Funny Bikes in Maastricht: Ride’em Cowboy

I happened past this bike twice the other day and the second time had to take a moment to snap a photo. Clearly someone is aspiring to more than their old oma fiets. Maybe they can’t own a horse because of apartment living?

Peruvenmint 2010: A Taste

Today I biked past the workers taking down the Preuvenemint stands. The culinary events is officially over, but I’m sure it was a successful one despite the sometimes rainy weekend. Dan and I joined Judy, another local expat, on Thursday to nibble our way through the event. Unfortunately I forgot my camera that evening, so the photos you see below are actually from Saturday.

The impression I got this year is one bathed in wine. Maybe it was the international influence of this year’s theme, but every other stand seemed to be a wine bar with appropriately highly priced tapas or nibbles. I felt that finding cheap-ish eats was easier last year and I think the wine bars were to blame. The elegance factor seemed to be ramped up a notch as well, but perhaps that was due to attending on a Thursday when everyone was still dressed up from work.

The other impression I got this year is that it was too loud. The stage speakers were blasting and several of the booths had their own music cranked up to drown out the stage. My ears are easily overwhelmed by loud noise and I felt it was difficult to carry on a conversation even on the opposite site of the Vrijthof.

The three of us ended up in a little wine bar set up by Sofa that was serving Turkish (I think) cuisine. They had a large wine selection of course, but I wanted to save some tickets for dessert, so we went with the least expensive option (2 tickets). My drink turned out to be a decent, slightly sweet white wine. Judy had a cute little mini-wrap, I ordered bread with a mix of tasty dips, and Dan ate a flat bread, cheese-less pizza. the best part was probably his sun-dried tomatoes which were just right.  We wrapped up at the Sofa with their cheese platter which included dates, figs, nuts, and three sorts of cheese.

Next we ate at a stand selling miniature foods including the smallest hamburger you’ve ever seen. Instead of burgers we shared a miniture set of five desserts. The chocolate cream cake and raspberry sorbet were my favorites. After dessert we ended our evening in the CoffeeLovers tent to avoid the rain. But the loud music soon drove us away and home.

Ultimately it was a fun evening, made better by the chance to share the event with another. Did you attend Preuvenemint this year? What did you think?

Vision 2.0

My glasses & contact lenses came in much sooner than I expected and after a period of instruction (and lots of false starts), I was able to see through contact lenses for the first time.

Completely surreal.

If you have 20/20 vision you probably can’t understand this, but the feeling of being able to see clear to the back of the adjacent store was phenomenal. The plates on the back shelf were clear enough to crisply gleam. I’m use to living in a fuzzy world. Plus there was none of the bending you get with glasses, which means my new, stronger prescription doesn’t make me dizzy with the contacts like it can with the new glasses.

After struggling on my own with the contacts for two days, it’s this sense of euphoria that I’m hanging on to to push myself through the trial period which I get use to putting them in. For all the difficulties they pose, and the fact that I think I look funny without glasses now, I’m hoping the contacts work out. Seeing with them is totally different than seeing with glasses.

All that isn’t to say that my glasses stink. In fact, I think the frames are pretty cute and the new prescription is right on the money; if quite a jump from my previous prescription. You can see an obnoxious close-up of my new glasses below:

What do you think?

Only time will tell if I decide to keep going with the contacts. Do you wear contacts or glasses? What’s your preference?

The contacts image by meddygarnet is license via Creative Commons.

Vision is an Important Thing

I’ve been putting off buying new glasses. I haven’t wanted to deal with the insurance, and besides I like my current frames. Unfortunately it’s becoming progressively more difficult to read signs and subtitles, so this Saturday while we were out I stuck my head in Het Huis Opticiens to learn how vision checkups are done here. The process was surprisingly easy.

The first thing that impressed me was the ease with which I was able to get my check-up; I just walked in. Unlike in the US where we have to see eye doctors to get a prescription, opticians in the Netherlands are certified to come up with your basic prescription and (I imagine) work out things like astigmatism. I spoke with the woman who helped me and she said that the referral lines had simply gotten outrageous since it was getting clogged up by people like me with weak, but otherwise healthy eyes. Seeing an eye doctor requires a general practitioner referral and frankly why should I be preventing people with real needs from seeing a specialist. The exam was free and consisted basically of a eye chart exam and then the measuring of the shape of my eyes for a trial pair of contact lenses. No dilation or air puffs necessary.

I told my mother-in-law about this and she felt I should still make it a priority to see an ophthalmologist periodically to check for glaucoma anyway. I have “big cups” (ahem, the backs of my eyes) and that can be indicative of vision problems.

Once the examination was over the same optician helped me select some new frames. Since she brought the frames to me, rather than me looking around I was pleasantly surprised to find that my new frames were 50% off. Sweet. I got the impression that she isn’t being paid on commission because she took lots of time with me, and wasn’t pushing expensive brand name frames. Or maybe Dan’s frayed collar tipped her off that we didn’t have lots of money.

Actually, I was surprised by the lengths she went to not to charge me extra for various sundry things most eyeglass stores in the states would be only too happy to sell me. Instead of just buying contacts outright, she’s ordering me a trial pair. Then when we discussed transition lenses (something I’m use to having), she strongly discouraged it even to the point of offering to replace the plain lenses if I didn’t like them for just the cost difference. I’m still not so sure about the transition lenses decision, but she made it absolutely risk free for us, so I’m willing to be flexible.

The final cost?

• Exam: Free
• Lenses (polycarbonate, anti-glare & anti-scratch, white): €55/lens
• Frames: €72 (originally €144)
• 3 Year Insurance on Glasses: €11,55
• Trial Contacts: Free
• Contacts if I opt for them: €200/year for 12 pairs.

The relatively low price for my glasses (and potentially contacts) is a good thing, since my vision insurance is pretty much non-existent. Even if I was paying for a higher level insurance, the most I could get off my frames is 45 euros. For someone like me who probably gets new glasses every 2-3 years, that’s not really much of a deal.

My new glasses should be ready in a week or so. I’m looking forward to a clearer outlook on life.

A Suggestion for an Informal Symbol of Maastricht

Hopefully I’m not out of line here, but I like having a little something to point to that symbolizes a place. Sure sometimes these things turn into stereotypes, but there’s something nice about having an object or image that invokes memories or thoughts of Place. In Vermont, for example, maple syrup and fall maple leaves are important informal symbols of my home state.

Holland, naturally, has lots of these sorts of symbols: wooden clogs, windmills, cheese, tulips, etc. But here in Maastricht those things are not entirely appropriate. I don’t know if farmers use wooden shoes much anymore around here, but we don’t have many windmills and the round cheese we usually associate with Holland is from Gouda. Besides, the only tulips we have here are planted in private gardens (or on rotunde).

My suggestion: the humble cherry vlaai.

Why?

Vlaai is a Limburgish dish. It is sweet, and it is associated with relaxing in a café along the Muese river or on the Vrijthof in the company of friends. Cherry would make the vlaai red, the color of Maastricht’s official crest. There is something a bit whimsical about vlaai that makes it more approachable than Maastricht’s shield (a great symbol in its own right. I use it on this site.). It also lacks the religious overtones of Maastricht’s angel (again, a fine symbol but not right for everyone).

What’s more, a slice of vlaai can be combined with other visual elements to emphasize particular aspects of Maastricht. Add a small coffee to bring out the sociable aspects of the area, or place against a stone wall to evoke the historical nature of the city. You could even stick a little EU flag out of slice to represent the regions relationship with the rest of Europe. See? Fun.

Other Symbols

Of course the great thing about informal symbols is that we don’t need just one. Limburg could probably reasonably adopt some sort of grape symbol because of the local wine production. Or perhaps a stylized building that looks more like our local architecture that the homes along Amsterdam’s canals.

And if you’re curious, here are a few “official” symbols of the region:

Do you have ideas of fun and informal symbols?  What reminds you most of the city you live in?

The photo of Vlaai is licensed under a GNL license. This article is not, but you’re welcome to play with the idea all you want. The official symbols are all copyright/trademarked their respective owners.

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