Wild swine, felled pines & Utrecht!

Sunday saw me in Hoenderloo, a very small village on the edge of the national park, "High Veluwe". It's not square, but if it were, the park would be about 30 miles square, I think. It's a very large park, the land given by a wealthy family in the 1930s, to protect it from development. A large part of it is reserved for the game that has been there a long time: wild swine (hairy, slim, dark grey/black pigs), sever al kinds of deer and several kinds of exotic sheep, as well as the usual bunnies, gamefowl and some foxes. It's higher in altitude than the rest of Holland, which one actually feels. My friend Theo and his wife Marianne had booked a tour of the park's hunting lodge for us, so the three of us biked into the heavily treed park to the hunting lodge. It was built from 1914 to 1920 by Berlage, a famous modern architect, who also did a lot of work in Amsterdam. The hunting lodge sports central heating, centralized clocks, central vacuum cleaning (no idea how this works), and an electrical elevator. In this period, none of these innovations was anywhere else, for miles around.

Like some of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings, Berlage also designed the inner decoration of the building and all of its furnishings, down to the heat ventilation covers, vases and tea service. Granted, that it was a dark, drizzly day, but I found the architecture very heavy and stolid (unappealing). It was red brick outside, and painted, glazed bricks inside, walls and ceilings included! The view was stunning, though: the lodge, which is built in the shape of a deer's antlers, looks onto an enormous pond from the front, and is otherwise surrounded by tense pine forest. The number of bricks used in the house required the building of a railroad to the site, to haul the bricks!

I had a very relaxed visit with my friends. Monday morning, I headed back Leiden on the train from Ede, via Utrecht. On the way to Ede, on the bus, we passed huge pile after huge pile of felled pine trees, sawed into enormous logs (about 20 feet per log). This was all the result of the terribly destructive storm from last week. It looked as if a giant had stomped through the forest, for miles!

I got off the train and spent the afternoon in Utrecht, which was a wonderful surprise. It is very charming, with its own distinct flavor. I visited the Dom/cathedral, which has a 150-foot tower that's separate from the cathedral, since it's too heavy for the cathedral to support. Cars drive through the bottom of the tower. While Utrecht doesn't seem to have as many canals as Leiden, its main canal is unique. Between the water and street level is a warehouse level that now is used for cafes and boutiques, in warm weather. The canal twists and turns. There are lots of lop-sided buildings. Most of the center's streets are pedestrian-only. I was there only a few hours, but want to return soon. I loved it.

So, two more free days and then the second term begins. I will take seven courses, five of them second-year courses, as the program dictates. Things like historical linguistics (??), literature and history after 1800 (there was scant Dutch literature before 1800), and "culture and society". This term, all courses will be in Dutch. I remain convinced that this first year is designed to eliminate all students! From our original "B Group" (those students with sufficient Dutch foundation to skip a couple of courses) of about 11, we're down to seven or eight. It's a very small program! I've resolved to manage my time better, have more fun, spend time at the gym and relax more. Aside from diving into university work in a foreign language after a VERY long hiatus, the first term also included things like getting my residence permit, unpacking my household goods, and finding my way in Leiden, so there was a lot of stress and fatigue that had little to do with school. I'm hoping to have more energy for school this term. And then before long, my 340 flower bulbs will emerge from the ground!