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Into Haarlem

Sat, 09/18/2004 - 1:34pm

Today we had an easy Saturday; after a nice breakfast we went into the city. When we walked towards the center we passed by a building on the Nieuwe Gracht which has a maquette of Haarlem hanging on the wall inside.

We were curious, so we rang the bell and asked if it would sometimes be open for the public. A very nice lady, who worked for the archeological institute of Haarlem, opened the door and let us in immediately. She showed us around, and after seeing the (magnificient) maquette she also showed us the first version of an exhibition for the archeological museum in the Vleeshal she was working on.

The maquette is very interesting; she said it was made by someone just as a hobby and that it had been stored in their attic for a long time. The city is shown as it was early in the 19th century. The city wall was still there as well as the various city gates. Very beautiful.

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The Terminal: a Bulgarian experience

Sat, 09/18/2004 - 12:34pm

Hilarious scene where Viktor has a date, and his friends server a dinner in the terminal. Yesterday evening we went to the movies, to "The Terminal" in Cinema Palace.

The movie is about Viktor Navorski, a traveller from a fictional Eastern European nation who gets stuck in an airport in the US after a military coup in his native land. His passport, issued by his previous government, is no longer valid and he has to stay on in the terminal of the airport for months to wait for the political situation to change.

The character of Navorski, played by Tom Hanks, is wonderful. It's a very sweet guy, who is a total stranger in the US. To our great surprise Tom Hanks was speaking Bulgarian, and in fact his whole character was Bulgarian. His language, some movements, his jokes and the whole behavior were typical Bulgarian which was very nice to see.

It was a great movie; sweet and with a happy end. Personally I loved the older guy from India who Navorski meets on the airport.

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Girl with a pearl earring

Thu, 09/16/2004 - 5:54pm

The original painting by Vermeer. Sasha, Steven and I went to "Girl with a pearl earring" yesterday. It's a movie about a painting made by Johannes Vermeer.

The movie is based on a book by Tracy Chevalier, which imagines the circumstances under which the painting came to be created.

The movie was marvellous! The story is playing in Delft in the 17th century, and it was absolutely wonderful to see the city as it was 400 years ago. The opening shot of the movie, an helicopter view of the city with the church in the middle and the fields outside the city walls, was just brilliant.

The canals were used a lot in those days, for every day transport of cargo and passengers. It was very funny to see one of the boats being stuck in the suddenly frozen canal; it felt remarkable similar to ice-scratching a car in the morning to go to work.

The story of the movie was interesting, but I mostly enjoyed the great views and superb camera work. The light in the movie was very special; it was similar to the light visible on many of Vermeer's paintings.

After the movie we went for some drinks in In Den Uiver, and later we had dinner together. When we walked back home we talked a lot about the history of Alkmaar and Haarlem.

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Graduation Jennie

Wed, 09/15/2004 - 4:48pm

Jennie graduated. This afternoon we went to the graduation of Jennie. She studied Computer Science at the Vrije Universiteit like me, but she started a year later.

We met my father in the bookshop at the VU, that was a nice surprise.

The gradution went well. Jennie started another study already (again at the VU), so this wasn't the final ceremony for her. Anyway: congratulations!

After the graduation we met Jos Aris, my old biology teacher from Wiringherlant, my highschool.

Gezondheidstest

Wed, 09/15/2004 - 3:36am

This morning I went to participate in a national health survey, the Nationale Gezondheids tests. I went to a center in Heemstede, a place near Haarlem. My appointment was at 8.00 o'clock so it was an early morning.

The test was very interesting. My length and heigth were measured, as well as a number of other health-indicators. The biggest part was 10 minutes on a bicycle, and my heart rate was measured.

Now I'm back at Chess, but I'll take the afternoon off to go to Jennie's graduation.

Monumentendagen

Sun, 09/12/2004 - 6:19am

Open monumentendag in Haarlem. Friday afternoon I went with my collegue's for a drink. The weather was really nice, and a large project had just delivered a new version, so we went earlier than usual. We were at the outside cafe from 16.30 o'clock, and it was a very cosy afternoon.

In the evening Sasha and I had dinner together -- it's so nice to be together! In fact, yesterday was our anniversery -- we met six years ago. We went out for dinner to celebrate. We went to Cafe Nobel, a restaurant at the Spaarne near the Waag. It was a very romantic evening and the food was great.

Yesterday I went into the city, armed with my camera, to enjoy the Monumentdagen in Haarlem. In this weekend many famous buildings are open to the public. The last weeks I've been reading quite a lot on the history of the city, so this was a perfect opportunity.

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Haarlem Vaardagen

Mon, 09/06/2004 - 3:57pm

Friday evening I picked Sasha up from the airport, and we had a great weekend. Saturday my parents came and we had coffee together.

Afterwards Sasha and I went into the city. There were the "Haarlem Vaardagen" in the city. Many boats were in the city, take came from all over Holland. The theme of this year's event was the liberation of Haarlem from the Spanish occupation.

There was a lot of music, a book market, plays, games etc. The weather was awesome. We went both Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Sunday afternoon we also visited an exhibition about the Vleeshal, a building in Haarlem, and we had a beer on the Grote Markt.

See some pictures.

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Map of Haarlem

Wed, 09/01/2004 - 4:23pm

I found a beautiful historic map of Haarlem online.

The map is from 1575 and was created by Braun and Hogenberg, for the atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum.

This was the way the city looked like when it was under siege by the Spaniards.

In the lower left corner of the map you can see the Catharijnebrug, the bridge that is close to our house now (opposite the policestation). On the map that is the end of the city, before the city gates. The Hooimarkt became part of the city much later.

Writing about Haarlem

Mon, 08/30/2004 - 5:43pm

Last weekend and tonight I have been reading and writing about Haarlem. I'm working on an article about Haarlem and De Adriaan.

When I came back from the library to pick up a book about the city, I walked past the Prinsenhof, and over the Grote Markt. It's nice to see so much history around you.

A cute joke for Dutch readers: what's the opposite of Bulgarije?

Uitmarkt

Sun, 08/29/2004 - 3:03pm

This afternoon Jelly and I went to the Uitmarkt in Amsterdam.

We had a great time, even though the weather was a bit depressing. We listened to a Portugese fado band and saw a theater group called Dogtroep, among others.

We had a Suriname roti sandwich for dinner, and we spent quite some time on the book market.

It has been seven years since the last time I was at the Uitmarkt; then it was still at the Waterlooplein. The new location, at the Museumplein and Leidseplein, was much better than I had expected.

Guus Bosman

software executive and technologist

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