Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Street Art

When you walk from the Amsterdam Central Station towards the OBA (the city's public libray), you pass by a big new hotel, a huge Chinese restaurant on water, you enjoy the beatiful views, and before you reach the bridge taking you to Nemo...


You find this.


Ápparently, it seems to be an interpretation of Noah's Ark.


Only in Amsterdam...

Monday, August 29, 2011

Brazil through Dutch Eyes

Ever wondered why some Dutch people would live in Brazil ?
How would they adapt ?
Read about it here and here.

Madurodam

Bilingual Post (English/Portuguese)

Me with my mom and daughter in front at the park entrance. There is an open (paid) parking lot near the entrance, but fortunately we could just park for free near the tram tracks - just a two minute walk further.

Hans Brinker: the little Dutch boy with a finger in the dyke.
I have always thought that Madurodam was much smaller than it proved to be in reality. In my mind you could admire some Dutch buildings in miniature and that was it. I tell you: Madurodam is a quite BIG park surrounded by woods. It has a (self service) restaurant, a couple of bars, a theater room where you can enjoy a short film and special effects (laser & holograms) and a train ride for the kids. Yep: expect to spend almost a whole day while in there.
Eu sempre achei que as mini maquetes de Madurodam ocupassem uma área bem menor. Algo como: um par de prédios que ocuparia o tamanho da minha sala de estar. Pois olha: o parque é imeeenso e não dá para visitar em algumas horinhas não ! O visitante gasta horas e horas, se bobear a maior parte do dia dá para ser passada lá... Há um restaurante self service, alguns bares, uma sala com um filminho cheio de efeitos especiais e até um trenzinho para as crianças que roda o parque todo.   


There are many paths for the visitors so that they can admire the architectonical details of every maquette very closely.
Há muitos caminhos para os visitantes passearem no meio das maquetes e assim apreciar de pertinho cada detalhe.

Now, I funny thing I think it is worthy to point out is that the building are not agrouped per theme or city. For instance, it is NOT that you will see maquettes of famous Dutch cathedrals agrouped in one side of the park. There are some streets where you can spot a famous museum located in Amsterdam neighbouring a famous church actually located somewhere else...  Still, the result is pretty.

Algo engraçado que acho importante destacar. Os prédios não são agrupados nem por tema nem por cidade. Por exemplo: numa mesma rua você vê um museu de Amsterdam junto a um palácio de Haia e uma universidade de Utrecht. Ainda assim, o resultado é harmonioso e muito interessante.

Suddenly we heard via the loud speakers that a film with special effects was about to start. We rushed to the place (a white salon) and the so called film started. it was in Dutch with English subtitles and lots of laser . It told the history of the fight agains water, the water tragedies, the Delta works. Everything in a simple language so kids (and foreigners with a basic English) could understand it.  Film finished, on the way out the visitors follow a path that end up in a... souvenir shop. (You cannot avoid them. If you feel like not visiting one, then you end up visiting an attraction with the exit giving to a shop. So typical Dutch. ) I have bought some candy for my daughter and a book for my old one.   

De repente, ouvimos através das caixas de som que um filme iria começar. Descobrimos o acesso com uma fil para um salão de projeções. Muitos efeitos especiais de laser e hologramas, um filme narrado em holandes (e com legendas em inglês) contava a estória da luta contra o mar, as tragédias passadas quando nível do mar aumentou, e os trabalhos do Delta no sul do país - bem como a construção dos enormes diques e comportas. Terminado o filme, na saída o caminho leva par dentro de uma loja de suvenires. (Isso é tão típico holandês, colocar uma loja no meio do caminho mesmo quando você faz de tudo para evitá-la... Bom, comprei uns docinhos pra minha filha e um livro para o meu garoto.)

Madurodam is a "Holland in a nutshell". If you have just a couple of days to visit the country, just go to Madurodam and discover how the old and the modern most important features of the Dutch architecture look like. Everything is replicated to the smallest detail on a scale 1:25. Btw, You will feel many times like a bird, appreciating aerial views. And birds gallore in Madurodam !
Madurodam é uma cidade em miniatura, com todos os pontos culminantes da arquitetura da Holanda. As réplicas estão numa escala de 1:25 e os detalhes são preciosos.  Na verdade, é um grande cartão de visitas do país e se você tiver pouco tempo para visitar a Holanda, basta dizer que conheceu tudo através de Madurodam, hahaha ! E você vai se sentir como um pássaro, com tanta "vista aérea". Aliás pássaros são o que não falta em Madurodam, especialmente corvos e gaivotas...

In the restaurant there two options of soup, hot dog, and typical Dutch hearty pastries such as sausage bread, cheese soufflé and sandwiches. Around noon time it was announced a puppet show.

No restaurante self service há duas opções de sopa, cachorro quente, e os típicos folheados de salsicha e queijo, ém de sanduíches. Por volta do meio dia um teatro de marionetes foi anunciado para as crianças.

Afterwards, a girl dressed as a clown showed up in order to make some balloon figures for the kids. They could choose which colour they preferred and which animal.   
... and my little girl returned home so happy with her new balloon !

Entrance fees:  Adults: 14,50 euros
Kids (3-11 years old): 10,50 euros
Address: George Madurodamplein 1
2584RZ Den Haag
Tel: 070 416-2400

By public transport: take the train to The Hague and travel by tram or bus.
  • From Den Haag Central Station: tram 9 or bus 22, in direction Scheveningen, stop Madurodam

  • From Den Haag Holland Spoor: tram 9, in direction Schevening, stop Madurodam

  • From Scheveningen Beach: tram 9 in direction of Central Station, stop Madurodam

Life Lessons


"A vida é igual a andar de bicicleta: para manter o equilíbrio tem que continuar se movendo."

Sunday, August 28, 2011

LJ HOLMES PRESENTS:BEYOND YESTERDAY


It was Reba McEntire's fault. Today they were doing a Reba McEntire all day music-a-thon. Okay, she loved Reba. If she didn't no way that song would have reached through all her years of wall building and found the one vulnerable brick to bring the wall crumbling down around her.

FANCY! The dang fangled video was like a photo finish of her own story. Ramshackle tar paper hut, but with a twist...it sat with the mansion where her grandparents lived out their miserly existence allowing their son and his young family to subsist in that shack.

FANCY! The last thing she wanted to be doing was pulling into the driveway beside the disintegrating mass of pain and moldering decay.

FANCY! Who needed these reminders? The sound of mice, rats and God knows what else scritching and scratching within the tattered wall and across the jagged floorboards raced up and down her spine.

FANCY! And that gawdawful mansion. She'd never been allowed inside the forgotten elegance she'd often looked towards with envy and silent fury in her youth.

FANCY! she needed to get back in her car and leave with the same determination to never return she'd had the minute she'd been able to.

FANCY! The wind...the wind could not really be calling her...could it?

Beyond Yesterday, cover by the immensely gifted Muse It Up Publishing, Inc.'s Head Cover Art Goddess,

Delilah K. Stephans, written by

Preditors and Editors award winning author,

L.J. Holmes is being released not too long from now...Let's see, this is August 28, 2011, and Beyond Yesterday is coming out from the

Muse It Up Wing of the

Muse Publishing, Inc house in September...so just around the corner.

Check out the Muse Bookstore Buy Page for Beyond Yesterday where you can learn more about this book, and it's prolific author, L.J. Holmes.

One other thing before we release you to check out Muse Publishing where our Motto is

~BUILDING THE TEAM TO ACHIEVE THE DREAM~

All author's proceeds for this book will be donated to the

Burlington County, NJ Women's Shelter known as THE PROVIDENCE HOUSE, where the

dream is to live without fear of what tomorrow might bring.