It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

"At Christmas, all roads lead home" - Marjorie Holmes

I cannot describe the excitement that ran through me when I brought my little Christmas tree back to the apartment yesterday and began to string the cheap lights I had bought from Blokker around the €6 Albert Heijn special. Even when I went into The Hague this evening to buy some sparkly adornments, I couldn't bring myself to switch on the lights until all the baubles and tinsel was on it. Behold, the Budget Kerstboom!

Now for a quick (and mostly incomplete) lesson in Dutch Christmas. It's a busy time in here in the Netherlands, as Sinterklaas arrived a few weeks ago and has been busy touring the country. If you don't know who Sinterklaas is, it's this guy...

Unlike some guy you may know, who comes from the North Pole, he comes from Spain. He also travels on a boat with a load of these guys...

In case you are wondering, yes this is basically a white guy in black face paint. His name is Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). It might seem a little racist to some of my friends back at home, and apparently this debate occurs every year in the Netherlands, but as far as kids are concerned these little guys bring them their presents. And that is that!

In fact, the kids all get their presents tomorrow. What is even more important is that I also get to leave work an hour early! But I have to wait a few more weeks for my gifts...

All aboard for Utrecht, but mind the sliding doors!

"The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before"
- G. K. Chesterton

To paraphrase a good friend of mine, here comes a boring trains post. As the expiry date for my Museumkaart rapidly approaches, I have been making a valiant effort to visit as many museums in the Netherlands as possible! So last weekend I embarked on a day out to Utrecht, with the aim of visiting Het Spoorwegmuseum (the Dutch Railway Museum) and the Rietveld Schröderhuis.

Het Spoorwegmuseum

The grand entrance to the railway museum.

My primary aim was to visit the train museum, which had recently launched a new attraction: De Vuurproef. It turned to take you through the history of railways, then leading to you all driving a train in a simulator. It was actually quite good and certainly had the kids that were also on the ride wanting to do it all over again!

Working replica of De Arend ("The Eagle"), the first Dutch train, from 1839.

One interesting fact I discovered was that the first train to arrive in the Netherlands, De Arend, was in fact driven by a man from a small coal mining village near Newcastle upon Tyne, England. What a small world!

In summary, the museum had a lot of interesting attractions and more than a few locomotives. It was also completely overrun with kids, which shows it's not just another stuffy museum!

Oh, and on the way out I treated myself to one of these for the mantelpiece...

Model of an NS Class 1600

If you really want to see more pictures of trains then take a look at this album!

Het Rietveld Schröderhuis

Rietveld Schröder House in the suburbs of Utrecht

Part two of my Utrecht trip was a visit to the Rietveld Schröder House, which I had recently heard about on Saturday Live, a programme on BBC Radio 4.  In short, the building was built by in 1924 by Gerrit Rieldveld for recently widowed Truus Schröder with the aim of having an upstairs that was open plan for the daytime, but in the evening could be partitioned into several rooms using a series of sliding doors. It was also furnished with Rietveld's unique furniture.

I'm really interested in modern architecture and this small building, a fascinating example of De Stijl architecture, is well worth a visit. However, you have to reserve a place as only 12 people can go into the house at once!