There's snow outside

Finally! At Last! Snow has come. It was about time.

When I woke up in the morning (around 6:00) this is what I saw outside: pretty nice, no? I think it is. See I'm a south-western European and snow is something that happens only once every ten years (except in the high lands and mountains). So for me snow is always a experience.

My car, the (probably) only Portuguese car in Netherlands was covered in a thin layer of very dry snow so some brushing was called for.

Then it was time to go and check out my "playground" (Muiderberg) for how it looks with a bit of snow.

Now there's some hope that I will still see a natural ice skate marathon this year...

Almere

Wind was nice yesterday, but a cold stop me from going into the water. Damn microorganisms.

Still it didn't stop me from going for a small sight seeing trip to the newest part of Netherlands: Almere in the Flevoland province.

I am a engineer at heart. I love to see feats of human ingenuity, great constructions and big endeavors. Be it in arts (music and architecture being my favorites), sport (windsurf closer to my heart) or constructions (cathedrals, enormous bridges and feats to tame mother nature. Netherlands are filled with all this. A big part of the country is bellow the sea level and exists only because of the huge effort from the dutch into expanding their land.

Almere is the newest city of Netherlands and, has I would expect, it's a wonderful place to go and see modern architecture.

In the first picture you can see what looks like nice well taken care yards and a small block. Well, it's what it looks but the grass fields are actually the roof of shopping centers. Houses and walk paths were set on the top of the shops and building, creating a village above the city center. It's wonderful to see, the busy people bellow going from shop to shop and then stay in the yards relaxing and enjoying the sun.

Really a nice place to visit and to go shopping - so many different shops were to leave your money…

Going around a little, and as usually being attracted to the line between land and sea, we came up with some windsurfers that were packing after having enjoyed a good session. Lucky guys, I was (am) so jealous.

Never the less I went to have a talk and it was some really nice people. They live close by so I will probably see them more time (I hope so - in the water specially). They gave me some ideas of nice spots were they go and, I think I can learn quite a bit with this guys (I feel I can learn a lot with almost any other windsurfer).

After the talk, and with sun starting to set, we head back home for some nice hot tea and staying warm as by then the damn cold was starting to make itself felt a lot harder. Nothing a paracetamol doesn't help.

A bit of exercise

Weather forecast in Netherlands are a funny thing. Mostly in can be resumed to "probability of rain" or "showers" and usually are almost right. But not quite. The weather changes with a amazing speed and any forecast further than two hours are just wild guesses. This is important if you like outdoors activities (such as running, sailing, etc) as having a couple of hours without rain can make a huge difference in the way you feel your day.

Today was a perfect example of this sudden weather changes. From a hail to clear skies, from windy to calm. Only the temperature is usually very constant (today varying from 4°C to 6°C).

Taking advantage of the clouds giving us a break is a must (if you can, that is) and so when at 4 PM the sky became blue and quickly changed into running cloths, put my trainers and went for a run. It's so nice to run here. There are always new things for me to see, animals to watch and a feeling of never being at danger of being run over by a car.

So a 9.4 Km run in on hour and a half. Not bad for someone out of shape and a bit overweight as I am.

Tomorrow in the afternoon it's going to be not that bad for a small windsurfing session. I wonder if I'll have the guts to get into the water - it's still a bit cold and I didn't get new and warmer boots.

Still it has been a long time since I windsurf and there's a voice inside calling for it... Maybe I'll suffer my feet to freeze but still enjoy a bit of wind. I'll let you know how this conundrum (yeah, fancy word) resolved it self.

Some days back in Coimbra

I had to go back to Coimbra to do a exam in order to get the equivalence form the old five years degree into a master of engineering degree and to do some clean up and fixing on my parents computers (the curse of being the family IT guy).

The weather was just great: clear skies, sun shining all day long, nice temperature. Couldn't have been better for a stay without any windsurf session - there was no wind at all.

Now for some pictures.

The most blaring is the parking style of a certain owner of a Qashqai. As you can see in the image he (or she) managed to park in the parking place reserved for pregnant women or cars with small children on board, places that are a lot wider so that the car as easier access (to get the children in and out, etc) but he (or she) left the car in the middle of two such spots. Hurrah for social behavior, you schmuck.

Sad things aside and let me show you the beauty city where I was born.

The river and the University Tower dominate the old Coimbra. Both are always present, always part of the landscape.

Going out with friends and having a good time with family was also a good part of those days, a really very good part. No photos though - both because I was too lazy to take them but also because not everyone is is crazy about having it's photos spread around the web.

Ahh... on the exam subject: the grade has not been published yet but the teacher told me that I could come back to Netherlands without any worries. I guess that means that it's done and it's one less thing to worry about. Yeah!

Windsurfing a storm

On the 3rd of this month there was some really strong winds in Netherlands and I really had to push myself not to go and try to windsurf. Then I remember that I still don't have any proper footware and smallest sail is 5.4m².

Never the less some Dutch guys did go and windsurf and now I have to try and meet them for some windsurf sessions... cause it seems some Dutch sailors are afraid of getting wet when it's cold. :)

Fireworks for 2012

I didn't write anything about the New Year's party but here is a video I found on youtube that describes rather well how great the party in Amsterdam was.

Have a great 2012 everyone!

First day of the year 2012

First day of the brand new year of 2012 was spend traveling around South Holland.

The day, for obvious reasons, started a bit latter than usual and we left home only at about 12:00 and head to the city Den Haag. The weather was, I hope, not a forecast of what the rest of winter will be like: dark and rainy. Although we can say that we were lucky when we arrived to the City of Peace and we had two hours without rain. Enough to walk about for a while and get a bit the feeling of the city.

Downtown is a maze of pedestrian roads and a area on intense Asian influence. It even has a beautiful gate to China Town (I don't know if that is it's true name).

Christmas tree are still up and cheer up the day with bright colors.

The mix between the old building and the new ones is done without a feeling of detachment. The architecture of the new, taller, buildings merges seamlessly with the old blocks. Our eyes appreciate such nuances and care.

In Rotterdam it looks like everything is new and big. Big buildings, big spaces, big channels, big ships. A modern city that looks like it didn't loose it's humanity by crushing down its citizens. There was always something interesting to look when rounding a corner. Which only make it more of a pity that the end of the day and the constant rain didn't gave us much time to enjoy the city.

There is a myth that what you do on the first day of the year reflects what will be for the rest of it. No logical explanation is provided but would it be that this was true and I would have a rather nice year. Traveling with people that I care about to places were I have never been, eating good food and having good conversations. Just hope that somewhere in that windsurf and professional projects also fit.