Run, Forest (or Michael), run!

Yesterday Michael took part in Zuidas Run - annual run around Amsterdam Zuid, where there are three disciplines, the longest one being 16km and the smallest one just 1km (Kids Run).

Obviously, Michael chose the longest one and set two aims - first, be faster than last year (1:13:33h), second, be faster than his colleagues.

I am proud that both aims were achieved - his time was approximately 1:09h (waiting for exact information) and one of his colleagues arrived approximately 10-20 seconds later, others even more later (as far as we could observe).

Congratulations, darling! :) Next time - marathon with 42km? :)

Bike trip to Muiderslot

Yesterday we decided to have a short bike trip and visit Muiderslot, a nice castle around 15km away from Amsterdam. Previous two times when I was there, it was closed (wrong timing) and I learnt that parking a car is quite expensive, so a decision was made - it has to be by bike and during daytime!

It took around 90min to go there with our city bikes and against the wind - not very nice. However, Muiderslot turned out to be a very, very nice and cute castle. I can imagine kids feeling like in paradise there as there were so many activities they could do - exploring the castle, dressing up like princesses and knights, playing several games and going on a guided tour led by other kids (last year primary school).


I do not know if it's always, but yesterday there was also a falcon and his master, showing the falcong flying around and telling more about falcons in the country.

On the way back we decided to take a small detour and cycle via Weesp, which is just 3km away. Didn't spend so much time there, but it looked a small and nice town as well (bigger than Muiden).

A tip - all shops seem to be closed on Sundays in Muiden and the service in restaurants is quite slow, so bring your own water bottle!

Slēpošana zem jumta

Domāju, ka šoreiz manas pārdomas vislabāk saprast spēs tieši latvieši, tāpēc ieraksts latviešu valodā.

Sestdien (vakar) izmēģināju, kā tas ir - slēpot iekštelpās! Netālu no Amsterdamas ir mākslīga slēpošanas trase zem jumta "Snow Planet". Pirms kāda laika bija akcija, ka varēja iegādāties kuponu, ar kuru slēpot četras stundas (ieskaitot inventāra īri) par puscenu. Nevarēju noturēties un iegādājos!

Diemžēl gaidītais brauciens izvērtās atziņā, ka tiem, kas bijuši Alpos un tur ne tikai slēpojuši, bet pašā sākumā arī iemācījušies slēpot, šādās mākslīgajās trasēs īsti nav, ko darīt... Trase bija tikai viena - 230 metrus gara, pa kuru lejā varēja nobraukt aptuveni vienā minūte (labi, varbūt divās), pat Žagarkalna trases ir garākas par šo. Vienā trases pusē sniega gandrīz nebija, otrā tā bija pārpilnām - tad nu varēja izlemt, kas labāks... Par laimi, cilvēku nebija tik daudz, lai būtu jāspiežas, bet izbaudīt nebija, ko - augšā ar padibeņa pacēlāju bija ilgāka braukšana nekā no "kalna" lejā.

Lai gan biju gatavojusies tam, ka temperatūra ir auksta un uzvilkusi divus džemperus un silto jaku, tomēr nosalu. Mani ziemas cimdi nebija gatavi -5 grādiem bez saules stariem. Ilgāk par pusstundu izturēt nevarēju, bija jāiet garderobē sasildīties. Otrajā reizē arī ilgāk neizturēju un gala rezultātā četru stundu vietā noslēpoju maksimums pusotru.

Nezinu, kāda ir pieredze citās slēpošana trasēs zem jumta, bet šķiet, ka man ar šo pietika. Nākamreiz - uz īstajiem kalniem ārpus Nīderlandes!

My pimped bike

Every now and then I take part in different online competitions, where you need to answer to one simple question and you can win tickets to some events in Amsterdam.

Several weeks ago through such a possibility on Amsterdam Magazine's Facebook page I won... the possibility to get my bike pimped!

So in the middle of February I gave my cute bike to them, answered to some questions how do I want my bike to look like (something about travelling, of course, and nothing pink, of course) and started to learn how to walk again :) I also asked them not to make my bike black as my cute boyfriend is saying that I am wearing too much black clothes already now.

And then the magical moment came... I got my bike back! The Dutch artist had made it all yellow with one sentence in around 10 languages (unfortunately no Latvian, but there is Korean, Polish and others) - "My boyfriend says I am wearing too much black". That was so funny! She said she likes to work with quotes and that quote in several languages symbolises my love for travelling.

Now the article is published and you can either drop by Amsterdam Magazine office in Amsterdam and get the printed copy for free or read it online on their webpage (page 56 for the next three pages).

That's not all... This month my cute boyfriend also won in the same competition and his bike is being pimped right now by a different artist! Let's see what (s)he will come up with!

To Schiphol airport by bike

What to do if you have a flight only at 2pm, but you need to leave home already at 9am and shopping doesn't seem to be fun?

The answer is simple - biking to the airport! And that's what I did on Thursday, when I took my flight to Riga.

I wanted to try biking to Schiphol airport already for quite some time (just to have a drink there or so), but never managed. This was a perfect opportunity to do so. It's only ~15km away from Amsterdam downtown, so duable if you are in no rush. Without any rush, the trip took for me around 90 minutes.

There are several ways where to bike. Although the map suggested me the fastest way through Amsterdamse Bos, I didn't feel like going through the forest alone, so decided to bike along Nieuwe Meer - and also because I haven't seen it before. Perfect signs everywhere from there on to the airport helped me not to get lost.

The trip could be divided in three parts. First one to Amsterdam Zuid was nothing special, have done it loads of times. The second to Nieuwe Meer and around it was really nice and peacful, almost no people (especially exactly at Nieuwe Meer), just me and the nature. The third part to the airport is quite boring. You see the airport and planes already from 5km distance, but still need to bike around all the airport teritorry before you reach the terminal. No exciting views and the motorway just next to you.

Yesterday when I was biking back from the airport (yes, it was a short trip abroad), decided to take the fastest route (the signs said - 9km instead of ~15km) through Badhoevedorp. The first part was nice, through that small village/town/place and then along the canal, but the second part was nothing so special again.

Should try once to reach the airport through Amsterdamse Bos as well :)

If you are wondering about the pictures - they are taken in the airport :)

Free sport? Yes, why not!

Last week was my week of sport. Besides daily biking activities which here is more a mean of transport, not really sport, I also visited two sport/fitness clubs. After checking out both of them and having talks with membership coordinators from both clubs, I think that I have a quite good overview of Dutch sport clubs.

So let me sum up what have I found so far.

In the Netherlands it is common for sport clubs to give out free day passes or "gratis dagpas" for possible customers. During the day they not only have a chance to try all facilities in the club, but also get a guided tour around it and a chat with the membership coordinator, who tells how much does it cost to join the club and what are the membership options.
Most of the clubs have membership only for 12 months, some of them also for six months, but that's more expensive. And yes, it means that you can't join only for one month, one week or one day - it is simply not possible. Once you join the club, you are stuck with it for a year. So make your choice carefully! Off-peak passes which do not include weekday evenings are normally cheaper than normal all-inclusive passes, and there are also discounts if you join as a couple. That also explains why the clubs are so eager to advertise free day passes to make sure that the customers will be satisfied once they join.
After a hot discussion on my Facebook profile with Dutch and non Dutch people I learnt that it is common to have mixed sauna in sport clubs, which also proved to be true in both clubs I visited. However, I still do not know if Dutch people go naked, with a swimming suit or with a towel? The first sauna seemed to be towel friendly, while the second one looked like swimming suit friendly, which definitely is not so good because you are supposed to go to sauna naked.
Unfortunately there are not so many fitness clubs in Amsterdam which have also swimming pool. I love swimming and I do not care about the fitness so much as about swimming, going to sauna, swimming again, going to another sauna, then trying jacuzzi etc.

In the next weeks I hope to discover some swimming pools (unfortunately no free day passes), so wait for another blogpost later on!

And a small advice - Sports World Amsterdam is a good choice if you want to try different classes (e.g., I tried yoga class), but Sportcentrum Amstelpark is the best choice if you are both into fitness and swimming. They have a great swimming pool and three different saunas.

Aerobic for cheese

This question goes to Dutchies: do you what is "Slankie"? The normal answer - some kind of cheese brand... Today's answer - brand with weird PR actions!

days ago I got an e-mail saying that they need a bunch of woman (20+ years old) for "Slankie" action on Sunday for 45-60min. So I signed up!

It turned out to be a very basic outdoors aerobic class for around 30min. We all got yellow raincoats (it was quite warm outside and even more warmer after the action) and needed to stand in a line with left foot on the walkway and right food on the road. A tall guy in the front of us was shouting us instructions we needed to follow. Loads of people around just starting, taking pictures or even shooting videos (I guess, some TV).

Steps? Hands up, hand down, hands up, hands down! Hands on the shoulders of the person in the front of you! Walk eight steps further etc. etc.

I still don't understand what is the idea and message behind it, but I guess that I should simply wait for tomorrow's newspapers and try to figure it out then.

Kā es devos uz savu augstskolu

Ceturtdienas rīts. Plkst. 11:00 man ir sarunāta tikšanās savā augstskolā ar starptautiskās daļas pārstāvi Johanu, ar kuru esmu e-pastiem mainījusies jau vairāk nekā pusgadu. Apskatos kartē adresi - tikai 4km, nav tālu, tātad varu droši braukt ar riteni.
Plkst. 10:20. Izeju no mājas ar domu uzkāpt uz riteņa un mīties prom. Ritenim izrādās pārplīsusi riepa. Nav laika labot riepu, cenšos atrast citu riteni, ar ko braukt, bet neizdodas. Nav ne jausmas, kā tur nokļūt ar sabiedrisko transportu, jo to iepriekš nebiju pētījusi. Par laimi, biju pierakstījusi, ar kādu tramvaju tur jābrauc (katram gadījumam) un par laimi 2x izrādās, ka tieši tā tramvaja pietura man ir pie mājas. Jehū!
Ok, tramvajā iekāpts. Problēma - nav ne jausmas, kurā pieturā jākāpj ārā. Izdomāju, ka tajā pašā, kurā ir tuvākais augstskolas metro, bet izrādās, ka tā nebūt nav, tad nu dabūju iet kājām vēl divas pieturas un jautāt 2x palīdzību garāmgājējiem ("Excuse me, do you speak English?"), kamēr ar 15min novēlošanos ierodos augstskolā.
Pirmais pārsteigums - manā prātā Johans šķita mana vecuma, max 10 gadus vecāks puisis, vismaz spriežot pēc viņa smaidiem e-pastos. Izskatās, ka viņam gan ir kādi gadi 40 vismaz ,bet tas tomēr nemazina prieku satikt cilvēku, ar kuru apmainīti tik daudzi e-pasti.
Otrais pārsteigums - tik daudz informācijas! Saņemu ziņu, ka 18. septembrī būs jāiet uz Welcome/Open Day, kur iepazīšos ar savu fakultāti, koordinatoru utt. Uzzinu, ka iespējams sportot bez maksas (aizrakstīju jau e-pastu sporta atbildīgajiem par peldbaseinu, gaidu atbildi), kur un kā varu iegādāties sabiedriskā transporta karti un apdrošināšanu u. tml. lietas.
Kas tālāk darāms? Johans iedod izlasīt bukletu starptautiskajiem studentiem par sociālo dzīvi, tusiņiem, kas tiek rīkoti, veidu, kā augstskolā tiek organizēts darbs utt. Tagad atliek tikai gaidīt 18. septembri, kad uzzināšu vairāk savā fakultātē.
Ak jā, kāpēc tik vēlu? Tāpēc, ka semestris šeit sākās tikai septembra beigās, es vienkārši esmu šeit nedaudz par ātru. :)