The finer things

It's me again, from Belgium. Just an update because I've actually done some stuff and been places and I want to get it written before the excitement of this weekend when I'm GOING HOME OH YESS not that I'm massively excited or anything about that. Obviously. Onwards, I don't want to take too long over this.

A bit of modeling, and a departure

First of all just to cover off the end of the week before last as I was spending my last few nights at The Cottage before moving to where I am now.

Cling film stretched flat over my cutting board

A thick bead of silicon sealant

Spread it downwards with a toothpick in straight lines

Left to dry and then cut out of the cling film

My modeling stuff on the back of the bike

Laptop safely secured to the bike

I had been putting off doing any more modelling because I didn't want to make a mess just before leaving however I gave in to my urges and had a go at the technique described in this excellent video to make a waterfall out of silicon sealant. It was really easy - the biggest fear I had was using cling film which I am notoriously bad at doing. I left it for a day to dry and then cut it out carefully with a craft knife and was pretty impressed with my first attempt. I'll keep this, as it's not going to break easily, and use it in the first diorama I make, hopefully this winter. After this fun I had to pack everything up (I had actually packed everything, and then had to get loads of stuff out of the box to do the waterfall) and on the Monday I took my big rucksack with my clothes, and the modelling box and then Tuesday morning, my last day in The Cottage I strapped the laptop to the back of the bike and had the small rucksack full of food; two very heavily laden days. No matter, I transported everything I needed to without having to resort to a taxi.

A new temporary home

Tuesday night I cycled to the new place leaving my laptop and modelling stuff in the office as I need my clothes and I had food for the refrigerator. When I got there the owners were waiting and showed me around being very nice and even suggesting that I make use of the little scooter in the garage which is a terrible idea, but eventually they left and I could settle down.

A huge pile of mixed noodles

Interesting twin bridge over the canal

Looking towards work along the canal

Looking back towards where I'm staying

A not-very-nice curry eaten outside

I had no intention of cooking that first night and hadn't had a chance to pick up more food since eating most of it prior to leaving The Cottage so I ordered a Chinese which was actually very good indeed; the delivery driver, randomly enough, was the son of the owners as well! The next morning the walk to work took me along the river, after a bit of searching, and I was lucky enough to catch the lift bridge operating as a large container barge went along the canal. I've not seen the bridge in use since so I'm really glad I snapped some pictures even if they were with my dodgy phone. The walk is lovely all along the river to the station, though I've gone back to cycling since then. I got another takeaway the next night which was much less tasty and I'll not be having curry again here I don't think. It was nice to eat it sat outside on the patio table. I've also done a video walk through if you're interested so check that out above as well.

Alkmaar and Amsterdam

There follows the bulk of this update; I spent the weekend visiting Bart, my friend from the Islay festival, and had such a great time. The title of the blog is something that we kept saying to each other over the weekend as we enjoyed the Finer Things in life; good food, good weather, good company, good whisky, good sightseeing.. it was just a really relaxing time, exactly what I needed.

Double decker train pulls into Mechelen

Pizza wrapped around kebab meat - lovely!

A lovely Belgian beer to start off with

Cheers as we sip another beer

I worked from "home" on Friday as the office was closed and walked up to the station in plenty of time for my planned train - of course this was cancelled but there was another one going in roughly the right direction five minutes later so I got on that. I'd aimed to arrive at Bart's by about 7.45 but due to that first train not running I ended up changing at Antwerp, Rosendaal and Amsterdam and despite all the changes being tight and having to run I didn't arrive in Alkmaar until just before 9pm. I was hungry so on the way back we grabbed a very nice kebab before dropping my stuff at his flat and going out for some beers and a chat. He knows a lot of people in his town and we were called into a lovely Belgian beer bar as we walked past. The night ended up being very late with more beers and then whisky when we got back to his and I fell asleep eventually about 1.30am.

Cheese matured for ten years

An old German bunker from WW2

An interesting wooden bridge for my dad

Amazing architecture

So many beautiful details on this house

Another stunning bridge shot for my dad

The old customs house (I think?)

A statue on the old fish market

A house supposedly bombarded by the Spanish in the 1700s

Coffee in the antique shop / hairdressers

Of course when I woke up at 7am the next day I was not feeling my best and I felt pretty rough all morning. Ahh well I don't drink too much all that often. Our plans were to go to Amsterdam so he could show me around but after breakfast of cheese butties (lovely local cheese at that) we decided to tour Alkmaar before going to Amsterdam and this proved to be a good choice. It was a stunning day, so warm we were sweating slightly as we walked, and we spent a good couple of hours strolling around seeing things. There is a lot of history to this place and I took a lot of photographs so I've tried to limit the number I've uploaded to not bore you. On the way around we stopped in at an antique shop that was run by a hairdresser and she was there cutting a chap's hair while we had a coffee and cookie that she gave us when we went in. Of course, Bart knew her. French music in the background, the snip snip of scissors and surrounded by old things - brilliant.

This looks like a Banksy

An awesome old Citroen

Bart in his favourite spot

Double bridge trouble for my dad

An old pepper warehouse

Memorial for sex workers

The Grand Palace on the Dam

1945 when German snipers shot at people celebrating the end of the war

Hiding behind lamp posts - 20 killed, 120 injured!

Old houses along the water front

After this lovely stroll we headed to the station and got the train into Amsterdam. It was quite airless in the carriage we were in and I was struggling quite badly during the trip but we got me a drink of water and a chocolate bar when we arrived and after that I was OK. Bart knows Amsterdam very well so there followed another fascinating walking tour showing me things that I'd never have seen if I was just there with "the lads". I've never felt the urge to visit Amsterdam before but getting a tour from a local made it really interesting. He took me to his favourite place, showed me the red light district (quiet when we went through) and told me some of the backstories of the streets and big houses we saw. It was fascinating.

A lovely old style pub with superb beers

A would be feeling at home right about now

Eating Chinese food with chop-sticks

We had a plate like this each!

Anyone know what this gorgeous car is?

Two beers, and some lovely raw smoked sausage

After this sight seeing we were both a bit dry so the other benefit of being with a local came to the fore. First of all Bart took me to his old regular haunt which was a lovely old pub, still yellow with tobacco smoke from when you could smoke inside, and serving excellent beers. At one point the barman talked about a hen do coming in and that he sent them off to another bar. My kind of place. After chilling there for a bit we walked across town to a chinese restaurant that Bart likes and he was correct to. The service was quick and the food was stunning. I also took the challenge of chop sticks which I haven't tried for ages and managed to eat almost everything, just using a spoon for the sauce left at the end. I was absolutely stuffed after that meal but we got on our way to our next destination; a presentation of new beers in a shop. We got there by tram and found the shop and when we walked in it was just the two shop people and the guy from the brewery looking a bit forlorn. They were lovely people though and it soon filled up a bit more and when we left, each having bought beer and I had also picked up a bottle of Belgian whisky (I know, not from Belgium but shhh) they were happier. After this we went to another brewery and had a beer and some of the local delicacy, raw sausage which was AMAZING, and then it was time to head back to the train to go home.

The Dutch tall ship

This is called a Koploper

We're impressed, and this wasn't even everything

The fully laden table

About to tuck in

On the way back we saw an old dutch ship moored as a tourist attraction so I wound Bart up that it was nice to see one that we hadn't sunk. He laughed, which was good. On the way up I had seen some great looking locomotives with a really distinctive shape and was hoping to get a picture of one so I was very pleased when a consist pulled in to the platform across from us as we waited for the train. I snapped loads of pictures but this one came out best. It really is very distinctive and I've already found out where I can buy a model for my own railway - very expensive though so it'll wait a bit I think. We chatted all the way back and then went to the flat to change and have a shower (and so I could do my revision on memrise so I didn't break my streak) before we headed out for dinner. Now we hadn't eaten until about 2pm so I was still feeling full at that time. I thought maybe something light but Bart had other plans and ordered such a huge pile of food I thought we'd never get through it. Each dish was tiny but there was loads of dishes. We slowly worked our way through it, laughing along with the table next to us who had ordered the same thing and had the same "oh dear" reaction and while we didn't finish every dish we did at least taste it all and it was super. Waddling slightly we left the restaurant to find that the Festival of Light on the canals in Alkmaar had just started and we were perfectly positioned to get a video of it. What awesome timing.

A small dram when we got back

The Belgian Whisky

Local cheese with scrambled eggs - super breakfast

Leftovers dinner; tasty!

Back to normal meals again

And so it was back to his, a couple of drams, one of which was the Belgian whisky which I cracked open to try and was very impressed by, and the other was an amazing Bowmore hand fill from a few years back which blew the socks off the Belgian whisky, and then an earlier night than the night before. I was disturbed a few times by loud drunken people outside but that was better than having the balcony door shut and overheating and when I woke up the next day I felt really refreshed and rested. Breakfast had been planned as a full Scottish but neither of us had thought we'd want something so heavy so that stayed frozen and instead we had a lighter scrambled eggs, which was just perfect. We headed to the station and Bart waved me off on the train and I had a much easier journey on this leg, getting home in plenty of time to go to the shops but feeling far too lazy to do that. Instead I edited all the videos on this post which was good as I wouldn't have wanted to do them now. Dinner was the last of the veg so I made a wonderful mashed potato and carrots, par boiled the green beans and then fried them in salt, and did some fried onions as well. It was superb. I finally got to the shops yesterday after work and today was roast lamb steaks with boiled spuds and butter mushrooms and onions. Also super.

So it's now Tuesday night and I'm not sure when this will be published; A wants to get her double-header that she began tonight out of the way so maybe this'll land tomorrow maybe on Thursday but all I'm thinking is on Thursday night I fly out to Bulgaria for the weekend and I cannot wait! It's only a short visit but after that I'm into the home stretch and only a few more weeks before I go back for good. Cannot wait.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :)