We celebrated xmas at the Okura hotel, Amsterdam, yesterday. We dined at their restaurant ‘Yamazato’ and the food was wonderfully delicious! They used origami birdies as part of the presentation, and we got them as souvenirs. We will surely go back for more fantastic food.
A sketch that I did on Tuesday last week, but couldn’t finish it until yesterday. It is of a train that is operated by the Dutch Railway (Nederlandse Spoorwegen). They operate several types of trains, and this is one of them. One of the older models, I think.
I was at the Naarden-Bussum station when I sketched this. I was waiting for another train, which would take me back to Amsterdam.
Personally, I think that the end result is a bit overworked. I did the colouring at home. Pen/Ink/Faber-Castell PITT artist pens (markers).
A late post for Blind Contour Friday. It shows a ‘wayfarer’, a ticket machine in trams. Colour was not applied blind.
Yesterday was so bad… I ended up in Burger King twice!
And I am a supporter of gastronomy??? Knowing what I ate yesterday, I am slightly ashamed now. Yes, I visited BK 2x yesterday. Yes, I ordered almost the same thing. I ate at BK Amsterdam Centraal station for lunch, right after a site visit. Then my dinner was at BK Amsterdam Amstel station. The dinner was actually unexpected. I worked late, went home late, and guess what? A train broke down between Amsterdam and Utrecht and made the rail traffic irregular. What traffic? There was not a single train on sight for 1 hour. So I called Nor asked him to pick me up. I’d figure that it would still get me faster than any trains.
After that I went to wait for him at Burger King. I was starving and needed to eat. Other options were not that appetizing and all of them are fast food as well.
So now you see my sketches of what I consumed from de Kiosk, Smuller, and BK. All of them are fast food chain available at larger train stations. And you think: she claims that she loves gastronomy and cooking? Well… I still love gastronomy despite my consumption of fast food. I can only really cook in the weekend. I do think that train travel is not very healthy and it is making me fat right now …may be some money back from the NS (Dutch Railway) as a compensation?
Oh! Oh! I’ve been tagged! By Maggie at Designerm. I had never been tagged before so…. Maggie, can my Five Idiosyncrasies wait for a few more days? Please…. 
Click to enlarge.
Duivendrecht is a somewhat weird train/metro station. It is built around the late 80′s or very early 90′s. It is modern, but nowadays it feels a bit dated. The design team was/is really proud of it (of course!), and I do know these guys. Why do they think so? Because it was the first station in NL that had two levels of tracks. The tracks cross each other but on different level. Both levels are above ground. On the top level, the ‘island’ platform are sandwich between the train tracks and the metro lines (in the middle). The station is the major transfer point for people going to Schiphol Airport or the center of Amsterdam. Blah blah…etc..etc…I personally think that it is time to remodel the whole think and the NS/goverment should put more money on maintenance.
My simple sketch shows what is on one side of the station as seen from platform 8 on the upper level. I believe it is the side of downtown Duivendrecht. My effort on the tree failed horribly. Now I hate it because I think it attracks too much attention. But it’s just a sketch, I had fun doing it. I will draw what’s on the other sides of the station sometimes. I believe I did one which shows the Amsterdam Arena stadium, but I might just give that one another try as well.
The view on the opposite side of the church is really quite mind boggling….a huge flyover (for the train again) built right on top of a golf course. Just imagine your own golf course with humongous concrete pillars that makes the players look like dwarfs. It’s enough to ruin anybody’s attemp on relaxation, I say. Not too mention the train and the dB level of the sound it produces when ‘flying’ top speed above the players’ head. It’s amazing that I still see people play there. It makes me wonder what attracts them to this particular golf course.
While I was waiting for the hybrid metro #51 to arrive, I saw this Porta Potti standing across the street from the metro station. They are doing some maintenance on the rail, but by looking at the amount of new steel tracks, they are probably going to replace the current tracks. So this Boels Porta Potti is placed there exclusively for these workers.
I am not sure when they are going to finish with the work. I do hope that it’s really soon, because the station is now only accessible from one side. This means that I have to walk around it all the time to get to the station or to my office. It’s not that far but an inconvenience.
Yesterday during lunch, I went to Kruidvat to get some bandaid/plaster. I bought 2 boxes of Betadine bandaid that contains anti-septic. We are almost running out of them at home. I think this supply will get us through ’till the end of the remodeling and the summer.
Nor has quite a few scratches and cuts as result of the construction work he does at home. Me, I have quite a few scratches on my arm as well….caused by Joseph-Guy a.k.a. Joey, our silver Maine Coon. Joey just hates being groomed. When he is sleepy, it’s ok with him. So I usually start when he is asleep…slowly combing softly…And then tsjaakk! He grabs one of my arm, which is holding the brush with his front paws and sometimes he tries to kick my arm, etc…etc… Well, the result of these ‘cat fights’ is that I have scratches on my arms almost every week. But he really needs to be groomed, especially in the summer. He sheds and he has matted coat if we don’t groom him nearly everyday. But hey…I love my cats, I just have to withstand this till the end of the summer with Betadine bandaid and Detol liquid antiseptic.
Does the chair seem familiar? Of course! It’s from IKEA. Their products have invaded households in the Netherlands and worldwide. IKEA of Sweden is ‘the brand’ in almost every house in Holland. What would we (Dutch) do without them?? Without their Swedish meatballs (gehakt balletjes) with cranberry sauce???
An entry for Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge #6.
These are Ratta (the rat) and Fret (the ferret). The only things I have at home that fit in the category ‘Toyland/Velveteen Rabbit’.
NOTE: The correct spelling of Ratta requires a small ‘o’ above the first a. I just can’t figure out how to do that in my post with blogger.
Today I went to the old center of Amsterdam. I needed to go to Cortina Papier on the Reestraat. It is a stationary store specializing in journals, notebooks, photo albums, and dip pens. I took tram # 5 on the way back to my office and sketched this lady, who was so absorbed in her book. A little girl who sat behind me was very curious about what I was doing. So she took a peak at my sketchbook. When I looked up, she shyly sat down again beside her father.
An entry for the Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge #15.
Today while walking around at lunch time, I found a beautiful park near my office. It’s a big grass field with a few picknick tables and benches, which is completely surrounded by trees. When I was in this park, all I could hear was the sound of birds, the movement of the leaves, and the wind. I could see very little of the apartment buildings right outside this park. It was so peaceful…..but then only for 2-3 minutes everytime, because I could also hear the sound of the planes coming ‘my way’.
My office is located ‘pretty close’ to the Schiphol airport. This should not be a problem. The annoying part is: the road in front of my office is aligned with the center line of one of the runways at Schiphol. I can see planes showing up in the sky every 2-3 minutes during rush hour and start their landing process right on top of our road. Thanks for the double glazed windows at my office! Most of the noise is blocked so we can work ok.
An entry for the Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge #8.
I got this watch from my parents back in 2002. Nor has the men’s version. The watch is from Seiko and it is made of stainless steel. So its color is silver. The design is very simple and versatile.
What a person can do in the toilet while …
These cleaning agents remind me that I have to clean the toilet pretty soon.
