheduled with lessons and activities. they are allowed to play freely in the park on a daily basis - i see the regulars in a local park by me all the time. they don't seem overly apologetic when something bad happens. at library storytime one day one toddler just walked over to another and pushed her roughly down to the ground. at home that would illicit apologies from one mom to the other and a reprimand to the child. here it went unnoticed, as if nothing had happened, while both mothers obviously saw what happened. i ran into a mom that i recognized from the park at the school david will be attending for a few weeks (more on that topic shortly). upon mentioned why we were there she wondered why i would send him when i didn't have to and then said something about he should attend school if he wants to, as if it should only be his decision to go or not.
they also have very flexible work hours which allowes them much more time during the week with their children than in the US. our neighbors across the street for example - both parents work approximately 4 days a week (with rather flexible hours) which allows them to be home with their kids after school for 3 days of the week. they also have something called daddy's day in which a man can stay home 1 day a week to be with his children. they also have much more vacation from their employers and can easily take days off to accomodate kid's school schedules.
i enjoy seeing a much more laid back attitude toward parenting - simply enjoying your child and letting your kids explore and play without parental hovering. i was never a fan of water wings anyway.
take child safety for instance - it is much more like when i was growing up than the current american attitude. although almost all children are transported by bicycle, i would have to estimate that no more than 5% of them wear helmets, and even that might be generous. i have seen infants in car seat buckets clipped onto bikes. i have seen slumped over sleeping infants being propped up in their bike seat by their mothers, leaving them with only 1 hand to bike with. lots of children ride on the backs of bikes, my own included, without bike seats. toddlers ride their own bikes amongst traffic.
i am pretty certain that water wings are nonexistant here. playground equipment is much more 'dangerous' than at home.
they are also less closely monitored here. i am not sure if that is just a function of city life - playgrounds being more crowded than i am used to, and therefore, less supervision? maybe i have just become adjusted to small town midwestern playground rules since hanging up my city slicker badge? for instance, i was in a crowded playgrount at Artis, the amsterdam zoo. a toddler boy climbes up on a platform where my 2 kids are and pushes them both off and into the sand below. the child's mother was not obvious to me - certainly not hovering over him like i see so frequently at home. i told the child not to do that but i am sure he didn't understand a word i said.
they are also very fond of children being children. they don't seem overly scheduled with lessons and activities. they are allowed to play freely in the park on a daily basis - i see the regulars in a local park by me all the time. they don't seem overly apologetic when something bad happens. at library storytime one day one toddler just walked over to another and pushed her roughly down to the ground. at home that would illicit apologies from one mom to the other and a reprimand to the child. here it went unnoticed, as if nothing had happened, while both mothers obviously saw what happened. i ran into a mom that i recognized from the park at the school david will be attending for a few weeks (more on that topic shortly). upon mentioned why we were there she wondered why i would send him when i didn't have to and then said something about he should attend school if he wants to, as if it should only be his decision to go or not.
they also have very flexible work hours which allowes them much more time during the week with their children than in the US. our neighbors across the street for example - both parents work approximately 4 days a week (with rather flexible hours) which allows them to be home with their kids after school for 3 days of the week. they also have something called daddy's day in which a man can stay home 1 day a week to be with his children. they also have much more vacation from their employers and can easily take days off to accomodate kid's school schedules.
i enjoy seeing a much more laid back attitude toward parenting - simply enjoying your child and letting your kids explore and play without parental hovering. i was never a fan of water wings anyway.
some sort of game thing happening today
so apparently, there is a world cup qualifying match today here in amsterdam - the netherlands vs scotland. they should take a census of scotland because i think every male between the ages of 20-60 is here in amsterdam. they started pouring into the city yesterday, clad in kilts, and ready to drink. and today, everybody not wearing a kilt is wearing orange, the official color of the netherlands, and also ready to drink.
more later when we snap some pictures of the mayhem.
Friday, March 20, 2009
a trip to Amsterdamse Bos
we had a wonderful time at the Amsterdamse Bos yesterday. the Bos is a very very large woodland area situated between Amsterdam, Amstelveen and the Schiphol Airport. it took us about 50 minutes to bike there - mike with the kids in the bakfiets and me on the solo bike. i know i haven't said much about the bakfiets yet, more on that later.
we started at Boerderij Meerzicht, a massive pancake house which boasts 43 types of pancakes, or pannenkoeken in dutch. luckily we got 2 savory pancakes in addition to 2 sweet ones - which after a while was sugar overload. pictured is the pancake making setup - a rotating conveyor belt which takes the pancakes through the oven. as they come out they are flipped and allowed about 20 seconds in the hot pan before taken out.
luckily we went on a weekday because looking at the amount of seating they had and the deli number system for retrieving you pancakes, it looked like it was possible to wait a very very long time for the delicious circles of syrup and powdered sugar.
i read that no visit to the Bos would be complete without a visit to Ridammerhoeve, a beautiful organic goat farm. with a brilliant blue sky as a backdrop the kids got to wander around the goat pens and feed the young goats from bottles. there were roosters and chickens everywhere as well as some pigs and cows. 
the place had a very nice playground and tons of seating - i imagine it is very crowded on a nice saturday afternoon. i would have loved to sample the goat's milk cheese from the shop but we were so stuffed from our pancake lunch that we passed. however, the kids were not too full to try some goat's milk ice cream. they said it did not taste of goats at all.
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