I don't know why. Perhaps I got lost in everything "good" concerning Barcelona? Still suffering from sunstroke? Who knows? But I left out some details about two not-so-pleasant incidents of our story from my earlier Barcelona post. They follow...
So...months ago, as we decide on where to go, everyone has the same basic opinions on Barcelona. Beautiful this, gorgeous that, nice this, tasty that - oh, but watch out for PICKPOCKETS! Our first few days we were sporting money belts, and we endorse them tremendously for use in may places. But, a brief word with each other one day before leaving the hotel room, and we decided we felt safe enough to go out sans money belts. Well, towards the end of the trip on a subway train back to the hotel around 11pm or so, we were in a crowded car. Not packed, but you could not move freely either. My back is to the door and I'm carrying my camera bag. R is on my right with her backpack. We had just gotten into these positions after getting on the train when this tall, smelly, stale-looking (use your imagination - you can "see" what a stale-looking person would look like on a subway!) man "bumps" into the older man in front of us who is sporting a fanny pack worn in front. I know, he should not be allowed out of his own home with one of those, but it's Europe and they love a lot of shit from the 80's. Just listen to their radio or watch their TV. You would think A-ha just released "Take On Me" and The "A" Team was in it's first run! I should be wearing my old OP cord shorts and puca lightning bolt chain. Any way, I digress. So, I see this "collision" in front of me and I'm thinking this doesn't look kosher. Next thing I know "Rough and Ready" Radhika grabs the phony drunks hand and knocks it away from the older gentleman. I am now in a semi-WTF mode, because my pea-sized brain is comprehending what "Eagle-Eye Annie" has already figured out. I finally grasp the situation and watch to make sure that the now known pickpocket does not retaliate towards the trains new security force of one. He slides away, and R tells the older guy to watch his stuff. He's either French (my guess) or Swiss (R's guess), as he and his older posse earlier bumped and pushed their way past us without a single "excuse me" or "pardon", and we noticed their langauge was not local. He checked his "pack" and his wallet was gone! Well they went into high gear, trying to take photos of the crook and chased him off the train. The doors close, and we noticed that several "shifty" looking people remained amongst the group of riders, tourists, and locals. Damn!! One got off, but was replaced by perhaps 4 to 6 others!! What a feeling it is to have what you KNOW to be criminals right in your sight, but you can't do anything about it. They made no eye contact with anyone. All they did (at least 3 men and one woman) was look at everyone's belongings! It was so obvious. I tried to warn the girl who was now in front of me, as her purse was being "eyeballed", but she was too preoccupied flapping her lips on her cell phone and with her friends. They made no attempt to disguise their intent. I was watching them so intently that I didn't notice one of them trying to distract me by pointing at something, hoping I would look in that direction. R told me about that later. What I did notice was my shorts moving (no, not a good time for one of "those" type of jokes), as I had velcro closures on all of my pockets. I smacked the guy on my left who was tugging at a closed pocket that contained my cell phone, and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. He didn't look at me or say a word. It was at this moment that Radhika said to get off the train as we were pulling into a station. Once off, I said this isn't even our stop. Well, it was - I just didn't notice because I was intently watching the wolves trying to get the sheep right before my eyes! Well, this was excitement of the variety we didn't need. It took R a full day and a half to regain her chill-buzz she had gained from all the red wine, cava, sunshine, and tapas she had absorbed.
It's the day of our departure. Our flight leaves at 8:25pm. It's about 5, and R wants to head to the airport early (as usual). I finish my mango and coconut ice cream cup (as usual) while she gets assistance from the front desk. Now in my first post, I conveyed that we made it to the hotel by taking a bus from the airport to Catalonia Plaza, and from there a subway train to a stop near the hotel. We could've followed that pattern, but figured the local at the hotel would know a better route. Yeah, you know what's coming. This AAA reject had us take 1 train to a stop, change to another train, and then go to the next stop where we should find the Renfre train that takes you to the airport. At the first transfer, we were both saying what a mistake it was not taking the reverse route back to the airport, because we were hoofiing it through the better part of these stations, up stairs, down stairs, and it was a pain in the ass! But, we finally find the Renfre ticket window, and all seems well. R tells the guy we want 2 tickets for the train to the airport, we ask what platform and he says 1. So we go to the platform, a train comes in, and we board. "Hmmm...not a lot of people with suitcases on this train." We pull into a station we're both familiar with, and I know it to be one that access the airport. Radhika sees people with luggage. We are on the upper level, and the thought to get off there doesn't occur with enough strength until later (hindsight, you know). So we're leaving the city and the view through the windows looks like the plain from "Dances With Wolves", and neither of us is confident we're on a train to the airport. It's well past 6 by now. I ask the gentlemen next to us if the train stops at the airport. You know the answer to that. So now it's a thought process of how to get back on track to the airport. They say the next stop is about 5 minutes away, so we grab our crap and guard the door so we can jump off when it stops. I talk to a guy with a suitcase on the platform who said he was in the same situation, he was put on the wrong train. He said we wern't far from the airport - maybe a 15 euro cab ride. We went into the station to find out in spite of a language barrier that the next train back to Barcelona came in several minutes. Back to the platform, but then I went back to see if we could get a taxi out front, as we were in a small town. The woman didn't fully understand me, but the street looked like it had a decent amount of traffic on it, so I went back and got R and we dashed to the street. It's past 7:15pm now. We walk a block up and do get a taxi and he says he'll take us. We're in the car headed to the airport. We arrive in 15 minutes, the fare was about 15 euros, but it's Saturday AND there's an extra charge to go to the airport. That bumps up the fare 10 more euros. BUT, we are there on time, get on the flight, catch the bus perfectly to Leidseplein, and are safe in our apartment back in dreary Hamstercram. But it's not that bad a place to come back to. So, as with most things in life, we dealt with the good and the bad on this holiday. Had some lessons learned too (like don't try to take something from R unless I want my arm dislocated). Good times.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Barcelona!
Well, we brought summer (in Amsterdam) to a close with style...by going to BARCELONA!! Today it's below 60f / 15c degrees, the sky is a uniform middle gray, it's windy and wet - typical fall weather for Hamstercram. What's a little soothing is that it's not much better right now in Barcelona - 63f and rain. But for our visit just last week the average was 86f / 30c and sunshine every day! So now that you have the weather report, let's go into our 8 day experience en Espana!
Of course we would encounter extremely strong winds and some rain thrown in on our trip to the airport on Friday evening. We got to the bus stop at Leidseplein before the worst of it dropped from the sky. The KLM flight was fast (a little over 2 hours) and the service was fantastic considering how much flying really blows these days. We were seated in opposing aisle seats (still don't recall picking those). Radhika had her handbag under the seat in front of her with her hair clip on one of the straps. A dutch fellow and his female companion were seated next to her, and during the flight she had to stand in the aisle so he could pass to go to the bathroom. He stepped on her bag, and her clip "crunched" under his foot. He noticed the obvious feeling and sound of stepping on and breaking something, lifted his foot, and went on about his business with no acknowledgement of the incident. I expressed that I felt she should show him the broken pieces, but I was informed it was a cheap clip and not worth mentioning. So, I agreed to not say anything - and man was it hard!!!! And try as I might to remember to collect my tripod from the garment closet located at the door of the plane on the way off the plane in Barcelona, it was Radhika and a flight attendant who did! Right before touchdown I said to myself "Get your tripod on the way out." What a dufus!! And R just loves to point out these things to me! Damn!!
So, we're on the bus from the airport to the city, and we reach Catalonia Plaza where we'll take the metro to the stop near our hotel. As I rise from the seat my wallet stealthily falls to the floor. Radhika is behind me and alerts me to it. Now I am in serious trouble!! I'll save you the grizzly details. I was on a severe "dufus" streak and needed to be watched carefully so I didn't give away my passport and ATM card with a thankyou note consisting of my pin code to the first person who said "Hola!" to me. Luckily we made it to our hotel and I conducted no more giveaways!
A good nights sleep and out of the hotel at the crack of noon the next day! Well, almost...it was a little after 11am. I like to start early, but R prefers a "measured" approach to mornings on holiday. So I end up going out on my own sometimes and come back to the hotel or meet up with R later. But today, we stroll to the ramblas, passing the cathedral which is mostly caged in by scaffolding and a material cover. Can't tell you how many places we have been where major sights are unrecognizable due to surface maintenance (acid rain!) being undertaken. Down the ramblas past street performers and stores to the beach area past The Chris Columbus monument. Funny how they still credit him with "discovering" America! And there's a plaque where he stands before a kneeling native who is kissing his hand. Perhaps because 'ol Chris decided not to kill the guy or cut off his hands as he did to so many others? Pushing past and continuing east, we ended up at the large mall at the harbor. Nice, but hitting malls is not how I like to spend time on holidays. But we explored a little, as R was looking for a pair of Birkenstocks for her sensitive feeties. We walked along the waterfront north finally coming upon beaches. They looked really nice and I was looking forward to a little chill time on them in the coming days. And we did - officially 2 days were spent wholly or partly lazing in the sun and swimming in the cool water. Radhika got 2 massages from the asian ladies who ply the beach with the men selling "cerveza, agua, coke" like hotdog vendors at a ball game. I got one, myself. 30-40 minutes for 10 euros can't be beat! And I'm pretty used to topless beaches now, not like when I was 19 and stumbled across my first one in Ft. Lauderdale. I don't remember, but another "dufus" moment for me, I'm sure. I do recall my friend Tony and I "trying" to be cool as we walked through, then noticed the beach had been taken over by guys laying on towels together. Guess you can say it was a day of firsts for 2 "dufus's" from a small beach town up the coast!
Sightseeing - of course we saw Sagrada Familia, and stupidly paid 11 euros to go inside and witness a construction site. Unless you want to go up the tower for the view, and there are other vantage points to see the city, I would strongly suggest passing up the interior because there's nothing to see. We went to the Picasso Museum, which focuses on his early development. Pretty cool. Many of the parks and plazas were visited, not to mention the many wide streets and narrow passages that offered great buildings and cool little slices of Catalan life. For us, the coolest thing was our visit to La Pedrera. Such a great building way ahead of its time. The Olympic Village was pretty cool too. We took a day trip out to Montserrat, and must say we were disappointed. The monastery is really old, but it's been rebuilt over the centuries that it looks almost contemporary. The surrounding countryside was not all that impressive to us, therefore this is something we wouldn't recommend to others, either. But all-in-all, plenty to see and do for those that want to, or you can just relax and de-stress if that's what you're looking for. A place very high on our list of visiting again! Pictures coming soon!
Of course we would encounter extremely strong winds and some rain thrown in on our trip to the airport on Friday evening. We got to the bus stop at Leidseplein before the worst of it dropped from the sky. The KLM flight was fast (a little over 2 hours) and the service was fantastic considering how much flying really blows these days. We were seated in opposing aisle seats (still don't recall picking those). Radhika had her handbag under the seat in front of her with her hair clip on one of the straps. A dutch fellow and his female companion were seated next to her, and during the flight she had to stand in the aisle so he could pass to go to the bathroom. He stepped on her bag, and her clip "crunched" under his foot. He noticed the obvious feeling and sound of stepping on and breaking something, lifted his foot, and went on about his business with no acknowledgement of the incident. I expressed that I felt she should show him the broken pieces, but I was informed it was a cheap clip and not worth mentioning. So, I agreed to not say anything - and man was it hard!!!! And try as I might to remember to collect my tripod from the garment closet located at the door of the plane on the way off the plane in Barcelona, it was Radhika and a flight attendant who did! Right before touchdown I said to myself "Get your tripod on the way out." What a dufus!! And R just loves to point out these things to me! Damn!!
So, we're on the bus from the airport to the city, and we reach Catalonia Plaza where we'll take the metro to the stop near our hotel. As I rise from the seat my wallet stealthily falls to the floor. Radhika is behind me and alerts me to it. Now I am in serious trouble!! I'll save you the grizzly details. I was on a severe "dufus" streak and needed to be watched carefully so I didn't give away my passport and ATM card with a thankyou note consisting of my pin code to the first person who said "Hola!" to me. Luckily we made it to our hotel and I conducted no more giveaways!
A good nights sleep and out of the hotel at the crack of noon the next day! Well, almost...it was a little after 11am. I like to start early, but R prefers a "measured" approach to mornings on holiday. So I end up going out on my own sometimes and come back to the hotel or meet up with R later. But today, we stroll to the ramblas, passing the cathedral which is mostly caged in by scaffolding and a material cover. Can't tell you how many places we have been where major sights are unrecognizable due to surface maintenance (acid rain!) being undertaken. Down the ramblas past street performers and stores to the beach area past The Chris Columbus monument. Funny how they still credit him with "discovering" America! And there's a plaque where he stands before a kneeling native who is kissing his hand. Perhaps because 'ol Chris decided not to kill the guy or cut off his hands as he did to so many others? Pushing past and continuing east, we ended up at the large mall at the harbor. Nice, but hitting malls is not how I like to spend time on holidays. But we explored a little, as R was looking for a pair of Birkenstocks for her sensitive feeties. We walked along the waterfront north finally coming upon beaches. They looked really nice and I was looking forward to a little chill time on them in the coming days. And we did - officially 2 days were spent wholly or partly lazing in the sun and swimming in the cool water. Radhika got 2 massages from the asian ladies who ply the beach with the men selling "cerveza, agua, coke" like hotdog vendors at a ball game. I got one, myself. 30-40 minutes for 10 euros can't be beat! And I'm pretty used to topless beaches now, not like when I was 19 and stumbled across my first one in Ft. Lauderdale. I don't remember, but another "dufus" moment for me, I'm sure. I do recall my friend Tony and I "trying" to be cool as we walked through, then noticed the beach had been taken over by guys laying on towels together. Guess you can say it was a day of firsts for 2 "dufus's" from a small beach town up the coast!
Sightseeing - of course we saw Sagrada Familia, and stupidly paid 11 euros to go inside and witness a construction site. Unless you want to go up the tower for the view, and there are other vantage points to see the city, I would strongly suggest passing up the interior because there's nothing to see. We went to the Picasso Museum, which focuses on his early development. Pretty cool. Many of the parks and plazas were visited, not to mention the many wide streets and narrow passages that offered great buildings and cool little slices of Catalan life. For us, the coolest thing was our visit to La Pedrera. Such a great building way ahead of its time. The Olympic Village was pretty cool too. We took a day trip out to Montserrat, and must say we were disappointed. The monastery is really old, but it's been rebuilt over the centuries that it looks almost contemporary. The surrounding countryside was not all that impressive to us, therefore this is something we wouldn't recommend to others, either. But all-in-all, plenty to see and do for those that want to, or you can just relax and de-stress if that's what you're looking for. A place very high on our list of visiting again! Pictures coming soon!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Amsterdam Summer!
Yes everybody!! We are finally experiencing some nice, prolonged, western European summer-type weather. Tomorrow the high is forecast to reach 77 and Thursday an absolute scorching 81!! I cannot impress upon you enough, especially those in central Florida, how nice it is to finally have this stretch of sun and warmth. Granted, people still ride their bikes with jackets on as the air always possesses a chill to it, but it's nice to break out my shorts and short sleeves! We have been enjoying pleasant weather, on and off, for several months now. Last year, it seemed we went from spring straight to fall. Much less rain and overcast conditions this year than last. And it's still strange to come home from a movie late at night in July and now August, getting chills from the cold night air!
Some local Amsterdam stories that you may find interesting and/or entertaining? I have a few. One involves "Public Enemies", Naan, and mice. We had a nice Saturday out and about in the city, and decided to have dinner at a good Indian restaurant we know. As usual, we couldn't eat it all, and much to the shock and horror of any Dutch diners in the place, we asked for the food we couldn't finish to be packed. We decided to hit a movie before going home, so we got tickets to "Public Enemies" (eh-2 stars out of 5). We get home late, so I put the doggie bag straight into the fridge and we crash. Next day I'm warming up the Indian goodies for lunch and notice 2 small holes on opposite sides of the plastic bag. But I take out everything and start to zap the containers. The naan (bread) was wrapped in tin foil, and I noticed two little holes on both sides of that, too. Just like the plastic bag. Upon further examination I determine without doubt they are chew holes!! You see, several months back I was at the movies with 2 other folks (their identities will be protected here because one acted like a sissy), and we saw a wee little mouse on the floor of the theater. Well, one not-so manly man squeeled like a mouse when he said he felt it on his foot. I couldn't stop laughing. Back to the present. I opened the tin foil, and sure enough there were little mousey-bites on each end of the naan!! I called Radhika over to show her. She said during the movie the bag seemed to move, which was placed on the seat next to her. She even picked it up and folded the top over to seal it better. She said she was a little puzzled when it seemed to move a couple of times on its own, but didn't consider the "Jerry" factor. So...NEVER leave your Indian food unprotected at the De Munt theater in Amsterdam. The mice have discerning palates!
Also, I learned there is a squatters law here in Amsterdam. I believe there are similar laws in the US (anyone recall the movie "Pacific Heights" with Michael Keaton?), and I just don't get it! Here, if your property is unoccupied for 6 months, people have the right to break in and live there. I was told this came about many years ago, a century or more perhaps. The wealthy would buy houses here, but only live in them part of the time. Meanwhile, many had no place to live. So, the government, in its infinite wisdom, allowed "squatting" to occur, and made it next to impossible to legally remove them. Today I'm told it is still quite difficult to remove people who are living on your property, some paying 100 euros per month rent. Some have resorted to hiring "muscle" to physically convince the unwanted tenants that it would be in their best interest health-wise, to move out.
Went out for a 3 hour cruise (no, not on the Minnow) on the canals last night. Man was it great!! The sky clouded up as we pushed off after a day of sun and blue skies! It even sprinkled momentarily a couple times, but overall the conditions were nice enough for an end-of-day float with some snacks, cold beer, cider, wine, and conversation. We went through the red light district, Jordaan, out to the Amstel River, and toured down numerous canals. Many had their boats out, enjoying the summer weather.
We'll be in Barcelona in less than a month for our last, European trip this year. At least the last one of any great length (8 days). Looking forward to that! Have heard nothing but great things about that city. More about that after the trip.
Some local Amsterdam stories that you may find interesting and/or entertaining? I have a few. One involves "Public Enemies", Naan, and mice. We had a nice Saturday out and about in the city, and decided to have dinner at a good Indian restaurant we know. As usual, we couldn't eat it all, and much to the shock and horror of any Dutch diners in the place, we asked for the food we couldn't finish to be packed. We decided to hit a movie before going home, so we got tickets to "Public Enemies" (eh-2 stars out of 5). We get home late, so I put the doggie bag straight into the fridge and we crash. Next day I'm warming up the Indian goodies for lunch and notice 2 small holes on opposite sides of the plastic bag. But I take out everything and start to zap the containers. The naan (bread) was wrapped in tin foil, and I noticed two little holes on both sides of that, too. Just like the plastic bag. Upon further examination I determine without doubt they are chew holes!! You see, several months back I was at the movies with 2 other folks (their identities will be protected here because one acted like a sissy), and we saw a wee little mouse on the floor of the theater. Well, one not-so manly man squeeled like a mouse when he said he felt it on his foot. I couldn't stop laughing. Back to the present. I opened the tin foil, and sure enough there were little mousey-bites on each end of the naan!! I called Radhika over to show her. She said during the movie the bag seemed to move, which was placed on the seat next to her. She even picked it up and folded the top over to seal it better. She said she was a little puzzled when it seemed to move a couple of times on its own, but didn't consider the "Jerry" factor. So...NEVER leave your Indian food unprotected at the De Munt theater in Amsterdam. The mice have discerning palates!
Also, I learned there is a squatters law here in Amsterdam. I believe there are similar laws in the US (anyone recall the movie "Pacific Heights" with Michael Keaton?), and I just don't get it! Here, if your property is unoccupied for 6 months, people have the right to break in and live there. I was told this came about many years ago, a century or more perhaps. The wealthy would buy houses here, but only live in them part of the time. Meanwhile, many had no place to live. So, the government, in its infinite wisdom, allowed "squatting" to occur, and made it next to impossible to legally remove them. Today I'm told it is still quite difficult to remove people who are living on your property, some paying 100 euros per month rent. Some have resorted to hiring "muscle" to physically convince the unwanted tenants that it would be in their best interest health-wise, to move out.
Went out for a 3 hour cruise (no, not on the Minnow) on the canals last night. Man was it great!! The sky clouded up as we pushed off after a day of sun and blue skies! It even sprinkled momentarily a couple times, but overall the conditions were nice enough for an end-of-day float with some snacks, cold beer, cider, wine, and conversation. We went through the red light district, Jordaan, out to the Amstel River, and toured down numerous canals. Many had their boats out, enjoying the summer weather.
We'll be in Barcelona in less than a month for our last, European trip this year. At least the last one of any great length (8 days). Looking forward to that! Have heard nothing but great things about that city. More about that after the trip.
Friday, June 26, 2009
French Open
As some may know, we made a weekend trip at the end of May down to Paris to catch two days of professional tennis. I just had to see how much farther I had to develop my skills before I go pro. Uh, it's going to be a while! But it was a great 2 days, with great weather, great tennis, great atmosphere. I'm putting up some pictures that you can find through the usual methods - clicking on the "link to albums" in the upper right corner of the blog. The trip to Orlando, my 30 year reunion, and our week in Ireland will show up shortly, along with ACDC (see video clip on my Facebook page).
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Finally A New Post
Yes, it's been a long while since I last wrote anything of substance. I've been busier than I have been in the past since arriving in Amsterdam, and that's a very good thing! I guess foremost would be my work with ACCESS, which is a not-for-profit organization here in The Netherlands, with offices in The Hague and Amsterdam, that helps English-speaking expatriots deal with their new home. Most people may speak English, but when dealing with government agencies, some utilities, and various other entities, one is not always met with someone you can communicate with. ACCESS helps people with all kinds of matters, and I answer questions that come in via email or phone call. Recently I put in a lot of time and effort on something called the Creative Contest. Art students in the English language schools have their creations chosen by the art teachers in their schools and then a panel of 3 judges, of which I was the head judge, chooses 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in several age categories in 2D and 3D work. I am also the associate editor for the ACCESS magazine, and that occupies a lot of time developing and writing stories, editing other writers work, taking photographs for publication, even doing some distributing. Outside of ACCESS there's workshops. I've held four so far. I went to Munich for a week to assist a commercial photographer on a Caterpillar project (heavy equipment, not the little fuzzy tubes on your 'maters), and I do all the research, planning, and reservations regarding our travels (the holiday when Radhika's family was here took a while to put together, then there was the Normandy weekend, French Open at the end of May, this long weekend trip to Brussels, Belgium and Maastricht, Netherlands, and our week in Ireland.) Also there are personal photo projects that I do with another US photographer here, tennis (of course!), movies (3 Star Trek viewings under my belt), and the little things and daily battles.
One of the battles recently fought was with our bank here, ABN AMRO. Let me start by saying banking sucks here. Charges for EVERYTHING and severe lack of service. I went into the branch near us one day to conduct some business - it was 4:20 and they close at 5pm. The girl tells me I have to come back another day because their personnel cannot serve the amount of people waiting in the lobby. This was the latest in an endless line of poor service experiences with the bank. I went outside, unlocked my bike, but locked it back up because I didn't like where this ended. So I went back inside, asked to speak to the manager, and waited while I was scoped out by several bank employees. You see, the Dutch do not generally make "waves" when they are treated poorly - they just take it. So, when someone ramps up and starts asking questions like "How is it I come into this bank at 4:20 and am told to come back another day when there's 40 minutes left in the business day?", or "How much more pathetic does the service have to be here before I take my money out of this sorry institution?" things get interesting. Mr. Manager says they don't have enough associates for the number of customers (wrong answer!) - "Not my problem", I tell him. I was in there in the first place because of their poor security and incompetence. Someone copied our card and got the pin and started withdrawing money from Indonesia. Luckily we caught it on a Sunday and put a stop on the card immediately (Radhika wanted to know what in the hell I was buying and spending so much money on! 18 years together - - has she met me?). So, the Barney Fife's who run ABN AMRO security can't see a suspicious pattern when the same amount of money is taken from an ATM in Indonesia 1 or 2 minutes apart repeatedly? What kind of programs do they have in the network to sniff out this type of obvious nonsense? Questions that I posed the desk jockey in the bank. I appreciate when Citi contacts me in China, India, or wherever when I make a withdrawal in these places and didn't tell them beforehand that I would be there. ABN AMRO knuckleheads would sit back and watch withdrawals from an ATM installed in The Sea Of Tranquility and not blink an eye! To continue, they gave us various time frames of when they would replace the stolen funds into our account, so that was a fight. Finally, Radhika called them and she was told by the Female Fife on the bank end that they didn't know when the money would show up! Well, Muffin went off on the hapless Dutchy, got the manager on the line after verbally abusing "Ding-Dong" for a spell and Miss Manager said the funds would be put back by Monday, along with the charges for a new card and stopping the old one. YEAH!!! Can you believe their security fails and they are going to charge us for stopping the card and issuing a new one??? CLUELESS!!! But, they get away with it because the government lets them and the Dutch "take it". We finally got that settled. Next was figuring out this 200+ euro bill from the water company. Seems it's a water purification tax. Not only is the income tax 52% here, but you get taxed from every direction too, not to mention VAT, which is another 19%!!! Oh, they give some dandy tax breaks for having kids, because the Dutch have stopped having babies and in a few years there's going to be far less people to tax and support the socialist agenda here. But that baby break does nothing for us. Maybe we can go out and rent a few for the next 18 months. Anyone want to send their tax deductions (er, I mean children) over to us for a while? I got plenty more to bitch about, but I'll move on to more pleasant matters.
As you know we have been traveling fools of late. Vienna, Prague, Rothenberg, Luzern, Bordeaux, Paris, Luxembourg, Normandy, Munich, now Brussels and Maastricht this weekend. Paris again at the end of the month for the French Open before I hit New York for 3 and Orlando for 10 days before a week in Ireland and returning to Amsterdam the day of the ACDC concert. Of course that's the obvious upside of living where we are living. Still planning some more travels in the year - Barcelona being one of the destinations. It's late, and I got stuff to do. But it's good to get some writing down after such a long break. I'll try for more a little later.
One of the battles recently fought was with our bank here, ABN AMRO. Let me start by saying banking sucks here. Charges for EVERYTHING and severe lack of service. I went into the branch near us one day to conduct some business - it was 4:20 and they close at 5pm. The girl tells me I have to come back another day because their personnel cannot serve the amount of people waiting in the lobby. This was the latest in an endless line of poor service experiences with the bank. I went outside, unlocked my bike, but locked it back up because I didn't like where this ended. So I went back inside, asked to speak to the manager, and waited while I was scoped out by several bank employees. You see, the Dutch do not generally make "waves" when they are treated poorly - they just take it. So, when someone ramps up and starts asking questions like "How is it I come into this bank at 4:20 and am told to come back another day when there's 40 minutes left in the business day?", or "How much more pathetic does the service have to be here before I take my money out of this sorry institution?" things get interesting. Mr. Manager says they don't have enough associates for the number of customers (wrong answer!) - "Not my problem", I tell him. I was in there in the first place because of their poor security and incompetence. Someone copied our card and got the pin and started withdrawing money from Indonesia. Luckily we caught it on a Sunday and put a stop on the card immediately (Radhika wanted to know what in the hell I was buying and spending so much money on! 18 years together - - has she met me?). So, the Barney Fife's who run ABN AMRO security can't see a suspicious pattern when the same amount of money is taken from an ATM in Indonesia 1 or 2 minutes apart repeatedly? What kind of programs do they have in the network to sniff out this type of obvious nonsense? Questions that I posed the desk jockey in the bank. I appreciate when Citi contacts me in China, India, or wherever when I make a withdrawal in these places and didn't tell them beforehand that I would be there. ABN AMRO knuckleheads would sit back and watch withdrawals from an ATM installed in The Sea Of Tranquility and not blink an eye! To continue, they gave us various time frames of when they would replace the stolen funds into our account, so that was a fight. Finally, Radhika called them and she was told by the Female Fife on the bank end that they didn't know when the money would show up! Well, Muffin went off on the hapless Dutchy, got the manager on the line after verbally abusing "Ding-Dong" for a spell and Miss Manager said the funds would be put back by Monday, along with the charges for a new card and stopping the old one. YEAH!!! Can you believe their security fails and they are going to charge us for stopping the card and issuing a new one??? CLUELESS!!! But, they get away with it because the government lets them and the Dutch "take it". We finally got that settled. Next was figuring out this 200+ euro bill from the water company. Seems it's a water purification tax. Not only is the income tax 52% here, but you get taxed from every direction too, not to mention VAT, which is another 19%!!! Oh, they give some dandy tax breaks for having kids, because the Dutch have stopped having babies and in a few years there's going to be far less people to tax and support the socialist agenda here. But that baby break does nothing for us. Maybe we can go out and rent a few for the next 18 months. Anyone want to send their tax deductions (er, I mean children) over to us for a while? I got plenty more to bitch about, but I'll move on to more pleasant matters.
As you know we have been traveling fools of late. Vienna, Prague, Rothenberg, Luzern, Bordeaux, Paris, Luxembourg, Normandy, Munich, now Brussels and Maastricht this weekend. Paris again at the end of the month for the French Open before I hit New York for 3 and Orlando for 10 days before a week in Ireland and returning to Amsterdam the day of the ACDC concert. Of course that's the obvious upside of living where we are living. Still planning some more travels in the year - Barcelona being one of the destinations. It's late, and I got stuff to do. But it's good to get some writing down after such a long break. I'll try for more a little later.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Normandy
Okay - - still haven't gotten around to my writing, but I have another batch (21) of photos from our long weekend visit to the Normandy area of France. Was a great place, as you can see. As usual, go to the link, and the album is Normandy (duh!).
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Latest Pictures
Okay, so I am not doing so hot on the writing part, but I am making some fun pictures of the family visiting. More are on the way and I WILL get to writing again soon. So much is going on, workshops, magazine, volunteering, family visits, GE, French (Hell Yeah!) Open, a trip to Orlando and NJ, Ireland, AC/DC concert, long weekend trip to northern France, fashion photography for the portfolio, photo assisting in Berlin, etc. But I'll get some words down soon. Stay around. To see the pictures, click on the link as always and it's the European Dash album. Enjoy the slideshow!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Skiing In Germany
We went skiing last weekend and I have put up 20 images from the trip. I will write about it later. But for now, enjoy the pictures.
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