24 August 2012

Hot in Brunssum

The temperature climbed into the 90s for a couple days.  That's all we ever get here and, really, it's enough.  A couple days later we were back in the 70s where we belong!

18 August 2012

Hot in Budapest

Budapest was having a heat wave when I traveled there. It was 97 when we arrived and got hotter each day thereafter. Coming from the Netherlands where we were stuck in the 60s, that was HOT! We were not deterred! We joined the 3-hour walking tour.



Walking tour guides
Budapest has potable water all over the city and we filled our bottles every chance we got.

We walked in the park and saw lots of people doing their best to cope with the heat.




We sat with our feet in fountains.

The bottom of this fountain is made of translucent concrete.
Translucent concrete. The walking tour guide told us this was a recent technology innovation to come out of Hungary.


We went to one of the Roman baths and hung out in the supposedly curative thermal-spring waters.  None of the 18 pools were cold but the 3 outdoor pools were cooler than the indoor ones.




We ate ice cream.


We sweated...a lot!  And we vowed to pay closer attention to weather when booking future trips!!

Bridges of Budapest

This post (actually, there will be multiple because there's just too much for a single post) is long overdue and there's queue forming of posts that I need to write so here's one with hopes of getting several more out soon.

Budapest (pronounced Buda-pesht) straddles the Danube River (as seen from the plane). Formerly two cities, Buda and Pest, they joined together in 1873. The Hungarian capitol is the largest capitol city in east-central Europe.

 
The Buda side is hilly and green while the Pest side is flat and much more developed. The island in the middle is Margaret Island (it's like Central Park).

Like Prague, which is split by the Vltava River, Budapest has a lot of bridges spanning the Danube.  I love bridges...from afar, up very close...bridges fascinate me!

Margaret Island Bridge
Chain Bridge



Chain Bridge from a hill on the Buda Side

Chain Bridge just as they turned the lights on
Chain Bridge at night from the Buda side

White Bridge
Green Bridge


This post wasn't originally written for Sundays in My City but I'm putting it there now.
 

Unknown Mami

15 August 2012

If You Really Knew Me

I saw this post from Kate and thought I might do one myself.  However, it's past bed time and...well...

But this happened at work today and I know some people who will enjoy a good laugh at my expense(it's more of a For Those Who Know Me but just go with it)...

My boss told me today that I'm probably going to have to be nice to people on my next project. 

Those of you who know me are probably laughing as hard as I did when he told me that. 

I told him I might not be the best person for that job. 

I want to know if the requirement for me to be nice also comes with a requirment for them to not be stuipd!!

If not, well...

13 August 2012

I Thought You Lived in Belgium?

When I first interviewed for my current job I thought it was in Belgium.  Even after it was offered I still wasn't clear on where I was going.  So I told people I was moving to Belgium.  Then I found out I was going to the Netherlands.  Many people still ask me how Belgium is.  I live in the Netherlands. Belgium is about 15 min away (but not as close as Germany which is 2.2 miles from my house).

People also ask me if Belgium and Holland make up the Netherlands. Or, what's the difference between the Netherlands and Holland.  Or, why does the country have two different names.  And who are the Dutch? To clear it all (well, some of it) up...

Belgium and the Netherlands are two different countries.  The Netherlands (Nederland is what the country is called in Dutch (Dutch, in Dutch, is Nederlands)) is commonly referred to as Holland.  There are two particular provinces (out of 12) in the Netherlands, North Holland and South Holland, each having a major shipping port (Amsterdam and Rotterdam, respectively).  Prior to joining up as a single kingdom (the Kingdom of the Netherlands...yes, there's a Queen here), sailors from one of these provinces would say they were from Holland.  Being lazy, as we tend to be, Holland is just easier than Netherlands.  Even Nederlanders (what the Dutch call themselves) call the country Holland sometimes.  Nederland means "the low lands."  Much of the country lies below sea level.  That's a topic for another post.

As for why we call the inhabitants of the Netherlands and their language Dutch...per Wikipedia...
Historically, the English did not distinguish inhabitants of the Low Countries by 'nationality'. In the 15th and the first half of the 16th century, all persons from Germanic lands were called Flemings, Theotonici, Doch, or sometimes Germani. In the second half of the 16th century, all Germanic speakers or inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire were called Dutch or Douch.

To recap:
  • The country is Nederland (sometimes referred to as Holland).
  • The people are Nederlanders (sometimes referred to as Hollanders).
  • The language is Nederlands  (sometimes referred to as Hollands).
  • I do not live in Belgium. Belgium is not part of the Netherlands.  Half of Belgium does, however, speak Nederlands (which they refer to as Vlaams and is known in English as Flemish).

Any questions?


 

10 August 2012

Misbehaving Blogger

I'm way behind in posting about recent trips and such but Blogger insists on turning my pictures on their sides and I can't figure out how to make it stop or how to rotate them upright so I keep getting pissed off and quitting.  So, if anyone knows how to make Blogger behave please let me know!  Otherwise, you'll have to keep turning your head or your computer screen in order to view the pictures.  And since I hate having to do that I don't want to make you do it either.