Things to do

What do you do with the local newspapers that get stuck in your door slot every week?  I receive five different papers every week.  Some are from the local government (gemeente), in my case gemeente Nuth, and others are from commercial sources. One of the best ones I get is the "Zondag Nieuws".  I can read a bit of Dutch so I always go through it and look for ideas of things to go see.  I am not fluent but I can look at the pictures and read enough to see if it might be interesting or not.  Then I go online and see if I can find more information and hopefully English text.  If you can't read any Dutch at all you can still find useful information by looking for web addresses embedded in the article and going to the website.  If there is no English text you can use one of the many translation services to do a machine translation of the text.  Now I will tell you that Dutch does not come through machine translation extremely well but it is good enough that you'll have an idea of what is being said.

Scanning through today's paper brings up one of my pet peeves; that is that they very seldom give you much lead time on an event.  For example, in todays paper is an article of an event that started yesterday and will conclude today.  If the rain holds off I am going to go see it this afternoon but I sure would like to be able to plan ahead a little.  Below are some events I pulled out of today's Zondag Nieuws Westelijke Mijnstreek.

On Saturday and Sunday (3&4 September) from 1000-1800 hrs the Kasteel Eijsden will have an Open Day. This is a unique opportunity because the castle only opens its doors to the public one weekend every two years. The property is owned by the Belgian Earl Marcel de Liedekerke de Pailhe. Prices are €7.50 for adults and €5.00 for children under 12. Tours begin on the hour and half hour. It is highly recommended that you send an email to tickets@saintececile.nl and request tickets.  They will write back with instructions on how to pay.  The tours are very popular and you will wait a long time if you don't have pre-purchased tickets. Kasteel Eijsden is near the town of Eijsden-Margraten.  Plug this address into your GPS: Graaf de Geloeslaan 8, 6245 AS Eijsden, Netherlands.  I'm going to have to figure out how to squeeze a visit to this kasteel into my weekend plans.

The Limburg Province Plowing Championship happens today just outside of Born (just west of Sittard). The competition begins at 1300 hrs on 17 hectares of fields.  There are different categories of competition; modern and antique tractors as well as two, three, and four bottom plows. There will also be a horse-drawn equipment demonstration. Plug in "Graetheide 91, 6121 Born, NL" to your GPS and it will get you close enough.  There is an all Dutch website but it doesn't give much information at http://www.agroprom.ajksittard.nl/ploegwedstrijd_info.html

I went to the Plowing Contest and it was a lot of fun.  If you have the time you might want to go to the National championship this weekend.

From Thursday 1 to Sunday, September 4 Roermond is dedicated to the World Culture Parade. Op het Stationsplein, Kloosterwandplein en in de straten van de Roermondse binnenstad spelen meer dan 80 nationale en internationale muziek- , dans-, en theatergroepen uit de gehele wereld. At the station, Monastery Wall Plaza and in the streets of the city Roermond play more than 80 national and international music, dance and theater groups from around the world.  Top acts playing on the station with breathtaking shows, music and dance, all guest in our city for the WCP. Unique, but most sensational Roermond cozy and something for everyone!  Come to the cathedral city and discover this great four-day event on World Culture Parade 1, 2, 3 and 4 September 2011 in Roermond place. Go to the following website for more information.  There is an English language button on the top menu (click on the British Flag icon). Roermond Festival

Ok, here is something very unique. On 3-4 September Roermond will also host the World Championship Timber Sports (Sponsored by Stihl).  I have watched these competitions on TV many times and they are very interesting.  According to the Stihl Timbersports website, "Established in 1985 by STIHL, the number-one selling brand of gasoline-powered handheld outdoor power equipment in America*, the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series, billed as the Original Extreme Sport, attracts the world's top lumberjack athletes in a competition based on historic logging techniques. The Series is seen by more than 20 million viewers annually in more than 62 countries on networks such as Eurosport and ESPN, where it is one of the longest running shows. Athletes compete in a variety of disciplines based on traditional logging skills to determine the best all-around lumberjack. Disciplines include hot saw, single buck, springboard chop, standing block chop, stock saw and underhand chop."

On Saturday the individual events will take place.  This will be the top 16 finalists from around the world.  On Sunday they will run the team events; 22 national teams will compete to include a youth team. Entry price is €10.00 for adults and €6.00 for children 16 and under. Plug in this address to your GPS: Hatenboer 59, 6041 TN Roermond.  I cannot find the times for the events but the awards takes place at 2000 hrs each night.  From watching this on TV I think it is probably an all-day event.

There will be a Memorial Concert at the American Cemetery at Margraten on Sunday, 4 September. 


Margraten Memorial Concert 2011 will be held on Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 15:00 Hrs. Free admission.

The program consists of MISSA SOLEMNIS (opus 123 in D gr.t) by Ludwig van Beethoven.




The performers
Limburg Symphony Orchestra
Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, conductor
Kelly God, soprano
Mirjam Schreur, mezzosoprano
Yves Saelens, tenor
Math Dirks, bass
Brabant Koor (Louis Buskes, choir master)

There is an English language website for this event at Margraten Memorial Concert

Ok, so that is just an example of what you can find out by flicking through your local, community newspapers.  Give it a try and see what there is to see and do during your assignment to the Schinnen-Brunssum-Geilenkirchen area.

Happy Traveling

Next Weekend

You would probably rather see what events are coming up than what has already passed so I'll give it a try.  There are two farm oriented events coming up during the weekend of 3-4 September that I plan to attend (weather permitting). 

The first is the Nederlands Kampioenschap Historisch Ploegen OTMV op akker Landgoed Kasteel Rivieren (Netherlands Historic Plow Championship at Kasteel Rivieren Plantation).  This will be on Saturday, 3 September 2011 at Landgoed Kasteel Rivieren, which is near Klimmen.  This begins at 1300 hrs and will be contestants plowing with animal and antique tractor drawn plows.  I watched some YouTube videos from last year's competition and it looked like fun.  Click on the map to enlarge it.

The second event I intend to go see is the Altweerterheide Landdag.  This will occur on Sunday, 4 September and is located just outside of Weert.  Weert is about 45 minutes north of Schinnen taking highway A2. The day's activities will be displays and parades of antique tractors, cars and trucks.  Demonstrations of antique farmer equipment and farm chores/crafts. 

This is a map of the event.  There is a good website with lots of photos from last year at: Landdag 2010

I went to a similar gathering at Einighausen and another one in Belgium and they both were a lot of fun.  Food and drinks were expensive at both so maybe take your own and picnic out at your car.  It looks like there were plenty of activities for children as well.  If I am reading the day's schedule (below) correctly, there will be racing Jack Russell Terriers. 10:00 is the first "Old Timers" parade and most of the rest of the activities start at 1100 hrs.

PROGRAMMA LANDDAG 4 september 2011



07.00 uur Terrein open voor opbouw
08.30 uur Ontvangst tractoren
08.30 uur Secretariaat open
09.15 uur Ontvangst Oldtimers op parkeerterrein
10.00 uur Aanvang toertocht
11.00 uur Aanvang LANDDAG Start activiteiten
12.15 uur Vlam in de pan
12.45 uur Haflingers Duo
13.00 uur Terugkomst Oldtimers
13:00 uur Jack Russell Terriër Raceteam
13.30 uur Officiële opening
14:00 uur Jack Russell Terriër Raceteam
14.15 uur Miniatuurpaardjes Stal Hazelberg
14.45 uur Haflingers Duo
15:00 uur Jack Russell Terriër Raceteam
15.15 uur Miniatuurpaardjes Stal Hazelberg
15.45 uur Vlam in de pan
16:00 uur Jack Russell Terriër Raceteam
16.00 uur Aanvang “Torenkruiers blaaskapel Bocholt”
16.45 uur Defilé Oldtimers
17.15 uur Defilé Tractoren
19.00 uur Einde “Torenkruiers blaaskapel Bocholt”
20.00 uur Sluiting LANDDAG
22.00 uur Sluiting terrein


Looks like two inexpensive, fun days that the whole family can enjoy.  Hope to see you there...  Eh, don't know how that will happen but I'll be there wearing an ACU booney hat.

Temploux Brocante Market

I enjoy a good flea market and I saw one mentioned in the Thursday Stars & Stripes in the village of Temploux, Belgium.  So I checked it out online at Temploux Brocante Market There is a menu option for English on the top of the page.  It looked interesting, is only 72 miles away, and it was a beautiful day today.  I packed a lunch in my cooler bag, packed two drinks in another cooler bag, grabbed my camera and 200 Euros and headed west this morning.  According to the website the market stalls are along a six kilometer (3.72 miles) route in the village.  There is room for 1,500 stalls.

The market began back in the late 70's as a fair, which later included craft venders.  Later still second-hand goods venders started setting up stalls.  In 1987 the market morphed into what it is now, strictly a Flea Market and collectors' market.  It is supposed to be the largest (and "greatest") flea market in Belgium.  I do not know if it is, in fact, the largest in Belgium but it is certainly the biggest outdoor market I have ever been to.

I arrived at the edge of town at 1215 hrs and made the final turn off of the higway.  From here it is three kilometers to the market and the parked cars were lined up on both side of the lane all the way out to the main road (3 kms of parked cars).  I drove until I found a freshly vacated spot and parked nose in to a farmer's field.  I could see two other roads in the distance and they were also lined with parked cars as far as you could see.  A lucky farmer nearer the town made a parking lot out of one of his fields and was charging three Euros per car.  I did a quick count of rows and number of cars in a row and he had over 440 cars parked in there.  That's 1320 Euros and since people would come and go all day I imagine he was taking in at least three thousand Euros a day.  Lucky guy.

There were thousands of people there but I never felt crowded.  Yes, people would stop dead right in front of you and I got bumped pretty often but that is the norm in Europe.  Europeans do not stand in lines either so it was a little annoying at times when people just walked in front of you.  But really, I thought it wasn't bad at all.  There were plenty of people there with babies in strollers but very few walking children.  I saw a few wheelchairs too.  The market loop was on roads so the walking was easy and if you had a stroller it would be no problem; it is not cobblestones.

There were plenty of very well-maintained porta-lets; it cost 40 Euro cents and well worth the price.  They were cleaned after every use.

There were also plenty of places to eat and get drinks.  I took my own food mainly to keep my costs down and had my own drinks too but I did buy a two-scoop ice cream cone at 1500 hrs (3:00 PM) for three Euros.

This place had everything.  I don't care what you collect; there was a vender that had it.  I won't even write a list of things I saw, when I say anything, I mean anything.  I have not done much flea marketing here so I do not know if the prices were good or not.  It was apparent that the venders knew what they had and they knew what it was worth.  I did hear some good haggeling so prices were negotiable.  However, this was strictly a French language market.  The Dutch and German people that I heard had to try French or hope the vender knew some English (many did). 

That is one of the (many) odd things about Belgians.  It is a tri-lingual country.  The northern half (Flanders) speaksFlemish-Dutch and the southern half (Wallonia) speaks French.  There is a small region, formerly belonging to Germany, where German is spoken.  Nearly all the Flemish Belgians also French but almost none of the Wallonians even attempt to learn Dutch.  And even if they do speak Dutch most of them won't, they will only speak French (though they understand what you said in Dutch). I run into this all the time.  The few people I spoke to (in Dutch) clearly understood what I was saying but they responded in French.  I do not speak French but over the years have come to understand what is meant.

I will list a few items that I thought were interesting to be of value there though. I saw several stands selling American car registration plates. Apparently some states' plates are more desirable than others. Prices ranged from 16-24 Euros per plate. I also saw quite a few tin advertising signs and the American ones pulled a premium price. Stock and railroad certificates are highly collectable in Europe and these were at a number of stands. US coins brought unusual prices: a 1987 quarter was being sold for 6.50 Euro. Both modern (still in circulation) and old US coins were highly priced. US Military badges, regimental and unit crests, and other US awards and decorations were commonly seen and sold for a good bit of change.




I walked the market from 1215 to 1700 (5:00 PM) and saw a little less than half the market.  But the temp had climbed to 82, it was very sunny, and I knew I had the return drive so I called it quits.  The market runs through tomorrow afternoon but I saw enough and won't head back for a second day.  I might have a touch of ADD and after almost five hours I was hitting sensory saturation; I just couldn't look at another stall of goods.
 

One thing I especially liked is that no one is allowed to sell crafts or first-hand merchandise.  So many markets in the states are filled with people selling socks, CDs, crappy crafts, and other junk from China that they aren't really flea markets anymore. All this stuff was definately used.

 

This is another one of those events you should mark on your calendar for next year if you can't get there tomorrow (21 August).

Oude Ambachten Einighausen

On the first Sunday of August (put this on your calendar for next year) is the Old Crafts Fair in Einighausen, NL.  Einighausen is just west of Sittard.  Take exit 48 of A2.  It should be easy to find.  I am going there today and will write about it this evening.  The fair runs from 1300-1800 today only.  There will be about 100 crafts demonstrated; mostly farm crafts and chores as they were done 50-100 years ago.  The highlight is a demonstration of the entire process from reaping grain to baking the end product.  Various horse-drawn and by-hand methods will be shown.  Hopefully the weather will hold out.  I think this will be a fun day.  Parking is free, entrance is five Euros for adults.  Go to http://www.oudeambachten.nl/ for more information.

Report

I found the feest very easily.  Parking was well marked. NOTE: The parking area was a recently harvested wheat field.  You would have a very hard time walking in this field with fashionable shoes.  Walking or hiking shoes would be best.  The exhibit area was a closed loop (a triangle really), which made seeing everything very easy.  I made the loop once looking at things on the right and then made it again looking at things on the left. The brochure said there would be 100 crafts and I think they were close to the mark.  The following is a partial list of what I can remember:  Blacksmith, willow weaving, threshing machines, threshing by hand with a flail, baking, kite-making, stained glass, several grist mills, two music machines, rope-making, tatting, wool spinning, horse-drwn reaping, sawing, wine-making, bee keeping, milk processing, face painting, puppet theater, oil seed pressing, bonsai trees, hand clothes washing, and many more.  There were lots of displays of almost anything related to farm life from 100 to 50 years ago.  There was a falconer with several birds of prey doing demonstrations, dog carts and goat carts walked around the loop.  There were many steam engines and hit & miss engines driving various pieces of equipment such as grist mills and threshers.  There was a childrens play area but I skipped that so I don't know what was there.  There were at least five bands playing a variety of music styles.  The whole route was lined with old farming equipment, tractors, and static displays.  The sawer was cutting large timbers on a large sawmill. 

Most of the signs were written in Limburgs, the local dialect and the few people I talked to all started off in Limburgs and then switched to Dutch when it was clear I had no idea what they said.  No one seemed to speak much English but language was no barrier to enjoying the sights.  There was food and drinks available but I would highly recommend you take your own in a backpack.  The prices were extremely high, especially the drinks; 1.50 Euros for about a four ounce sip.  The ice cream was very good and reasonably priced; 1.40 Euro for a good sized cone.  There were lots of places where you could sit and enjoy your own snacks.

I made two loops around the feest in four and a half hours.  The church (interior) in the village is one of the prettiest small churches I have ever seen in The Netherlands (and I have seen a lot of them).  There was an organ recital going on when I was in it and the organist was very good.  He was accompanied by a male signer/chanter and he was also very good.

I have been to a lot of small town events here in the past two years and I have to say this was the most interesting one so far.  There was a lot of stuff I had little interest in (sewing machines, wool spinning, face painting) and glanced at and moved on and I still had plenty to see.  I took plenty of pictures and you can see those below:

There were a couple displays of bicycles and motorized bikes.  The motorized bikes in the picture to the left were mostly from the 1950's.  Some looked practical and others looked like they would be hard to steer.  The bike to the right is a two-wheel drive bike.  You pump the handlebars up and down and that drives the front wheel.  There is a chain from the handlebars to the front sprocket.  Click on the picture to make it larger and you will see this.  I think that would be a difficult way to ride a bike but I guess it might help in the snow?

This bike is supposed to be a bicycle plow.  Look under the frame and you will see a small plow.  That would be some tough peddling I think.

There was a dog-cart treking club showing their dogs and carts.  I think there were five or six different dog carts.  The dogs are all very large breeds and some of the carts looked like they must have weighed well over a hundred pounds.  It was a warm afternoon so the dogs had to rest after a loop around the feest.  One of the carts was a cage of sorts with another dog being hauled around in it.  They were very well behaved and largely ignored pets that were walking around on a leash.

There were two different goat carts (geit kar) rolling through the area.  The goats had full horns on them and looked kind of wild and devilish.  When they took up a trot they could move pretty fast.  Goat carts were very common on smaller farms to haul produce to market.

There were several large displays of hand tools.  Most of them I was familiar with but a couple I had never seen before.  The only one that I had no clue what it was or what it was for I saw being used at another location and that solved that riddle.  The Dutch have an amazing variety of digging tools.  The different soil types, peat digging, and various farming techniques have led to this variety. The oicture to the right shows three tools used to hang cooking pots in a hearth.  The saw teeth are used to adjust the height of the pot above the fire.

With all the canals, dikes, and river banks, trapping burrowing animals was extremely important.  Too many burrows and a dike (dijk) would fail causing a disaster.  I am not sure how they manage problem animals in today's world where trapping is seen as barbaric.  I would guess they have to resort to poison.  Relocation of animals just transfers a problem from one area to another so that cannot be a solution.



Reaper

Thresher

Winnower



Small Stationary Engine

This series of photos shows the process of reaping, threshing, winnowing, and then grinding. The horse-drawn reaper (or harvester) was working a 3-5 acre field. It broke down a couple times but they managed to harvest most of the field by the time I left. The Thresher was driven by a tractor pully and belt but back in the day there would have been a stationary engine providing the power.  A Thresher separates the grain from the straw. The winnower was hand-cranked. A Winnower separates the grain from the chaff. The last step is to grind the grain into flour.  This step is done by a Grist Mill.  The small stationary steam engine shown here was used to cook a chicken on a rotisserie grill but is the type that would have been used to turn a small grist mill.  If the farmer had large quantities of grain to grind he would take it to a proper mill run by wind or water power.

This linear sawmill was cutting trees into approximately 4x6 and 5x8 inch timbers.  There was a tractor running a generator off its power take-off to provide electricity to the mill's motors.  It was not an exceptionally fast mill but linear mills generally aren't.  But it got the job done just as well.



Rope Making



Duck Man leading his ducks

 Ducks were important farm animals years ago.  Besides providing eggs and meat for the family and market, ducks were used as insect control in gardens and large vegetable patches.  They would eat slugs and bugs without touching the plants themselves.  Much better than insecticides.





Decorative Wheat Fans



Washing Laundry the Old Way

Washday was a dreaded event I am sure.  Hot water and lye-based soaps must have been hard on the hands.  In the winter, farm women often did sewing and crafts to bring in a little extra money.  Corn and wheat plants were often used.



For farms that couldn't afford a stationary engine the farmers would use horse power to run their machinery.  This apparatus could be driven by two horses and it turned a shaft that was linked to a silage cutter operated by the man in this picture. Silage is chopped corn, stalks and all, that is sweetened with molasses and then packed in air-tight piles to ferment.  It keeps for years and is a favored, high protein feed.  The ladder in the lower picture is labled in Limburgs dialect.  If you pronounce it correcly it sounds just like "Silage Ladder", which is what it is.

So that's it.  It was a long day but well worth the five Euro price. Mark it on your calendar for next year.











Esso Gas Cards

A few years ago the rules changed in Europe.  If you are stationed in The Netherlands you are no longer authorized to buy fuel (gasoline or diesel) at an Aafes gas station in Germany.  Believe it or not authorized foreign nationals can shop at your PX and commissary but you are not allowed to purchase fuel there. You have three options.

1. Purchase fuel on the economy. 
2. Carry extra fuel with you in an authorized fuel container.
3. Obtain an Aafes ESSO fuel card for Germany.

Buying fuel on the economy: The Netherlands fuel prices are significantly higher than prices in Belgium and Germany so time your purchases accordingly. Buy any needed fuel outside of The Netherlands to save some money. If you must buy fuel on the economy to get home try to buy just enough to get home.  Make sure you know your vehicle's fuel mileage, how far you need to go, and the conversion factor for gallons to liters.  There are 3.7854 liters to the gallon.  If your car gets 30 mpg on the highway that would be 7.93 miles to the liter. (30 divided by 3.7854 = 7.925).  Need to go 150 miles yet?  That will take about 19 liters of fuel. (150 divided by 7.93 = 18.91)  Of course this will be different for every car and your driving habits/conditions.

Carry extra fuel: Many folks here want to drive down to the big PX complex at Ramstein on a Saturday.  I did this in 2009 and was then shocked to find out I was not allowed to buy gas to drive back home.  That turned out to be an expensive mistake.  So I bought a five gallon gas container, which extends my driving range another 175 miles.  A few days ago the woman (US ID card holder) who watches my cat told me she and some friends were going to Ramstein.  I suggested that she borrow my five gallon gas container so they would have enough gas to return home.  Even driving her gas-sucking van they were able to make it down and back.  If you go this route, buy a high quality fuel container to make sure you have no leaks in your car.  I also put the fuel can inside a heavy duty garbage bag and seal that.  I have done this many times and never had a leak or even smell the gas.  NOTE: Always place the fuel container on the ground and maintain contact between the fuel nozzle of the pump and the container to decrease chances of static electricty build up.  Never fill the container while it is in your trunk or the back of your vehicle.

Obtain an ESSO Card: If you travel to Germany TDY or on Pass/Leave, you are authorized to obtain an ESSO gas card. This is no simple process but it will save you money.  You will need a copy of your TDY Orders (DA Form 1610 for Soldiers) or your Pass/Leave Form (DA Form 31 for Soldiers).  Take this document, your vehicle registration, ID card, and military driver's license to the MP station at your destination.  Hopefully you had enough gas to get there.  The last time we went to Garmisch I took a five gallon fuel container and refueled on the way during our lunch break. The MPs will complete a fuel authorization form.  You will only be authorized 100 liters per week or partial week so if you are going to Garmisch I highly suggest you sign out on at least eight days of leave so you can get 200 liters.  100 liters barely allows you to see the sights and then drive home.  Keep in mind, you can always sign in early from leave and save those days.  But you need at least eight days on your leave form to get 200 liters of fuel.  Once you get the fuel autorization form you take that to the PX Customer Service desk and request an ESSO card.  They will ask for a four digit PIN.  Pick a number you absolutely will not forget.  This is really important if you get fuel at a German ESSO station.  If you forget your PIN you will have to pay Euros at the local price; very expensive.  At the ESSO station you pump your furl first and then present your card to the clerk.  I highly recommend that you go in first and ask if they take the card and if the network is working.  Just ask, "Nehmen Sie hier diese Esso-Karte?" Hopefully you will hear, "Ja".  Keep track of how much fuel you have used.  After you pump just go in an hand the clerk your card.  They will insert it into a card reader and then ask you for your PIN.  Enter your PIN.  They will then print out a receipt, which will show how much money you used.

 

Back in the "Good old Days" there were Aafes Shoppettes and gas stations on the Autobahn.  Things sure have changed.  But with proper planning you can still get around Germany without being held hostage by their restrictions and unfriendly behavior.