History in the Making

Spain vs Netherlands. The Eighty Years' War between the two countries, aka the Dutch War of Independence, went from 1568-1648. The Ninety Minutes' War goes this Sunday at 8:30pm.

So while the bad blood between countries has been diluted by some 362 years of peace, the excitement is mounting in the days leading up to the big match.

Some other interesting perspectives regarding Spain and the Netherlands:

• The orange colour sported by the Dutch dates back to Willem van Oranje (William of Orange), who was the main leader of the Dutch revolt that kicked off this war. He was also known as William the Silent. He also often had gastric problems, upon which occasions he became known as William the Silent but Deadly.

• Neither team has won the World Cup before.

• Holland's last appearance in the finals was 1978; Spain has never made it.

• Spain is currently ranked number 1 in the world football rankings, Holland number 4. Gabon is 42nd. Canada 63rd.

• Spain is famous for many things, including the running of the bulls. The Dutch, never keen to admit they don't know something, are famous for the running of the bull---t.

More facts to come as the weekend devolves into a haze of celebrations, heat, and a once-in-a-generation event for both countries.

Finally

That wild-eyed look? A mixture of joy and fear

This is turning into a Dutch opera. With heroes like the fantastically named Giovanni van Bronckhorst, assorted villains like Diego and Robinho, a steadily rising plot line thick with tension, and a rapt audience of millions, the only thing still left to be decided is whether it ends in operatic tragedy or joy.

Last night's Netherlands vs Uruguay match raised the bar again - not so much for the quality of play, where the Dutch still haven't put on a complete 90-minute effort - but in terms of passion on the field and in the streets of Amsterdam.

A brief summary:

• The venue was a small neighbourhood pub, with outdoor screens and the best seats in the house thanks to an Aus-some friend. The gezelligheid of watching the game as though you were sitting on your front porch with 100 friends in a cozy neighbourhood is undeniable.
• The Dutch dominated the play early, with some decent chances on offense and the defense relieving the opposing players of the ball as easily as taking candy from an Uruguayan baby.
• I wonder: What's it like, Giovanni, to score one of the greatest goals in World Cup history? That shot will be replayed for the next century.
• The Dutch let up for some reason and after 20 minutes straight in the offensive zone, Uruguay ties it up. Uruguay - Forlan. Dutch - Forlorn.
• Halftime - a quick stroll down the block in search of food. Chicken sates with peanut sauce. Magnifique.
• A nervy second half with two more excellent goals by the Dutch, and some unwanted close calls in the waning moments.
• The choppy ending to the game, with the referee obviously owning a side business in Holland selling heart medicine and defibrillators, kinda mutes the celebrations momentarily. But then...
• A 5-minute walk to Museumplein to check out the madness before hitting the town. (Videos of the scene have been made and posted to YouTube... for some reason they are not working however. Tips are welcome as to where else I can post them, as they take forever on this site. I will update with a new post once they are viewable).

Even Beesie was nervous before gametime

Our seats

Time to water the tulips

The Dutch are in the World Cup Finals since 1978!

Bye Bye Brazil

The Boys from Brazil met the Heren van Holland in the quarterfinals this past Friday, and the result was simply one of the defining moments of Dutch soccer.

I started the search well-before kickoff for a suitable spot and somehow turned into Goldilocks:

• Too hot: Museumplein - standing in the direct sun for 2-3 hours, likely behind some very tall people? There must be better options.
• Too cold: Cafe Quinto, a small neighbourhood pub that looks fun as it is jammed inside and out for games. Brutal service before even sitting down. Did not feel like giving them money for the next 3 hours.
• Just right: the venerable Barca once again, with loads of screens, a great seat and even better scenery.

Some numbers:

• 32 - forecast high temperature in Amsterdam that day
• 24 - forecast high temperature in Rio that day
• 56 - coincidentally, the sum of the two above numbers and the approximate temperature inside Barca at kickoff time
• 30,000 - estimated number of fans on Museumplein, watching on the big screen. Watch the reaction here as the final whistle sounded, filmed by someone who clearly went to the Blair Witch Project school of film. Still awesome, however.
• 3:59 - the players line up at midfield behind a banner saying "Say No to Racism"
• 4:11 - how about saying "no" to Dutch defensive lapses? Brazil scores an easy one and things are not looking good as the favoured South Americans dominate the play early on.
• 4:30 - a third pitcher arrives at the table, clearly in an effort to stave off dehydration as the temperature inside is insane.
• 5:10 - Dooeeeelllllpunnnntt! Ok, so it has nowhere the same cachet as "Goaaaalllllll", but still. 1-1 tie.
• 5:24 - the Dutch are really owning the Brazilians in the second half, and Kuyt's brilliant header pass is sent on to Sneijder's bald dome, and he knocks it home. Two heads are indeed better than one. The sound is deafening and joyous and I am typing this with goosebumps at the recollection. 2-1 Netherlands.
• 5:29 - red card for Brazil's Melo, who is anything but as he angrily stomps on Robben. Enjoy the Red Card District, Felipe.
• 5:30 and on - large, booming cheers of "HOLL-AND" clap-clap-clap, "HOLL-AND" clap-clap-clap ring through the entire bar as the excitement builds towards the fantastic finish.

When the final whistle blows after a few more nail-biting moments, the place erupts. (*Note - the quality of the video-making might be due to an impaired operator or poor camera - you decide).

We poured outside right after and grinning, slurring, joyous conversations were had for a few hours, before an exceedingly well-timed pizza and quiet at a friend's apartment nearby. Wow.

Tuesday could be another memorable night, as the Netherlands face a weaker but still dangerous Uruguay. Stay tuned.

And for the more involved football fans, some thoughts below on the team itself:

• Robin van Persie may yet redeem himself, but he is choking quite badly. And with his jittery insecurity/arrogance and lack of smarts, I wouldn't be surprised if he puts Holland in a very bad position before this tournament is over.
• Keeper Maarten Stekelenburg looks rock-solid and should give the Dutch added confidence.
• Wesley Sneijder is in top form - he and Arjen Robben are reasons alone to think that the Oranje could win it all.
• Those who really know the game here say that midfielder Mark van Bommel is the best player on the squad so far.
• Dirk Kuyt is the everyman's hero, well-loved in Holland for his work ethic and unassuming nature - a big contrast to the many outsized egos that make up much of the rest of the crew. And he is playing some fantastic football.

An ingenious red and yellow card system, helpful for those times when the challenge comes from speaking

Intermission

Note the superior Dutch sock in contrast to the measly Brazilian flip-flop

Post-game outside Barca

Post-post game carnage

Canada Day

Today is Canada's birthday. And it's been interesting to see the country from the outside for the past 9 months, and to hear how people view it over here. Some observations...

• Saying "I'm Canadian" still acts as an almost automatic goodwill passport - 8 times out of 10, people respond favourably and with a smile. The other times, the person is usually neutral or completely disinterested.

• The overwhelming reaction to the word 'Canada' is either one of "ah, nature" or "ah, cold". I do try to explain that we have modern, hip, bustling cities as well and that I've maybe seen 2 moose in my entire life. But this doesn't resonate with the listener.

• Note to Canada Tourism - you've done an excellent job showcasing mountains and lakes to the overseas population - these images are seared into people's impressions of us. It's time to update the brand - mix in some of the coolness of Montreal's summer nightlife, Vancouver's restaurant scene, Toronto's diversity, and please anything, anything but Calgary's cowboy image.

• We may not realize it inside our own borders, but we may want to tone down the chirpy smugness of being rated so highly as a place to live. It's nauseating to see a major clothing manufacturer say "The World Needs More Canada" (imagine any other country saying this - we'd think it was the height of arrogance), or idiotic Olympic poets saying things like "Canada is the 'what' in 'what's new'" to a global audience. Lame.

• While we're at it, let's stop sewing our flag on our backpacks when we go abroad - no one else does this, and for good reason. Pride is great, but it's even better when paired with humility.

• Seeing first-hand how so many countries struggle with integration of immigrants, it is all the more impressive to see how Canada has done it. Not perfectly, of course, but it seems (to my fairly uneducated eyes) head and shoulders above Europe and its tribal mentality.

• We need a 'thing'. Italians have their food, Belgians their beer, British their humour, Swiss their cheese. Bacon isn't sexy enough, and neither is hockey supremacy nor Celine Dion. Hmmm...I guess nature and politeness are perfectly fine, but still there must be something more. Maybe before next July 1 we can come up with something - till then, happy birthday homeland.

Canal Coolness

This past weekend I discovered a new way to see the city of Amsterdam. Bike, foot, car, tram, bus, train, metro, wet, less wet, sober, less-than-sober - it's all been done already.

Where it's really at is renting a boat on a warm, sunny Saturday morning and touring the canals for 3 hours with friends, tunes, and food.

While the larger canal tour boats cram in the tourists and offer a passive way to see the city (and it's perfectly fine to take such a tour once as well, especially with your mom), a far more interesting and active way to do it is via personal rental boat.

We hit the waters with Boaty.nl, a small operator in Amsterdam. After a friendly greeting with a 10-minute tutorial and waterproof map, we were off.

The starting point

Another boat of intrepid explorers

There's no need for special license, and the electric-powered (i.e. quiet and green) aluminum tubs putter along at a very slow pace (I think ducks paddled past and taunted us on more than one occasion - trash-quacking us as they did so).

But no matter - the idea is to chill, bring your own eats and drinks, and enjoy the scenery. There are not many cities you can do this in either, which adds to the appeal.

You can rent a boat for the morning, the afternoon or the whole day, although in the morning it is more tranquil in terms of traffic on the water and it's also nice to witness the city waking up.

We fit 5 people comfortably, and could easily have had one or two more. And for three hours at a cost of 79 Euros in total... let's just say that there aren't many more enjoyable things you can do in Amsterdam for less than 20E per person. Much less for 3 hours straight.

One of the many homes on the water

Dios Rio

Ok, now onto the main course.

After dining on Danish, Japanese, Cameroonian and Slovakian appetizers, the Dutch football team is getting ready to tackle Brazil this coming Friday.

Watching the Slovaks go down 2-1 from a packed and humid bar on a sunny day here in Amsterdam, one could feel the buzz from the crowd well before kick-off.

It was somewhere in Leidseplein, teeming with non-descript bars and people and heat. By the start of the game, I was sweating my vuvuzelas off. No complaints here though - it was fantastic, with the long-overdue heat and that odd smell of a bar during daytime hours adding to the whole atmosphere.

The crowd erupted with a beauty by Arjen Robben within the first 20 minutes, and with almost total control of the game they sealed it with a Kuyt to Sneijder doelpunt later in the second half.

Prime seats

The game was a typically austere Dutch effort, doing just enough to win and being largely devoid of flash. These are supposedly the same people who invented a long spoon-like thing to scrape out the very bottom of a jar, so it seems fitting that there was no wasted effort.

Post-game, we squinted our way outside like bats from a cave and walked into a mass of singing and dancing youth, the whole scene a sea of orange. A mellow evening barbeque in the park with friends capped off a fine day to be in Amsterdam.

Inside - drama. Outside - tram-a.

Game Drie

Seen in a local Coffee & Company - a Vuvuzelatte. Or might I suggest the Mochannoying?

Tonight we watched a comfortable Dutch team, already assured of a spot in the quarter-finals, from a comfortable Dutch couch in a comfortable Dutch neighborhood.

The difference between a sports-focused house party in Amsterdam and one in, say, North America is very little as it turns out:

• Beer - Grolsch instead of Budweiser (by the way, a joke in the local Heineken circles? What do sex on the beach and Budweiser have in common? They're both f***ing close to water).
• TV - same, 30-50" (sorry, not in a metric mood today) flat-screen, high-def. I'm not sure if we need to see up player's nostrils, but overall it's a fine way to see the game.
• Snacks - chips and sausage slices with mustard. Less elaborate than in North America - here, it's about the beer.
• Jokes - equally sophmoric on both sides of the pond, with better behaviour when females are present.

So what to report? The appearance of dangerous winger Arjen Robben just in time for the knockout rounds, Robin van Persie finally finding his footing, and all positive signs heading into the Slovakia match on Monday.

Given that there was nothing on the line for the Oranje, I was able to focus on other things tonight and in the past few days. Some thoughts and photos below.

• Spain has La Furia Roja, the Italians the Azzurri, and Germany the Mannschaft. The Aussies? Love their heart, but they will never win a thing so long as they stick with the colossally lame "Socceroos" as a team name.

• The celebrated Dutch lack of formality can be taken a little too far at times. Here's a look at one of the country's leading prime-time sports analysts as seen last week. Dude.

• At halftime of many football games, millions of Dutch viewers tune into Oranje Karaoke on the local TMF music video station, a sing-along to classic popular sing-along songs. Also with some dubious fashion choices, as this famous Nederlander shows.

Dutch Liberace?

Insert your best caption here

Plein and Simple

Rembrandtplein. Leidseplein. Museumplein. Thorbeckeplein. Bos en Lommerplein.

When you are in Amsterdam, the pleins are, well, pleintiful.

Essentially a public square lined on at least three sides by various establishments, each one has its own flavour to a degree (Leidseplein is the tourist ground zero, where people from everywhere but Holland go to cut loose; Museumplein is less barfful and more artful, and so on) but the ones located within the inner rings of Amsterdam will see a heavier dose of tourists than those in the 'burbs.

While you won't see any pieces of art at Rembrandtplein, you will no doubt see some pieces of work. There must be no fewer than 20 bars, cafes and restaurants all next to each other, and come midnight packs of locals and buitenlanders alike are lit up like the Time Square-esque signs that ring the large square.

It was here at the Aussie-themed Coco's Outback that I decided to set up camp for game 2 of the Netherlands' quest for the Cup, this time versus Japan, with a prime spot for Australia vs Ghana assured right after the first match.

Guinness, good service, and kangaroo burgers. Not an authentic Amsterdam experience, it would seem.

Then again, the plan was to see how the event differed in an expat-heavy crowd, in contrast to game 1's almost pure Dutch surroundings. And it seemed to be the right spot - my bench neighbours were from Canada, the States, Australia, South Africa and Romania, and even the server didn't speak a word of Dutch.

But the crowd as a whole turned out to be quite Dutch, with as many ooohs and ahhhs and football chants as anywhere. Kudos to the expats as well - while maybe not as vocal, they were decked out in plenty of orange and into it enough to add to the atmosphere, not take away from it.

The weather, however, was pure Netherlands, alternating between summer and winter throughout the 90 minutes. If the Bavaria beer girls were here, they would have needed longer skirts. Girl-illa marketing, indeed.

The seats and benches were packed outside along the entire stretch of bars, and the TV's were protected from the elements with effective, if low-tech, shelters.

The place exploded with Wesley Sneijder's booming goal at the 53-minute mark, in what was an otherwise tame affair. With the win, the Dutch clinched a pass to the next round, ensuring at least 2 more games as things start to (hopefully) heat up around here. Next game report comes later in the week, from an Amsterdam house party.

Real Nederlanders? Or tourists? What's your guess?

Summer arrived at the start of the game

Winter arrived at about the 50-minute mark

Istanbul II

To continue on from yesterday's post, some more notes from Istanbul:

• The Grand Bazaar, with over 4000 shops, is the epicenter of the city in many ways. You can buy anything here - from clothes to jewellery to spices to power tools - and rub elbows with locals and tourists. (Very little deodorant on sale - this would make the metro rides a little more bearable).

• Topkapi Palace is a sprawling collection of buildings that are now mostly a museum. Some incredible items here, including an 86-carat diamond, various sultans' clothing from 1000+ years ago, and other surprises, including a sudden and spectacular view of the sea that comes out of nowhere.

• Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, and Sultanahmet are also impressive. Depending on the conquering forces at the time, Aya Sofia, from its origins in 360(!) has been a cathedral, a mosque, and a museum (as it is today). The sense of history and of just imagining the people and events that have occurred over 1600 years is pretty awe-inspiring.

• The Princes Islands are a decent day trip, with ferry rides to any number of them leaving all parts of the city. Just be prepared for masses of people, particularly at day's end (not for you claustrophobics). They are hilly, and without cars, so getting around by foot, bike or horse-drawn cart (and get ready to jump out of the way!) are the only way to navigate.

Overall, there's not a lot of witty or insightful stuff to say about Istanbul. Glad (and fortunate) to have seen it? Absolutely. Will I hurry back? Not likely. While it's a place that easily fills up the memory card on the camera, it doesn't do the same for the heart.

Typical plates of mezes, appetizers

The ferry towards the Princes Islands

One of the bars lining the Galata Bridge

The view from Topkapi Palace

Heybeliada, one of the Princes Islands

A walk in the woods on Heybeliada

The main mode of transport on Heybeliada

One of the other Princes Islands

Well-fed young Turk

Brisk business, selling balik ekmek

Balik ekmek

Fishing off the Galata Bridge

Ahh