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4th of July in January?
Oh man, oh man. What just happened? 4th of July? A war? Not sure exactlly, but this New Year’s Eve Anne, Pat (Anne’s mom), Sarah (Anne’s sister) and I really found out the Dutch party like rock stars on July 4th New Years.
New Years is the only day of the year Dutchies can play with fireworks, and they do not disappoint. It’s not like the US where some states you can buy (but not light), you can light (but not buy), you watch (but not legally), etc. This is real. You know when you are lighting fireworks…cough…cough… legally, you light one and run away really fast in hopes it doens’t head for you head? That doesn’t happen here. They light the thing, then throw it at peoples feet because its funny. 12 year olds don’t get to light fireworks in the US? 10 year olds get to in Euro land. Right next to police officers, because its just ok, and this was before the clock struck midnight.
Once the New Year rolled around, that is when the fun started. We went to the balcony in hopes to get a glimpse of a few lights in the sky. What ensued left us picking our chins off our champagne glasses. Ok, so they have fireworks you say. You have all seen a 4th of July fireworks. You show up, see about 20 minutes of nice fireworks and then wait for the grand finale. Cool, right?
The Dutch are known for, well, “Going Dutch” and being somewhat frugal with their money. But somewhere in this saving of cash, they see fit to go all out with fireworks. The Dutchies somehow make/create/buy/smuggle in from Germany top grade stuff and light the skys for 45 straight minutes. And this isn’t just the one neighbor showing off for the neighborhood. This was EVERYONE. In the streets lighting fireworks, jumping off cars, shooting fireworks at each other, hugging, screaming, champagne-ing. It was great. I just felt safer inside.
Here are some pics…(need to figure out how to upload video – there are seven total – just shows how long this went on).
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loudly….
…For all to hear. The holidays are over and we wanted to take some time to catch up on the weeks leading up to Christmas. First, it snowed a lot for Amsterdam. It was chaos, people throwing snow balls everywhere and a parking lot on all the roads. Interesting fact, they shovel the bike paths here and not the sidewalks. That made walking in the weeks after challenging… especially on the brick sidewalks.
We also decorated the house for Christmas… It was very festive in the Kinney household. We also attended some holiday parties and a Christmas eve concert. Attached are our favorite pictures from those weeks. Stay tuned for blog posts about the Merrill-Kinney Christmas celebration. Those will come soon. Highlights of that were a trip to Brugge and Antwerp. Enjoy the slideshow:)
Christmas Market in Cologne, Germany
When we arrived in Amsterdam, most people said we should visit the Germany Christmas markets. No one could actually tell us exactly what a “Christmas Market” is, except that they are fun. So we decided to find out for ourselves and went to Cologne, Germany. Cologne is home to five different Christmas Markets. We took the train to Germany because we found out it is illegal to drive in Germany without snow tires. And yes, you guessed it, we didn’t have snow tires on our Euro car at the time. Since it was snowing the whole weekend, we decided we better not take our chances finding out what happens if you don’t have them on your car.
After we got to Cologne, we checked out 4 of the 5 markets. So you may be wondering what they are all about. Men and women alike enjoy the markets because there is more meat, snacks and drinks than craft booths. Needless to say, we spent most of the two days eating, drinking gluhwein (it is a sweet mulled wine) and taking in the sights. I think both our mothers and most of the women in our families would love Christmas Markets. So if anyone wants to come next year, we will take you:)
A highlight of trip was playing John Denver’s song Country Roads in a bar and having everyone start to sing along. The bar had an automated band machine (see the pictures below) that was amazing. Who knew people in Germany liked John Denver too! Several Michael Jackson songs were also played, which was equally amazing. Here are some pictures from the weekend!
Coffee Shop (oh snap!)
No. Not that kind of coffee shop… a REAL coffee shop:
Those of you who know my loves in life know its Anne, family, friends and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. We found this ‘lil number in Cologne, Germany. Just another reason to love America.
Sinter-what?
Sinterklass. What a Wonderful Life. For those of you who don’t know, and those of you who do (you must have Dutch in your blood) there is a holiday in the Netherlands that is separate (please don’t confuse this…ever… with Christmas) from Christmas/Santa Claus called “Sinterklass.” The Dutch claim this is where Santa Claus is derived from… do us a favor and google Sinterklass and you might understand why they think this. Once googled, you will find a large man in a red suit with a long white beard… he plays the part of Cinter Claus (english style) and is the center and figure head of the holiday Cinterklass. There are differences between the two of course, but subtle to the eye. Ok, the only difference I see in appearance is the cross on the hat. Now to the real diff…
…Cinter likes to come out at the end of November when US folk are still entrenched in giving thanks. Santa still is checking his list twice… While Santa is checking the list for the second time, Cinter is out and about in A’Dam playing mind games with the kids. You see, instead of an Elf as a helper, Cinter has “Zwart Piets”. I’ll let you do the google translate. Let’s leave this as… not PC and totally unacceptable in the US… at best. Cinter comes from Spain (although the Spaniards have never heard of him) and parents of children use him and his “helpers,” the zwart piets, as even more fire power for children behaving during the holiday season. If the children are not behaving, what do think happens? Cinter doesn’t come? No, no. The Zwart Piet come and take the naughty children away forever. If they are good you say? Cinter comes at least FIVE times until the 5th of December. Tough choice for all the children. Even I would have behaved if those were my choices.
Oh, one more thing… if you are giving a Cinterklass gift (you must do so all the way until December 5th), it’s accepted necessary to write a poem along with the gift. Us Merican’s have it easy.
Anne and I felt it was necessary to check out the festivities and partake in a Dutch parade to welcome Santa, I mean Cinter and his “helpers” that, for some reason, were all on rollerblades and handing out “typical Dutch” (phrase used all the time here) candy – paper-noten (no idea on spelling). Here are some picks and you be the judge on if this holiday will stick if we try to bring back to the States…
Why are they on roller blades you ask? We have no idea… its more fun? Its faster? Your guess is as good as ours. Have a nice, safe Cinterklass.
Here's a Kinney for Your Thoughts 